Dagen H's kids and their goddamn cars

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Dagen H's kids and their goddamn cars

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Generally GM likes to run a lot of stuff off of that circuit - I had a rodent get ahold of the wiring going to B1S1 on my old car, and it popped the "emissions" fuse. Which lead to about a dozen codes and a car that was undriveable (DBW - throttle body wasn't responding), plus a service vehicle soon message, reduced power message, low coolant message, and the inability to idle or drive (it would start, then die after about 10 seconds).

Jiggling the harness was enough for me to limp it home with a pack of fuses. Fixed it semi-right a few days later (lots of liquid electrical tape and heat-shrink crimps, but the car ran fine for another year).

tl;dr I'm guessing 90% odds on it being the sensor

# ¿ Dec 9, 2018 10:21

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 02:27

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

How cold was it outside? Also, it's possible the PO put in a 185 degree thermostat to help keep it cooler in the summer. On some cars (like mine), GM makes pennies and nickles scream in agony when it comes to the radiator; mine will get up to 220ish in normal city traffic if the ac isn't running. Old one with the same engine did the same thing, and a rental Cobalt I had several years ago (also the same engine) did the same according to the DIC.

GM doesn't like to kick on the fans until :supaburn:

is happening either. They don't kick on until nearly 220 on my car (old one was the same way), then kick back off around 190 (185 degree thermostat from the factory), unless the AC is running.

If the compressor ever dies, I'm gonna have to figure out a way to turn on the fans manually - the temp gauge gets a bit over 1/2 when they kick on as it is, and I'm pretty sure the old car was in the process of eating its head gasket (mysterious slow coolant loss). I'm sure the ~30 degree temp swings between fan on/fan off didn't help.

It should throw a code for thermostat performance pretty soon if the thermostat is sticking open. I had one stuck half open, which caused it to take a few minutes longer than usual to warm up (which tripped a code), and also caused it to run warm on warmer days that winter. :doh:

# ¿ Dec 11, 2018 20:30

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

surivdaoreht posted:

my a/c is beyond dead and has been for nearly the entire time i've had my cobalt... fans come on at 217f, i believe. i've always thought that was kind of high, personally. if i'm interpreting that correctly, if my a/c was functional i could cycle it to get the fans running at a lower temperature?

Yup. The Cobalt uses a variable displacement compressor, so anytime the AC is on (assuming it's properly charged), the compressor is engaged constantly. And because of this, the fan stays on constantly.

Same on all of the Delta platform cars (Cobalt/Ion/G5/HHR), and I assume most other compact GMs since then.

Rant: the Ion is the only Delta that didn't have a driver info display, so the only way to get actual engine temp is via OBD2. :argh:

(the odometer can show "trunk", "gas cap", "coolant", "chk gage", "low fuel", "cruise", "chg oil", and probably a couple of others I'm forgetting, but you can't get temp, remaining oil life, etc out of it like you could on the other Delta platform cars)

Charles posted:

The stock radio performs some of the functions of a typical body control module I believe. I don't know what specifically but can be things like interior lights and turn signal sounds and stupid stuff like that. Somebody who knows more about GM can tell you.

I was gonna say the turn signal sounds and chimes were still via their own speaker back then, but Crutchfield proved me wrong. A base model without OnStar or steering wheel controls required this to retain sounds. The stereo didn't control anything else on the base model.

If you had the fancypants one. you have to pony up for this version instead (retains steering wheel controls, warning chimes, OnStar, rear seat entertainment, etc). Still doesn't really replicate a BCM outside of chimes/warning sounds though.

I'm betting the factory stereo is spliced in just for the chimes; even if it has OnStar, the OnStar system is long abandoned by GM (an 01 would have run on analog cellular, which no longer exists in the US, and there's no upgrade path to CDMA or GSM for that year model - 04-05 got the next generation OnStar equipment that could do AMPS or digital).

I'm kinda curious to see what exactly is spliced in from the factory radio. And how.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 08:00 on Dec 13, 2018

# ¿ Dec 13, 2018 07:44

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Same on my 99 Altima - manual showed it was optional on the base, included on upper trims, but my mid-level GXE didn't even have the cutout for it.

