Picked up a cheap 2007 Luxury package
 

Found this car local to me for a great price, it's a 216k mile Burgundy over Black with a sticky dash near the defrost vent but other than that it is in surprisingly good shape inside and out. No dents, scratches, or interior tears/stains and everything works aside from mechanical issues that is has a good list of.....

There is an impressive trans fluid leak from the trans to rad lines and a stripped drain/overflow plug and is the reason for the car selling cheap and passing to me since it's a no drive
The timing cover is leaking
The engine has a coil failing on #6 causing the misfire system to report all 6 as having an issue
Bank 2 post O2 is out
The VVT actuators are reporting too slow adjustment so it may need new control solenoids
All 4 pressure control solenoids and the converter lockup in the trans are reporting a performance issue, 100% sure this is from fluid going low and tripping the code
Both front wheel speed sensors are reporting an error as well but I am not 100% sure why they are complaining
Possible alternator/voltage issue or an old battery that is not powering the car correctly, may be a false code since the scanner took a long time to do it's thing since I only brought my older one with me and it's slow.
TPMS sensors are out of power and a rim may be leaking.


I'll have a bunch of pictures tomorrow as well as general updates on the refit process to get it ready for retail, hopefully the 37 mile drive back to my place goes well lol!

Sounds like a fun project, I was also going to point to a voltage problem from a bad battery/alternator after seeing the photos. Looks like you know what you're doing so I'm interested to see the rest.

Got it home, it somehow made it with 3rd gear being top gear. Had no idea if the fluid level was even remotely right since the inspection/drain plug is ruined, I just dropped 4qts in and prayed so to speak....

I will attempt a full fluid exchange and a new filter, if it doesn't work then the subframe will be dropped out and the trans replaced and timing cover resealed.


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I'll update as I go

That's a nice color car. I can't believe they didn't add that wood piece above the glove box like they did in the 2010-2012 models. Looks weird seeing one without it.

Fixing one main issue could always snowball into other things being fixed. So I applaud you. Also for your dash- I also have a sticky dash in the early stages-

using something NOT fibrous, like a rubber glove, rub Honey Leather conditioner on dash.
$20 on Amazon. Will be a treatment not a cure, but to my knowledge there is no cure yet. It gives the dash a matte shine, and at least it will be consistent. If it matters to ya! Also get a sun visor for windshield QUICK, for hot months :) Good luck

Well I did not get lucky.......

The misfire was fixed since it was simply the rear O2 causing a voltage feedback issue to the ECU, coil and plugs are all fine and the engine pulls great at WOT up to 90...however 90 is the max the car can go since the transmission currently lacks it's C2 clutch friction materials. I have zero 4-5-6 gears since the soft parts are simply done, I figured this would be the case but it didn't take me much time at all to just drop the pan and change the filter plus do 4 fluid drops and reset TCU memory and shift offsets. R 1-2-3 all work great and are super smooth now but 4 on is dead from the lack of any clutch, solenoid SL2 is working correctly as well according to OHM and volt testing when commanded by the scanner and confirmed with back-probing with a handheld.

It also needs a few typical things at this mileage, passenger axle intermediate bearing, drivers side axle from boot failure since I have no idea how long it's been like that, front engine mount, and radiator trans cooler line fitting. Overall not bad at all and should still be a good sale for me in a few weeks, now it's time to decide if I want to risk pulling the trans case endplate off and replacing only the C1/C2 drum assembly or just buy a good used trans......I'll update with pictures as the trans comes out of the car. I may try and cheat this by doing a subframe "hang" to get the trans low enough I can just slide the end plate off and attempt the drum only if clearance looks like it will play out. I don't know if that will work on this but I know it works on Fords so we will see.

Guess it's not gonna be a super easy $5000 flip lol! Still, great car and very easy to work with.


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Nice work! You sound very knowledgeable on the transmission operation, are you a mechanic by trade?

Kinda? It's a hobby that I learned since a dealer pissed me off when I was 18 with substandard work, I do not like not having control over my stuff so I learned how to do everything myself. I apparently do it well enough for people to pay me for it.....I learned from an Audi/Lexus master tech for 3 years until he had nothing left to teach me and by that time I had redesigned an engine/trans in a project car that served as my "thesis" and test of my skills. I also have learned on/worked on 100s upon 100s of cars from all makes and types so I know how to deal with any of them. I just somehow ended up doing this as a job of sorts, I want to move past it though since it's not something I really want to keep doing due to wear and tear/chemical exposure.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...a2e883cc2.jpegI forgot to mention, everything other than the hard part errors are fixed now. Clean dash other than the oil reminder post a 10 mile test drive, once I get the axles/bearing/mounts fixed and the trans issue resolved the car will be "perfect" again.

That sounds like a mechanic haha. Good luck with the rest of the rebuild.

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I have some time today/tomorrow to work on the ES some more, I'll be doing axles and oil today with a "guide" of sorts on how to do the axels.

Behold my $1.25 oil filter fresh from my commercial parts account lol!