There is a new tire and wheel store opened up near me. Yawn.
They list 31 tire brands and 95 wheel brands. Yawn.
You can rent your wheels, tires or both. What!
Check the small print... rent n roll. Says rent?
Check the fine print... oh, rent to own.
Pay small weekly payments while enjoying killer shoes on your ride.
Translation, make a shitload of payments that add up to a ton of money, while hoping they don't wear out before they are paid for. With the likely scenario you'll be paying them a small weekly payment for the rest of your life.

Why do people fall into this crap? Hell in a handbasket, but on 24s, baby.
And every contract comes with a $10,000 life insurance policy. Wonder if they are the beneficiary or they just want to find out who your nearest & dearest is, in case they have to find you.

Overtorque a filter and it will leak. There are specific directions on how much to tighten a filter. For example, some say five-eights turn after the seal touches the block - no more.

Nothing in a car is tightened as tight as dared. Everything is torques only to a specific number - no more and no less. That includes a previous reference to auto mechanics who overtighten wheel lugs.

When I change the oil filter on my Toyota, I only ever tighten it by hand. It doesn't leak, but I too oil the seal first then clean and oil around the mounting.

Some of these new cartridge types are so flimsy that they will warp if you tighten them up with a filter wrench.

wrt oil filter:

My first attempts to correct this involved all of the above except I only tightened the filter by hand to snug then another... half turn by hand only. Still didn't work. So I applied the old if some is good more is better and broke out the wrench, which obviously didn't work either. :sigh:

CORRECTION:
It appears that my previous post contained an error. I said I would be tackling the oil leak problem next. I should have said power steering pump. Silly me.

I drove home last night, parked, went in the house, dinner, etc. Came back out to the car to go to the movies (300!), and when I started the car it was fine. But as I backed up and turned the wheel to commence my three point exit maneuver, the car growled and shook like I had a piston hanging out of the block. I shut it down immediately (crossways in the middle of the street), popped the hood and looked for the herniated metal. Nothing. Started the car again, fine, then as I turned the wheel it sounded like it was going to shake itself apart. In Park. wtf?

I reparked it and got out my stethoscope and had MrsV turn the wheel while I poked around with my ears. Sure enough, the power steering pump sounds like it swallowed a handful of marbles. Fluid level ok, wheels still firmly attached to the car, but the pump's a goner. I'll be calling the parts store here in another 18 minutes.

I looked up the job in the book. It looks like I'll need a J83904230 and a J367234874 or whatever tool to remove then replace the pulley. Normally I like getting new tools, it's one of the perks of doing my own work, but this one doesn't thrill me somehow.

I drove it into work today and it's fine running straight, but on the curves, where continuous pressure/work is needed from the pump it gets real chattery and growly. If it bails on me completely, I will have to find the straightest route home cause I've tried to turn the wheels on that beast with the key off--I thought I was gonna pop a vessel. Maybe I'll get lucky and there'll be black ice for the return commute to lubricate the wheel / road interface. On second thought...

No, I initially mistook it for the parking brake cable bracket bolt.

I don't have a good picture for you unfortunately. On top of that, I don't have a good view of it either. But the filter's right at the top of the engine, and it looks like it's connecting to a casting of some kind, like part of the block. Naturally, the inside is a threaded hollow shaft for the return from the filter that it literally screws onto, but I don't think that was what you were getting at. Clearly the oil's leaking past the outermost seal at the rim/edge of the filter. Can't see it without a mirror or a laproscopic camera or something.

Power steering pump is $130 including $50 core (in the original box, if you please). I forgot to ask about the pulley pusher pullers. Pick it up on the way home.

If the pump fails, the faster you drive the easier it is to steer. You know the rest.

True words Obi Wan.

Yeah, I had a Pontiac with 14:1 manual steering, when then normal manual was 20:1 and power was 12:1. Parking that sucker, with wide tires, was a real exercise, but once it was rolling, no sweat.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Today, we'll install a new starter. It's Saturday, I have the starter and the tools. The means, motive and opportunity. Let's get busy.

Pic 01 -- This is my trusty steed. She's a beauty, isn't she?

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Here is my cast and crew on the parking strip. I know the thread title says shade tree, but I'm really much more of a curbside mechanic. To have shade you need a tree, and some... um... sunlight.

