Welcome to the Hooniverse News! As always, this is a weekly recap of the biggest stories in the automotive industry without the fluff or bull. This week: there is no news.
Rather than fill your timeline with what little scraps of news that I could find, you can fill each other’s instead. If you saw anything, fixed and then broke and then fixed something, or otherwise did anything even remotely car related, sound off below.
Have a good weekend.
About
Today, our little i20 passed its biannual tech inspection with no issues, yay! I also asked the shop to change motor oil, so they can stamp the service documents belonging to the car. They charged 150$ for oil alone. Oops.
Since I always want to deliver a clean car for servicing, I went over this one, too, and found a blown seam. It’s odd in a five year old, especially when the fabric looks and feels like it will survive me. A tiny, unexpected annoyance.
https://i.ibb.co/X7xqLq7/IMG-20210325-094930.jpg
speaking of 22 years ago, no 32 years ago now!! I bought some upholstery needles and sewed on new fabric on the top of the back seats in one of my $500 cars that had spent too much time in the sun. Those needles have come in handy a few times over the years. the big curled one is the best.
After cruelly subjecting my Volvo 240 Turbo wagon to driving through heavy snow and ice a month ago, my passenger side front wheel bearings started to disintegrate, emitting a low rumble anytime I got moving. This caused me to emit a low grumble as well, as getting to the bearing means breaking open the lines to the disc brake caliper so it can be removed, allowing removal of the rotor, which allows removal of the hub and bearings.
The onion started to unpeel.
On examination, one of the four pistons in the brake caliper had frozen in position, likely caused excess friction and heat, and lead to the early demise of the bearing. Time to order a rebuilt caliper and a wheel bearing kit.
The bearings arrived first. I removed the old bearing races, drove in the new ones, packed the new bearings, inner bearing and seal in, got the hub onto the spindle, was about to put the outer bearing in and… the phone rang. I set the outer bearing down, spun the castellated nut onto the spindle for safekeeping, and picked up the call.
When I sat back down, I grabbed my wrench and started tightening the castellated nut down. Then I felt the nut scraping against something… what? Huh? I then looked to my left, and spotted the outer bearing, all packed and lying in wait.
#@&^#$%#@!!! I had just ground the castellated nut into my shiny new bearing race, scoring the living crap out of it in the process. I forgot that I hadn’t put the outer bearing in yet because of the damn phone call. Instant scrap. I AM AN IDIOT, I chanted, along with some longshoreman-grade expletives to foul the air.
Time to order (another) new outer bearing.
Then, shipping delays. The rest of my parts arrived over a week late due to weather.
The other caliper I ordered probably won’t be here until well into April. I am usually a stickler for replacing anything to do with brakes in pairs, but since the driver’s side’s caliper is still good, I broke my own rule and just replaced the pads.
I finally got all my ducks in a row and started reassembling. All ready to bleed, then… the hose on my power bleeder split open. Hardware store closed, so no replacement. No one around to pump the pedal for me. Another day down.
It’s been three weeks now, but I’m almost finished (sigh). This is why I like to keep a spare vehicle around. Thank you, Econoline.
Spare vehicles are clutch. I’ve been known to have 2 or 3 of them…
Got the firewall covered with dynamat. It takes a lot longer than I was expecting. I think the floor will go a lot quicker. The brake and clutch pedal assembly is installed and ready for the clutch pedal to be modified. Next up is to mod that and reinstall any bits attached to the firewall.
I did the doors on my 4Runner. Kind of satisfying if you’re not in a hurry. I am alas, always in a hurry.
Some of you may remember my wife’s 1998 328i with (still) 69,000 miles on it. Although the car barely moves (perhaps a few hundred miles a year) it still manages to cost me roughly $1500 a year, every year, for -something. Last year was expensive as I realized that all belts and hoses were still original 1998 stuff so those all got changed, and then the 6 year old tires were replaced just because, not because of wear for damn sure. March is the month for the annual oil change and I thought that this year that might be the only expense….hah! A few weeks I noticed that the rubberized seal at the bottom of the windshield was coming off…in chunks. Figured it was the windshield gasket and started checking to see if the gasket could be replaced without replacing the windshield glass. Bad news: the windshield on these is glued in. But good news: it’s not actually the windshield gasket that is failing from age; it’s actually a a plastic cowling piece. Bad news? I am not entirely sure the piece can be replaced without removing the hood. Worrying- the shop has had the car for over a week now, and I haven’t heard anything… Now I wonder if you can even get that piece new… and I am also wondering what other pieces of 22 year old plastic are failing in places I can’t see.
