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A couple of weeks ago I Seafoamed it, and sent before-and-after oil samples to Blackstone. I got the results back today. Before adding Seafoam:  After, with the before numbers in the right-side column:  A couple of things, here. 1. The silicone in the first sample could easily be dust getting past the filters, as they suggest - I drive on a lot of very dusty gravel roads, so I expect the air filter is trying to deal with some heavy dust loads. I'm a bit surprised that number isn't higher, actually. I haven't used any silicone seals on the engine. 2. ..."everything looks pretty good...All in all, a nice report."  3. What changed with the second measurement, after Seafoam?
Given these results and the disappointing lack of giant clouds of smoke when I followed the Seafoam procedure, it's possible my engine simply wasn't very dirty, despite the 315 000 km on it. I bought it 10 000 km ago, from a 19-year-old who'd had it for about 10 000 km and told me he'd done nothing except new tires and a couple of oil changes; my impression when I met him was he would have excitedly described a giant white smoke cloud had he done something like that. 4. No charge for the second sample!  I haven't noticed a change in performance of any kind since I Seafoamed it, and the one tank of gas I've burned since then was burned at about the same efficiency (10.92 km / L = 25.7 mpg) as all my previous fuel. Verdict: well, it's one datum, so I'm not going to make any sweeping generalizations. But for me, it looks like the  I spent on Seafoam was wasted, except for the information gained. Perhaps I should have paid the extra for the more detailed TBN offered by Blackstone, but I wasn't thinking of Seafoam as an oil additive so much as an oil and engine cleaner; I didn't put it in to extend the interval between oil changes.
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Aug 20, 2010 02:37
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Thats really interesting to see. I guess the only comparison I can make is that the PO gave me the results for the previous emissions test (every 2 years here) on my ~215,000km sunfire. I seafoamed it about 3 months before its test this year, and results in every catagory (I don't remember them all) was down by about 2/3rds from the test 2 years prior. I had a huge cloud of white smoke when I did it though
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Aug 20, 2010 14:49
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ExecuDork posted:
Silicon != Silicone. One is a mineral, the other is a polymer. 
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Aug 20, 2010 17:51
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Nothing horribly exciting - I replaced the battery in the 2K1 9-3. The old one was 8 years old and despite holding a charge, it decided to start leaking after 9 days of sea level -> 12k feet, and temperatures ranging from 25f to 125f. If there's any torture test for a used car to see how well it'll perform, it's an interstate in Idaho. Never thought I'd be using the AC and heater to their limits in the same day.
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Aug 20, 2010 19:32
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Sponge! posted:Silicon != Silicone. One is a mineral, the other is a polymer. Silicone contains Silicon, and therefore if there was Silicone in my engine, it would show up in the analysis as part of the Silicon reading. Silicon is also a major component of many Earth-surface minerals, including the sandstones, granites, and shales that I expect the gravel roads around here are surfaced with. The finest texture materials - clays - are going to be overrepresented in my air filter because they are easiest to get airborne, and stay suspended in the air for the longest. Clays are made of Silicon in various ratios with things like Hydrogen, Oxygen, Sodium, Calcium, Manganese, Iron, Aluminum, etc. I asked a chemistry professor I know (who mostly examines minerals to work out what they're made of) about this analysis, he said they probably do XRF directly on the oil, keeping costs and analytical time down. XRF would find Silicon in any form, no problem. It might have trouble with Aluminum, but not anything else on the list.
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Aug 20, 2010 20:19
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I drove it to the gym and then got rear-ended on the way home. The guy was driving a company vehicle (F250 with a big-rear end grill guard), so he wants to keep it "off the record". Really screwed up my trunk lid and kinda messed up my bumper, but nothing that's gonna cause any real problems or that I can't fix myself. I'm about to take it in for an estimate and then get a check for that amount.
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Aug 20, 2010 20:23
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Changed a serpentine belt on an inline-6 in a compact car without removing the fan shroud My hands and forearms look like I just ran with a cat through the sprinkler.
