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I had honestly forgotten that we ever got the Vanette here until I came across the recall - it's been a very long time since I saw one on the road. And if I did see one, I'd probably confuse it with the Toyota van of the same era - they look pretty similar. It's possible the choke plate has become detached from whatever mechanism controls it - I know from personal experience that having this happen makes it a pain to start a cold engine. If you're comfortable doing so, you can probably remove the air cleaner housing and see if the choke plate is connected to anything - the linkages are usually held together by small C clips, and they sometimes like to roam to new and exciting places when you're not looking. It could simply be stuck too. I'd guess it's stuck open since it sounds like it runs reasonably decent once it warms up, but it's also been a long time since I dealt with a carb. From what I understand, it was the 2.4 that was prone to fires, and it was more because they shoved in an engine that was far bigger than what the chassis was designed for, which supposedly lead to overheating.
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Feb 11, 2016 08:55
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some texas redneck posted:Yeah, if it's a basic carb, the choke will be a temperature sensitive spring with a heater on it - that style is sort of sensitive to ambient temp, in that it'll take longer for the heater to warm up the spring (and thus, open the choke) when it's really cold out. Turning on the key and letting it sit for a minute will energize the heater, and force the choke to open. Leaving the key on with the engine off may or may not cause damage to the ignition system though - usually the coil and/or ignition module. All of mine have had manual chokes, so I guess your mileage will vary. You're right that it's possible to burn something out by leaving the key on, but I thought that was a thing with points. I've left the key on long enough to drain the battery on my electronic ignition, and it didn't seem to care  Pompous Rhombus posted:I know it's only going to get worse as fall/winter come. Yeah not necessarily. The reason I mentioned leaving the key on (for the amount of time that it usually takes it to start working, you said a couple minutes) is because I've heard about some electric bimetal/heater chokes that close too much in the summer / when it's warm, so you actually need less choke than what you're getting. Which would make sense with it getting better as the choke opens with the heater. However, what doesn't make sense is that it gives you no grief with hot starts. Unless there's some sort of choke bypass mechanism (temp sensor?) when the coolant gets up to temp?
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Feb 11, 2016 09:45
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As for your steering, most steering boxes have a lash adjustment grub screw and locknut which you can use to take up some of the dead space in the middle. Be careful - too tight and you'll have no free play and Bad Things Happen. You also probably have a bunch of rooted ball joints in the steering contributing to the dead zone. Unusual tyre wear and the car riding funny is probably a bad wheel alignment combined with some PO fuckery, like the wrong shock installed or spacers reinstalled incorrectly after some work or w/e. Start with a wheel alignment and proceed based on what the shop tells you. Unless it's a rear wheel in which case you might have collapsed leap spring bushes which you should probably check asap.
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Feb 11, 2016 10:35
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Slavvy posted:As for your steering, most steering boxes have a lash adjustment grub screw and locknut which you can use to take up some of the dead space in the middle. Be careful - too tight and you'll have no free play and Bad Things Happen. You also probably have a bunch of rooted ball joints in the steering contributing to the dead zone. Yeah go jack up the front end and shake the tie rods / rock the wheels to make sure that the slop is actually in the box. If it is, you might be able to snug it down, yeah. But, as mentioned, if you go too tight, your steering might lock up on you, so be very careful of that.
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Feb 11, 2016 10:39
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Raluek posted:However, what doesn't make sense is that it gives you no grief with hot starts. Unless there's some sort of choke bypass mechanism (temp sensor?) when the coolant gets up to temp? He/she mentioned a bimetallic spring, so residual underhood heat will keep the choke from closing for up to several hours, particularly in the summer (and it's summer where they're at). I know the choke on my F-150 wouldn't close fully for about 3-4 hours on hot days. The intake manifold often has coolant running through it as well, so the carb will also be (indirectly) heated by the coolant if the engine has that style of intake. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 10:46 on Feb 11, 2016 |
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Feb 11, 2016 10:43
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some texas redneck posted:He/she mentioned a bimetallic spring, so residual underhood heat will keep the choke from closing for up to several hours, particularly in the summer (and it's summer where they're at). I know the choke on my F-150 wouldn't close fully for about 3-4 hours on hot days. That's a good point. I'd been reading about people having issues with the choke coming on and making hot starts problematic, but those were modified cars with probably a phenolic spacer.
