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Jeherrin
Jun 7, 2012

I knew what this was before I clicked it. I never get tired of that noise.

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scuz
Aug 29, 2003

You can't be angry ALL the time!




Fun Shoe
Oh man, that's almost along the lines of a "wah wah wahhhhhh" game show noise.

Nodoze
Aug 17, 2006

If it's only for a night I can live without you

mafoose posted:

That was on the N63 TT V8.
The fix was shorter oil change intervals and a battery replacement at every oil change.

There is a lot more stuff involved in it than that

BrokenKnucklez
Apr 22, 2008

by zen death robot

mafoose posted:

That was on the N63 TT V8.
The fix was shorter oil change intervals and a battery replacement at every oil change.

Hahahaha bmw what the gently caress.

literally a fish
Oct 2, 2014

German officer Johannes Bolter peeks out the hatch of his Tiger I heavy tank during a quiet moment before the Battle of Kursk - c:1943 (colorized)
Slippery Tilde

Nodoze posted:

There is a lot more stuff involved in it than that

BrokenKnucklez posted:

Hahahaha bmw what the gently caress.

I gave more info shortly after the originally quoted post;

literally a fish posted:

Yuh, and all because they can't lower the official mpg number by 1-2 without getting sued. details here: http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/buying-maintenance/a25710/enginerdy-strange-connections-bmw-n63-v8/

:v:

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

Be alert. Be aware. Beater GM vehicles are everywhere.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

BloodBag
Sep 20, 2008

WITNESS ME!



I wonder if that one has a bad one of those computer fan clutch thingies.

Dagen H
Mar 19, 2009

Hogertrafikomlaggningen
Does it have a litany of mechanical maladies, or is it just a dirtball?

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

BloodBag posted:

I wonder if that one has a bad one of those computer fan clutch thingies.

Probably, but it's working right now with no clicking.


Bucephalus posted:

Does it have a litany of mechanical maladies, or is it just a dirtball?

A few things to take care of, that I know of. Tires are crap and used up. Noise/vibration up front is probably bad tires (all 4 tires were under 15psi when I picked it up). It was the guy's wife's car and she banged up the tailgate a bit, broke the chmsl and spoiler at the top (easily replaceable parts) and put a two-fist sized dent in the liftgate. I'll be trying heat gun / duster with that one, it's large, no creases and no cracked paint right now, so it has a chance.

Other than that, a lot of little stuff... side mirrors are a little fucky, rear defroster lead is hanging down, random stuff that you'd expect with a couple that paid $13k for it in '12 only to sell it for less than 1/4 of that in '15.

95k miles at the price I got it for? Can't go wrong.

Unfortunately, just like my E39, I started looking for a V8 and found the right car had a 6. But, other than that, it's loaded. SLT, leather, roof, heated stuffs, all that shizz.

Adiabatic
Nov 18, 2007

What have you assholes done now?
drat

BrokenKnucklez
Apr 22, 2008

by zen death robot
The computer controlled fan throws a code when it shits itself.

If you do any suspension work, get some uprated shocks, the ones that come from the factory are mushier than a gallon of ice cream sitting on the counter for a while. And some stiffer tires will help as well. I know this isn't made for doing auto cross, but they do have a tendency to wallow around on the road with mushy parts.

The only thing that sucks is the plastics, and holy gently caress did they shove them every where.

Edit: Oh and the transfer case - they can poo poo themselves for no particular reason - don't use the A4wd, just stick with either 2hi, 4hi or 4lo. People always think oh this is ALL WHEEL DRIVE! Its not, it just uses speed sensors to shift the transfer case, which can do some wonders on the shift forks, gears, etc.

BrokenKnucklez fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Nov 16, 2015

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





BrokenKnucklez posted:

The computer controlled fan throws a code when it shits itself.

Yup. I've never seen it actually cause an overheating / overcooling problem, but it will set a CEL and if you have emissions you won't pass.

Get ready to enjoy oil changes where, despite the engine and the truck literally being designed for each other, the filter still doesn't have unobstructed drain access.