It’s garaged, right? In our climate, bad window seals make me obsessively clutch the carpets next. I was looking for something similar with the Centennial, but haven’t found any leaks yet. In any case, 1500$/year isn’t that much compared to the depreciation or investment in a newer car. And in a couple of years time, you can get big money for that hardly driven 3er on BaT.
This car has been garaged at home and at work since new. It has spent more time parked in the dark than the Batmobile. The sun is the killer here; even the best plastic withers away from its rays but this doesn’t have that excuse. As for BAT …well, it’s a four-door automatic, in white, so it doesn’t tick any of the fanboi boxes.
Still haven’t heard anything from the shop, which makes me nervous.. it seems like they have a taxi meter in there and the longer the car stays in the shop the more it costs me. I do like the car though. It has a mechanical directness the new cars, with electronic suspensions and steering lack.
I’m definitely getting old, because my brain couldn’t quite accept “22 year old” and “1998” as describing the same vehicle. Damn, that’s almost a classic now.
My Spirit was 21 years old when I first got it, and I thought it was really old. And I immediately tore it down for a 2.5 year restoration. Hard for me to wrap my head around doing that with something built in 2000 now.
I haven’t checked in lately…i really want the old comment system back, or at least something with the same functionality.
But enough bitching. In the last couple of weeks, I’ve had one of the parking brake shoes on the x3 delaminate and make a ruckus rolling around in the drum. Have the new parts here, just need to get them installed. Work is pretty busy right now, so maybe in a few weeks. It’s still driveable, so not a big rush, but I like to stay on top of these things.
I also had about a gallon of water frozen solid in the rf footwell of the x3. Sunroof drain froze up. No long term issue, just a pita to clean up.
Drove the m5 to a weekend in phx last weekend. Had an odd electrical noise from behind the radio /cc for about 20 seconds. It didn’t come back, and didn’t seem to be tied to radio or cc operation, so we’ll see what fun that turns into.
Finally back to competitive bowling after full vaccination, and man, never knew how much I missed that, so less time to spend on cars now for the foreseeable future.
Tale of three driveway fixtures:
One went into a newly-cleared-out garage to get out of the elements.
One went to a new owner.
One runs rather well for the first time in years and was treated to a new windshield.
I need to make a list of things I will never do again. First on the list is trans fluid change. 1. lift all 4 corners of the car up to keep it level. 2. remove 5! brackets/engine covers. 3. buy another seldom used wrench. 4. somehow get oil all over the floor. 5. put it all back together again. I’ve spent the better part of a week 1-2 hours a night on it. crawled under it 50 times for this or that. Whats wrong with building a car with consistent sized bolts???? I must have 15 different types and sizes of sockets etc. laying around me on the cold concrete. #donewithitall. as the kids would say
I dont see how #3 is a problem. I look forward to buying seldom used wrenches.
Found a cracked intake hose on the BMW that hopefully is the source of the check engine light. Parts should be here today.
The Tundra is losing brake fluid. Firm pedal and no obvious leaks, but I haven’t really checked thoroughly. I’m guessing it’s a bad master cylinder, but I need to investigate further.
Losing fluid with no obvious leaks is a sign that it’s going into the brake booster.
A week ago had a weekend away and a fair bit of seat time in a BMW F30 320i with some sort of M pack. Not bad to drive but the electric power steering was pretty feel-free on the nice twisty roads and there was the odd occasion where the gearbox shifted moreharshly than usual – perhaps sport mode or whatever might have worked better as it seemed like it was from getting a bit caught by surprise.
Just came across a new music video by Irish musician AE Mak which perhaps higlights that Ireland these days is a pretty different place to what people from other places might imagine, but mainly because it features a creepy clown driving a Morgan, and yes, they did get stopped by the cops while shooting it…
https://nialler9.com/ae-mak-releases-new-ep-and-buzzy-night-out-new-friend-music-video/
I just did brake pads, rotors and calipers on my 04 Grand Am and now if I turn all the way to the right something is scraping the rotor. It’s a consistent scrape, not a “scrape scrape scrape,” and has left a ring on the rotor. Guess I get to take apart.
Also there’s a creaking when I turn post brake job, somewhat dependent on how fast I turn the wheel, that happens even if I do it at a stop. It didn’t before and when replacing the caliper a fair bit of brake fluid leaked onto this big rubber piece that I then tried to clean off with windex… I’m praying the chemicals have just agitated that rubber and the sound is it expanding/contracting
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