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Aug 20, 2010 20:34
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ExecuDork posted:A couple of weeks ago I Seafoamed it, and sent before-and-after oil samples to Blackstone. I got the results back today.
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Aug 20, 2010 20:53
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ExecuDork posted:Given these results and the disappointing lack of giant clouds of smoke when I followed the Seafoam procedure, it's possible my engine simply wasn't very dirty, despite the 315 000 km on it. If you only Seafoamed the crankcase and/or gas tank you won't see any smoke. If you sucked some into the engine with a vacuum line you'll get tons, whether the engine is dirty or not. Plus you might get the added bonus of finding out you've got a leak/crack in your exhaust manifold like me! 
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Aug 20, 2010 23:00
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Cavepimp posted:If you only Seafoamed the crankcase and/or gas tank you won't see any smoke. If you sucked some into the engine with a vacuum line you'll get tons, whether the engine is dirty or not. 1. 1/3 can into the brake booster line while the engine is running. Shut it down, wait 5 minutes, start it up, rev to 5K a couple of times. Weak, disappointing, feeble little puff of white smoke. More than what comes out normally, but not the visible-from-orbit doom cloud I was expecting. 2. 1/3 into the crank case. 3. 1/3 into the fuel tank (with about 1/4 tank of fuel in there). I didn't think to check for a leak in the exhaust system, but I certainly didn't see any big clouds of smoke from the front / side / underneath the car. A few people in the Seafoam thread (probably archives now) said they didn't get much in the way of smoke. In winter normal running generates big white clouds, from the water vapour flash-condensing when it hits air at -30. I've been under the hood of my car in winter with the engine running, and not seen any such exhaust leaks then, either.
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Aug 21, 2010 01:36
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Dropped one of my cars ('92 Volvo 740) off at the dealership today. Been trying to figure out why I have no fuel pumps and the speedo leaps when I turn the key, but not the way it would if it was just getting my fuel relay's juice. Been trying for four days.  After spending the last year in school to be a mechanic and getting great grades, dropping it off there is a frustrating slap in the balls.Then re-registered my least favorite car (that I was prepping to sell) because school starts again Monday and I may actually have to drive the bitch. Registration's only good for a month with no emissions tag? That's fine, I don't want to drive it anyway! Cavepimp posted:If you only Seafoamed the crankcase and/or gas tank you won't see any smoke. If you sucked some into the engine with a vacuum line you'll get tons, whether the engine is dirty or not. Seconding Execudork. Sometimes, you get Clouds of Doom. Sometimes, meh. There's so many variables involved. Splizwarf fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Aug 21, 2010 |
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Aug 21, 2010 04:29
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Tore up my rims on a curb while parallel parking. I wouldn't have minded so much but I was hoping to go more than 3500 miles without doing something dumb.
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Aug 21, 2010 05:48
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You should've installed curb feelers like everyone else.
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Aug 21, 2010 16:59
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Replaced the brake pads and calipers on my car with the help of my friend today making sure I didn't do something dumb. First time doing brake work. Nothing went wrong and the car stops on a dime now.
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Aug 21, 2010 20:56
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Today is 'detail' day for the kids. I need longer weekends, or more arms.
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Aug 21, 2010 20:56
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Did the rear brake pads/rotors on the BMW, and the factory jack failed/broke/twisted itself to death while I was jacking it up to put a jackstand under it. The car rolled forward, nearly crushing my legs and my son who was watching from apparently too close. I've never had my legs get so dirty working on a car. It's truly amazing how much brake dust the drat thing gives off. Unfortunately, it took so much out of me to do this (my first mechanical job since my accident) that I didn't even have the energy or will to take it for a test drive. Oh, I also broke a mallet getting one of the rotors off. The car loves me.
