We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show (non-) personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
I’m destined to never have AC in my vehicles.
Dad’s VW Van never had it when I was growing up. (Mom’s stuff did, of course)
Susie, my ’67 Mustang never did.
My ’93 F150, until I rear-ended someone still had R12 in the system, but wouldn’t ever work correctly.
Enter my ’18 Miata. Worked when I got it from the lot this past September. Been cold till the past couple weeks, so I haven’t used the AC. Go to change the oil and notice some green goo on the inside of the belly pan. Get to looking, wouldn’t you know it, there’s a TSB cause Mazda made the lines too weak and they’d vibrate and fatigue enough to crack.
https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=725993
So, no AC in my 5 year old vehicle that I’ve had for ~6 months.
A/C? Heat? Obviously a pretty luxurious vehicle.
Not wrenching related, but this is a member post so: anyone know what happened to Member Rides? I liked that feature.
Well… I’m a day late, but meh!
I’m frustrated with the leaks off the valve cover gasket and fuel pump. I sent it to the mechanic. That either was a stroke of genius or terrible idea; I haven’t decided. I’m thinking its genius because I really just want to drive it after the amount of work I’ve put into it, while another 8 hours of pain doesn’t seem worth it.
Once he sorts out my problem, a new windshield, and drive the crap out of it! I included photos to make David Tracy jealous >:)
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0sG4TcsmGFGZ5S
How is DT going to sleep tonight?
A couple of weeks ago I replace the blower motor resistor in the parking lot of autozone. This was for my Mercury Tracer, it took me around 10 min to do this, 5 min for the youtube video and another 5 min for the actual labor lol
I’m 97% sure we have the single most poorly built 2017 Macan in the shop right now. As for my own fleet, the Lancia’s battery charged up like a champ, which means somebody else in the herd is gonna throw a hissy fit because one car is getting a tiny bit more attention.
Figured out the second brand new mechanical fuel pump on my 70 skylark is far too weak to provide proper pressure to the carb. So off to my tried and true electric click clack pump and a regulator to get it down to a lovely 4.5-5 psi for the oh so delicate Rochester 2GC 2 bbl. After that – alignment, put the carpet and seat belts back in, and try to get the rustbucket inspected .
Any chance the fuel pump eccentric is worn down? I’m assuming buick V8s of the period used eccentrics like most American engines of the period.
Potentially, when i got the car my buddy who owned it previously had put a new fuel pump on it, and the diaphragm failed, causing fuel to pump into the engine.
So, i replaced that, it ran ok, sat for 3 months and now fuel won’t even get up to the carb. Easier to Bypass and move on.
I predict that David will be surprised (amazed?) by these three aspects of a SoCal junkyard;
A. The pricing is egregious (seriously, Pick Your Part can go F themselves).
B. Nothing is rusty. Parts just unbolt.
C. The taco truck in the parking lot is (most likely) very good.
I’ve got a growing list of automotive tasks to complete. With colder weather finally settling in here and after a massive group effort to get ahead on yard work over Easter I might get some time to tackle these items.
Project Cactus:
– Make a better shift lever bushing (20ga shell base might be the perfect fit!)
– Repair the driver’s door lock (again, the rod came off the lock cylinder)
– Change the rear-left wheel to a VF-series wheel and change over that tyre (the current wheel is for a VG and won’t fit the donated hubcap, plus it leaks air)
– Adjust the tailgate hinge, again. Try to make it permanent this time
– Fit better exhaust, using swap-meet headers
-Convert to Halogen headlights, maybe install some old spotlights on the bullbar
– Check and fit donated dash cluster, maybe try and get a working fuel gauge?
Lenny the VG Valiant Ute:
– Fix carburetor
– Replace valve stem seals (I know it won’t entirely solve the oil consumption as the engine is a little tired, it might help a little for now)
– Fix the bench seat as it’s almost entirely collapsed on the driver’s side.
Mum’s 1990 Subaru Brumby:
– Fix the hot starting issue, narrowed down to either a carburetor problem or fuel return. Going to take a lot more testing.
– Replace farmer-rigged headlight switch with an original Subaru unit
– Replace all the locks
– Broken sunvisor clips need to be replaced
– Replace cracked taillight lenses
We’ve bought a pair of rough Brumbies as parts-cars, so most of this list for mum’s car should be easily handled.
Secret new project car I picked up on Monday:
– Replace single-circuit master cylinder and get brakes working
– Replace fuel lines
– New Battery
– Install a driver’s seat
– Swap wheels/tyres
– Take to the local 1/8 mile for some drag racing (??)
That’s a mighty list, mate! Interested to see developments along the way. Cheers bud.
I took the camper out last week and have a list of small things to fix. It’s funny, because it’s been flawless for the first 5-6 trips out. I have a couple broken cabinet latches, a kitchen faucet that seems airlocked after de-winterizing (it would only drip, but I didn’t have full hookup pressure since I didn’t have water hookups) and the cooling fan in my power converter is making noise. I think they will all be easy fixes.
In the interest of not wrenching, I bought a 2021 BMW 330e today with 3 years of warranty left. It’s nice to have a PHEV again, and I’m really impressed so far. It’s far exceeding the range and mpg estimates so far. And it’s Blue!
