sea93

1969 Camaro Coupe 327 1996 Nissan Altima 1994 Camaro Z28 1998 Ford Exploder Sport 2001 Audi TT 225 2004 Ford F150 FX4 2004 Chevy Tahoe (Still have)

Hello, 2nd post here.. I wanted to give an update on my car and results from DIY mods listed here and on some other useful forums. I plan on taking care of most of the issues I noted in my previous post # 117 in "Tells Us About Your Car And Its Mods Or Problems, Find out common problems + repair costs" - that is where the numbering below comes from.. 5) Tilt steering wheel locked in all out all up position - I did the "washer mod" as noted in the www.soarercentral.com site, i would post the link, but seems the site is down as i post. This fix of taking the steering column apart and adding washers behind the plastic gear so it bites on the part of the gear that isn't worn down worked great. I used this washer (see pic) it was a set of 3 for a ford truck oil plug gasket. (copper) worked great. SOOO much more comfy to drive now.. 2.40 at O'riley auto parts 7) Oil is leaking I think from the front of the engine (so maybe timing belt from what i have read) Engine bay looks like someone threw a balloon full of oil in there, not pretty. - I haven't fixed this yet, but i think it is a Cam Seal.. So i guess replacing cam seal/timing belt/water pump is in my future 8) Headlights need to be polished, light is not passing through like it should be - I did the toothpaste method.. on just the outside, and What a difference!!! 10) Front passenger fender needs to be replaced - I bought a fender from an ebay seller, it was in good condition, but didnt exactly match. I see that i get the paint code from the driver door, i guess I'll get paint from the lexus shop then find a place around my house to do it for me.. 12) I put Premium gas in it at the QT station by my house for the first time, and the car didn't crank when i went to leave. My heart sank. I tried it again and it worked, but for the rest of the trip home it seemed like it wanted to die every time i came to a complete stop. I did get me home though. - I cleaned my throttle body from instructions in http://www.lextreme.com/ basically take the air intake out and clean the TB with carb/TB cleaner. It has a few rags worth of gunk in it.. The car has not died since. I think this also had to do with 1/2 dirty TB, 1/2 bad main ground. 17) Power side mirrors don't seem to be working - They actually were working, i just wasn't working them correctly! 18) Ground cable in bad shape (battery wasn't fastened in any way, slide over towards belt and belt rubbed the cable almost in half.) - Bought and installed a new neg ground cable. I still an getting some dimming when i brake at night, i think i am going to go back and make sure i sand a bit down to the bare metal for it to make a really good connection. I also installed a universal battery tray, and a southern engineered fitment device so it doesn't flop around in cornering. 19) While driving at night, occasionally headlights lights and dash will loose power with right set of blinkers running. Ground cable fixed this. Thanks guys, I'll keep ya'll updated! OH if anyone in Dallas area has a 1993 SC300 repair manual they would let me borrow or sell me that would be sweet. Thanks -J

Hello, this is my first post. 1993 SC300 - 158k miles, paid 1900$ for it. I am a former Audi enthusiast (TT 225 w/Mods) and still a family Chevy Camaro enthusiast (have a project 69 Camaro and plan on buying the new one next year) I thought it would be hard to touch the detail and willingness to help in the Audi community, but you guys are doing it right as well :-) SC300 is red and has just about every problem i've read on here about. 1) Tach and MPH needles black 2) A/C LCD not lit up except for strip of top bar, making it useless 3) Truck lid doesn't stay up 4) Interior pretty much looks horrible, seats cracked, carpet dirty, dash pieces cracked 5) Tilt steering wheel locked in all out all up position 6) Suspension is decent but the car seems to be riding a bit high, will be due for some upgrades 7) Oil is leaking I think from the front of the engine (so maybe timing belt from what i have read) Engine bay looks like someone threw a balloon full of oil in there, not pretty. There is a sticker on the top of the engine that says the timing belt was replaced around 135k miles, so I'm not sure if it is common for them to break again so quickly. (I actually read the forum rules, and will be posting new topics for questions I am seeking answers) 8) Headlights need to be polished, light is not passing through like it should be 9) taillights have condensation in them from an obvious leak somewhere 10) Front passenger fender needs to be replaced 11) Auto transmission shifter is cracked and needs to be replaced 12) I put Premium gas in it at the QT station by my house for the first time, and the car didn't crank when i went to leave. My heart sank. I tried it again and it worked, but for the rest of the trip home it seemed like it wanted to die every time i came to a complete stop. I did get me home though. 13) Passenger door window doesn't seem to want to roll up or down. 14) Airbag light is on 15) Brake light is on 16) Stereo is broken i guess, doesn't power on. Speakers all look like they were removed and then shoved back in. (almost like a 10 minute "return to stock stereo" type of job) 17) Power side mirrors don't seem to be working 18) Ground cable in bad shape (battery wasn't fastened in any way, slide over towards belt and belt rubbed the cable almost in half.) 19) While driving at night, occasionally headlights lights and dash will loose power with right set of blinkers running. Thats all i can think of / have discovered at the moment. All that being said I still love the car. Since I bought it fairly cheap I dont feel so bad putting some money in it and making it a bit more respectable. I bought this car to be my daily driver, knowing i would have to breath some new life into it. The previous owners were pretty rough on the SC, and made some horrible home-made fixes I dont wish on any car. It looks good still, it will still run, and the after-market is awesome. I have always love the SC's and am very excited and pleased to now be a part of this world. I will keep the forum updated with my progress on things, and my experiences with DIY and shop prices/quality of work. My major future mods I plan on are: 1) 1JZGTE TT swap ( i have so many questions here ) 2) Eibach / Koni setup / bushings 3) Would LOVE to drop a Standard trans in it, but dont know if it would blow my swap budget 4) New carpet / and leather seat covers (not sure if I'm going to try and save the 300.00 and go synthetic or not) Thanks for reading, again happy to be here and very happy to finally be a SC300 owner.