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Aug 22, 2010 00:46
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Imperador do Brasil posted:Did the rear brake pads/rotors on the BMW, and the factory jack failed/broke/twisted itself to death while I was jacking it up to put a jackstand under it. The car rolled forward, nearly crushing my legs and my son who was watching from apparently too close. I've never had my legs get so dirty working on a car. It's truly amazing how much brake dust the drat thing gives off. Unfortunately, it took so much out of me to do this (my first mechanical job since my accident) that I didn't even have the energy or will to take it for a test drive.
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Aug 22, 2010 01:35
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Splizwarf posted:Seconding Execudork. Sometimes, you get Clouds of Doom. Sometimes, meh. There's so many variables involved. Interesting, I guess I'd never heard stories of the "meh" type before. I've always had impressive clouds. Then again, I'm still very much a newbie to most things AI so I won't run around pretending to be an expert in here anytime soon. About to go out and see if I can find my exhaust leak after picking up another can of seafoam (since that seemed to make it pretty obvious last time with the smoke pouring out of the driver's side of the engine bay, but I was standing on the wrong side of the car to see exactly where). Hopefully it's just the gasket.
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Aug 22, 2010 02:03
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Fixed my auxiliary fan again. I replaced it two months ago and it was working, then it suddenly stopped working. Turns out some plastic had somehow gotten onto one of the plug terminals and melted in place, cutting off power to the fan.  I'm assuming it's a plastic piece left over from the manufacturing process that vibrated into place somehow. It works now, though!
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Aug 22, 2010 02:11
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destructo posted:drat! How were you jacking the thing up? I can't imagine having to get your limbs beneath the car to jack it, but I'm glad you're alright. Also next time you take the rotors off, try screwing a bolt into the hole in the rotor, it'll pop right off. I was jacking by the factory jack points, which on an E36 BMW are in the side skirts and not under the car. There's a plug you remove and then insert the jack from the side. I had my legs crossed under me, but I was close to the car. I can't really bend over very well to use a jack because of my hip, and this was the first time I had worked on a car since getting hurt, so it's all coming back slowly. As far as the rotors, I didn't have a bolt handy so I used the tried-and-true rubber mallet to the back of the rotor, and on the third whack, the mallet broke. It only took one more whack with my other mallet to get the rotor off, so it didn't take hours or anything.
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Aug 22, 2010 02:14
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Today I was busy on both of my cars. Since I bought the Z the throttle, brakes, and clutch have been especially mushy. I took about an inch of slack out of the throttle and gave it a hair trigger. My little brother came over so we jacked up the car and bled the slave cylinder as well as the bleeder valve in the engine bay (wtf?) The clutch went from three inches of travel to about half an inch. Its actually drivable now. It has a 10lb Fizanza flywheel and with the mushy pedals it was so hard to drive. My wife's 2002 Protege driver's seat seatbelt buckle broke a few days ago and the dealership wanted $70 for one (ridiculous). I hopped out to the junkyard today and found a Protege of the same model, but both front seats were gone. I pulled the rear belt buckles and tried them with the front belts on the car and they worked so I bought a few of the buckles for $8. The front seat belt buckles are actually attached to the seats so I took one of the sockets apart to see if I could get it to work with the existing broken piece. That didn't work so I got my bolt cutters and sheered it off. The other buckle I bought had a seven inch tether on it since it was a rear belt so I unbolted the right-side rear seat bolt and put the buckle's eye bolt hole between the seat rail and the chassis. Then I screwed the bolt back in and voila, new seat buckle for $62 less than OEM. It's blac in a tan car but who cares.
