Zoom Zoom

Started by CaminoRacer, January 11, 2018, 09:32:53 PM

CaminoRacer

Already replaced the license plate bulbs.

I got a jug of oil, a filter, Lucas fuel treatment and two license plate bulbs for $63 at Autozone. But I had $50 in rewards money, so it only cost $13. And the jug of oil had a $10 mail-in rebate, so it's a $3 oil change. :praise:
2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

Eye of the Tiger

Flushing is for toilets, man.
2008 TUNDRA (Truck Ultra-wideband Never-say-die Daddy Rottweiler Awesome)

giant_mtb


Eye of the Tiger

2008 TUNDRA (Truck Ultra-wideband Never-say-die Daddy Rottweiler Awesome)

Submariner

2010 G-550  //  2019 GLS-550

FoMoJo

"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

r0tor

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee No Speed -- 2004 Mazda RX8 6 speed -- 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia All Speed

Eye of the Tiger

2008 TUNDRA (Truck Ultra-wideband Never-say-die Daddy Rottweiler Awesome)

RomanChariot

Quote from: Eye of the Tiger on November 21, 2018, 11:10:22 AM
Can you comp0st tranny fluid?

LGBTQ and Cis can all by composted.

CaminoRacer

2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

Gotta-Qik-C7

Quote from: CaminoRacer on November 17, 2018, 06:05:53 PM
Already replaced the license plate bulbs.

I got a jug of oil, a filter, Lucas fuel treatment and two license plate bulbs for $63 at Autozone. But I had $50 in rewards money, so it only cost $13. And the jug of oil had a $10 mail-in rebate, so it's a $3 oil change. :praise:
Since you e used up you rewards get your oil at Walmart. It's a lot cheaper.
2014 C7 Vert, 2002 Silverado, 2005 Road Glide

r0tor

Quote from: CaminoRacer on November 21, 2018, 11:39:35 AM
Zoom zoom zoom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfbKc68OH-w

I miss my parents 2003 V6 mazda 6... That thing was so fun, I always wanted to turn it into a Touring race car when they weren't looking
2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee No Speed -- 2004 Mazda RX8 6 speed -- 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia All Speed

Eye of the Tiger

Quote from: r0tor on November 21, 2018, 02:22:56 PM
I miss my parents 2003 V6 mazda 6... That thing was so fun, I always wanted to turn it into a Touring race car when they weren't looking

Must've been dat eye are ess.
2008 TUNDRA (Truck Ultra-wideband Never-say-die Daddy Rottweiler Awesome)

r0tor

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee No Speed -- 2004 Mazda RX8 6 speed -- 2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia All Speed

CaminoRacer

Starter died today. Holy balls those are expensive on these cars. $182 is the cheapest one from Autozone. And it's at a shop, so they add a % on top of that. Gonna cost like $400 in the end. Luckily AAA covered the tow to the shop this morning.

2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

CaminoRacer

On 2 different occasions in the past week, the battery light has flickered on and off. I have a bluetooth radio transmitter that reads the voltage when you first plug it into the cigarette lighter, so I plugged it in today and it read 11 volts (normally reads ~14.5).

I'm hoping it a loose connection on the alternator or battery, not a dying alternator. It's $170 + an hour of my time to get a new alternator.
2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

CaminoRacer

AutoZone test said it was the battery. But only after I shut the engine off. Everything was fine while running.

I got a new battery. We'll see if the light comes back.
2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

CaminoRacer

I hate this car. Took me 2.5 hours to fail at getting the alternator out.

I could swap the alternator in the El Camino about 10 times in 2.5 hours.
2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

Eye of the Tiger

So it's still in there? Does it have that cold air intake duct on it? I can't remember where Mazder alts are.
2008 TUNDRA (Truck Ultra-wideband Never-say-die Daddy Rottweiler Awesome)

CaminoRacer

It's the 4 cylinder so it's back by the passenger side strut tower.

One of the first steps was taking off the exhaust manifold heat shield, which took 45 minutes because the bolts weren't 10mm. Or 9mm. Or 3/8". or 11/32". Just round.
2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

Eye of the Tiger

Quote from: CaminoRacer on February 28, 2019, 10:27:45 PM
It's the 4 cylinder so it's back by the passenger side strut tower.

One of the first steps was taking off the exhaust manifold heat shield, which took 45 minutes because the bolts weren't 10mm. Or 9mm. Or 3/8". or 11/32". Just round.

