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Well... my replacement CD changer door arrived and I SWEAR... In the photos it looked gray. It has the same scratch as the seller's pictures, its just his camera was that bad with the colors. The ad did say Beige interior, which is this tan/brown color. I just was going off the photos alone and hoping the seller's description was inaccurate.
Oh well. Its back up for sale on eBay for the same as I paid for it. $20 + shipping.
If anyone has a gray cd changer glove door in good condition please let me know, or if you see one from a junkyard I would appreciate it if you grabbed it. I'm sick of looking at my beat up door. Worst piece of my interior by far.
Having heater core problems. I have very little heat at idle, almost none. On the highway or driving the heat comes back. I always though my heater seemed off when I was not in motion.
As a side note my engine runs in perfect operating temperature at all times. Warms up quick and stays just a hair above the halfway mark just as it should. I can idle all day and it wont overheat.
So far I have opened the large burp/filler bolt on top of the thermostat and filled it up as much as I can while it is idling. Its flow is good, clean and without air bubbles. Expansion tank is full.
I also checked to make sure the heater valve is opening & closing as I adjust the temperature in the cabin. It moves and appears to be operating perfectly. Heat set to HOT, its open. Set to cold its shut. Moves in ticks in between each degree setting.
I have come to 2 conclusions. First being my radiator cap is bad as the system doesn't seem to hold any pressure at idle. I can open up the radiator cap on the expansion tank when its at full operating temperature. Hoses do not get a little stiff either from the pressure that is supposed to be built.
Second being that my radiator core may be dirty or have a clog.
Ordered a matching 0.9 BAR (13PSI) OEM-quality radiator cap. I'll report back after it's arrived!
Well, the new radiator cap is working! My cooling system is clearly pressurizing properly now! Not that it was causing overheating or anything before, but I guess nice to have a proper engine function back.
As for my heater core, my heat is still lackluster at idle when fully warmed up. Looks like it just needs a flush to clean it out, nothing else can be wrong but a dirty heater core now.
Today, since it warmed up to a whopping 35*F... which is very warm this time of year for where I am- I decided to go ahead and change my engine coolant temp sensor, or ECT for short as many call it.
The old one literally crumbled when I took it out. I was careful removing it as well! After 200K miles, and being original from 1996... this is why you should consider replacing yours. You can see the inside even was corroded out. I cant imagine it was accurate at all, but It did work...kinda.
Installed the new one with a little teflon tape on the threads and re-used the crush washer. Tightened about as much as I would a valve cover bolt. No leaks, good to go!
How has this changed the way my car runs?
My idle is less aggressive. It used to idle at 1500-1600 cold. Now it idles at 1200-1300.
My hot idle used to be around 650, 700 maybe. Now its down to 450-500 about.
From a HOT start (engine off after being fully warmed up, then restarted) my idle used to be higher (900-1100) and take a minute or two to come down to the old 650-700rpm.
Now from a hot start my idle comes down to the 500 range within 5 or so seconds.
Power seems about the same at wide open, throttle response feels about the same as well. I didnt expect those to change though.
Hopefully I get a few extra MPG! That would be nice. One more small thing fixed to make the car a hair better.
One small trick I learned from an old mechanic is to reverse the flow to the heater core. He said first try to flush with a hose, backflushing is really the best way to get the junk out. Another way if you don't want to flush is to just reverse the heater hoses, that will reverse the flow in the heater core and can help.
Also a little tip for belt squeaks is that if they reused the drive belt when they did the timing belt, and put it on backwards they can chirp. Basically when you take them off draw an arrow on the belt that points toward you and then put it on that way when you are done. if you put it on backwards, ie the arrow pointing toward the motor they can squeak sometimes.
Keep up the good work. I love seeing cars getting much needed love.
After this last snowstorm I finally decided to order some new tires. Got a set of Kenda's for $236 shipped on ebay. The particular set of all-season Kenda's that were so cheap had really good reviews, and even decent for snow.
My current tires are Goodyear Integrity's and they are AWFUL in snow, they also are worn out and full of dry rotted cracks.
New tires are due in the mail in a couple days. After I get those mounted up it will be time for new pads & rotors all around! Then the windshield after that...
One thing at a time lol. It'll get there. I'm also keeping extra money saved for if the starter happens to go, which I shouldn't have to worry about that for another 20-40K miles since it seems the starter goes around 230-250K miles.
Just got done upgrading all the interior lights to LEDs!
Most of them are T10 aka 194 bulbs including the trunk, license plate lights, & the bottom door ground lights.
1 T5 aka 74 bulb for the glove box
2 T11 aka BA9 bulbs for the map lights up front by the Dome light (which was already switched to an LED by the previous owner)
Only decided to do this because I like the brighter nature of LEDs. Also I got them all for under $12 shipped on eBay. LED's also mean a much lower draw on the battery as well while in use.
Finally decided to get around to modifying my exhaust to give the old girl a little more tone and character.
This is just a mockup with a single 12" turndown tailpipe. I plan on clamping both of them down in this position so it dumps the exhaust down behind the rear wheel- like an old muscle car!
I'll be finishing this up tomorrow when the other turndown pipe comes in at Orileys. They only had one in when I went to see what they had for turndown tailpipes.
Removing the rear mufflers gives the car a nice sound. Little bark on startup and a subtle deep idle. You can barely hear it cruising on the highway. I like it!
My exhaust system is all done with my turndown tailpipes dumping the exhaust after the rear wheels right on the ground.
MONDAY I am very excited for. My windshield is being replaced finally! Will make my car feel so much nicer not having to look past a couple cracks...
I also ordered a full set of brake pads & rotors with included brake wear sensors. Brakes will be done when I have a little extra just in case I need to replace a seized caliper during the process.
(Thats a reflection on the ride side of the windshield in that picture, it almost looks like something is off, but its not lol.)
Oh man, its SO nice not having to look past a cracked windshield any more!
Today I got bored and fixed the common issue that causes the front cigarette lighter to stop working. That stupid fuseable link on the hot wire that end up breaking.
I did as many said to do and removed the nylon washer so that fuseable link is bypassed.
I put it all back together and my front outlet is working perfectly again! Yay for one less broken thing.
My throttle body is having issues not fully closing. I oiled the pivot points externally a couple months ago and it helped for a little while, but now its not fully closing again. Giving the car a high idle.
Maybe this is why my Vehicle Stability Control light and ABS lights keep coming on once in a while intermittently? Least I think i read that in guides mentioning cleaning the Throttle body.
Time to get it over with. I went and ordered a new throttle body mounting gasket. Its time to take it off the car and fully clean the butterfly. Also oil it up a little from the inside. I bet the throttle butterfly looks awful and is going to be caked thick in grime from the other side.
Like everything else on the car I don't think this has ever been serviced. Least cleaning the throttle body is pretty easy!
Car is running perfectly fine otherwise. Just the sticky throttle body giving a slightly high idle at times.
Edit: I have since taken off the intake tube and carefully cleaned where I can with a screwdriver wrapped in a shirt to wipe around where the butterfly makes its "seal" to fully close. Also wiped some on the back of the butterfly to try and clean what I can without removing the throttle body fully. (It was in the 10-20*F temps here. Way too cold to mess around with that.) That shirt came out full of black grime as I had expected lol!
I also sprayed a tiny bit of wd40 on the shaft ends that goes through the butterfly and worked it in.
Fixed the throttle plate from not closing fully. Should get me by until it warms up. Come Spring I can take it apart and clean it properly off the car!
12-26-16, 08:44 PM