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Aug 22, 2010 02:31
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Imperador do Brasil posted:I was jacking by the factory jack points, which on an E36 BMW are in the side skirts and not under the car. There's a plug you remove and then insert the jack from the side. I had my legs crossed under me, but I was close to the car. I can't really bend over very well to use a jack because of my hip, and this was the first time I had worked on a car since getting hurt, so it's all coming back slowly. Those plugs and their associated jack are really emergency roadside use only as you sort of found out. You can also mess up body work using them less than perfectly. They're "factory," but you wouldn't see the dealer using them to lift your car. A small floorjack isn't very much, and it's a much better choice when you're at home. eddiewalker fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Aug 22, 2010 |
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Aug 22, 2010 02:39
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 Click here for the full 720x540 image. Buffed and Waxed it. Not perfect, but a million times better. Currently working on prettying up some Daisies to replace the steelies.
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Aug 22, 2010 07:26
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Mezmerized Machine posted:Buffed and Waxed it. Not perfect, but a million times better. I see spots and swirls.  I am so glad I don't own a black car anymore. 
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Aug 22, 2010 07:31
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ssh posted:I see spots and swirls. Yeah, I'm still working on the doors in this picture, and those spots on the hood are touch-ups from the PO and dings that don't quite match the rest. I've learned black is a very hard color to maintain, but when it actually is clean, it looks nice. EDIT: You can see all the little nooks and crannies very good here  Click here for the full 720x540 image. Mezmerized Machine fucked around with this message at 07:40 on Aug 22, 2010 |
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Aug 22, 2010 07:36
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Mezmerized Machine posted:I've learned black is a very hard color to maintain, but when it actually is clean, it looks nice. If it's any consolation - the only time my black ride looked decent was immediately after I paid to have it repainted.
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Aug 22, 2010 07:39
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Put Ranchero spindles on it as part of a front disc brake conversion. And put the old ones back onto the Ranchero so it can roll around the lot.
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Aug 22, 2010 07:48
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eddiewalker posted:Those plugs and their associated jack are really emergency roadside use only as you sort of found out. You can also mess up body work using them less than perfectly. They're "factory," but you wouldn't see the dealer using them to lift your car. Yeah I figured that out yesterday...I do have a large floor jack (5 ton) but it's at my father-in-law's house, which is no excuse for not using it. I used a heavy scissor jack from my truck to get the car back up. It's like learning to walk again, except I feel like a jackass when I make mistakes I already made 10 years ago. Luckily the side skirt didn't take any damage, and when the car fell, it came to rest on the rotor dust shield.
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Aug 22, 2010 13:05
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Changed the shift knob on my e36 to a ZHP shorty knob since the original one was all seperated and lovely: Click here for the full 1200x1600 image. Then pryed (and I mean pryed, with a wrecking bar) the rear brakes off my E30. Life lesson: never leave the parking brake on when you have the car jacked up for a long time.  Click here for the full 1200x1600 image.  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. Think I'm gonna sell the e30 after I get it running. Started out fun but I just found issue after issue over the past 2 years. Crustashio fucked around with this message at 16:17 on Aug 22, 2010 |
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Aug 22, 2010 16:15
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I picked up a used Magnaflow exhaust setup from a Bimmerforums member last weekend to put on the 840. It didn't look very pretty when I got it.   I had some time this weekend, so I decided to see what I could do with it. The pipes looked like crappy exhaust shop poo poo, and the welds were awful looking. I used naval jelly to clean up the mufflers and welds as much as I could, and then slapped a few coats of high-temp engine enamel on them. Getting better...  Yes, that is an unused room in the house that I use as a paint booth. Last time I painted something in the garage, I ended up with a few leaves and no less than 4 spiders stuck in it. gently caress messing around with that again. I have an old A/C unit to blow air into the room, and a dual exhaust fan in the other window so I don't die while painting. It seems to work pretty well, I'm not dead yet I guess v vDespite the fact that one of the two cans of paint I got decide to stop working less than halfway through  I finished that up yesterday night. The pipes came out pretty good, a poo poo ton better than they were when I got them anyway.Ready to go on  Onto the installation! Despite it looking like it was going to rain, I decided to do it anyway because I wanted it done now dammit. I pulled the tail section of the exhaust on this car a few months ago to do my rear differential, so I already knew what I was in for, plus I knew I wouldn't be fighting hosed up rusted solid hardware. I did, however, forget what a monster the rear exhaust setup on this car was. This thing is all one piece, and probably weighs 70 lbs by itself. I mean, look at it.  