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Is really, really smooth concrete driveways a common thing down there? I did a double take at the pictures of brake parts on what I was sure must have been a garage floor.
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Jan 1, 2013 05:08
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Yeah; remember that most of the metro Phoenix area is really, really new compared to most of the country. There's almost no pre-war development. You'd have to try hard to find an actual house without a poured concrete driveway. The only difference between the driveway and the garage floor is the surface texture (smoother in the garage) and the slope.
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Jan 1, 2013 05:20
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IOwnCalculus posted:I think drum brakes are a thing a lot of manufacturers just buy from suppliers instead of developing their own; the wheel cylinder I pulled off was a Bendix unit, for example. It's a great way to cut corners/cost and save time/money.
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Jan 1, 2013 07:44
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Well, I was hoping to get the rear shocks and maybe the plugs / wires / clean the IAC out this weekend. Nope, looks like record-setting rainfall! On top of that, I have figured out why the last time it rained it seemed to stay humid in the Ranger for a long time; something is leaking. The back of the headliner is dripping wet all the way across the cab, but it doesn't go any further forward than the rear of the doors. I'm guessing it's the seal on the exterior light on the cab / over the rear window.
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Jan 26, 2013 22:54
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Keep some damp-rid in there. Last thing you want is a mildew problem. Hell, they even have it on a hanger now.
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Jan 26, 2013 23:18
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Eh, soon enough it will be dried out one way or the other. It is still Arizona after all. After further research, it may actually be the rear window seal. Thankfully the window is actually bolted on, rather than held in by the seal itself, so it looks to be a relatively painless thing to reseal.
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Jan 26, 2013 23:36
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My buddy's 03 had/has that same leak. We took the back window out and resealed it with "3m strip calk" aka dum-dum, but it still leaks a little. It'll be interesting to see if your leak persists.
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Jan 28, 2013 20:58
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Haven't done jack poo poo to my cars aside from changing the oil in each, and menacingly glaring at the driver's side of the block in my Ranger. It's still leaking oil, and while I thought it was the sender, a closer look makes it look relatively dry. It honestly looks like it's seeping around what appears to be some sort of nipple threaded in for PCV and that the only way I'm going to easily get to all of that is going to be pulling the intake manifold. Which, supposedly, is the easiest way to get to the driver's side spark plugs.
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Feb 18, 2013 17:51
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Just did the plugs in my MS3; these are a tick over 60k old. Top-to-bottom is drivers side to passenger side. Only interesting bit is that the second plug came out wet and smelling of gasoline, even though the engine was stone cold. Best I can figure is that it must've injected fuel in that one right as it was shutting down and never got a spark to clear it out. Looked good in general. Didn't even bother wiping out the inside of the intercooler; my phone sucks at pictures but there was almost no oil residue or anything of the like on the inside. Not bad for a 121k mile car!   Still need to do the thermostat, air filter, and track down whatever is making the car track oddly depending on throttle; I'm guessing a lower balljoint or control arm is worn out, and at all of $240 for the parts (and some easy as hell labor) I will probably do both if I can confirm that it's one of them. IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Aug 20, 2013 |
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Feb 26, 2013 21:44
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You may have a slightly leaky injector. Keep an eye on it. My EA Falcon I was pretty convinced had one. Sometimes I couldn't start it because the starter would just start cranking the engine then it'd stop dead. Usually when that happened I'd just take the other car. There was never any sign of water in anything so I didn't think it was coolant. The oil did kind of stink though.
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Feb 26, 2013 22:11
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There's never been any significant fuel contamination in the oil, though, and given that it's a direct injection engine I would think a leaking injector would be spraying pretty much constantly.
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Feb 27, 2013 01:35
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IOwnCalculus posted:There's never been any significant fuel contamination in the oil, though, and given that it's a direct injection engine I would think a leaking injector would be spraying pretty much constantly. Oh, I missed the direct injection bit. How hard is the suspect plug to remove? If it's not a 12/10 for difficulty it might pay to check on that plug again another day when cold just to be sure. It's best to catch a problem like that in its infancy. And as I said if it's not a huge pain to pull that plug it's like a 30 second job for peace of mind.
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Feb 27, 2013 01:52
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It's really not bad - no 30 second job since it's under the intercooler, but it's easy to remove (two bolts for the cover, three holding it down, inlet/outlet hoseclamps, and two clamps on the bypass valve) and then it's as clear of access as you'll get on anything.
