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chilkoot

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Everything posted by chilkoot

  1. my mechanic diagnosed it as a 'cracked resistor plate' on the circuit board behind the dash. mine is affected by heat as well, doesn't start cutting out until it hits about 75 degrees outside.
  2. With a budget like that, you might want to consider finding a 93-94 that needs basic maintenance (ideally around 125-150k with original water pump, tb, plugs, wires) and get it super cheap ($1,500-$2000), you could replace every wear part on the car (from the engine maintenance to the suspension) with the remaining 4k and save a boatload of money doing the work yourself, and then you'll know that everything is fresh and set to go another 100k. It will also allow you to focus on finding one with an immaculate body and interior.
  3. mine also sits about 1/8" above the third (halfway) mark, doesn't move once it warms up. when I had a bad thermostat it stayed at the second line, pegged solid.
  4. the 1st gen WOT button is a rubber circle about the circumference of a soda can, the tip of the pedal hits it when floored. it's a fun button. speaking of going fast, even with O/D off, trac off and ect set to pwr unless I give it more than half throttle I can't get my engine to go above 2.5k rpms on a brisk rolling pull, it shifts every time i break 2000 and I go from 5-40 with several shifts and no satisfying roar, albeit still rather quickly. Is this normal ls behavior?
  5. It is very important to note that even if you have "dead" hood struts they are still helping out quite a bit when you lift that hood. the side of the hood that you remove the strut from first will gain a lot of weight instantly, so make sure it's the side that's braced with whatever you're using to hold the hood open. ideally a second person to hold the hood for you.
  6. this is what I was hoping to hear, on both counts, my biggest concern was if there was already some incorrect fluid in there having a partial mixture of old incorrect and new correct. for some reason I seemed to recall the ACV being around $400 to replace, so $115 didn't seem quite right. I also noticed something in the service records of which i had previously been remiss: the o2 sensors were changed in '01 by a dealer with OEM equipment. this explains the conspicuously absent TRAC light that so many 1st gens have. oh happy day! though I also noticed on one of the jiffy lube sheets it specifically noted "oil sludge in engine". guess i'm seafoaming my engine, oil and tank tomorrow.
  7. I haven't touched the PS fluid on this car since I've gotten it (~4k miles ago) and was going to do a series of reservoir pump outs and refills to slowly replace the old fluid in lieu of trying a full flush. will I have problems if I grabbed some random dexron/mercon/II/II/everything else ATF from Wal-Mart and slowly mix it in with whatever is already in there? The pump/pinion/rack were replaced about 30k miles ago at a dealership, but i've only owned the car for the last 4k miles so there's no telling with what, if anything, that fluid has been swapped out with for the last few years. Is there any danger in this, and does brand really matter when using ATF for a power steering system as long as its properly rated? Also, as long as we're on power steering, I have the service report from when the pump/pinion/rack were replaced, and on it there is an item titled 'valve assy, air cont', but it's only listed as $115.12, what is this most likely to be, and is the idle valve still possibly an issue needing addressing? thanks in advance for any help
  8. I got the same thing occasionally (about 3 times in the past year), my LS has had no other issues starting and I replaced the battery with a titanium something or other from Advance a year ago (it was like $80 and 1.5x the size of the battery that was already in there, it's a monster.) but the car still occasionally died on me, like completely losing power less than 15 minutes after I had just shut it down. I would turn the key and get about 1/8sec of dash lights and everything electrical would cut out completely, including locks and lights every time disconnecting the positive wire and making sure it was connected very securely made her start right up. no visible corrosion on the terminals, but I suspect it had something to do with large amounts of engine vibration messing with the connection before i fixed my mounts.
