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

[gadget73]

I know they may all be different, but how bad a job is doing R and P seals? My Datsun is leaking enough I've got a diaper under it so as not to leave too much on the pavement, Pick and Pull had a couple of weepers the last I looked, far better than mine, but not dry. Debating on so called rebuilt for about 225 or a kit which would be 75 with boots. Mines reasonably tight, but it leaks. A lot.

I did it once before, its not that hard on a Ford rack at least. The seal kit is several lip seals, some O rings, and some of those Teflon plastic sealing rings. I also bought boots and new inner tie rods so all-in I'll be around 50 bucks into this not counting the tools. The special tools are all for relatively obvious reasons. Odd size lock nuts, the thing that will couple the input shaft to a torque wrench for setting the preload, a puller for getting the valve assembly out of the housing. Tool set cost me about 80 bucks, so between the tools and parts I'm not saving anything other than the chance of getting a sloppy but not-leaky rack.

The rack I rebuilt myself was a grossly overpriced thing that was supposed to be the most awesome rack available. Took forever to get it, then for unrelated reasons it took a while to get it installed. Put it in and it leaked horribly right away. Drove great, but they never washed it out or something. The garbage in the rack contaminated the whole system, turned the clear fluid in my new pump and lines into this dark grey glittery mess. I'm just assuming thats why the seals in the rack failed too. They wouldn't do anything for me since it was out of warranty on time reasons, so I re-sealed it myself. In the meantime I'd gotten an exchange on the prior lousy reman rack and was driving on that. I was actually on my way to get it aligned when I wrecked the car. Not related to the alignment at all, just me being a dipshit. That rack is still sitting on the floor, un-tested.

[gadget73]

Changed the oil in my truck. How exciting. I have to give GM credit for not putting the filter or drain plug in a stupid location on this. Its accessible and doesn't dump oil onto any other parts when draining. Need a different oil filter wrench though. The old side strap one I have doesn't fit in there terribly well, going to hunt down a bottom grab type that fits.

[stuartinmn]

The heater blower motor in my e30 325iX decided to quit yesterday - the bearings in the motor seized up. Temps are in the single digits today, so it was not a great time for this to happen. I pulled it out and freed it up a little with some penetrating oil. It will now run, but only on full speed, and I can smell the motor windings starting to get hot if it runs too long so I have to cycle it on and off. When the car is moving there's still some air flow through the system with the blower off so it's not too bad. However, now the air coming out the vents reeks of Kroil. At least accessing the blower motor is relatively easy on these cars.

I called Blunttech to order a new one. It turns out there were two different blower fan assemblies used in e30 cars depending on the year, and the one for mine is NLA...apparently the other one can be used if necessary, so I ordered that one and it should be here in a few days. Hopefully it will fit.

The weather finally warmed up enough to work in the garage, so I put the new blower in today. Turned out it was the correct part number for my car so it fit with no issues.

[BDKawey]

picked up a new daily on saturday and yesterday had the windows tinted 2022 civic sport touring hatchback, will soon be retiring and selling my 233k original mile turbo subaru.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

[gadget73]

233k original mile turbo subaru.

honest question. "original miles" as opposed to what exactly? I've never understood what that phrase is supposed to mean.

[BDKawey]

233k original mile turbo subaru.

honest question. "original miles" as opposed to what exactly? I've never understood what that phrase is supposed to mean.

In this context im referring to the chassis original motor/trans. I would assume most people would use it like that.

[gadget73]

OK. Was never entirely clear because I've seen people say it has X original miles, trans rebuilt at this, engine replaced at that. I have a car like that, about the only thing "original" at this point is the odometer.

[Mike W.]

OK. Was never entirely clear because I've seen people say it has X original miles, trans rebuilt at this, engine replaced at that. I have a car like that, about the only thing "original" at this point is the odometer.

My 535 was like that by the time I sold it. My comment was the roof was original.

[gadget73]

Part of the roof on mine is not original The only exterior sheet metal on the thing that has no new material added or just outright replaced is the trunk lid. Oh and the header panel, for whatever reason despite the massive abuse that car has suffered over the years the header is in perfect shape.

[gadget73]

New belts on the truck. Found the tensioner was noisy so that got a new wheel too. New battery in the Towncar so it actually left the garage for the first time in over a year. Unfortunately the mice got to it so there was a lot of time spent cleaning that mess up. Found nests under the back seat, in both front kick panels, and in the headliner. Car still smells, not sure if there is some more stuff behind the rear seat or if its just residual that got soaked into something. Damn mice. Car runs well at least. Needs tires though. At least one has gotten lumpy. They're from 2016 so its not the end of the world.

[Karl Grau]

Replaced the auxiliary water pump on the e39. when i first looked at it, I thought it had just come unplugged. On closer inspection, it was still plugged in but the back part of the pump housing had separated from the main portion.

















On an interesting side note, I replaced the air cleaner element since I had to remove the housing anyway. The replacement one came with a foam piece over the pleats. Same brand and part number as the old one. Not sure if this is a 'new' thing or what.

[Mike W.]