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Feb 27, 2013 06:28
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IOwnCalculus posted:It's really not bad - no 30 second job since it's under the intercooler, but it's easy to remove (two bolts for the cover, three holding it down, inlet/outlet hoseclamps, and two clamps on the bypass valve) and then it's as clear of access as you'll get on anything. Still more difficult than it should be to get to plugs but that's not too bad I guess. Seems slightly easier than the left bank on the Fairlane. That's where the conversion people put all the LPG gear so I have to dismantle that to get to the plugs. Some bolts and hose clamps in essence but accessibility for some of it is a bit hard. I'm not overly fond of removing the vaporiser though and try to avoid that. Everything after it is negative pressure so it's no biggie as long as I don't mess up where the hoses go. Because the engine bay has a V8 but was designed around an i6 it's a bit tight around the shock towers.
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Feb 27, 2013 20:57
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No progress, just some regressions. I had taken the MS3 apart a few weeks back to trace down a coolant leak (which is the lower radiator hose) and it appears that after reassembling it, somewhere there's a loose clamp because it hits a boost cut hard if I wind it out in third gear or higher. Yay. Also, just spent a weekend driving my mom's '02 Trailblazer EXT. Which has decided to have completely intermittent power steering at idle - it worked when I picked it up and when I dropped it off, but for much of the trip I was either strongarming it or having to pop it into neutral and rev it up off idle to get the pump to kick in. Some googling claims it could be either just a loose belt (no squealing to be heard, but it is worn as all hell) or some buildup in the output of the power steering pump.
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Apr 8, 2013 20:16
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Typical GM problem. As dumb as this sounds, go with the "Gator Belt". With these super long serpentine belts, GM cars for some reason respond to them well. I had a squeaky belt on the caddy with a standard gates belt, but when I switched to the gator belt, squeaks went away and every thing just seemed to "work better". It could be purely a placebo effect, but lots of Cadillac owners seem to go with them on the Northstars.
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Apr 8, 2013 20:41
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I'm not sure if the belt on it is factory (which would make it 11 years / 134k miles old!) or just a really old replacement from one of the earlier times that it crapped out yet another fan clutch - either way, the backside of the belt looks more like cord than rubbber  The bizarre thing to me is that if the power steering pump is not getting driven due to a slipping belt, to me that belt should be howling for dear life. I don't know, either way I'll see if I can get her to get the belt/tensioner replaced or just do it for her and go from there on the steering.
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Apr 8, 2013 20:47
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Typical GM problem. Gator Belts do well on everything. I always used them on my Grand Marquis, too.
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Apr 9, 2013 00:19
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Another GatorBelt fan (get it?)... I've got them on my 2500HD for Serp and A/C. Quiet, strong, and not incredibly $$ from RockAuto.
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Apr 9, 2013 04:30
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So what's so special about them? Grippier compound? You have my attention.
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Apr 9, 2013 10:25
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General_Failure posted:So what's so special about them? Grippier compound? You have my attention. They use a special grippy rubber, and have a slashed pattern in the ribs that really allow the belt to conform to the pullies without distortion. 
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Apr 9, 2013 18:01
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I did 5 races with my LeMons/Chumpcar Daihatsu on a Gatorback, still looks and feels brand new.
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Apr 9, 2013 18:02
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I actually remembered after all of the posting in here that I ended up with a Gatorback on my LS1, even. The belt in the Trailblazer actually has those same serrated teeth on the grooved side, but it's so worn that it's devoid of any marking on the smooth side.
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Apr 9, 2013 18:04
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IOwnCalculus posted:I actually remembered after all of the posting in here that I ended up with a Gatorback on my LS1, even. The belt in the Trailblazer actually has those same serrated teeth on the grooved side, but it's so worn that it's devoid of any marking on the smooth side. It didn't take long at all for the belt on the Fairlane to lose the markings on the smooth side. it's kind of why I asked. They started to wear off after a few days. I put a picture of the old belt in the mechanical failures thread a while back. I touched the middle of the smooth side with my finger and the belt split down the middle. More grip would be great. The tensioner although its pulley is worn to poo poo and not even properly aligned anymore still keeps good tension so I guess the Gates serp belts just don't have the traction to cope properly with the accessories.
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Apr 9, 2013 22:42
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I put a gator back on my wife's 3800 in her grand prix a long rear end time ago. That thing was so loud she asked me to replace it with something else!
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Apr 10, 2013 01:23
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I had a Gatorback belt for awhile with no problem on my GTP, but I've also had great luck with Dayco belts. They had the 'slashed' design like the one pictured but they've moved away from it to a different style rib design. I'd have one on my truck if they made one in the oddball size I need.