It was the same airbox either way, it just had an outline of where to cut out an opening to slide a filter in, and I assume Nissan had a part number for a cover for the cavity.

You're not necessarily hurting anything by leaving a filter out, so long as you keep the cowl free of debris. Better to have one to keep crap out of the blower, but GM blowers of that era are usually pretty easy to get at (usually).

# ¿ Jan 13, 2019 11:44

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Those carts are generally in stock at restaurant supply stores, for anyone that needs one in a hurry. They slap together quick and take a hell of a beating.

Amazon also stocks them, but I'm not sure what you'd search for - I only know this because the Prime Now warehouses use them for batching, and they try not to use anything that they can't get via Amazon. The wheels will take about 6 months of being rolled across badly paved asphalt parking lots, several times a day, before they give up (personal experience on this one).

# ¿ Apr 25, 2019 09:15

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Dagen H posted:

Tow rating is a surprisingly-high 2500# (~~it'll never see that~~ the transaxle will never survive that).

# ¿ May 1, 2019 14:26

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Holy poo poo.

# ¿ Jun 15, 2019 18:42

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Dagen H posted:

Different kid, different car.

Oh hey I have the same oil filter on my EJ25 right now. :v:

What year and model is that? I'm in an 03 Outback with either the EJ251 or EJ253 (I think it's the 251); the HGs aren't leaking externally. Yet. No milkshake. Yet. Subaru forum thinktanks seem to say the 01+ motors tend to leak externally instead of internally. :ohdear:

I just know the rear crank seal shuffled off of this mortal plane a long time ago. They also seem to think that the Gates timing belt kit is Bad News<tm>, which makes me nervous, as it has a Gates timing belt sticker on the timing cover.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2019 20:10

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Dagen H posted:

'02 Outback Sport (Impreza). Rear main is weeping a bit, but it's a winter beater with 200K+ on it, so IDGAF.
Highlights include bellhousing fasteners torqued to approximately 1043 lb/ft, input shaft/pilot/splines slathered in anti-seize, and new WP/TB with old seized tensioner.

I planned to replace my current car with an Outback Sport (though a later model) whenever it dies. But my 03 Legacy Outback wagon is just a $2000 car that I'll be happy with if it lasts a year.

It's a $2000 Subaru with working AC, working fart warmers (heated seats? in MY Subaru?!), working everything except for the rear window defroster (only 2 lines on the grid work), and it had 142k with a <20k timing belt and matching, if not old, tires. It's... not in great shape, but it runs.

You should have seen the hell I went through replacing the RF half shaft. It laughed at the air hammer. It laughed at (and bent) the 20 ton press. It took acetylene and the press to get the fucker to finally pop out.

(possibly SLIGHTLY related, I need a new wheel bearing and hub on that corner now...)

# ¿ Nov 18, 2019 20:40

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

That's not your fist knocking. :v:

# ¿ Nov 27, 2019 20:36

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

# ¿ Nov 27, 2019 20:54

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

shy boy from chess club posted:

I put a Gates on mine and I just had to swap a new tensioner on after 12k fwiw

Yeah, I've seen horror stories about the Gates tensioners, though only the ones made in China. :ohdear:

I'm kinda tempted to pull the timing cover and see if it has a Japanese or Chinese tensioner in there if there's an easy way to tell; the timing belt kit has less than 20k on it. The previous owners, up until the most recent one, definitely took good care of the car. The most recent one only had it for 6 months; going by Carfax, they dumped a lot of money into it, then dumped it immediately after it got a new OEM Subaru alternator at the dealer (.... and the fucker already has a bad diode :argh:

). Being a SOHC EJ25 in an engine bay made for an EZ30 means I have a good bit of room between the front of the engine and the radiator support, and being SOHC I can't imagine the timing belt being a difficult job if I do need to tear it apart.