Replaced the auxiliary water pump on the e39. when i first looked at it, I thought it had just come unplugged. On closer inspection, it was still plugged in but the back part of the pump housing had separated from the main portion.

Ooo. Looks like it got toasty in there I see a nice burned spot. I also see enough circuitry to run a handheld video game. I think the one on the touring is bad, 2 wires I didn't think it was a smart pump, but looking at that thing I guess it's not a simple device. Ah, the engineers matra, if it still works, it's not complicated enough yet.

[gadget73]

Wonder if its an ECM motor or just a standard type with a variable speed. At least I'm guessing thats whats happening. Not much other reason to have this much going on in a pump.

[Karl Grau]

I have no idea why the pump has so much circuitry other than it's tied into the HVAC system somehow. And yes, this thing was fried.

[gadget73]

Fixed the window switch in my truck. Passenger window didn't want to roll down unless I messed with the switch considerably. Pulled it apart and it showed evidence of having been wet before. Cleaned the crust off with a pencil eraser and it works perfectly again.

[gadget73]

More work on the mouse piss mobile. Back seats out, nothing there, verified no stink. Pulled the dash pad out, no nests in there. The trunk had some smell going on, so the carpet was pulled, pressure washed, and hung out to dry for a few days. While that was out I deep cleaned the trunk, got any dust and dirt out, then scrubbed everything down with some Fabuloso cleaner. Didn't put it back together yet but I stuck my head in the trunk with the carpet laying in there and no more smell.

While I was at it I verified the phasing on all the speakers. One of the rears was backwards so I fixed that. Need to work on a mount for the sub amp too, and do some measurements on that box to see if it actually makes sense for the driver in it. Not sure if I need to port it or change the driver. The box was made to fit a specific place, I think the driver was just something I had on hand so its probably not the right combo.

[gadget73]

Started to pull the rack on the Continental. Got as far as removing the input coupler bolt when I found the fluid was still full and it hadn't leaked. Put the bolt back in and set the car on the ground. It leaked the entire system contents over the winter when it got really cold, but it hasn't leaked since. If its just one seal that wants to be cranky when it gets very cold I'm inclined to just leave it be. Maybe dump some mechanic in a bottle in there and see if that holds. I'm not all that motivated to pull and re-seal the rack unless its an active problem. I rinsed the dust off the windshield so I can see through it instead. Will give it a proper bath soon. Only outstanding thing on the repair list is to fix the door pull and I want to get a quote for re-skinning the seats.

[bronziti]

Drove the E91 on the freeway, stretched her legs a bit

[gadget73]

removed the factory-installed rust promoters on the truck. They put what looks like carpet jute in the door sills, a piece cut around the lower door hinge. It seems to just sit in the space between the pillar and the fender and trap moisture down in the bottom. Yanked those out, they were soaked, and blew out the big pile of wet leaf debris trapped in the space between the padding and the body.

[e24mpwr]

Strictly-speaking, it was yesterday, but I changed the oil in Cosmo (my M635) and put in a used-but supposed-to-be-good oil-level sensor as my oil light on the check panel has been on for some time. Light is still on. Not fun to see that light on, but I'm diligent about checking the oil and the car uses little/none with no weeps/seeps. I gave it a bit of a drive, thinking maybe it was stuck "down" and some warm oil would unstick it, but nope. Disappointed.

I also have had the ABS light on for a while, and since these are pricey I decided to remove and inspect the fronts (I didn't realize I had rear sensors until I started hunting for the fronts). They were a bit gunky, so cleaned them up. The light was out when I started the car, but as soon as I moved forward it came back on.

Still, nice to get a little wrenchy on the M635. Has been a while... (my MIni got a new suspension last year)

[1st 5er]

Strictly-speaking, it was yesterday, but I changed the oil...

I also have had the ABS light on for a while, and since these are pricey I decided to remove and inspect the fronts (I didn't realize I had rear sensors until I started hunting for the fronts). They were a bit gunky, so cleaned them up. The light was out when I started the car, but as soon as I moved forward it came back on.

Still, nice to get a little wrenchy on the M635. Has been a while... (my MIni got a new suspension last year)

Did you clean the ABS rings?
They can get gunky and produce that symptom.

[e24mpwr]

Hmmm... I haven't. Honestly, I don't even know where the hell it is - behind the brake rotor I assume? (please tell me there's a way to clean it that can be done more simply than having to remove the rotor...)

[1st 5er]

Hmmm... I haven't. Honestly, I don't even know where the hell it is - behind the brake rotor I assume? (please tell me there's a way to clean it that can be done more simply than having to remove the rotor...)

The sensor will point you to them.
Pretty sure removing the rotor is enough.
Other thing, they'll crack.
Had that happen once on a rear.
That was a pita to replace, even w/ Bentley.

[e24mpwr]

Lovely...

I have my car going over to the shop Monday anyway, I'll have my guy look at it.

Thanks!!

[1st 5er]

Lovely...

I have my car going over to the shop Monday anyway, I'll have my guy look at it.

Thanks!!

Maybe someone with more recent experience will elaborate.