318ti.org forum - What did you do to your car today?

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- - What did you do to your car today? (http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=29073)

Last week:

Replaced the steering guibo, inner and outer tie rods, power steering hoses/hose clamps, reservoir and fluid. Fixed the driver side window regulator (I should do the passenger side before it breaks...) and mounted 17x8.5 style 32s w/ 245/40-17s. (Pics in the wheel thread soon).

Steering feels wayyy better, I had a really loose steering feel on the highway and that is gone, the car just feels planted now. (245s may have helped that too...lol)

Quote:

Originally Posted by spidertri (Post 264799)

If the old tie rods were OE style... How'd you get the old inner tie rods off? I'm thinking about grinding down my wrench to fit in there and would rather find another solution.

I went to a local bike shop and bought a 32mm Park Tools headset wrench for about $15. It was by far one of the easiest things I have done on my car. Make sure you get new lockplates as well. Only bad thing is that you need to get an alignment afterwards.

Awesome. Thanks. The only other suggestion I got from friends was "try a pipe wrench?"

install my new lightweight battery, only 11.5lbs :eek:

wired up a CD changer in the 5

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChItalian1027 (Post 263371)

This isn't what I did to my car but what my car did to me.

So I was driving to the local meet tonight, so I start the car and its idling at 2,000rpm in neutral, I don't think anything of it, and as I come up to a stop light my battery light comes on then my oil light comes on then my car dies, then my CEL comes on. So I quickly put it in neutral and start it up, and its idling at 1,000rpm normally its at 750-800rpm. My heat isn't on or anything. So I continue driving. Come up to another stop light and same thing. Car starts to over heat, so I put the heat on so it doesn't go into the red. So now I don't know what is going on, so I turn around and head back home. Another stop light, I'm only 5min from my house. Come to another stop light, same thing again. As I'm heading back home, I'm at a stop light heat on windows down so I don't get to hot starting to get to the middle of the temp gauge start going temp decreases. So I get home and put it into the garage and look over the engine. Coolant level is fine, check the dip stick its on the first indicator. CRAP. The last time I did an oil change was in May last summer, so I check underneath of the car, no oil, no coolant on the floor, and no oil leaks. THANK GOD! So I have reason to believe I need to do an oil change, but I'm not entirely sure. THIS IS REALLY PISSING ME OFF because I drove the car the entire day yesterday and today, so i'm not sure whats going on :mad: any help would be appreciated. My dad thinks it needs an oil change as well, so I may do that tomorrow, since I'm on spring break. Also my dad thinks it could be the battery since I haven't changed that since I first got the car from my uncle in 2005.

Sorry for the 6,000,000 words
/rant

so i drove my car today. as i was getting on to the highway, the temp gauge goes up. so i put my heat on full blast and crack the windows, as i get to my dad's house the temp starts to rise at a stop light, while i'm at a dead stop. so i start accelerating as the light turns green and it starts dropping. i think it could may be the head gasket. the coolant isn't leaking. i'm going to replace the battery and spark plugs. then i'll look at the head gasket, and see if it could be doing this problem. i don't like driving my mom's prius. mind you i'm taking a week off of school to get this fixed and my dad is coming back to chicago tomorrow night. also could it be those coolant hoses that tend to fail??

Did you replace the thermostat? Sounds like that kind of issue....

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChItalian1027 (Post 265671)

Not the headgasket. If a HG fails, you'll know it. you will at least have milky oil, or oily coolant, will generally consume coolant, and will run like ass, even if it doesnt steam out the engine bay.

If your temp is truly dropping as you accelerate, i would look at blockage in the radiator, as well as bent/broken fins, as well as look at the thermostat and waterpump, make sure the belt is not slipping. If you can afford it, i would replace the entire cooling system: Radiator, thermostat, water pump, hoses and coolant. If you are mechanically savvy, its not a huge job, but a shop will hit you hard in the wallet.

If you had hose issues, you would be leaking coolant all over the place.

Hi Greg,

If you are going to rebuild the cooling system and you need an extra hand let me know. I just did mine and things are fresh in my mind. I am free all weekend starting April 10th.

Good luck ;)

Quote:

What did you do to your car today?

Extra tail light mod...
realized my "trunk" light wasn't working. bulb looks good tho...

Replaced the battery.

Looked at my today and asked myself, when
was the last time I washed the TI???? Quickly realized that it has at least been 3 months!!!!

Might give my baby a shower this weekend.

lazoh, wash your car already... geez! :icon_poke LOL

I washed mine today. It really needs to be waxed too, but didn't have time today. Maybe I'll do that in the next couple of weeks when I do several other projects on my list. :-D

Took mine for it's first real drive. Tossed the tags on it at 1am and took it to the gas station to get it's first fill up in 14 months. I was sorely disappointed, and worried about it actually making it home. Looks like it'll be getting a lot of new parts in the near future.