I'm not opposed to swapping the engine/trans at some point if the tensioner does happen to fail, mostly because these are supposed to be so easy to swap poo poo on (plus it's a $2k beater). Neither are in the best shape, though the trans just feels like it isn't getting enough pressure (sluggish shifts, sluggish going into drive, the occasional flare on an upshift). I have a new filter to replace the definitely-very-wrong-and-very-old filter on it. Someone's had the pan off at some point too, and used a gallon of RTV to seal it up, so I wouldn't be surprised if the screen inside is clogged with RTV chunks. The engine is a little tappy and pisses like mad out of the rear crank seal, but it sounds the same cold or hot, 5w30 or 10w40. Just cranks a bit slower when it's <45F with the heavier oil.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Nov 28, 2019

# ¿ Nov 28, 2019 17:38

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Darchangel posted:

So, uh, gonna be the sperg guy.

The EZ30 is only a few inches longer than an EJ25. It was specifically designed to fit in engine bays designed for the 4-cylinder so they didn�t have to redesign the cars, unlike the earlier EG33 H6 in the SVX, which was literally the 4-cylinder with two more cylinders added. The EZ30/36 used Siamese cylinders and some other tricks to keep it remarkably short.

Today I learned. Pretty smart engineering (and significant cost cutting without any real compromise?) on their part.

It's still a decently roomy engine bay, at least when it comes to the front of the engine, and maintenance stuff seems well thought out (except for spark plugs). Anything involving valve covers can gently caress right off though.

randomidiot fucked around with this message at 07:51 on Nov 29, 2019

# ¿ Nov 29, 2019 07:49

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Ouch.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2019 17:12

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

I see this all the time on deliveries around here. I've hit one already, but the car in front of me took the brunt of the impact (F-250 or F-350 at ~70 mph, I ran over the carcass after they hit it.... destroyed the truck, left a lot of fur and gore on the bottom of Negative Ions). :smith:

# ¿ Dec 22, 2019 22:02

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Dagen H posted:

B18B1-swapped EG hatch: ok

Rustbucket scabbed together from 3 different cars, slathered in cheap Chinese ricer parts, and sprayed with bedliner (without a hint of masking): not ok

Was gonna ask which B motor that is, since all of the non-vtec USDM B series motors look pretty much the same.

Has it taken up a smoking habit, or is that just a cold day? My old B18A1, by the time I was done with it, had almost no compression on 2 cylinders, and fogged out the parking lot at work bad enough that they made me start parking at the far end of the parking lot. Friend I sold it to said when he dropped the exhaust manifold, oil ran out of it.

... it was using about a quart per tank of gas. With no significant leaks. Anytime I had a tailgater, I could get rid of them pretty easily by just dropping down a gear and letting off the gas.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2019 16:46

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

Honda did the same on the 2nd gen Integra, which was very prone to cowl leaks.

At least the ECU was water resistant, and on the sloped part of the floorboard. Mine took a bath so many times from water pouring out from under the dash every time it rained, but the ECU never flinched. _{Probably because it was never submerged..}

# ¿ Jan 3, 2020 20:32

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

STR approves too. And it sounds like the PO took care of it, given the box of quality filters and tools.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2020 20:13

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

No, that's where you bleed the cooling system. You have to drain it from the taillights.

Seat Safety Switch posted:

Try removing the power window switch.

I thought that was a Mopar thing.

disconnect the ignition switch and report back...

# ¿ Mar 10, 2020 21:26

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

DFW started using calcium chloride ages ago.

..... not that it actually snows often though. And when it does, they dump calcium chloride on the road. Which melts it juuuuuust enough to turn it into pothole city once it refreezes. :argh:

You remember this shitshow, right? I was out doing delivery for 14+ hour days during that shitshow..

# ¿ Mar 28, 2020 17:38

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 02:27

randomidiot: May 12, 2006; by Fluffdaddy
(and can't post for 11 years!)

And just like that, I realize that they used (almost) this cluster in the Ion, just swapped the tach and fuel/temp around and changed up the bezel.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2020 14:05

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > Dagen H's kids and their goddamn cars