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Feb 11, 2016 10:49
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Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 11:58 on Feb 11, 2016 |
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Feb 11, 2016 11:35
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some texas redneck posted:If you're comfortable doing so, you can probably remove the air cleaner housing and see if the choke plate is connected to anything - the linkages are usually held together by small C clips, and they sometimes like to roam to new and exciting places when you're not looking. It could simply be stuck too. I'd guess it's stuck open since it sounds like it runs reasonably decent once it warms up, but it's also been a long time since I dealt with a carb. That sounds similar to something I remember reading in the shop manual, assuming I find the right thing I think I'd be OK with that. I grabbed photos of several pages of the manual of stuff I might try, of these, what do you reckon I'd be best starting off with given the issue?    (lol that guys face)   Raluek posted:Yeah not necessarily. The reason I mentioned leaving the key on (for the amount of time that it usually takes it to start working, you said a couple minutes) is because I've heard about some electric bimetal/heater chokes that close too much in the summer / when it's warm, so you actually need less choke than what you're getting. Which would make sense with it getting better as the choke opens with the heater. Yeah, it fires right up if the engine's been running recently. When I've used it for tip runs it has no problem starting if I've left it for ~30-45 mins or so. Slavvy posted:As for your steering, most steering boxes have a lash adjustment grub screw and locknut which you can use to take up some of the dead space in the middle. Be careful - too tight and you'll have no free play and Bad Things Happen. You also probably have a bunch of rooted ball joints in the steering contributing to the dead zone. That sounds like one of those things I could probably try on my own (although I've only got a middlin' rated torque wrench for doing stuff on the postie that might not cut the mustard with some of the car stuff, dunno) but the risk/reward isn't worth it at my level of experience, especially when I've got the school who would probably do that for free. May have been something PO already tried though, said his old man was a mechanic and did a lot of the work on it. The higher wheel actually is the rear driver's side wheel  In general the suspension is a bit squeaky on bumps and the body does 2-3 bounces when you push down hard on either bumper and let go, something I did note before I bought it but chalked up to "$600 van  ". Seller's driveway wasn't very level though, it would have been smart to stop at a flat car park and do a walkaround then, because I didn't notice the body riding slightly higher over the one wheel until I after I got home and parked it.Haven't noticed any cracked or broken leaf springs but I'll give it a closer inspection tomorrow afternoon when I get home from work, ditto on the bushes. Should mention I'm not daily driving the van; postie suits me a lot better for the urban commuting that makes up most of my driving and petrol is basically a non-expense on that thing. Still, it's done a few 30-50km drives without incident so far, but I'll keep it in dry dock until I at least get a better idea about that rear suspension.
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Feb 11, 2016 12:05
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Choke mechanism would be where I'd start - also test the heater and relay, but since you have cold start issues and not warm start issues, I'm pretty sure your main issue isn't related to the heater circuit. Not saying you don't have issues there, but I'd personally rule out the heater circuit as being related to cold start issues. I'd look at the heater once you have it starting reliably when cold. If the EGR was sticking open, it would either idle very high or very low when warm, and would likely have trouble idling in general. Worth checking out though, if it's sticking open it can cause starting issues (but I would think it would cause issues while warm too). The automatic temp air cleaner doesn't affect anything except how quickly the engine warms up - you'll see a large hose running from near the the exhaust manifold into the horn on the air filter housing (or just a hole if the hose has been lost). All it does is open a valve inside the air cleaner that pulls air from that hose; the air going into that hose is heated by the exhaust manifold. If PCV had issues, it would cause a large vacuum leak, and you'd have a high idle once warm. It's worth checking to make sure everything is hooked up and working. The idle compensator - do you have to feather the throttle to keep it idling? If not, I don't think that's your primary issue. Again, it's been ages since I've touched a carb, so I'm digging up some knowledge from a long-forgotten part of my brain - in other words there's a reasonable chance I'm full of poo poo, but I'm reasonably sure that your issue with cold starts is either the choke assembly and/or a large vacuum leak.
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Feb 11, 2016 13:41
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A 1991 Toyota Camry has needed a new battery every winter (in the D.C. area, so muggy hot summers and balls-freezing winters are the norm) for the past six years. This happens regardless of how much its driven over the interim. Once it starts, it runs, and runs fine, but getting it started requires jump starts or a portable jump starter. If the jumper cables are left on during a jump start for an extended period (15-20 minutes after initial start), it'll siphon enough juice from the donor car to run for at least a couple weeks at a time, but that's obviously not a long-term solution. Mechanics have claimed the various batteries to be fine (as in, "it holds a charge"), and have also given the alternator a good bill of health as recently as last year, so I'm kinda stuck in the brainstorming phase. Could this issue be as simple as a fanbelt that's already worn out, or am I going to have to start hunting for short circuits or a mechanic who's more of an "Alternator Whisperer" or, worse, another car? uncle wrinkles fucked around with this message at 20:09 on Feb 11, 2016 |
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Feb 11, 2016 20:07
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First step would be to get a multimeter and measure how much current it draws with the car off and key out. A key-off drain can kill a good battery even with an alternator that works fine while the engine's running. A car that old shouldn't be drawing more than, say, 10-50 milliamps. Meters are  if you don't have one already, and they're pretty drat handy to have around.