Pic 01 -- Starter and camera bag.

Pic 02 -- This is the sky to the south at 11 am. This qualifies as "sunlight" around here this time of year.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

This is where the action is. That's a big V8 crammed sideways into the engine compartment. Plus the transmission for the FWD. Great in the snow, LOTS of traction with all that mass over the drive wheels. But it's very crowded as you can see.

Pic 01 -- Detroit iron.

Pic 02 -- The black can in the center of the frame is the solenoid, the part of the starter assembly that engages the pinion gear on the starter with the ring gear on the flywheel of the engine.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Just casing the joint...

Pic 01 -- Let's give the battery a little break, shall we? Have you ever heard the expression "when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail"? Well, when you work with a live battery in the car, every wrench looks like a continutity tester. There will be no welding today.

Pic 02 -- Up on jackstands, Safety first!

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 01 -- Oh. My. God. Can you see where the instructions say to REMOVE THE INTAKE MANIFOLD! Just to get at the starter?!?! Some idiot put the starter in the V between the cylinder banks? You're kidding, right? Please?

Pic 02 -- Oh thank goodness, that was for an earlier model year! I only have to remove the front and rear exhaust pipes. As. If.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 01 -- Um, mighta spoke too soon. That looks pretty tight. This is the main body of the starter where it is bolted to the engine. Up there ABOVE AND BEHIND that brown *exhaust pipe*.


Pic 02 -- Rear of starter/solenoid. I can barely get this laproscopic shot with my eyeballs, how am I gonna get a wrench on those connections?

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 01 -- The answer is from the top.

Pic 02 -- A closer view of the now "de-energized welding terminals". That's gonna be some close work.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Meanwhile, back in the basement, let's start disconnecting stuff.

Pic 0 -- Where the starter engages the engine...

Pic 01 -- Revealed! Nice to see that the sound wasn't the teeth on the flywheel being ground to dust.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Ok. Turned some wrenches, and I have the starter out. Thankfully, I didn't have to take the exhaust pipes off, but the starter scraped on both sides between the exhaust pipe and the oil pan. Who cares, it's out, and it feels good to stand up again. Let's get the new starter installed.


Pic 01 -- Here's another picture of the engine bay. You can tell I've been working in here because you can see (from left to right) my coffee cup on the battery, my keys on the air cleaner, my phone, flashlight, hammer (told you it was a tight fit) and ratchet, all under the hood. But. I don't remember any of that other stuff messing up my nice clean engine.

Pic 02 -- What is that white stuff in this close up?

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 01 -- Remember that southern sky a couple of hours ago?

Pic 02 -- That's where all that white stuff is coming from. Yes, I caught a particularly juicy snowflake in my (camera's) eye.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 02 -- RETREAT!

Pic 01 -- This is not going to end well. You can see the old starter, my toolbox, the creeper, soon to become the sled, and the hood, acting as an ENORMOUS scoop, collecting all that northbound snow. Shit shit shit.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 01 -- The camera got a chance to dry out a little, and I got a chance to get another HOT cup of coffee.

Pic 02 -- Back to work. It was just too cold/wet/miserable/handsfull to take more pictures under the car, despite the fact that it was the best cover I had. Imagine this part with lots of cussing and hammering and wishing I had a third hand to run that bolt in while I held it up and straight with the other two.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 01 -- *Finally* got the wire on the terminal, and the washer (the second washer, who knows where the first one went), AND the nut. This is a major victory. Remember, for removal, I had to unbolt the starter, then take the cables off. In reverse, for installation, that means connecting the cables, like you see here, then bolting the starter fast. But what do you think is holding up the starter while I'm trying to attach these cables? Not the bolts. Friction. A piece of wood. Some paper towels (they're blue, you can see them under the hood somewhere). And plenty of luck. It's just on finger tight. You can see the tab on the cable is not in its locating slot. Yet.

Pic 02 -- By the time I got an actual wrench on this nut (and another one for the main power to the starter) you can see plenty of snow had accumulated. Just miserable. Cold and stiff and weary. But tight at last. You can see this solenoid is silver where the old one was black, and you can see the locating tab is seated deeply in the slot.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 01 -- Having successfully connected the starter cables, I allowed myself the luxury of some scenic pictures. Oh, look. My blue shop towels and my safety yellow flashlight. Even my damn coffee mug is covered with snow.