The above pic was taken just before it started pouring outside.  I was kind of expecting this, but was hoping it would hold off until I was done at least. No such luck. I finished it anyway. At least it was dry under the car, that didn't stop me from getting soaked though.The final result:  You can't see it very well because it was gloomy outside and my camera sucks. After this, I road tested it. I'm not sure if it's staying or not - it's almost too loud.  Which would be fine for the Trans Am, but doesn't really fit this car. And there's a little piece just inside the tip on the passenger side that's come loose and is rattling.  I'll probably have to take it in somewhere and have them tack weld it. I took some before / after sound clips, but they came out so hilariously badly that I will not ruin the Internet by posting them.Gonna give it a couple weeks to test it out, then I'll decide if it's coming off or not. Black88GTA fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Aug 23, 2010 |
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Aug 22, 2010 23:57
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I installed a set of clear front turn signal corner housings on my 300M, along with a set of those cool switchback leds that light up white for parking lights but still blink yellow for turn signals.
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Aug 23, 2010 00:20
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Black88GTA posted:Getting better... Spraypainting on hardwood floor: takes some balls.  You're alright, buddy.
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Aug 23, 2010 00:48
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I turned my doors into a speaker enclosures today. Added weight oh noes!    Also, this happened around the corner from me the other day: 
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Aug 23, 2010 03:32
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Finished detailing, finally. Was 100% happy with everything, other than some small never-noticed stains that I don't remember ever existing on the carpet under the floormats, but opted to clean later. Took relatives out for brunch, and they made a mess of the car.
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Aug 23, 2010 03:52
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I bought a throttle cover, some used timing belt covers, and an OEM white nose panel. The de-ricing has begun. I think I'm going to paint the timing cover and throttle cover a nice off-white. I'm also thinking about installing some electric fans I have. The pusher fan is loving huge.
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Aug 23, 2010 05:04
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Installed a Laser Interceptor, and Magnaflow X-pipe. Loving the results so far, will really love it the first time I get to jam a speed trap.
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Aug 24, 2010 21:58
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Started a clutch replacement job and ALMOST got halfway through it. Today I (with a friend helping) got the wheel assembly off, most of the bolts that need to go on the underside. We would have gotten more done but we had to spend time tracking down the right tools, not to mention refitting the tires and moving the car from my open driveway to my neighbors carport due to rain. Tomorrow is gonna start with the nut on the hydraulic line going to the slave cylinder, which is slowly stripping, as well as removing the skid bars and finally, after two days, actually removing the transmission. When I'm done I'll have a new slave and master cylinder, a new clutch assembly, possibly a newly resurfaced flywheel, a new speedometer sensor and while i'm dicking around I'm replacing the rear pads. The entire clutch system looks like complete poo poo and the old speedo sensor was leaking fluid, not to mention that since it's been on stands I've also given it a full tune-up. I really can't wait to drive her again, it'll be like having a different car
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Aug 25, 2010 02:04
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Mr.Peabody posted:Installed a Laser Interceptor Holy cow. How long will it take to feel like you've "paid it off?"
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Aug 25, 2010 02:11
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eddiewalker posted:Holy cow. How long will it take to feel like you've "paid it off?" I can't speak for him, but if you've already got a radar detector like a 9500 or V1 and you do a lot of driving at questionable speeds, the $700 for a laser jammer would pay itself off really quickly.
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Aug 25, 2010 02:15
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So just count lurking police cars. When you hit 4, it's paid. That would take me... one day on the way to school. On the other hand, if you're not much of a speeder or just careful, it'll never pay for itself. On the gripping hand, who can put a price on peace of mind?  ($700)
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Aug 25, 2010 04:53
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