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Feb 11, 2016 20:25
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I'm straight up gonna put my money on a bad ground.
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Feb 11, 2016 21:06
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I'm going with trunk light and/or switch
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Feb 11, 2016 21:18
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spankmeister posted:I'm straight up gonna put my money on a bad ground. Sounds like a safe bet to me.
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Feb 12, 2016 00:36
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2005 Ford Focus ZX3 not blowing heat. It's gonna be like 10 below for the rest of the weekend and I don't want my friend to freeze. Is there a checklist of "heater don't work" things to go down? How would I be able to tell whether the heater core is good? Does that involve removing the whole thing and seeing whether water/coolant passes through it?
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Feb 12, 2016 18:29
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scuz posted:2005 Ford Focus ZX3 not blowing heat. It's gonna be like 10 below for the rest of the weekend and I don't want my friend to freeze. Is there a checklist of "heater don't work" things to go down? How would I be able to tell whether the heater core is good? Does that involve removing the whole thing and seeing whether water/coolant passes through it? First thing - is the coolant full? The heat is the first thing to stop working on many cars.
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Feb 12, 2016 19:47
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0toShifty posted:First thing - is the coolant full? The heat is the first thing to stop working on many cars.
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Feb 12, 2016 19:56
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Yeah, look for puddles where it parks, or crusty poo poo collecting around hoses and on the radiator. I can't remember what color coolant my 02 Focus used. Whatever you've got, don't mix colors no matter what the loving label on the jug says.
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Feb 12, 2016 22:56
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Do they make a supercharger for intrepids?
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Feb 13, 2016 05:25
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As a person who owned a 2001...why?
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Feb 13, 2016 05:31
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Well I'm thinking about buying an intrepid and modifying it. So far I've researched that theyve got a 2.7l and a 3.5 but no v8, so if theres no supercharging kits out there, then I probably won't buy one. A na v6 isnt exciting enough
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Feb 13, 2016 05:47
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How many wife beaters do you own?
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Feb 13, 2016 06:04
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if you want an american FWD sedan that's "exciting" get a Taurus SHO, they're available V6 and V8 flavors depending on year
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Feb 13, 2016 06:09
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Nierbo posted:Well I'm thinking about buying an intrepid and modifying it. So far I've researched that theyve got a 2.7l and a 3.5 but no v8, so if theres no supercharging kits out there, then I probably won't buy one. A na v6 isnt exciting enough I wh
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Feb 13, 2016 06:13
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none. i'm australian and i just moved to canada and i want a big ugly car that can be a bit of a sleeper and i identified the intrepid as having potential and a car that no one would expect is fast
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Feb 13, 2016 06:13
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How long do you expect a 2.7L chrysler to be reliable without a supercharger? Why would it be fast with one?
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Feb 13, 2016 06:14
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well most 6 cylinders with a supercharger are decently fast enough. I wont be taking it to the strip, but I do like the feeling of being pushed back in my seat in a boat
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Feb 13, 2016 06:19
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if you feel like springing for the 3.5 these guys make a kit. hope you feel like spending 5x what the car's worth. and then additional effort likely needed to adapt it to a FWD application (that kit's for the same engine in chargers and challengers) E: lol 90s-era US economy V6es are not the sort of motor you're probably familiar with.
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Feb 13, 2016 06:19
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Awesome, thanks for the link, exactly what I wanted.
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Feb 13, 2016 06:22
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But...But it's an intrepid. It's not big. It's not fast. The only thing it has going for it is that it's not a Chrysler 200.
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Feb 13, 2016 06:53
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- Audi VW thread. Idiot
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Feb 13, 2016 08:40
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scuz posted:2005 Ford Focus ZX3 not blowing heat. It's gonna be like 10 below for the rest of the weekend and I don't want my friend to freeze. Is there a checklist of "heater don't work" things to go down? How would I be able to tell whether the heater core is good? Does that involve removing the whole thing and seeing whether water/coolant passes through it? You might also check if the blend door is accuated by vacuum or eleckitacity. If the forner, you might have a vacuum leak that would solve other problems. 