  9. FWIW, I just had my engine mounts replaced, but have not gotten around to doing the transmission mount myself yet. it is also worth mentioning i broke a couple of sockets trying to use the "starter trick" to get my crank pulley off, so my motor mounts were certainly shot. my observations on a 1993 with 130k: before motor mounts: i had bad vibration in the steering wheel, shifter knob and particularly seat at ~400RPMs, where my car usually idles. In certain conditions when it idles at 600 the seat vibration went away, steering wheel and shifter knob had a consistent much less pronounced vibration not noticably affected by RPM. Similar vibrations in 100 rpms windows every few hundred rpm. after motor mounts: seat vibration is GONE. I don't feel the engine anymore at all in the cabin below 1500RPMS. at 1800rpms the seat vibration comes back for 100rpm windows every few hundred rpm, only really noticeable in park or neutral. I suspect that with the engine running at that speed it's transmission vibration I'm feeling in the seat. steering wheel and shifter knob completely unaffected, but the vibration is really very slight. so my best guess is that if you've got steering wheel, shifter or seat vibrations @ ~1800rpms in park, you should probably start with just the transmission mount and see if that takes care of your issues. If you've got vibration down closer to idle the engine mounts are due.
  10. when you say it tries to crank, do you mean the starter turns over or you can hear the cylinders firing but it just won't catch like a car that's out of gas? have you ever changed your fuel filter, or your air filter?
  11. You'd probably be alright with KYB GR-2s. Your '95 undoubtedly is not as tight as it was stock, and people looking for a 'new" stock feel are occasionally less than completely happy with the GR-2s because they're just a little too stiff to be called an OEM replacement. Sounds right up your alley. They'd also cost you a fraction of the cost of coilovers, which are excessive for the average street driver. if you're trying to get close to a BMW, i'd also check out a strut tower brace and your options with sway bars, and replacing all of your suspension bushings.
  12. iirc the 96's are OBDII, while the 91 is OBDI. This will cause many electrical issues, and please somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but an OBD1->2 swap is more trouble than it's worth unless you swap the harness, ecu, and possibly the transmission (OBD1 and 2 transmissions might be different, I don't remember for sure though). in other words, unless you've already bought the engine I'd seek out a low mileage '94 and rebuild the sucker to performance specs.
  13. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TDGHGY 24" chain wrench. wrap an old belt around the crank pulley, torque the monster chain around it and use a breaker bar with an impact socket on the crank bolt. you have the benefit of two breaker bars worth of leverage, and i don't trust sticking a screwdriver in my flywheel after snapping 3 of them trying to brace them through the holes of the crank pulley. this seems to be the only realistic DIY way of doing it without an impact gun. the starter 'trick', by the way, broke my 3/8" drive socket (somehow couldn't find an individual 1/2" 22mm, so i broke down and bought an impact socket set to go with the chain wrench, go figure) and toasted my motor mounts. if I had given what I was doing a second thought I wouldn't have tried. do not attempt it.
  14. 24"ChainWrenchIsHowIGotMineOff (Apologies,spacebarisdead,Ispilledbeeronmykeyboardthismorning)
  15. ??? I haven't taken the backseat out of my '93, but I recall my sister and I taking the backseat out of our old '90 when I was 15 or so with nothing but a socket wrench to remove the seat belts and it we never had a second thought about it. a good yank on those clips running along the underside of the seat and the whole bottom bench should pop right out. For the back, remove the seat belt bolts and just lift as you pull away. One person can do it alone no problem. I did it again at 16 trying to break into the trunk after I locked the key in there at the paintball field (before I knew that's where the gas tank was). Just yank it right out.
  16. that battery looks tiny compared to mine (fully fills the battery tray)... are the yellowtops that much more advanced, or is that a lower rated battery than stock?
  17. I do all of my own car work, all of the stuff I can reasonably do, and I opted to have a mechanic do my mounts for me. $475 for both engine mounts all told, and the difference is night and day. I just got it back and it drives like a new car now. for me it came down to not being responsible for all those unplugged hoses
  18. Gunk at 130K miles? You think? :P I think the max mileage recomended to run on a PCV is 60K. Oh well, better late than never! i've driven the car less than 2k since I've gotten it, this car was a lot more neglected than a worn PCV valve.
