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Hello All!
It’s certainly been a while since I’ve been back, but it’s good to see Eric and the forum is still here in 2015! Yay!
Now that the holidays are officially over, I have time finally to come and post my (help) to do list.
First and foremost, the front brake pads on my car are getting ready to be changed. Just recently I had to plug my front passenger side tire because of an air leak, so since I had the car off the ground I did a brake inspection. Interestingly enough I saw that the driver side brake pads were worn down much more so than the passenger side. Upon closer inspection I saw that the “inner” pad on the driver side was worn down much thinner than the “outer” pad. Compared to the driver side, the passenger side had a significant amount of “pad meat” left. I haven’t done anything since but drive, however I do know that’s not normal. Should I take off the calipers on both sides and compress the brake cylinder in to see if one side is stuck? And if one side is stuck do I go about replacing BOTH calipers as well? If both cylinders in both calipers compress fine, and the slide pins are not moving in and out, do I go in and spray the brake cleaner in the hole of the slide pins and clean out the interior and re-lube the pins with silicone paste? *I’ve been trying to post with some pictures, unfortunately I don’t know why the page keeps on going into a 404* 🙁
Secondly there WERE two OBDII codes for evap emissions leak and something about fuel pressure. I will have to get my notes from my other computer. I am just mentioning this now as a reminder to repost.
Thirdly, my battery seems to have acid leaking out from the top? I don’t know if it’s acid from the battery or something else but should I replace that battery or hold off on it? Or simple spray some baking soda mixed with water on top and wipe it down?
Next, is my (FWD) manual transmission. It’s weird, I think I have posted about this problem a while back, but the problem doesn’t affect me too much now that I only drive a short distance to and from work, however longer trips are something else. If it’s a trip that’s 15 mins or less in stop and go traffic, even on the highway, engagement in first gear is so smooth. Normally 15-25 min is when the engagement from stop to first gear shakes the car violently, as in I feel the engine wants to take off from the engine bay, but the body won’t allow it. And no it’s not the engine mount that’s gone busted. These engine mounts are intact. That shaky rumble feeling only comes if I engage at 1500 RPM. At a higher RPM say, 2000 RPM, the engagement smoothens out. I normally engage from a standstill at 1500 RPM and it’s fine. Only when after 15-20 mins is when I have to engage from a standstill at 2000 RPM just to have the engine not “act” up. Any clues or ideas?
Last thing is regarding interior lighting. Eric posted a video on Sylvania lighting not too long ago and I absolutely love the idea of under dash lighting just to see what I dropped at night seeing how my eyes are aging as fast the rest of my body is. And I have been considering buy these babies!
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=inline+fuse
I am planning to put one strip of light at each foot rest area in the cabin. My question is what type of gauge wiring should I should 22, 20, 18, 16? I mean I’m not running anywhere near 25 feet and these LED lights are so efficient, they really don’t draw that much power. Which comes to my next question is in general what fuse amp should I be using to run inline with these LEDs? Should I whip out my multimeter and actually measure how much these lights are using and get the fuse that’s one amp up and over? Another thing I should mention is I am planning to just hook these lights straight to the battery since these lights are made for a 12 volt DC system. Should I hook them up directly to the bat through the fuse box or no? Should I buy some sort of box to regulate the power inline before hooking up the the LED lights? Something else I should mention is I don’t plan on having these lights dim or turn the inside of the cabin into a night club. I just want white light to illuminate (on and off) the bottom foot rest area so I see at night. Plain and simple.
Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thank you for whoever can reply! I will be back to post my OBDII codes or at least one OBDII code since the other is fixed.
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Here are some links that should answer some of your questions.
For the battery you could mix up the baking soda and water to neutralize
the acid or pick up some crc terminal cleaner.http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/crc-battery-cleaner-with-acid-indicator-11-oz.-05023/7071019-P
Thank you very much for the brake page. Although I do have one question about the brake fluid. Can I just buy any DOT 3 or DOT4 brake fluid and mix it with the existing brake fluid that is in the system already? I mean I know enough not to mix different engine oils and not to mix different anti freezes together, however does that rule apply to brake fluid as well? Should just flush out everything and start from scratch, therefore knowing what I have in the system rather than starting from a system that I don’t know what kind of brake fluid is my system?
Also regarding the check engine light, I did pull codes P0455 and P0090. The P0455 has been solved since I’ve replaced the two fuel lines coming to the engine, however the P0090 is still there. Upon googling I have found out it could be a fuel pressure regulator sensor malfunction. I will have to rip out my my service manual and get back to you guys about that because it’s certainly been a while since I’ve touched on the issue. I DID have a question about it, however I forgot what it was.
First of all, instead of piling 6 different questions into same post, it is always wiser to post 6 times – but each for a specific issue. Otherwise, it’s all getting lost.
Pads worn on the inside is clear sign of dragging caliper.
Not that I drive manual too often, but from what I recall from the last year, when we had a manual car, and other manuals we had before – your take off RPM seem to be awfully high. Unless you are “rip it from the start” type of driver. But necessity to gun the engine may be caused by lack of fuel supply, caused by faulty pressure regulator?
Overall it sounds like your vehicle is in need of general TLC + tune up.Yes, definitely thank you for your input. I didn’t want to “clutter up” the forums with several different posts on the same car. I will do that next time…
As far as your take on the RPM issue and engagement, it does sound reasonable to suspect that might be the culprit. I will have to tackle that today.
Surprise Surprise! Found a dead solenoid on top of the air intake right before the engine. There were actually two solenoids right next to each other. I tested for continuity, lo and behold one of the two was dead. Actually, strangely enough the P0090 code that was set off wasn’t pointing to THAT solenoid I replaced but rather another solenoid which regulated the fuel pressure. That solenoid still had continuity in it. I also hooked up a 12 volt battery booster to the solenoid to hear if it clicked, and sure enough it did. So I said what the hey…. this guy still seems to be working. So I checked the actual ohms reading, however it was about 10-13 higher than what the service manual had stated. Manual mentioned it needed to between 22-26 ohms. I was getting 36-43 ohms. Thought it was bad, so I went to Autozone to order that part, turns out when I tested that new unit I was getting the same amount of ohms. I thought hmmmm maybe try dearlership part. Even then I tested dealership part, same ohm reading. Almost gave up until I noticed “other” solenoids in the area so I thought I take out the electrical plug and tested to see if I would get the same reading. After two more tests I found out the real culprit. Found the part # and ordered it no problem at Autozone. Car idles smooth now when car is disengaged coming to a stop. I haven’t been on any long trips to determine if symptoms have been remedied, but it’s a start.
As for my brakes, I found out why the my outer pad is wearing down more than the inner pad on the front driver side. The brake piston was stuck in the caliper. It wouldn’t compress inward, so my landlord suggested I drop a few drops of brake fluid in between the rubber brake boot and the piston so it can be lubricated. Afterwards the piston compressed no problem. Its only a matter of time before I have to change my front brake calipers, that I know because I bought the car used. No idea what the previous owner did to it, but all the rubber caps on top of the bleeder valves are all gone as well as the cap for the sliding pins.
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