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Feb 13, 2016 08:52
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Nierbo posted:none. i'm australian and i just moved to canada and i want a big ugly car that can be a bit of a sleeper and i identified the intrepid as having potential and a car that no one would expect is fast It's also a car that will fart out connecting rods if you so much as sneeze while accelerating. Trust me, an Intrepid is about the worst possible car you can spend any money on; they're not even worth the money you spend on fuel. You would be far better off finding a GM with the 3.8 V6. Far more reliable car in general (even the 90s versions, though the interiors will be falling apart), and some of them had a factory installed supercharger.
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Feb 13, 2016 09:01
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Just a quick update on the van: Got underneath the rear and had a look at the rear suspension. Leafs (leaves?) all seem to be intact, from what I can see of the bushes there's a fair bit of cracking, would I be able to tell how bad it is without jacking the car up, removing the wheels, and starting to take the suspension apart? Have a feeling this will be left for the school to check out regardless of the answer, but wouldn't mind being able to look like less of a dummy when I take it in. I wanted to check out the choke and vacuum hoses, but parked it right up against the wall, forgot that engine access is under passenger's rather than driver's seat  I did do a combination of what both you guys said: put key in the ignition and let it sit there with just the electrics on for a minute or so before I started trying to start it, and pumping the gas pedal first. It didn't fire *right* up, but did get going with much less fuss than it ever has, probably at least 60% faster. Although I dunno, possibly that's because I did it in the early evening (after a warm summer day) rather than first thing in the morning like usual, hmm. I'll try it again tomorrow morning, this time leaving the car on for a bit longer before starting.My local auto parts store has a 2500kg jack on sale this weekend for AU$100, mighty tempted to go buy it along with a pair of stands. OTOH, I theoretically have access to the school's facilities/equipment for the rest of this year, and might be moving afterwards, would be one more big/heavy thing to deal with when the time comes.
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Feb 13, 2016 09:28
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Well I'm about to throw in the towel on my beater (a 2001 Mazda Tribute LX V6) and take it to a shop. The brakes aren't very strong; it has a tiny bit of a bad-brake scraping sound (like when your pads are starting to wear down) and the pedal is too mushy. Brake performance had been a very slight bit less than ideal after I had a buddy replace the front pads a few years ago (it doesn't get driven much). Since then I've learned a lot more about auto maintenance and have been doing things myself. Anyway, at one point the fuel pump utterly died and the car sat around for several months, outdoors. The front rotors had just started to get a little rust on them when I finally got around to replacing the fuel pump. But it seems to me that the brakes are way worse now, with much less stopping power. The pads scraped the rust right off the rotors as expected, but I do note that they look a little... well, bumpy. It's exceedingly faint to the touch but they're not mirror-smooth. I'm finally guessing that's the problem since so far I've:
That's my dumb story and plea for help; thanks for reading.
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Feb 13, 2016 22:42
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Wow theyre seriously that bad huh. I've driven the 3.8 v6 youre talking about and I find them incredibly uninspiring and get very bad mileage for the performance, although I've never driven a supercharged one.
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Feb 13, 2016 23:28
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The Cubelodyte posted:Well I'm about to throw in the towel on my beater (a 2001 Mazda Tribute LX V6) and take it to a shop. The brakes aren't very strong; it has a tiny bit of a bad-brake scraping sound (like when your pads are starting to wear down) and the pedal is too mushy. Brake performance had been a very slight bit less than ideal after I had a buddy replace the front pads a few years ago (it doesn't get driven much). Since then I've learned a lot more about auto maintenance and have been doing things myself. Anyway, at one point the fuel pump utterly died and the car sat around for several months, outdoors. How many miles? Ever replace the actual caliper?
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Feb 14, 2016 00:09
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200,973, and no. Hadn't really considered it, because it doesn't pull to any particular side when I brake. I can't imagine them both failing in the same manner at the same time... but then again my buddy did work on both brakes, so maybe they got equally hosed up then somehow?
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Feb 14, 2016 02:01
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I have a car question. I have heard that there is now no mechanical linkage between the steering wheel and the front wheels and the control is now electrical. What happens if the battery dies and the engine seizes? Is the car unable to steer? Or is there some backup safety system in place?
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Feb 14, 2016 02:28
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There's still a linkage. It's the power assist that is electric, just like the hydraulic assist before it.
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Feb 14, 2016 02:59
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