ArmyofOne

jragosta: my dad has forgotten more about engines than alot of people will ever know. i know quite a bit about them too if i do say so myself :P i would NEVER knowingly put info on this board that would cause damage to another persons vehicle or cause personal injury. im not even sure which comment you are referring to, but i jyst wanted to throw that out there, if we didnt knwo anything about cars, we wouldnt be in this coversation. people who dont knwo anything about cars dont worry about what oil is in it, they trust the speedylube to worry about that. VGR: are you aware that ever car i have ever seen with mobil 1 full synth has gone well over 200,000 miles without any abnormal mechancal faluires? my 1995 ford contour (4cyl 2.0L DOHC/5spdhad 384,990 miles when i wreckjed it. it had mobil 1 synth (started in the "early days" of synth oils) at 15,500 miles. and it stayed there until i wrecked it...with nearly 385,000 miles and not a mechanical issue one, i never replaced a head gasket, i never replaced a valve cover gasket, i never replaced anything more than the regular maintenance items. that is proof enough for me. i took that car to redline at almost every shift, even in town. yeah my gas mileage sucked, but damned if that car didnt perform like the day it was new. BTW, i was at the track with that car every chance i got, her best time was a 15.7, so she was driven WAY harder than most cars in that class (or this one) ever will be. that said, im out of this thread, people are starting to be insulted and i want no part of it.

ah, ok. cool.

these isntructions are for a 2000 Ford Contour SVT, btu the concepts should be the same: to clean IAC valve your trans issue is nto really an issue i wouldnt thik, mine does it too as do alot of high mileage toyota trannies from what i have heard, it is just shifting, trying to find an optimum gear for your speed. FWIW 40 MPH is a really weird speed for most transmissions/transaxles. under the normal driving operations it is right in between 3rd/4th gear. the reason why it does this is because engine speed and transaxle speed are directly proportionate. the trasnaxle controls the speed of your car, not the engine.

In the Ford Contour Community, this is known as "Moosing". im not sure exactly what causes it, but cleaning/Replacing the IAC valvehas fixed every case i have ever heard of. i will try to find more info on it.

I didn't notice this either. Welcome 1SICK! :) So your name is Mike? I did not know that. ← neither did i, until someone said it :D BTW, mike, my name is josh.

pretty sure you have to bypass the factory amp if the HU is aftermarket. ← So you think I should just take out the amp and get a new one? ← well from what i understand, the amplifier in the HU shoudl be enough for your stock speakers...but if you have aftermarket speakers and are looking for that extra "kick" then yes, amp them with an aftermarket amplifire. that factory amp has some kind of device on it that makes it so that it cant be used with anything except Lexus Factory Head units im pretty sure. it may even be a modulation or some kind of signal that the Lexus HU sends to the amp. obviously with an aftermarket HU, that signal is not present. i could be entirely wrong about this, but heres a quick way to find out. by come color matching wire that matches the wiring harness colors running into and out of the amp. cut the harnesses (if this doesnt work, they can be re spliced later) at either end of the amplifier. splice the wires together. this will bypass the amplifier. if your HU puts sound through the speakers when the amp is bypassed, then the issue was witht he amp. they make electrical connectors that will splice the wires back together in the event that it isnt the issue, but i think that it is. i am weary to cut the wires too my friend. LOL. i am also weary to put my HU in my car because my dash speakers in my ES250 are an odd size (something liek 3.8") and if i blow them, i wont be able to replace them with aftermarket ones...they just dont make them in that size LOL. so i would pretty much have to rewire and re speaker the entire car.

MYTH. pure myth. i have switched cars from synth to dino ever other oil change. my dad does this in his truck. every 3 oil changes, he uses a synth. for 3000 miles, then he goes back to dino for 3 more oil changes. do you have any proof tat it causes engine problems to switch? cause i have never heard of it. what kind of engine problems could it possibly cause?? Myths About Synthetics. ← I'll admit that most of what I know about synthetics comes from early days. The story then was that if you used synthetics you had to stick with synthetics or you'd start having seal problems. If that's no longer true, then my statement would be incorrect. ← in the past, that was true yes. i apologize for being so direct. i get a bit defensive about this topic, as it seems i point out that Mobil 1 site at least once a weekcause somebody says something like "Synthetic oil causes leaks". if your motor isnt leaking when you put it in, it will not start as a result of the oil.

WOW, i didnt knwo that, thats something i can check myself! thanks.

I did Josh - thanks. Skinning the forum is on my list of things to consider - right now I like the standard skin, as it allows all the standard and extra functionality we have added to work fine ← hey no prob. i had some issues on my forum as well, had to rearrange a few things (banners and such) for the skin to work properly. let me know if theres anything i can do. :)

pretty sure you have to bypass the factory amp if the HU is aftermarket.

it wasnt my intention to make him feel that way...just pointing out the sympotms i have noticed in my car.