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Apr 10, 2013 01:55
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In Trailblazer news, the shop she took it to apparently did control arms and balljoints. While I don't doubt that they were worn to hell and back, I also don't see how it would've resulted in intermittent non-working power steering. She did say it drives a lot better so there's that. I did notice it had one hell of a tendency to wander all over the lane on California's bumpy-rear end freeways when I borrowed it. Anyway, this weekend I finally was able to clear enough time with the family to do a marathon session on the MS3. Coming into today, I needed to do all of the following: *Clean the intake valves *Replace the thermostat *Replace the driver's side coolant hose *Clean the EGR system *Clean the air filter *Figure out what's going on with the A/C (probably low on refrigerant) The downside of direct injection is that there's no fuel flowing past the intake valves - so everything the PCV and EGR spits into the intake manifold to reburn, gets stuck on the back of the intake valves and never gets washed away like in a port-injected car. Thermostat has been giving me intermittent low-coolant-temp CELs for ages, the driver's coolant hose has been seeping for a month or so, and the EGR has been kicking up an occasional low-flow code. I'm too cheap to buy an Accessport to eliminate it so I'm going to give it one more cleaning.  Today's patient, before digging in.  I've become entirely too good at taking it apart to this point. That turbo looks a bit oilier than it should to me, though; no smoke but I suspect that if I keep this car another two or three years I will be getting it rebuilt.  The engine bay at that point...  And then some time later after pulling yet more parts off. Cramming this 2.3L turbo in this bay is an exercise in making everything a goddamned rat's nest of wiring, coolant hoses, power steering hoses, vacuum hoses, and A/C hoses.  Parts pile. Most of the process is just fighting with goddamned hoses and wiring connectors. Everything has been baked under here for 123,000 miles, in all manner of Arizona summer heat no less. No connector of any sort wants to release easily, but if I break something this is the only car I have that I can put my kid into so I've got to be careful to not screw anything up beyond what I can fix in a weekend. Annoyingly, I discovered at least two other issues while crawling around the car. The tensioner and idler pulleys were both crunchy and loose at best, so I had to go pick up new ones... but there's a reason the idler at Autozone is half the cost of the other stores, it's the wrong one. It doesn't come with its own mounting hardware, yet it isn't compatible with the dust shield from the factory idler. Second issue... the driver's side CV joint is puking grease. I figured this might happen eventually, it gave me all kinds of hell when I did the struts 20k miles ago and now it's starting to leak. Given the unholy nightmare of replacing the passenger side wheel bearing (and that was when a shop did it!) I'm going to have the dealer or a local shop tackle that one for me. Fast forward to finally getting at all eight intake manifold bolts and it's off...  A bit on the oily side here as well. There's actually a small puddle of it in the main plenum.  Engine bay minus the manifold. So remember what I said about poo poo building up on the intake valves? I almost want to tag these as  but you have to zoom in to see the real horror thanks to the pain of trying to focus my phone's camera on the valves at night. Strangely, some cylinders are far worse than others; must be where the heavy poo poo flows to.        So tomorrow I'm going after that with walnut shell, actually replacing the throttle body and coolant hoses, the PCV valve (a while-I'm-at-it), and then putting it all back together.
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Apr 21, 2013 07:37
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No after pics, mostly because I was tired of fighting the loving car every step of the way. My Harbor Freight blaster failed so I resorted to using seafoam and manual labor to get the valves 'clean enough'. It's all back together and now it properly heats up rather than running cold, is a good bit quieter with a good tensioner on it, and has fresh coolant and hoses. Only problem is it's hesitating a bit on WOT - you can feel the turbo spool, then it hesitates for a short period of time, and then it goes back to pulling normally. Does it every time I transition from WOT-off-WOT when I shift. 
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Apr 25, 2013 03:47
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Monthly anti-archive bump. In case anyone missed it, though it's about as far from AI as it gets, the MS3 got traded in on a new CRV. I miss the retarded amount of power to the front wheels, but I love the fuel mileage and how much room there is in the back... is this what getting old is like?  Changed the oil in the Ranger tonight. Checked the coolant on a whim, the reservoir was bone dry and the radiator was low enough I couldn't actually see any. No external coolant leaks that I've found so now I'm worried that the fucker has eaten a head gasket. Going to borrow the exhaust gas tester at Autozone and see if that is the case after all.
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May 21, 2013 08:08
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IOwnCalculus posted:exterior light on the cab / over the rear window. I think it's usually called a cargo light.  I hope your Ranger does well. Cutest truck Ford ever made.