Pic 02 -- Look at my tools, willya?

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 01 -- Time to fire her up. Crap! Where are my keys?!

Pic 02 -- Hiding in a snowbank, naturally.

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Pic 01 -- BigV (photo by Tink)

Pic 02 -- BigV and Tink (photo by BigV)

Installing a new starter--A pictorial comedy
 

Now the players have left the stage

Pic 01 -- Starter's gone.

Pic 02 -- Car's gone. Under its own power, I might add!

I'm impressed that you hung in there and finished under those conditions. Well done.

V you are a crazy person. :cool:

You could have closed the hood while you retreated... or thrown a tarp over the whole mess.

Better yet, bought a car designed by car guys, not MBAs, from a company that doesn't have a lying CEO that contributes to the Bush campaign.

A properly designed car doesn't need a starter. Biggie is clearly unpatriotic.

That is clearly traceable to top management.

You mean it's Tink's fault?

Tink is a real beauty. Oh, and good job on the beast of a carbon donator. :D

Don't put words in my mouth brother.

:lol:

good job, V

It is cuz I drive the good car. :D

No. it's because you are "top management", ie Da Boss.

Well that goes without saying!:queen: Women reign supreme. :eek:

I love this thread.

This past week's double feature was a new muffler for BelovedDaughter's Golf (soon to be sold) and front brakes on the Disco. All went well, but I did have to retighten the lug nuts on the Disco on the way to work this morning. Those f*ckers are huge.

What this is.

Wow, time flies! The post just above this one indicates that the Golf belonging to the BD was to be sold. We got that car for her in high school. We bought it from one of her schoolmates, interestingly, her current roommate. Anyhow, the clutch was not wrecked, but mortally wounded when we got it. This meant that BD got to learn how to drive a car with a manual transmission in the easiest possible circumstances. You could rev the motor and just dump the clutch and the car would moan and lean forward, smooth as butter. I eventually replaced the clutch (sorry no pictures, but it wasn't that hard). She loved that car for a few years and eventually wanted to trade up.

She had her eye on a small SUV, an Isuzu Axiom. Catchy, no? Right. So, she got approved for the car loan but needed to sell the Golf. At the time, I needed a car, so I bought it from her. I gave her a fair price, and she let me pay over time. I gave her interest on her money, and I loved the whole "teachable moment" aspect. This little car is the only one I loved so much I bought it twice. As you can see (or will soon see), I drive it to this day.

The carabiner? Oh, yeah.

Well, as you can see from the first shot here, the hatch and the bumper and the rear body panels are deformed from being rear ended. Fucker. Not the car, the cell phone talking ass headed dumbfuck that drove into me. It seriously messed up the hatch. And the doors on the right hand side. And my taillight, etc, etc. For a while I was really country holding the hatch shut with ratcheting straps. I got tired of not being able to get into the hatch easily and this week undertook to reform the mechanism here so it would shut. There was considerable hammering and pounding. I used a 2x4 across the hatch opening and closed the hatch against it. The let me bend it quite close to the shape of the opening.

Pic 1

Battered (not battened) hatch.

Pic 2

The hatch opening and a bit of auto-detrius.

This was very successful, but not completely successful. I got the hatch to the point where (I believe) it contacted seal all the way around but I could not get the latch to grab the pin. This meant that I don't want to change the shape of the hatch any more, I just need it to click. I needed to change the pin now, not the hatch. It appeared to be centered, and angled correctly, but it was too low. In my enthusiasm, I'd pounded the pin down too far. As you can see in the first picture, the latch hits the pin, which is shaped like a giant nail. The head of the nail is supposed to slide across the top of the latch. But not in this picture. The head of the pin needed to be raised up less than half an inch. This proved to be hard to figure out.

I thought about getting a jack and pulling up on the pin. Sure, but how to **grab** the pin? By the head of course. I tried chains. I tried a wonder bar (really, a fucking metal bar called a wonder bar. Look it up.) I tried a claw hammer. I thought about backing it up close to a big tree and attaching a comealong and hoisting up the back of the car by this hatch pin. I secured a comealong, but I had no way to hold onto that pin.

Enter the stainless steel carabiner.

