What did you do to your other car(s) today?

[Mike W.]

Not quite today, but recently.

The Datsun, AKA Infiniti QX4 had developed a smoking problem on start up. First once in a while, then eventually usually. Bad. Like see it from outer space bad. When my back had me on the DL last year I had a neighbor wh works in a shop change the PCV valve. Did nothing. Finally I decided to tear into it myself and see what I could see. Someone had said something about valve covers, on a different car, but had it in the back of my mind. Now it didn't run like a worn out engine, smooth idle, pulled to redline well, ran really well. But that smoke. It had gotten undriveable.

Anyway, after much ado I got down to the valve covers. Hmmm, they're a 2 or more part design with an assortment of ports and vents. Dumped some kerosene in and that didn't tell me anything. Now I'd already run some Liqui Moly engine cleaner thru it for an hour, which did nothing. Finally just looked it up, shit, they're a hundred a pair at Amazon, just do it. Put 'em on and bam, no more smoke! Pried the plastic things apart and in that area between the cover and the inner cover there was lots of sludge, thick, heavy sludge. Some perforated vents that were at least restricted if not plugged. Easy diagnosis after destructive disassembly. Still seems to use oil, but no more smoke at least.

[gadget73]

assuming these internal baffles are part the PCV system as oil separators ?

[Mike W.]

assuming these internal baffles are part the PCV system as oil separators ?

I assume. Live everything else on this engine, it's complicated. They route fresh air, after the air filter at least to one valve cover, then another hose to the other valve cover, then out the PCV to the intake manifold. But the hoses go to and from the hidden part of the VC, which do have some ports going to them, and what appears to be a small drain, but I couldn't get kerosene to go from one end to the other.

[gadget73]

Went to drive the Towncar a week ago, found it had no power steering backing out of the driveway. Further investigation revealed the water pump died and peed all over the belt so it was slipping. Pump is off, replacement has been purchased. Working with TotallyStainless to make me a new set of water pump bolts. A complete set of replacements do not exist, and one of the bolt/stud lengths doesn't exist in any set. Order for that has been placed and they have the card to charge so now its just a case of waiting for them to make the parts and ship them. In the meantime I'll paint the new water pump at some point. I actually had the right paint on the shelf.


I also re-capped the ECM for the Mark VII. All two of them. One tested OK, the other had high ESR, neither were visibly leaking. No idea if it runs better but it gives me peace of mind knowing they aren't actively puking on the board. I've replaced caps on same era Ford ECMs that were leaking magic juice and corroding the board.

[Theotherotter]

I’m taking the 911 on a trip soon and it’s getting new soft brake lines and new brake fluid, I thought about some Porterfield pads but the pads on the car are at least 60% so won’t bother; changed the oil, spent some time working on Targa top fit to try to quiet the wind noise some more, and swapped steering wheels.

[austin8753]

currently on an extended road trip and my e91 keeps going into limp mode, and the codes displayed indicate a dying throttle pedal. guess i'll replace the leaky valve cover too...

[Mike W.]

currently on an extended road trip and my e91 keeps going into limp mode, and the codes displayed indicate a dying throttle pedal. guess i'll replace the leaky valve cover too...

While you're on the road? Oh joy.

[Mike W.]

Got the E36, AKA the Ultimate commuting machine, smogged. It's first smog in over 14 years and it passed comfortably. Fortunately I'm in the relaxed standards area so no Nox to pass. 245K and original cats.

[austin8753]

currently on an extended road trip and my e91 keeps going into limp mode, and the codes displayed indicate a dying throttle pedal. guess i'll replace the leaky valve cover too...

While you're on the road? Oh joy.

yeah... i had a feeling i would have to do something while on the road. luckily i brought a good portion of my tools with me.

[gadget73]

spent too much time trying to fix a power mirror switch that decided right and down were just not going to happen. Couldn't find any obvious problem in the switch itself, gave up and stole it from my wrecked car and now my mirrors work again.

[gadget73]

Water pump done on the Towncar. It didn't fit because the casting was poor, so out came the grinder to ruin my paint job. Got it on and then it was too fat around one of the bolts so a bracket didn't fit properly. More work with the die grinder. The new bolts worked fine though. Soaked the radiator with vinegar, got a bunch of flaky junk out of it. Ran a gallon of vinegar plus a gallon of water through the whole system and followed with 4 water flushes to get that as clean as its gonna be.

now I need to figure out where to get rid of the coolant. I missed the local hazmat disposal day and I've got like 6 gallons of the stuff between the couple of cars I've done since the last one. Oil is easy, parts stores take it.