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May 21, 2013 09:11
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IOwnCalculus posted:Monthly anti-archive bump. In case anyone missed it, though it's about as far from AI as it gets, the MS3 got traded in on a new CRV. I miss the retarded amount of power to the front wheels, but I love the fuel mileage and how much room there is in the back... is this what getting old is like?
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May 21, 2013 10:49
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You Am I posted:I guess it wasn't a minivan you replaced the MS3 with, but yes, you are getting old. Soon you'll be looking at Camrys and telling others that "the handling isn't that bad, but the ride is so smooth!" If the Odyssey got 10MPG better and cost about $8k less, we might have  I had enough repairs stacking up on the MS3 to effectively make another year of car payments, especially since I would have had to take it to a shop, and if I have to spend that much, I want something that doesn't break my back getting the kid into. I do hope that the Ranger doesn't need a head gasket, since at that point I'm either going to sell it or dump some sort of stop leak in and run it into the ground. It's not worth a weekend of work to get the head off, a week of screwed up schedule for my wife and kid while I drive the Honda to work, the expense of having the head checked out by a machine shop, and a weekend putting it back together.
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May 21, 2013 15:03
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You know what engine doesn't have head gasket issues? Rotaries. I bet the bellhousing bolts up too.
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May 21, 2013 15:20
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Yes they do, it's the water jacket O ring that does the same job and can fail too 
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May 21, 2013 16:06
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Well I guess you'll have to drive the GMC while you fix the Ranger's head gasket.
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May 21, 2013 17:30
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IOwnCalculus posted:Monthly anti-archive bump. In case anyone missed it, though it's about as far from AI as it gets, the MS3 got traded in on a new CRV. I miss the retarded amount of power to the front wheels, but I love the fuel mileage and how much room there is in the back... is this what getting old is like? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit, that's just top end lube.
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May 21, 2013 18:15
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IOwnCalculus posted:Changed the oil in the Ranger tonight. Checked the coolant on a whim, the reservoir was bone dry and the radiator was low enough I couldn't actually see any. No external coolant leaks that I've found so now I'm worried that the fucker has eaten a head gasket. Going to borrow the exhaust gas tester at Autozone and see if that is the case after all. Free cylinder steam cleaning ahoy
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May 22, 2013 04:56
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I.. I was going to post some witty remark about "you think a CRV gets good mileage?"  Then I looked it up on fueleconomy.gov. You know, just to prove my point. wait... HOW THE gently caress DOES AN SUV GET THE SAME MILEAGE AS MY 2800 POUND PLASTIC ECONOBOX?!?!?   The mileage that cars from the past 3-5 years are getting just blows my mind...
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May 22, 2013 08:33
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That was actually kind of my reaction when I first seriously looked at replacing the MS3. It's an SUV in name only, that's how. It's still a Civic underneath, just with a longer and taller body, and some damned aggressive 'eco' tuning on the K24 and five-speed. With the eco button on, it will upshift at about 2000-2500 RPM unless you really romp on it. We drive enough highway miles (bought it on the 30th and already have nearly 1600 miles on it) that we've seen at least two tanks so far averaging nearly 31MPG. Same driving in the MS3 would net 23MPG. Probably helps that everything about the CR-V is designed to make you drive it as sedately as possible. The CX-5 (at least in the 2.0L Sport trim) is actually rated for a bit better, but I'm a bit soured on DI until they figure out a better way to keep the intake valves from getting slathered in poo poo. On top of that, to get the rearview camera required stepping up to the 2.5L Touring, so no more manual, no more mileage advantage, and a $3k price hike over the CR-V. Wife didn't like the Escape, and we didn't seriously look at anything else. Ultimately, I hope to never have to put a wrench on this thing other than changing fluids and rotating tires, and if I ever need to do more, the engine bay is downright cavernous compared to the MS3's. IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 08:53 on May 22, 2013 |
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May 22, 2013 08:50
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IOwnCalculus posted:It's an SUV in name only, that's how. It's still a Civic underneath, just with a longer and taller body, Someone clearly hasn't looked under the hood of a 2006+ Civic. And if it was still a Civic, at least half of them would be sidelined with cracked engine blocks by now.. the R18 wasn't Honda's most reliable engine, anyway.I had no idea they even used the K24 in the CRV. Wasn't sure what they'd replaced the B20 with, to be honest - just haven't kept up with the CRV much. The K24 is a fantastic engine in just about every way.
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May 22, 2013 09:14
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