Pic 1

This first picture is taken from inside the car with the hatch shut but not latched. As you can see I'm really, really close! I just need to raise this pin a liiiiiittttttlle tiny bit more to let the latch slip under the head of the pin.

Pic 2

You can see in this shot how I've managed to catch hold of the top of the hatch pin. I ran a couple of links of steel chain through the fat part of the 'biner making a bight. Through the bight, I put the blade end of my new tool, a Collins Axe. Because I don't have another long, strong lever to lift the car with. I braced it on the inside with a large block for the fulcrum. You can also see the wrist loop of the dog leash I used to pull the hatch down from inside as I kept adjusting and checking.

Pic 1

If you look carefully in this picture taken near the end of the process, you can make out the destroyed carabiner. This arrangement worked just like I had hoped, I got to raise the pin enough to let it fit in the latch properly.

Pic 2

The second picture is a wide shot of me lifting the car. Well, I'm taking a breather between lifts. And the car did raise up, but the wheels stayed in contact with the ground at all times. But I did stress my new tool, not to mention ruin the 'biner. But now it shuts (with a firm hand) and latches and opens with the key. I'm stoked!!

Brute force applied with brains. Well done!

Thank you sir!

The only way that could have been better is if duct tape were involved somehow. Or zip ties.

Picture of the zip ties tomorrow. I'm thinking of where the duct tape is... drawing a blank. I'll figure it out though.

good job... you are the nutty neighbor always up to something, aren't you?

Fuck.

I have a new project, one I'm not going to be able to ignore. SonofV noticed smoke coming out of the dashboard vents yesterday. Hm.. what does it smell like? Turns out, not like smoke. Like coolant. When we got home to check the coolant level because the temp light was blinking, it was low. Not super hot, I have a gauge and it was in the OK range. But the reservoir was empty (this coolant is expensive, like $20 a gallon). Not only that, but I noticed it was dripping coolant on my right foot.

I've had failed heater cores before, they suck. They pump your car full of coolant steam making the insides of the glass covered with slimy fog. I depend on my heater, it does get cold enough here to justify one so bypassing it isn't really an option. I'm going to have to replace it.

Replacing the heater core is simple, but extensive. It's about the first thing installed on the car frame after the motor. Consequently, everything after that, like the dashboard, the console, the steering wheel, the fan motors, etc etc etc. all have to come off to get to it. Once that's done, it's easy. Two hoses off, two hoses on, seal the box with rtv, and then the dreaded "reverse procedure". It's not hard just tedious as fuck all. Pictures and profanity to come.

Good Job V

thanks man, I presume that's for the bodywork job.

I'm open to suggestions about the heater core replacement. You have the floor.

did ya try stop leak ??

not yet, just found it tonight.
but jeeebus.. it is dripping on my foot, I think I might have to put a freakin tourniquet on it.

Today I hate this thread.

I've bitten off more than I want to chew and the stakes are high. Like, I don't have a way to work in the morning.

More detail to come later, but for now, suffice to say that I've cut the hose off the car, but now I can't get the stumps off the fittings/barbs.

I'm as frustrated with a car repair as I've ever, ever been. This is not technically difficult. Squeeze the hose clamp, pull the hose off. But that's been impossible for me. The quarters are close, the clamp's in a very awkward position. I've already been to the store twice, once for a headlamp to see what the fuck I'm doing and a second time for some specific pliers, hose clamp pliers. But they didn't fit between the ear of one of the clamps and the whateverthefuck was behind it.

Finally gave up, said, y'know, that hose is already dead, I'll just cut it out. That part went well. I think I only cut the dead hose (of course, all hoses cut become dead, but I mean I didn't cut any hoses I wanted to keep). Now I have more room. And STILL CAN'T GET THE FUCKING TOOL ON THE FUCKING CLAMP. Or, I get it on a tiny bit, after... say, fifteen minutes of cussing, and then can't find any more room to grip the remaining hose. Oh, I am so, so, so, so done with this shit. Goddamn, I'm sick of working on this fucker.

Typing this paragraph has given me time to let my hands and fingers warm up a little, I guess I'll go out and try again. JFC.

I've given up for the night.