MYTH. pure myth. i have switched cars from synth to dino ever other oil change. my dad does this in his truck. every 3 oil changes, he uses a synth. for 3000 miles, then he goes back to dino for 3 more oil changes. do you have any proof tat it causes engine problems to switch? cause i have never heard of it. what kind of engine problems could it possibly cause?? Myths About Synthetics.

heh, i was told $1300 for mine, so if you can get yours done for $650 all the more power to ya :) . the clunk you have in your front end is most likely the rack and pinion system. other symptoms are: -when i make a left turn and bring the car back straight, the steering wheel is off centered to the left about 10 degrees or so. when i make a right turn, the wheel does the same thing in the opposite direction. -between 60 and 80 mph, the car is damned near impossible to control, even in a straight line. -you get a very hard CLUNK in the front (usually the left, sometimes both sides) that sounds similar to a bad/decompressed strut. -lift the car up on a jack and you will find that one, or both front wheels will be loose in the rack. that is to say they will have excessive play to the left and the right on the axle with little or no forse applied. lots of play in the axle/steering means your tires are leaning at a negative camber, this is killer for tire wear. -at highway speeds, the steering is late to respond in 1 direction, sometimes both. on mine you have to turn the wheel about a half a rotation before the car will go around a curve to the left at 65-70 MPH. -above 80 MPH, the steering wheel comes back straight and all feel returns to normal. this is because there is suffecient drag on the tires to bring them back into proper alignment. -when the rack and pinion assembly does break, you will have NO CONTROL OVER WHICH DIRECTION YOUR VEHICLE GOES. your tie rod ends will break and you will have no steering. just be prepared for this and keep to low speed surface streets so that you can pull over quickly and do not lose control of the car. when these things break, your tires will turnm left and right independant of each other, can you imagine that when you are doing 80? (and your doing 80, becuase you are constantly fighhting thecar between 60 and 80) LOL. -there will be a slight tap in you accellerator pedal if you let it get bad enough. -all the suspension.steering comonents in the front are tied together. as such, driving long with a worn rack will cause the following parts to fail prematurely: Wheel bearings CV joints Halfshaft Transaxle Bearings Shocks/Struts Ball joints Tie Rods and im sure theres more, but its midnight here, i have to be to work at 4 am...good nite :P

i will do that tomorrow...

mine pulls in BOTH directions (i have an ES250 tho), depending on which direction the last turn i made was...its a B**** fighting with it @ freeway speeds. mineis due to a worn steerig rack (i did not know these could wear). or at least thats what the spee dee lube guy said. i havent even had it checked out cause since i dont get on the freeway that much it isnt an sisue. it clears up at 80 MPH, but between 60 and 80, it is a PITA to keep it straight. its either pulling one way or the other.

sorry i didnt mean to sound like an !Removed!...i just realized how mean that sounded. did u ever get my PM about the skin codes Matt?

exactly. its a good thing you clarified that. my dad and i have been rebuilding cars as a hobby for over 30 years combined and i have NEVER seen synthetic cause a leak. i have only seen it make presently small leaks get bigger.

LMAO @ SK. yes chances are you just knoced something out of adjustememnt. see if it gets better over the next few days. check your trans fluid after about 300 miles.

My doberman loves to sit on my lap. He is just to big for it. LOL If you have any pictures of Chancie i would love to see her. ← im sure i do, somewheres lol, lemmie check... EDIT: and more recent ones: yes, thats her futon, that damned dog is so spoiled! :P

seems to smooth out my shifts a bit too....i have an issue with hard TQ converter disengagement... if i pull my foot off the gas instantly, the car jerks in a backward motion, i think its just mounts.

as long as you arent leaking, you should be alright. it is ideal to switch over no later than 5 oil changes into the motors life, but my friend did it in his countour with over 150,000 miles and didnt have an issue, not the car has 187,000 miles. but be sure your car is not already leaking...the leaks will get worse.

no problem. :D

about how fast were you going?? any less than 5 MPH shouldnt hurt much. little story: i had been driving a stick for 4 years, and when i got my lexus, having never driven an auto before, i rested my hand on the shifter... welll, not even thinking i come around the corner in my neighborhood and my hand autmoatically goes through the motions of 2nd to 1st downshift... the selector moved rigth through netural and BAM SCREEEEEEECH...into R...i was doing 10-15 MPH. the motor stalled almost instantly. praying as hard as i could, i put the car in park, and turned the key... started right up...then i went to move the selector to D (PAUSE FOR EFFECT) and away i went. i was very lucky, being that my transaxle had 140,000 miles on it and had fluid that was 80,000 miles old ( idid not know the latter at the time.) anyways, oopses happen. but its better to screw up the trans a little bit than get into a wreck in a strange town (yes vegas is a STRANGE town ;) ) and possibly injuring yourself or someone else and having your insurance rates go up (this wreck would have been deemed your fault more than likely). BTW, the funniest thing about my story, is that i had to push the button on the selector in to get the shifter into R from D, i dont know why, but my had went faster than my mind, and i ended up doing exactly that...

i will upgrade when funding is not so thight...im barely able to put gas in my car, let alone pay for a premium membbership at the moment. i couldnt even by my mom a birthday present this year...

it sounds alot like loose coil springs, i know thats not feasibly possible, but ... well lets put it this way, in order to get a coil to clunk, you would have to not know what you are doing when you install it, and if that were the case (i can tell by your posts it isnt) then you would have had them professionally installed or left them alone. my contour did this when it had a brokmen spring though, thats why i brought it up. check motor mounts first. they are under the car between the subframe/motor. sometimes you can see them from the side of the subframe, they have rubber insertts, if the rubber is shot and dryrotted, the mount brakces will hit each other, causeing a clunk.