Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

[gravitylover]

Yup that's what I was thinking about. Thanks. (I need a Gap iid tool but $$)

[claresdad]

Yeah it's looking like this is going to get put off for a while and a beater is probably going to happen. We've talked about it a bunch and I think that, for the most part, this is a good truck and worth putting the effort into to do it right. Sure it has it's quirks but what old trucks don't and it can be fully refreshed for a lot less than it would cost to get something comparable (LC or similar) in better shape that would still have age issues bite it in the ass. This means it will mostly just sit in the driveway and get slowly broken down so I can figure out all the different things it needs and get it done on the warm days between now and the spring. I can take my time and get it right and hopefully have a worthy contender to get through to when the time is right to get an electric something or other. Now, as to that beater idea...

I know MF is gonna say I'm thinking in the right direction so I'll toss it out there first - Volvo 3.2 XC70's can be had for less than Subarus now so that's at the top of the list, next is the XC90 or XC60. All of these can be found with well under 200k, usually around 150, with reasonable service histories for $4-7k which seems sensible considering 225k mile Honda Elements or Pilots are the same prices and they all need tires and brakes. You can even find XC90 V8's for about $7k. Now that I've gotten my eclectic car thing out of the way what else makes sense in the affordable AWD world? This question is here rather than the 10 year old car thread because I'm hoping to do most of my own work on it because it has to be old enough to be cheap and it has to be mostly serviceable by a bonehead with a nice toolset so I figured you klowns would be the right ones to ask.

Just as an aside..we had a 2004 xc70 XCountry that lasted 349K miles with typical maintenance repairs along the way. Seemed like 0 to 250K were pretty care free and the interior held up to dogs, camping, skiing etc. Tire changes and brakes mostly.

[jamal]

Sister is in town, so of course I have to do shit to her car. 2008 Rav 4. Last time I was in canada for an extended period of time it got new shocks, brakes, a basic front end alignment, and I got her mangled up fender liner/bumper cover screwed into place a little better.

Seems like every time I see the car the whole dash is lit up. Oil change due, out of washer fluid, tpms (although that one is because of the winter wheels), and a weird CEL for coolant temp too low. And the heat doesn't work very well. And one of the headlights is out. And the windshield's cracked.

When she got it I did brakes, timing belt, water pump etc. On these the thermostat is right on the front of the block and not in the water pump so while I assume I changed it maybe it was original. Radiator hose was warm with coolant temp at like 150f so yeah that seemed to be the problem. Put new one in without getting too much coolant all over the place. One I took out didn't seem stuck open but anyway now seems to work.

I guess on the plus side my new swivel sockets got that thermostat housing off real easy and I got to use my rivnut tool. Put some threaded inserts into the subframe where the undertray attaches because those stupid panel clips always annoyed me back there.

[gravitylover]

@claresdad Yeah 04-05 look like good years, I just have to convince myself that 16 or 17 years old isn't just going to be a lateral move from my 06 RR that's sitting disabled in the driveway. The upside is parts are less expensive on the Volvos and not quite as many engineering faux pas making things like a "simple" hose repair disastrously expensive.

I'm tired of laying on the ground to change the oil in the winter, on a 2012 Forester should I use a short or long nipple Fumoto Valve?

[bodywhomper]

My pick-a-part sunroof is leaking in my car. I can see some hairline cracks in the rubber that holds the glass. The sunroof gutter and drains are cleared.

Suggestions of what to use to seal the cracks? Ideally, it’s clear in color. It needs to work in the wet. I don’t see any time soon where I can keep the area dry for a day-long cure time.

[gravitylover]

Clear Gorilla tape. I gave up and don't open it anymore.

[wooley12]

X2 on Gorilla tape.

On the lighter side of wrenching. My neph's FB post today.

https://www.facebook.com/REDiImports...78461042202982

[bodywhomper]

Clear Gorilla tape. I gave up and don't open it anymore.