I'll probably go at it again, but just to clean up my tools and shit for the night. I found the circlip that had sprung off and disabled my newly acquired pliers. Buoyed by this small Christmas miracle, I tried using them on the one spring hose clamp that came off with the carcass of the hose I'd cut out of the car. It's the kind with little swiveling bits at the tips of the jaws of the pliers and a locking pawl to capture your success... well, I'm not very good at using these pliers and they slipped off the hose clamp and clamp sprung open hitting my index and middle fingers and thumb of my left hand, instantly numbing them. They're like wooden fingertips. Only now, an hour later have they begun to tingle with the promise of future pain.

I tore through half the diameter of one of the hose remnants in an effort to twist/drag/pull it off the barb. The thing is, I can't get the hose clamp closed tightly enough, no, the tool like vicegrips or hoseclamp pliers or c-clamp closed tightly enough to open the hoseclamp to the maximum, permitting me to slide the affair off the fitting. The hoses themselves are a little swollen just past the clamp, like really old, weakened hoses are wont to do, and I can't enlarge the clamp enough to get over the bigger spot. And even when I have to hoseclamp opened to the greatest extent I can manage, it appears to still be tight enough to keep me from sliding the hose off the barb.

And all this is complicated by very close quarters, that's the worst part. Being cold and dark outside is by comparison merely annoying, I've worked in those conditions before. Sucks, but whatever. I've take off lots more parts than I thought I would have to when I began this ill-advised journey, a couple ends of other coolant lines, an electrical connection to my alternator, a panel in the engine compartment just above the radiator, the oil filter...

Oh, I should have said before, this is the hose that goes from the oil sending unit (or whatever the fuck that thing is called that the oil filter spins onto) to the oil cooler. It's a very weird hose, it's F shaped. A capital F modeled in noodley hose. Anyhow this molded hose will fit back in pretty easy, it's the right hose I'm sure (unless the diameter is fucked on one of the hoses, who knows until you hook it up). But I can't get these last two stubs of hose off. And I can't cut them off (not easily anyhow, they put up a pretty good fight to my sawsall and pruning shears. The parts remaining have a spring steel girdle protecting them. And I have already hurt myself with BLUNT instruments under the hood, I think switching to razor knives at this stages is a bad idea.

Fuck. I'm tired and frustrated and I have no way to work tomorrow. I'm working on a plan to borrow Twil's car, but that's got its own complications. And the bus?!? I shit you not, the route planner sent me on the bus to the ferry from the peninsula to Seattle and from Seattle to the island. I could not dissuade it. That's ninety minutes of boat time, not counting riding the bus to and from the ferry docks at the ends of each trip. Fortunately the ferry dock in Seattle is the only one I need for both the arrival and departure. Jesus. Fucking car.

This is not a complex job. But it is proving very problematic.

I'm open to your suggestions, preferably some magic way to get these hose ends off.

BigV, I gave up working on cars. just last year, I thought I'd save a buck or two and replace the headlamp on a Durango. How hard can it be, right? I could fill up a page explaining how effing impossibly difficult it was. I finished it but there is a piece of my soul still trying to find its way out of that Satan's labyrinth of iron and plastic.

Edit: The only thing that ever worked for me to get hoses on or off anything was copious amounts of spray silicone.

The factory manual probably has you pulling the engine out to get at the things. Or disassembling half of it. I feel your pain.

Ohh.. That's a good one, "Satan's labyrinth".

When I was working for JiffyLube, there were cars we wouldn't service. Some of those cars simply require factory/car specific tools to non-destructively pry the plastic shell/housing/carapace/armor/candy shell from the area with access to the fucking bulb. Really, why in the world would that be considered a good idea? Sure, built in obsolescence, make it a dealer service item only. That's kind of evil though, coming from an old skool git-er-done guy like me. And you, xoB, and a dozen other dwellars who have extensive mechanical abilities. But those abilities don't seem to translate well to the newer vehicles, *even* if the technology is the same, it's just packaged in a way that makes it deliberately difficult to work on.

FFS, I saw cars at the shop that required a specialized tool to take out the drain plug. I'm not talking about the merely unnecessarily, pretentiously "exotic" allen bolt fitting when a tried and true hex head bolt would do, it was like a keyhole, and fucking made of plastic! VW, I love you and you make some quality vehicles. But you do some fucked up shit.

Cut the clamp, they can't be that expensive. Either a Dremel (or equivalent), or your sawall with a fine or abrasive blade.

!!!!!!!!!!

Genius!

I'll be right back!

smrt