  19. it didn't fix my 400RPM idle, but replacing my PCV valve and grommet got rid of a few phantom noises that had me concerned about the condition of my engine. The grommet was rock hard and snapped in half when I removed it, there's absolutely no way it was still sealing correctly. The PCV itself seemed unusually heavy for its size, especially compared to the replacement, 130k worth of gunk perhaps? The old one still rattled, I really think it was the grommet that made the difference sealing up the whole assembly. Either way if you haven't replaced yours for a couple of years I'd recommend it, my engine doesn't seem to run any smoother or have more power, but those idle noises were driving me nuts. The most noticeable was a high pitched "puff" of what sounded like a compressed gas escaping every 1/2 - 1/3 second, changing with RPMs, that could be heard through the front driver wheel well. If you get a "purolator" replacement from Advance Auto have a 3/8"-7/8" hose clamp on hand, as the barb is one size smaller than it should be, and the hose will not seal correctly with the standard wire clamp.
  20. From what I've read the Nak's are rock solid, are the source out problems you're referring to the cause of the dead speakers or a difficulty in installing an aftermarket head unit? I'd try hooking up a known good speaker in place of the dead ones to see if it's the speakers themselves first. The Nak has plenty of power and with some new speakers you might not even feel the need to upgrade. If you have the Pioneer than disregard the above, as I have no clue. For the sub, you can still find open air models no problem. Just make sure that it's "free-air" rated and 2ohms. I think (not sure though) that a lot of subs meant for marine applications (boats) are free-air.
  21. from what I've read the key to getting the rear shocks out is to rotate them about 90 degrees after you have all of the bolts out, if done right they should almost fall out under their own weight.
  22. are you referring to a hard "chunking" sound like hail or something more like an intermittent puff of air? I have the latter, I'm hoping it's my PCV valve. I can hear it mostly through the wheel well.
  23. I don't see any need to replace my Nak head unit, despite its age, but would like to get a decent set of speakers in my car to replace my disintegrated factory units. All I can seem to find about the 1st Gen Nakamichi systems is that that they are a total of 280 watts, the rear sub is 8", 40 watts RMS from 90-92 and 10" from 93-94, the front speakers are 4" round components and the rears are either 4" or 6" round. The sub woofer is 2 ohms and would require an open-air capable replacement, the door speakers are 4 ohms. However, for the life of me, I cannot find the wattage rating on the front and rear speakers or the 93-94 sub. I've tried googling and searching here but most people just seem to replace the whole system so it never comes up. If it comes down to it I could remove my door panels and rear deck to find out, but that seems like a lot of effort for something that I'm sure somebody here knows. Thanks for any and all help. I'm also not entirely sure on the size of the rear speakers, so if somebody could please correct me. I'm going from memory on a lot of the above.
  24. check again to make sure you got all the bolts. IIRC, there's one hidden by the timing belt tensioner and two hidden around the right side of the bracket by the A/C compressor. I missed one on my first go-round and if I hadn't realized my error it would have been a LONG job. Even after I got all of the bolts out mine wouldn't budge in the least without some heavy elbow grease, so be stubborn.
  25. ummmm.....you should be able to take a Monte Carlo, unless it's an SS. Have you tried flicking the little switch next to the shifter to PWR? as far as I'm aware there is no good underdrive pulley available for a 1uz. there is a harmonic balancer on the crank pulley that is omitted from UDPs, so even if you found a one-off it probably wouldn't be a good idea to install it. Replacing the hydraulic fan with an electric is the only thing short of a torque converter that will make a noticable gain. also, unless the 1uz configurations vary greatly between the gen1 SC400s and gen1 LS400s a CAI or K&N won't do much of anything for you either. Neither will a cheap muffler. My advice would be to get a little more driving experience under your belt before you start racing your friends ^_^ (if I can't dissuade you from racing, tightening the slack out of the throttle cable on a car that old is sure to improve perceived throttle response. If you just want to win you can start by removing your backseat and A/C compressor)
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