[gadget73]

not precisely car, but things with an engine.

Water pump and spark plugs done on the boat. Its got a slight misfire in the 3500 rpm range. Not a place it generally runs, but its a newer thing. Still half last year's fuel and half fresh, along with last year's fuel filter. I'll do the filter and see if that helps any. Maybe throw a bottle of the injector cleaner magic juice in there for good measure.

Picked up a lawn vacuum, imagine a Kirby crossed with a lawn mower. Since its 25 years old and cheap that means it needs work. First step was washing it off, and giving the bag a clean to get the packed-in dust out of it. Needs a throttle cable (have), the throttle cable clamp (ordered) and an air filter (ordered). I'll do oil and spark plug too. Air filter is a clogged up mess, it starts fine without it but won't light off with it installed. Got it for 100 bucks, these things typically list for 250-500 and sell new for close to 2 grand. There is a plastic cover over where the cables hook up that is missing, but not too worried about it. Its purely cosmetic.

[topher800]

If last month counts....

The starter in the 1960 CJ3B was sounding like gunfire when engaged last fall. I put it away for the winter. Being a software engineer, it's my experience with myself that it's frequently best to let others work on hardware, but I thought I'd tackle this myself. Got the starter out (I somehow failed to keep a picture) and the cast half dome housing that goes over the flywheel was broken off, and two of the bendix teeth were beyond salvage. Took it down to D and D in Denver and Doug fixed me right up (new Solenoid, as that had a bad post). He probably has 1,000 starters and alternators laying around (he rebuilt my E28 alternator last winter). The new alternator had a shot regulator also, so that had to go in. Not sure what happened to cause all that

On a separate topic, Parker 4x4 had the Jeep last summer doing the rear main seal and front axle rebuild. They gave it back to me having replaced the original generator with a new alternator. I can't tell if I should be happy for the upgrade, or pissed that they took an original part.

[Mike W.]

They gave it back to me having replaced the original generator with a new alternator. I can't tell if I should be happy for the upgrade, or pissed that they took an original part.

Probably both. Being old enough to remember generators, and not fondly I might add, you're so much better off with an alternator. But a CJ3 it might affect the value. Sometimes you just can't win.

[gadget73]

Did the stuff to the lawn vac, as soon as I put the fresh oil in the carb started dumping fuel out of the inlet. I guess I should have stuck with my general disregard for any small engine maintenance. I think they honestly like the abuse.

Played with the fuel adjustments on the Continental to cut down on the black smoke. In the middle of that one of the calipers decided it wanted to stick. These were fresh before I put it on the road in early 2018, 20k miles on them. Remans are 25 bucks each, seals are $3 but the pistons are $17 so not worth bothering with if the pistons need replacing.

[gadget73]

Caliper swapped. Took the old one apart and the piston is scored all around at the end where it rides in the seal. There were a few tiny rust flakes in there. Not sure where that may have come from. The caliper was fresh but I suppose not impossible it sat a while before I got it. I flushed the brake fluid but the MC is old and so are the lines so maybe its trash that migrated from elsewhere? The service manual says any scoring on the pistons means replace the piston. Those are $18, the seals are $2-3, and I paid $25 for the reman caliper. Not worth the effort to rebuild it myself at that rate.

Carb from the lawn vac is cleaned, waiting on the kit to show up. Someone had been here before, the gasket to the air cleaner plate where the primer works through was torn and globbed together with RTV. There was also an air passage clogged, between the two thats probably why the primer didn't work right. There were also dents on the bowl where someone had whacked it trying to make it stop leaking. Float is fine, needle has a step in it. It seems to seal but I'll replace the needle and the rubber seat just to have all new parts and hopefully not have to touch any of this again for a long time.

[stuartinmn]

On a separate topic, Parker 4x4 had the Jeep last summer doing the rear main seal and front axle rebuild. They gave it back to me having replaced the original generator with a new alternator. I can't tell if I should be happy for the upgrade, or pissed that they took an original part.

They did it without asking you? That's pretty bizarre. There's a bunch of related wiring changes that go along with the swap (including a new voltage regulator) so it's not a trivial thing.