I have two whole days between work and family to get my trailer out of storage and install a new winch so I can leave early Saturday and drive 550 miles to pick up an 81 year old car. No pressure!
I am putting off searching for what I assume to be a vacuum leak that is plaguing my Subaru with shit mileage and a chronic CEL.
About 4K on a freshly rebuilt engine and I started to get an intermittent CEL, frequently tripping during hard acceleration on a road trip. Runs fine but codes for lean condition and out-of-range O2 sensor.
Issue becomes constant and mileage is TERRIBLE.
Changed the sensor because it was old and why troubleshoot when you can just buy parts, fault persists.
Proper voltage to the sensor, harness checks out and ECM doesn’t appear to have any ground or input voltage issues.
Fuel pressure checks OK.
I am out of ideas beyond a sizeable air leak which is for sure going to be a pain in my ass to find.
I have not tried this, but…
Would a directional stereo microphone allow you to isolate the area of the leak when the engine was running? Normally the sound of a leaking hose would be masked by the sound of the engine, but the microphone would be more sensitive than the human ear. I think.
Amazon has some mikes for about $20.
I have tried looking with a stethoscope in the past with little success. brake clean always works to find them for me, it is just a matter of access I am not looking forward to.
I am also annoyed this didn’t occur to me earlier as something to look for…
I should get the Jaguar back tomorrow from having the front shocks done plus a few other things. Next item up, and I guess I’m going to have to tear into it myself, is the passenger side HVAC blower motor. It has a bushing or bearing making noise. We’ll see just how bad it is. Time to start researching the Jaguar forums.
My 2012 Acadia is mad at me because I’m trading it in in a few weeks. It now has a pretty serious shimmy in the steering wheel at highway speeds. Fingers crossed it’s the winter tires.
And off to the local scrapyard this weekend to grab some trim pieces that haven’t held up over the years.
The passenger side rear door on the Range Rover has stopped unlocking from the remote. I changed the batteries, and it worked once or twice, and then stopped unlocking again. It will unlock from the inside, but that’s no help when I want to just chuck something on the back seat. I’m thinking the actuator, but I’m open to anyone with experience of these things.
Well, I WAS planning to use an engine hoist to remove some old batteries, but recently learned that a chainsaw is the preferred tool. 🙂
The Yamaha FZ6R – aka “the modern bike that works” – will be getting an oil change, and I have a cunning plan.
The Fizzer uses a spin-on oil filter – looks like an automotive filter, but smaller.
Harbor Freight had their small three-jaw filter wrenches on sale for $4.99 a while ago, so I bought a couple. The packaging claims that the jaws are coated but I’m not convinced. I’m going to Plasti-dip the jaws to make them more grippy – should make filter removal a breeze. (fingers crossed, etc.)
After that I’ll pull the front fender so I can install the Fenda Extenda – good idea, horrible name – to keep some road crud off the engine.
Edit: I realize those aren’t car issues as such, but the oil filter wrench mod might be helpful to car folks.
We welcome wrenching content on planes, trains, automobiles, motorcycles, RVs, and beyond. Don’t apologize.
Oh, I didn’t apologize 😀
It’s just that the wrenching I do these days is on motorcycles. The DD is pretty new (so I don’t mess with it) and I don’t have a good place to store/work on a project car, but there is a non-trivial amount of automotive wrenching in my past.
That’s a good tip, even for cars. I had a saga with a Porsche oil filter that had gotten more or less welded on (actually epoxied, thanks to Rootwyrn’s wise counsel) and I should have thought of that for my wrench.
My Suzuki has a cartridge oil filter, so all I use is a socket. 😉
The K&N replacement filter I’m using has an integrated hex head as well, but I’m going to remove the old one with the dipped wrench anyway just to see how well it works. 🙂
Removing spin-on filters seems to be a common source of frustration, so if you try it on one of yours I would be interested to see how/if it worked. (In theory, I suppose any filter wrench could be dipped to make it grippy.)
Will there be video? There used to be junkyard videos…
Also this! Please get some pics and capture your first impressions. 🙂
I’m nervous because my mechanic has had my car all day and hasn’t called yet. He told me a couple of hours and it’s been seven…
(I know this isn’t quite in the spirit of WW, but we’ve all been there, and posting is the best way to delay calling him.)
What’s the car, and what’s the job?
’83 Mondial (hi Adrian), timing belt. But it’s a recent acquisition, so I’m sure he’s discovering while-you’re-in-theres.
I suppose if I did the work myself, I wouldn’t have to worry while I wait, but then driving it would worry me more! But my garage is barely big enough for the car, much less a lift or even jacks.
Wait, you’ve just bought an ‘83 Mondial? You had my curiosity, now you have my attention.
Indeed, there’s a whole saga spanning generations; someday maybe I’ll set it down somewhere. But in the meantime let’s just say I couldn’t help but chuckle at the line in your CAD piece about getting all my automotive content here and nowhere else when I’ve been so looking forward to Hagerty’s Little Prayers!
Bought a 78 fiat 124 project. What is the best safe way to jack up the car a few months while working on the interior. JT saw the changli chainsaw video i am going to ask you do not chime in.
Why do you want to jack it up?
I don’t know how old dave is, but speaking as a superannuated flatus…
If I were working on the interior of a low car like a vintage 124, I would want to raise it to a more easily accessible height.
So that’s a phrasing I’m stealing immediately