It’s all black. Maybe I’ll use black gorilla tape as see how it goes. The drainage on the sunroof works fine. Thx

[El Chupacabra]

Anyone had success with any tire sealant for a slow leak? I'm not sure where the tires are losing air. The valve stems were new when I had the tires mounted, but these are used wheels + used winter tires. The tires had nearly new tread depth and were cheap, so I grabbed them off Craigslist in the spring.

Two of the tires lose about 1 to 1.5 psi per week. I could just keep pumping them up, but am tempted to throw in some sealant like Slime and see if it helps. No TPMS sensors in the wheels. I used Slime many years ago on a leaky trailer tire, and it worked.

[gravitylover]

It seems like every winter I have at least one wheel that starts a slow leak. Every time it has been corrosion on the rim. The tire shop pops the bead on that side and scrubs it then airs it back up and we're good to go.

[bodywhomper]

I’ve had that ^^ once. I’ve also had it be the stem several times, valve core or the seal of the stem to the rim.

[ctsmith]

I’ve had good results with TireJect

[fatnslow]

Try having the bead resealed. Tire guys will hate you if you show up with a tire that's has liquid sealer in it.

[wooley12]

Upstate NY and alloy wheels don't play nice after a few years IME.

[El Chupacabra]

I'll try spraying around the rim with soapy water and see if I can find any bubbles to indicate leaking at the rim.

I've had several sets of used aluminum wheels for winter tires, and never had bead leaks or valve stem leaks. These wheels looked pretty clean at the bead seats.

I've never bought used tires before this set, and don't know how these were treated or stored. Doubt I'll go that route again - may just keep pumping up this set until I remove them at the end of winter, and sell them later. Mrs C doesn't like the studded tires, and they're overkill for our location anyway.

[gravitylover]

Just take it in and get the bead reset. As mentioned it could be the tpms sensor too, that glue doesn't last forever especially if it's been bumped putting tires on. I'm curious, what's the production date on the tires? If it's a couple of years that they've been on the wheels they've been through a lot of hot and cold cycles and the rubber could be starting to give up. I've actually had great luck with used wheels and tires, don't let this scare you off that market unless you find out that there's something actually wrong with one of them.

[El Chupacabra]

Just take it in and get the bead reset. As mentioned it could be the tpms sensor too, that glue doesn't last forever especially if it's been bumped putting tires on. I'm curious, what's the production date on the tires? If it's a couple of years that they've been on the wheels they've been through a lot of hot and cold cycles and the rubber could be starting to give up. I've actually had great luck with used wheels and tires, don't let this scare you off that market unless you find out that there's something actually wrong with one of them.

No TPMS sensors. New regular valves upon installation. (Ignoring the TPMS light on the dash.) Tires produced in 2019.

Bought tires and wheels separately in spring 2021 and had them mounted, then stored them until this winter.

[fatnslow]

No TPMS sensors. New regular valves upon installation. (Ignoring the TPMS light on the dash.) Tires produced in 2019.

Bought tires and wheels separately in spring 2021 and had them mounted, then stored them until this winter.

They are suppose to clean and but a quick bead of sealant on the bead,edge of wheel BUT sometimes this gets ignored during tire swaps. Just some minor corrosion or debris/dirt can cause leaks especially when you have temp swings. Around here it's $15-20 per tire. If your like most adults it's not the money but the time and the hassle of it all.

[Touring_Sedan]

Two pulleys and a tensioner. 20 minutes. I don't miss wrenching on front wheel drive cars.






Has anyone ever used one of these up?!!

[mcphee]

Has anyone ever used one of these up?!!

Lol. Nope. Once they get to half used they just kinda stay there.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[gravitylover]

I have a collection of different kinds for different things. Some of them are 15 or more years old. My shelf with lubricants, cleaners and assorted other danger zone things is actually pretty cool (and a kickass fire hazard) and then there's also the collection of different loc-tite kind of things.

