Bought a car today...

[Kruz]

Wife's and mine go in Friday. She needs a new pulley and serpentine belt, I need an oil change and for my fucking brake pedal to stop groaning.

its the coil spring at the top of the brake pedal, after a while they start creaking and groaning.. a shot of white grease quites it down.

I then took mine to the dealer. At one point, there were 7 people underneath that thing, holding a serious pow-wow. I have a transmission leak where the wiring harness goes into the tranny. Their tranny guy is out. They were unable to find anyone else who knew how to fix the fuckin' thing, so I'm going to have to schedule another appointment to get that dealt with. I've made it clear that I WILL NOT burn another vacation day because of their personnel issues. Figure it out.

On the plus side, it will be covered by the warranty.

as far as the trans fluid leak, there is a (TSB# 21-002-05 REV A) which corrects this concern. it involves replacing the o-rings at the wiring connector.. I've done this one many times and it should only take about 1/2 hour to com pleat...

here is a copy of the TSB to give them (since they don't know how to access there own computers for the information)

 

[HomeLAN]

Thanks, man. Yeah, they greased the pedal, and as soon as it finished working its way in (took the drive home), the noise quit.

Apparently, no one was comfortable doing the job. That's OK, I'd rather wait for their specialist than have somebody fuck up my vehicle. Good to know it's a quick job. Maybe I can browbeat them into doing it on a Saturday.

 

[Kruz]

cool.. let me know how it plays out.

P.S. Altron
get a test light/volt meter, and see if you have power at the RED terminal on the alternator, if you do replace the alternator.

 

[Altron]

Put it on a 10A charger for two and a half hours... went from 11.11v to 11.25v. My my reckoning, I would need to put it on for another 14 hours to get to 12v. Should I try, or is it shot?

Kruz - Should the car be running when I try this?

 

[Kruz]

Put it on a 10A charger for two and a half hours... went from 11.11v to 11.25v. My my reckoning, I would need to put it on for another 14 hours to get to 12v. Should I try, or is it shot?

Kruz - Should the car be running when I try this?

no, it doesn't have to be running.. your checking to see if the alternator is getting power from the battery through the that cable.. so hook the negative lead to the negative post of the battery, hook the positive lead to the alternator terminal. it should read the same voltage as the battery (or fairly close). if you don't get any reading at the alternator their may be a blown "fusible link" at the battery, or starter (I forget where they put them on those).

 

[Altron]

Saw an ad in the paper 'Electrical Diagnosis - Only $20! Covers alternator, battery, starter, and wiring'
Drop the battery on the charger for 16 hours, then fire it up and head over. My voltmeter diagnostics all pointed to the generator, but I wasn't positive.
They said it was the generator that was bad. New alternator was $200. Made some deals. $300 for installed alternator + $20 for diagnosis. Waive the diagnosis, give me a 15% discount, got myself a deal at $255. I wanted to install it myself, but consulting the shop manual said that it needs a specific belt tension, and I don't have any way of measuring.

On the plus side of spending $255, as far as I can tell without extended testing, the old issue with stalling from idle seems to be gone. Research has led me to believe that the generator couldn't make enough power to keep it at idle without revving it a little, but the alternator appears to be much more capable.

I'm now a member of the Tires Plus Club, which means I get special deals whenever I come back, which is good, because I'm going to need new shocks and tires eventually, both of which are expensive.

 

[HomeLAN]

cool.. let me know how it plays out.

About as well as I could expect. It's fixed, no charge and no arguments. The warranty would've covered a rental car for up to $35 a day, but the wife was out of town, and so her car was available. Unc and Tonks were nice enough to tote my ass up there and back, and so it's done.

On the way home, we hit a golden opportunity. There was a nasty southbound wreck at highway 5. We circled through downtown Mayretta to get around it and re-entered I-75 at the north loop. They'd apparently closed the entire interstate south of highway 5 to clear the wreckage. Unc and I got onto six southbound lanes with NO ONE else but a single SUV on it.

I was fairly restrained. I backed off when I got above 95. The engine was ticking over at about 2800 RPM, and you'd have thought you were doing 70.

 

[Professur]

No. You'd have thought you were doing 70. I'd have been clawing at the sun roof trying to get away.

 

[HomeLAN]

Why? No one else within 500 yards. Straight, flat, WIDE road. By the time we got to the next exit, I'd slowed back down to reasonable speeds.

 

[chcr]

Why? No one else within 500 yards. Straight, flat, WIDE road. By the time we got to the next exit, I'd slowed back down to reasonable speeds.

95 is a reasonable speed under the right circumstances.

 

[HomeLAN]

Not by the next exit. Merging traffic off the entrance ramp.

 

[Professur]

95 is a reasonable speed under the right circumstances.

Yep. Irwindale being one of those circumstances.

 

[Professur]

Why? No one else within 500 yards. Straight, flat, WIDE road. By the time we got to the next exit, I'd slowed back down to reasonable speeds.

Take a look at your tire's sidewall. I've seen a guy blow up his tires before. And the good Lord grant that I never have the pleasure again.

 

[HomeLAN]

I have. I do, regularly. They're in fine shape.

 

[Professur]

I mean for the speed rating.

 

[Luis G]

Aren't most tires sold today rated for at least 180km/h (111 mph)??

 

[Professur]

Yep. And at 70mph, a puncture is just gonna go flat, and maybe spin you out (if it goes down fast enough). At 95, it'll tear the tire apart. And with the number of cars I saw on the Atlanta freeways pulled over with flats .....

 

[Luis G]

Yep. And at 70mph, a puncture is just gonna go flat, and maybe spin you out (if it goes down fast enough). At 95, it'll tear the tire apart. And with the number of cars I saw on the Atlanta freeways pulled over with flats .....

Under those circumstances, granted.

 

[HomeLAN]

S rated IIRC - up to 112 spec.

 

[HomeLAN]

Yep. And at 70mph, a puncture is just gonna go flat, and maybe spin you out (if it goes down fast enough). At 95, it'll tear the tire apart. And with the number of cars I saw on the Atlanta freeways pulled over with flats .....

The danger to me is far, far, FAR greater going 50 or less in heavy traffic - which I do twice a day, five days a week.