24Aug2011
Back To The Basics Mazda3
Daily driver business definitely isn’t beyond me, if it is broke, I’ll take a shot at it. This Mazda3 came in for squealing rear brakes. It appears something had gotten lodged in between the pad and the rotor and worn a groove. So it was time for new pads and rotors in the rear. The tires are cupping pretty badly as well, so this car likely needs an alignment. Old brakes ready to come off. To push the caliper pistons …
20Aug2011
The New Digs
We have been pushed back a bit on getting into the new shop, but hopefully soon. James is still moving years and years of parts, equipment, cars etc to his new place which takes time, but eventually he will get everything moved out, and we will get in, set up, and ready to roll. Front and Side. Right side looking down from the upper office. Left side looking down from the upper office. Rear end of the building Storage. Engine …
19Aug2011
996 IMS Upgrade Part II:
Parts came in this morning for the 996 project, so I was able to knock out quite a bit of work today. Started out by installing the secondary air valve, oil/air separator, oil cooler seals, waterpump, and also was able to button up the intake manifold. Water pump on, and the front engine carrier back in place. New LN Engineering ceramic IMS upgraded bearing and center shaft installed. And the bearing flange installed along with a new RMS. Then it …
18Aug2011
996 IMS Upgrade
Starting tearing into the 996 project today to see what we were looking at. The first thing was to go after the intermediate shaft bearing which is the weak part of these motors. Then was the waterpump and a few other misc. items while the engine is out. I had to get the exhaust out of the way, so I pulled the headers/mufflers/cats (pulling cam covers later). Someone had upgraded the headers at some point (and mufflers) and replaced the …
16Aug2011
996 Engine Time
This happy camper was dropped off this afternoon for a little internal work. Many are likely aware of the Intermediate Shaft Bearing issues in the 986 and 996. This car has about 60k miles and is a 1999, so that little mileage spells disaster for the bearing typically. It has a lot of oil weeping here and there that I will take care of once I crack it open. The plan is to replace the standard maintenance items while it …
16Aug2011
Trailblazer Brake Time and CEL
Had another car come in from Boys Town (only one guy will get that joke) to take care of some noise from the rear of the vehicle. It also had a CEL light (P0105 and P0128) on with a couple of faults. The P0105 can pop on due to a dirty throttle body or a bad MAP sensor. Since cleaning the throttle body is free.99, I decided to yank it and take care of that. The P0128 is a coolant …
16Aug2011
964 Finished
After buttoning up the 964 yesterday, a brief check of the running systems found an alternator that was charging at 19 volts, which is not good. Normal charge is somewhere around 13v, and over charging can lead to electrical problems in the car. The voltage regulator on the back of the alternator is what regulates the charging voltage, so that is what was needed. Unfortunately, on the back of the alternator, means a lot of stuff has to come apart, …
15Aug2011
964 Distributor Rebuild
Parts came in while I was out of town for our 964 project which had the internal distributor belt fail. I got cracking early as I knew it would be a long day. First thing to do was the replace the hood and hatch struts so they would stay open. The back of my head is always thankful for new hatch struts. mmmmm, fresh struts. After sneaking into the back of the engine bay, both sides get replaced. Then it …
10Aug2011
PPI’s The Paint Meter Never Lies
Having someone qualified to perform a PRE Purchase Inspection BEFORE you buy is always a good idea. Being able to spot potential or current mechanical issues, previous accident damage, etc is critical when buying a car, so you can have an idea of what repairs you may be facing in the future, Ie, money out of your pocket. Unfortunately, I end up doing a lot of POST Purchase Inspections after someone had purchased a car, and they never really enjoy …
10Aug2011
Cayenne Driveshaft
Porsche introduced the Cayenne SUV in 2003, which later became it’s #1 selling vehicle. The model shares the same platform as the VW Touareg, and thus shares a lot of the same issues. One of those issues in the 03 and early 04 models was a driveshaft carrier bearing that would fail and cause a knocking, thumping, or as many describe it, a “wummering” sound. It can happen under hard acceleration, light acceleration, when there is an old lady crossing …