[gadget73]

"fixed" the distance to empty readout on the Mark VII. Instead of the usual variable resistor where you get connection to the wiper and one end of the resistance track, you get connection to both ends. The wiper is grounded so as the float moves resistance to one end decreases and resistance to the other increases. One end feeds the fuel gauge, the other is the DTE output. For unknown reasons the connection to the DTE end of things is open. No way to further diag it without dropping the tank to access wiring and check the sender, and if the sender is bad those are NLA. My "fix" was to stick a resistor across the terminals to simulate 1/2 tank so it shuts up. Obviously the readout still doesn't work but they aren't accurate anyway. I just don't want to have to push a button every time I get in the car to make it stop beeping and show the clock.

The fuel gauge works properly so I'm not real inclined to fool with it. The maintenance records I have do not indicate the level sender was replaced, but the fuel pump has been done several times. Far from impossible the sender or the wiring was damaged at that point.

[gadget73]

sway bar endlinks and bar to frame bushings on the Mark VII. Thought I had done the bushings, then thought I had not, but it turns out I had done them. It didn't fix the noise but the endlinks did. Last guy tightened them until the little rubber bits were smashed absolutely flat, and one of the endlinks was slightly bent.

While it was up in the air I gave the front wheels a spin and found they are overly stiff. Pulled the wheels and it seems to be the calipers are sticky. They compress but it needs more effort than I think is proper. Records indicate no replacement and the date codes on the casting agree, so we're talking calipers from 1991 with nearly 240k miles on them. Going to do all 4, the backs are also original as best I can tell. I had one on hand, the other three were $11, $25, and $43 respectively so its hard to not justify just doing the job. Pads are in excellent shape up front so they will go back on. Will evaluate the back when I get there, but I have a new set of pads on hand just in case, and if the rotors are junk I've got a set on my wrecked parts car.

[gadget73]

The Continental tried to set itself on fire last night. Turned the key and I got a cloud of smoke. Wire to the injection pump fuel solenoid rubbed through on something and shorted. It must have blown the fuse link that powers all of the key-on stuff. I found the torched wire feeding the injection pump. I was able to break that off and hot-wire it with a wire I had in the trunk for some reason and bridge the starter relay with my keys to get home. Already looked in the wiring harness book and ordered some fuse link of the proper gauge. The fun part is going to be figuring out how far back that wire melted and what other damage the harness suffered because of it. I know the foot or so of wire I could see between the pump and wherever it vanishes into the harness is completely smoked.

[gadget73]

Front calipers done on the Mark VII, big improvement. Rear calipers made no difference, and to my utter astonishment they were fine. That specific design is very prone to having the slide pins seize in the bracket but it was all moving. I'll pull them apart this week to see if maybe they can be rebuilt, but unless the pistons are perfect they aren't worth the bother. The only real reason to take them apart is to see what sort of condition they are in after 33 years and 240k miles.

Got the wiring mostly fixed in the Continental. It wasn't as smoked as I thought so I was able to just dig backwards into the loom a few inches and splice in some new. Fuse link hasn't shown up yet, but once it arrives all I have to do is splice that in.

[1st 5er]

Wifey's '96 XJ got some wiring TLC.
First there were hard cold starts, then hard and several no starts, but it was when the driveability went to shit that I had to get serious about finding the real culprit. Turns out it was the harness and connectors that run close to the block that succumbed to the heat and related cycling. After several hours spent uncovering, separating, and mending exposed wire, this morning's cold start was what you'd expect from a well tuned ICE veehickle.

Now, off to the parts store to replenish the extra fuse inventory.

[Theotherotter]

The 911 got new wheels and tires and a new steering wheel

[gadget73]

I'll pull them apart this week to see if maybe they can be rebuilt, but unless the pistons are perfect they aren't worth the bother. The only real reason to take them apart is to see what sort of condition they are in after 33 years and 240k miles.

One was surprisingly OK. No scoring on the piston, no rust in the housing. It looks well used and the seal was a little on the stiff side but nothing alarming, just old/high miles things. The other was a little different. Piston and bore were OK but the seal is gummy and sticky. Not sure whats with that, contamination maybe?

[austin8753]

set out to replace blown intake blocks and a wasted clutch kit in my e30 m3. ended up doing a top end rebuild, too. mission creep really took a good hold on that project. luckily, i already had everything on the shelf, in anticipation.

glad i did the job, the oil leaks were out of control, and the timing chain guides were HAMMERED.