Overall, they're solid trucks. My mom has had hers for 13 years now, which is longer than her previous three vehicles combined. She swears she's going to replace it with a Volt one of these days but at this rate I don't think that'll happen until something non-critical-but-expensive comes up for repair, like the A/C compressor making GBS threads the bed.

BrokenKnucklez
Apr 22, 2008

by zen death robot
I think it just locks the fan to the belt speed, because my fan was dead in my ex's trailblazer for a long time too. It never over heated, but just noisier than usual.

I don't know why they decided to do a computer controlled fan instead of a regular viscous fan, but I am sure it was done in the name of fuel economy.

Edit: Oh yeah the "LOL gently caress YOU" filter. Seriously.

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
It's because nothing beats a mechanical fan for shear volume of air moved and efficiency (no matter what, you can't make both an alternator and a fan motor 100% efficient, while a shaft running from the engine to the fan makes a pretty close approximation) but you need to be able to modulate the fan's output somehow or you'll lose all that efficiency when you don't need to be moving that much air.

Cool idea, but needed some more work obviously. On the other hand, a new one is $110 on rockauto, which isn't really the end of the world every couple hundred miles, if they actually last.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





kastein posted:

Cool idea, but needed some more work obviously. On the other hand, a new one is $110 on rockauto, which isn't really the end of the world every couple hundred miles, if they actually last.

Most shops charge a good bit more than that to replace it, and my mom went through three of them in the span of a couple years. The latest one has held up longer than all of the others.

By now it would've been far cheaper to pay for a HPTuners license, reprogram it for a purely viscous fan (or just disable that specific CEL), and optionally swap the fan clutch out for a viscous unit.

Modus Man
Jun 8, 2004



Soiled Meat
Has anybody had success in reattaching the defroster lead? I've seen the kits on the shelf at the parts store for like $15-20 but I can only imagine it being a temporary solution. What is your plan for yours meatpimp? Mine is has been hanging since the end of last winter and winter is coming...

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

Modus Man posted:

Has anybody had success in reattaching the defroster lead? I've seen the kits on the shelf at the parts store for like $15-20 but I can only imagine it being a temporary solution. What is your plan for yours meatpimp? Mine is has been hanging since the end of last winter and winter is coming...

I haven't looked into that yet my initial thought was to clean up both contact areas solder, then cover with epoxy... No idea if that would work. I'll do some research first.

Edit: looks like permatex has a kit with conductive epoxy. Ive had good luck with a lot of permatex stuff, so I'll try that first.

meatpimp fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Nov 16, 2015

InitialDave
Jun 14, 2007

I Want To Believe.

IOwnCalculus posted:

Get ready to enjoy oil changes where, despite the engine and the truck literally being designed for each other, the filter still doesn't have unobstructed drain access.
Honda always gets me with this. FWD cars, engine designed for FWD transverse setup, oil filter right above the driveshaft in the least accessible location available. Why?.

Saying that, my Land Rover is the same, filter drips onto the front prop.

BrokenKnucklez
Apr 22, 2008

by zen death robot

InitialDave posted:


Saying that, my Land Rover is the same, it drips every where.

Fixed that. Though my lr3 is a fucker to change. Drop 2 skid plates, and its always a pain in the rear end.

BrokenKnucklez fucked around with this message at 23:14 on Nov 16, 2015

InitialDave
Jun 14, 2007

I Want To Believe.
Yes, but it only annoys me when I'm under it!

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





InitialDave posted:

Honda always gets me with this. FWD cars, engine designed for FWD transverse setup, oil filter right above the driveshaft in the least accessible location available. Why?.

Honda at least gets the excuse that they use their engines in many different platforms, and sometimes the same platform will have different engines concurrently. On the other hand, the GMT360 was introduced with the 4.2L I6 as the only option in 2002, and it was the only truck that got that engine in 2002 and 2003. The GMT355 with the 4/5 cylinder Atlas engines was two years later, and was the only other platform the Atlas was ever used in.

The fact that GM put in a tiny little splash shield beneath the oil filter is almost adding insult to injury. "Yes, we realize this poo poo sucks, but we aren't really going to do anything about it."