You don't have a round head wrench?
2008 TUNDRA (Truck Ultra-wideband Never-say-die Daddy Rottweiler Awesome)

BimmerM3

Quote from: Eye of the Tiger on March 01, 2019, 06:59:33 AM
You don't have a round head wrench?

Isn't that just a vise grip?

CaminoRacer

Tomorrow I'm gonna take off the motor mount bracket and it should give me more range of motion to use the serpentine belt wrench and get the belt off. Youtube tells me to go underneath the car but then I need a second person to actually slip the belt off the alternator.
2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

FoMoJo

Quote from: CaminoRacer on March 01, 2019, 10:56:05 AM
Tomorrow I'm gonna take off the motor mount bracket and it should give me more range of motion to use the serpentine belt wrench and get the belt off. Youtube tells me to go underneath the car but then I need a second person to actually slip the belt off the alternator.
Wife?
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." ~ Albert Einstein
"As the saying goes, when you mix science and politics, you get politics."

CaminoRacer

Stupid thing is finally swapped. Didn't take off the motor mount - instead I took off the wheel and an access panel thingy to be able to get the belt wrench on the tensioner from below. That wasn't too bad - but getting the alternator out between the engine and the firewall took about 30 minutes. Totally kills your back trying to lift it and maneuver it while hunched over the engine. Eventually it came out when I just yanked on the power wire after getting super pissed.

The wire connector broke apart too. Every bit of plastic on this car has gotten to the age where it is crazy brittle. The metal female connectors on the wires were loose and wouldn't stay on the male connectors on the alternator, so I tried to use pliers to squeeze them smaller so they'd be snug, but one of them snapped. So I ended up cutting both off and using my own connectors that fit snugly. I might buy a new plastic connector + wires off ebay for $13, but IDK. My fix may be good enough. It's a bit more exposed to the elements, but the alternator in general isn't exposed much at all. It's at the back corner of the engine and there's a plastic tray under the engine that keeps road crap off the bottom, so it's pretty enclosed and I don't think I have to worry about it much.

Anyway, it all seems fixed now. Just took 5 hours between today and Thursday.

I did some measuring after it was running and noticed an oddity:

Idle, no accessories:
14.7 volts

Idle, headlights on:
14.6 volts

Idle, headlights + heater fan on full blast:
13.6 volts

Idle, headlights + heater fan + rear defroster:
12.6-12.7 volts

Car moving, all accessories turned on:
14.7 volts

I'm super surprised that the headlights only dropped the voltage by 0.1 while the heater fan drops it a full volt. Rear defroster dropping it a full volt isn't too surprising.
2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

Eye of the Tiger

Oh yeah, some of those plastic alternator connectors are useless. If it doesn't pull out the first try, I just cut the wires and leave enough room to crimp on some butt connectors. Then I can put the alternator on a bench and extract the connector with precision.
2008 TUNDRA (Truck Ultra-wideband Never-say-die Daddy Rottweiler Awesome)

Soup DeVille

I try to never monkey with plastic car electrical connections below about 70 degrees.
Maybe we need to start off small. I mean, they don't let you fuck the glumpers at Glumpees without a level 4 FuckPass, do they?

1975 Honda CB750, 1986 Rebel Rascal (sailing dinghy), 2015 Mini Cooper, 2020 Winnebago 31H (E450), 2021 Toyota 4Runner, 2022 Lincoln Aviator

Eye of the Tiger

Quote from: Soup DeVille on March 04, 2019, 02:33:09 PM
I try to never monkey with plastic car electrical connections below about 70 degrees.

That's like ten months per year.
2008 TUNDRA (Truck Ultra-wideband Never-say-die Daddy Rottweiler Awesome)

CaminoRacer

I replaced the rear rotors & pads because the old rotors were getting corroded on the braking surface and I could feel pulsing in the pedal. They were only like 1.5 years old.

I probably should have gotten fancier rotors with zinc coating, but I didn't have time to order them & install it all before driving to Vegas this weekend. We'll see how long these non-coated rotors last... The real problem is most likely that the rear calipers aren't getting enough pressure to them, because they would clean the rotor surface off if they were clamping all the way. But I don't have the will power to bother looking into that.

After installing everything, the passenger side made some loud obnoxious groaning noises about 50% of the time when I braked. Took 2 days to figure out that I needed to use the new clips for the pads instead of the old ones. I think that fixed it. I can take everything apart very quickly now. :lol:
2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

AutobahnSHO

Ha that last part sounds like me...
Will