I'm stoked on what looks like another awesome used wheel and tire purchase. The wife's new XC60 came with Hankook Ventus Summer UHP tires and they are downright scary on dry 15* pavement! They are like fucking hockey pucks. I can break them loose at 60mph just by stomping on it and even slow speed cornering is terrible. I spotted them on Fb and if they were even half as good as in the pictures it was gonna be a win so we went for a couple of hour ride and scored big time. These things have about 6k miles on brand new Volvo R Design diamond cut wheels with Conti Winter Contact tires and all 4 TPMS sensors for half the price of just the wheels if they were bought new. Pics tomorrow. That's twice in less than a year, last summer I got 4 LR wheels with TPMS and Nokian WR G4 tires for $260. 20k trouble free miles on them so far Anyway...

What's with blower fans that only chirp when it's cold? Now we have three vehicles that are fine over about 40* but chirp below that. It does sort of go away when the fan warms up but not when it's this cold (teens all day today) in the 2 Euro mobiles, the Forester quiets down after a few minutes and it has been that way since new. The other two actually have the same brand blower motor so I was wondering if that's a thing on other brands, I've spent no time in most Euro brand cars this century.

[Todd Zander]

Grab a zoom spout oiler for $10 and quiet-er down. Works well to lightly lubricate lots of small blowers and bearings and such.

[MontuckyFried]

What's with blower fans that only chirp when it's cold? Now we have three vehicles that are fine over about 40* but chirp below that. It does sort of go away when the fan warms up but not when it's this cold (teens all day today) in the 2 Euro mobiles, the Forester quiets down after a few minutes and it has been that way since new. The other two actually have the same brand blower motor so I was wondering if that's a thing on other brands, I've spent no time in most Euro brand cars this century.

I dunno, but ironically mine behaves better in the winter. When it's cold, the chirping seems to go away for the most part. Weird. I didn't realize noisy blower fans were such a common problem! My Volvo's the only car I've ever had with such an issue. One day I'd like to get around to tackling it but it's going to be teh suck. See below...

Grab a zoom spout oiler for $10 and quiet-er down. Works well to lightly lubricate lots of small blowers and bearings and such.

Ha. HA! HAHAHAHAHA! I wish! They pretty much built the car around it. I think same goes for gravity's RR and his new Volvo (perhaps all the same crappy FoMoCo parts) Here's what mine entails:

[gravitylover]

Oh damn...

[fatnslow]

I have a collection of different kinds for different things. Some of them are 15 or more years old. My shelf with lubricants, cleaners and assorted other danger zone things is actually pretty cool (and a kickass fire hazard) and then there's also the collection of different loc-tite kind of things.

I'm stoked on what looks like another awesome used wheel and tire purchase. The wife's new XC60 came with Hankook Ventus Summer UHP tires and they are downright scary on dry 15* pavement! They are like fucking hockey pucks. I can break them loose at 60mph just by stomping on it and even slow speed cornering is terrible. I spotted them on Fb and if they were even half as good as in the pictures it was gonna be a win so we went for a couple of hour ride and scored big time. These things have about 6k miles on brand new Volvo R Design diamond cut wheels with Conti Winter Contact tires and all 4 TPMS sensors for half the price of just the wheels if they were bought new. Pics tomorrow. That's twice in less than a year, last summer I got 4 LR wheels with TPMS and Nokian WR G4 tires for $260. 20k trouble free miles on them so far Anyway...

What's with blower fans that only chirp when it's cold? Now we have three vehicles that are fine over about 40* but chirp below that. It does sort of go away when the fan warms up but not when it's this cold (teens all day today) in the 2 Euro mobiles, the Forester quiets down after a few minutes and it has been that way since new. The other two actually have the same brand blower motor so I was wondering if that's a thing on other brands, I've spent no time in most Euro brand cars this century.

https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...llation-55530/


If you can approximate where the bearing and/or bushing are get a long straw close to it I bet a quick few squirts of silicone might quite it down. Cold squeaks usually the bearing having a bit of wear and the grease needs to heat up to fully lubricate. These damn things all get filthy over time. Removal, lube, cleaning usually takes acre of it. If you're adventurous you can gently remove the bearing cover and new grease and replace the seal.