Swiller of Beer
Jan 2, 2003
Cold Hearted S.O.B.
Soiled Meat
My wife and I had a 2004 Trailblazer for 8 years (bought used in 2007 for a song when gas was 4 bucks). Only problems I had from 50k to 180k miles were 3 water pumps, left front axle seal, blower motor controller (which you can fix for cheap with some transistors from digikey), sway bar links, and the A.I.R solenoid on the engine. Changing the oil filter sucks, but if you stay on top of maintenance they're tough trucks. Crappy interior though.

BrokenKnucklez
Apr 22, 2008

by zen death robot
I am really shocked the Atlas never made it into the full sized C/K series. It begs to have a good 5 speed manual/6 speed auto behind it, the 4L60e - which isn't bad, just doesn't ever get it in the right torque band. It would have made a good work truck motor with decent fuel economy. The later series were pushing close to 300 hp.

http://wardsauto.com/news-amp-analysis/general-motors-vortec-42l-dohc-i-6

kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
The Colorados had the Aisin AX15 behind the 4 or 5 cylinder Atlas (I forget which) and the same bellhousing, input shaft, and input bearing retainer etc can be attached to any similar transmission.

I've actually got a 2wd Colorado's Atlas-pattern AX15 stashed under a floor mat in the very back of one of my local junkyards just in case I decide I want to swap an Atlas into a jeep or something. They are really cool engines.

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

Ordered a set of 245/65-17 tires from Amazon. I wonder how those are going to show up.

Car is unreasonably clean underneath the dirt. According to the carfax, it was in Florida into 2010, which explains it.

Wheels are beyond saving, clearcoat compromised and machined aluminum corroded underneath. Going to spot sand then plastidip. Black with some metallic silver and glossifier is the current plan.

Monroe makes strut kits like I used on my Deville, where it's already built up with spring/strut/top mount. For $120/side, can't beat it. I'll do that with matching shocks in the back, you're right, bk, that thing wallows like a pig.

I'll take a good look at the suspension when I do the tires this weekend, good chance I'll get a lifetime alignment at Firestone and go back after I do the suspension. It's too hosed right now to run new tires.

Edit: gently caress that. Last time I checked Firestone, the lifetime alignment was ~$120. Now it's $189? Nope.

Edit2: Oh yeah, the build quality of this is laughably bad. I have spent a good bit of time looking around the front end for paintwork, because the panel gaps CANNOT be factory... but they are. Everything lines up, bolts have never been touched, no paint lines/overspray/anything. The truck is absolutely as the factory shipped it out, and the entire factory must have been drunk.

meatpimp fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Nov 18, 2015

Gingerbread House Music
Dec 1, 2009

by FactsAreUseless
Lipstick Apathy

meatpimp posted:

Ordered a set of 245/65-17 tires from Amazon. I wonder how those are going to show up.

By the normal UPS truck.

beep-beep car is go
Apr 11, 2005

I can just eyeball this, right?



Ozmiander posted:

By the normal UPS truck.

Who now hates you.

Tremek
Jun 10, 2005

The panel gaps on my Saab 9-7x Aero were pretty sketchy too, but, alas, pre-bankruptcy GM and an OK platform with questionable execution. PS, the LS2 made up for almost all its deficiencies. Should have held out for the 5.3!

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

Ozmiander posted:

By the normal UPS truck.

Really? So that's what the UPS tracking number means?

Tremek posted:

The panel gaps on my Saab 9-7x Aero were pretty sketchy too, but, alas, pre-bankruptcy GM and an OK platform with questionable execution. PS, the LS2 made up for almost all its deficiencies. Should have held out for the 5.3!

True. And I should have held out for a 540i, too... But I'm a sucker for condition/price combo and this was too good to pass up.

Gingerbread House Music
Dec 1, 2009

by FactsAreUseless
Lipstick Apathy

meatpimp posted:

Really? So that's what the UPS tracking number means?


True. And I should have held out for a 540i, too... But I'm a sucker for condition/price combo and this was too good to pass up.

Don't be a dick. They'll arrive with plastic wrapped over the tracking labels and come via your normal ups delivery guy. You asked.

BrokenKnucklez
Apr 22, 2008

by zen death robot
I know it's no sports car, but they beg for a stiffer shock and springs.

Once stiffened up, they handle decently. Oh yeah and lol go build quality, but the engine will last for ever

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

meatpimp posted:

Edit2: Oh yeah, the build quality of this is laughably bad. I have spent a good bit of time looking around the front end for paintwork, because the panel gaps CANNOT be factory... but they are. Everything lines up, bolts have never been touched, no paint lines/overspray/anything. The truck is absolutely as the factory shipped it out, and the entire factory must have been drunk.

If you think the panel gap on that is bad, let me go take some pictures of my Saturn. You could almost kick the car and get your foot stuck between panels.

The upside is everything lines up exactly as it did when it left the factory, except for the passenger headlamp (and that's my fault - pulled the bucket as a last resort trying to get to the belt tensioner, haven't cared enough to line it back up properly).

I was on the fence about getting the lifetime alignment - I know I need one pretty bad, and I also know I need some new parts on the front right (and while I'm in there I may as well do both front springs and struts anyway). Figured I could get it aligned as close as they can given the current condition of that corner, then get it done again once I swap new parts on + new front springs/struts. $189 torpedos that idea though, I can get it done four or five times for that cost by a family owned frame/alignment shop that's been around for something like 50 or 60 years.

n0tqu1tesane
May 7, 2003

She was rubbing her ass all over my hands. They don't just do that for everyone.
Grimey Drawer
I did the struts and shocks on my 03 Trailblazer with cheapo ebay shocks, and even that made a world of difference in handling. They weren't that hard to do at home either, just had to borrow the spring compressor from the auto parts store.

Also, did have one water pump go out on me. That wasn't too hard to fix either.

jamal
Apr 15, 2003

I'll set the building on fire
Bilstein makes shocks for those. Not HDs or 5100s unfortunately, just a "4600" series. MSRP is 110 each.

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

jamal posted:

Bilstein makes shocks for those. Not HDs or 5100s unfortunately, just a "4600" series. MSRP is 110 each.

Any idea on how firm they are? The stock shocks are Bilstein, too... And they are like marshmallows. I used the Monroe Sensatracks on my '03 Seville and they took the car from stock mushy to reasonable. I'd like to do the same with this.

I got a bunch of junk ordered, should be here tomorrow. Tires, fluid for different and transfer case, zero belt, etc. Today I'll cross rotate the worn, cupped and trashed tires to see if I can reasonably take it for the 200 mile thanksgiving trip...I'd like to wait until I get the suspension sorted before I put new tires on...

Pictures soon, I've been too focused on exploring and getting it clean to document. Probably because I'm a bad poster.

meatpimp fucked around with this message at 12:15 on Nov 19, 2015

bolind
Jun 19, 2005



Pillbug

meatpimp posted:

cross footage

What the hell does this mean?

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

bolind posted:

What the hell does this mean?

It means stupid phone posting autocorrect somehow changed "rotate" to "footage" and I didn't catch it. :eng99:

clam ache
Sep 6, 2009
If the thermostat goes bad in this car just pull the alternator before trying to fix it. Everyone says you don't have too but it makes lathe job 100 tines easier

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

SouthsideSaint posted:

If the thermostat goes bad in this car just pull the alternator before trying to fix it. Everyone says you don't have too but it makes lathe job 100 tines easier

I went with my dad to pick up the car and the previous owner was telling dad something about "now this car has two thermostats," but I didn't pay attention, I was focused on gross evaluation.

Is there something about the thermostats in these things to watch for that makes them a common topic of discussion?

Edit: Interesting, I just looked up a DIY for stat replacement and I see what you're talking about. I'll have to look when I get home to see if the stat looks like it has been replaced.

I've got some new Dexcool to change the coolant while I'm doing the other fluids, hopefully that's all it'll need for a bit.

meatpimp fucked around with this message at 14:45 on Nov 19, 2015

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clam ache
Sep 6, 2009
I don't remember if there is two stats. Just that anyone who says you can move the alternator out of the way and still do the job is a masochist. But they are one piece units with the housing. And your in the rust belt if I remember so clean the mating surface really well cause it corrodes like a motherfo. And these are such good trucks but lol GM interior quality. Also check the power steering lines because how they are run leads to catching salt and road grime and then rusting in pieces

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