Repair Work, I'm Getting Too Old

That Buick got the 3800 in it? Things are pretty much bulletproof. I had a Bonneville SSE that ran great for 260K before the body rotted out ...
 
I know one person who managed to have a 3800 blow up. The car had suffered some bad repairs before he got it and the odometer had apparently been rolled back or swapped. Best estimates had it somewhere around 200k when it threw a rod. He got a junkyard motor and put it back together, seems fine now.
 
At 59 I'm definitely getting too old to do this stuff. This past week I decided to do the 100k timing belt change on my 2000 Civic (263k on the car) not a tough job if you can get the crank pulley bolt loose.

Anyhow it kind of snowballed, the way high mileage cars do. With the belt cover off I noticed the oil pump to block o ring is leaking, can't get the pump off unless you pull the oil pan so I removed that.

The rear main has been leaking for the last 150k but recently started leaking a lot worse, got the pan off so might as well do that too (seal was so brittle it was like hard plastic), gotta pull the trans to get to it so out it came, it's 19 years old so the two CV boots that I haven't already replaced will have to be done now, the inner one was so brittle that it tore open when I disturbed it and spilled it's lube all over the garage floor, one of the two Moog boots I ordered from Amazon had the wrong clamp so I had to pick up another one.

Trans has 263k also, it has never leaked a drop but it's out so might as well replace the TC seal and the axle seals as well, would have loved to split the case and freshen it up a little, or at least change the filter, but that's just a bit too much to cope with at this point.

Distributor had been leaking and caked in crud so I cleaned it up and replaced the o-ring, this had further consequences, after putting it all back together the car wouldn't start, coil failed, it had some spark which complicated the diagnosis, but not enough to fire the plugs, best I can figure is the tiny bit of moisture that got inside the distributor caused the coil to fail, 263k on the original coil isn't bad, probably lucky it died in my garage.

It's all back together and running fine again but the toll on my body from rolling around on the Concrete floor will take a little time to heal.
 
At 59 I'm definitely getting too old to do this stuff. This past week I decided to do the 100k timing belt change on my 2000 Civic (263k on the car) not a tough job if you can get the crank pulley bolt loose.

Anyhow it kind of snowballed, the way high mileage cars do. With the belt cover off I noticed the oil pump to block o ring is leaking, can't get the pump off unless you pull the oil pan so I removed that.

The rear main has been leaking for the last 150k but recently started leaking a lot worse, got the pan off so might as well do that too (seal was so brittle it was like hard plastic), gotta pull the trans to get to it so out it came, it's 19 years old so the two CV boots that I haven't already replaced will have to be done now, the inner one was so brittle that it tore open when I disturbed it and spilled it's lube all over the garage floor, one of the two Moog boots I ordered from Amazon had the wrong clamp so I had to pick up another one.

Trans has 263k also, it has never leaked a drop but it's out so might as well replace the TC seal and the axle seals as well, would have loved to split the case and freshen it up a little, or at least change the filter, but that's just a bit too much to cope with at this point.

Distributor had been leaking and caked in crud so I cleaned it up and replaced the o-ring, this had further consequences, after putting it all back together the car wouldn't start, coil failed, it had some spark which complicated the diagnosis, but not enough to fire the plugs, best I can figure is the tiny bit of moisture that got inside the distributor caused the coil to fail, 263k on the original coil isn't bad, probably lucky it died in my garage.

It's all back together and running fine again but the toll on my body from rolling around on the Concrete floor will take a little time to heal.
I hear ya.

Dead battery last week. Took the battery out and there's standing water in the bottom of the battery box - about 1/8". Take the underbody cover off, pop out the drain plugs to get the water out and shop vac the rest that's under a spacer welded on the inside of the box.

Get the battery in and fire up the engine. Passive Restraint fault displayed on the dash. Been through this before so I clean the connector that goes to the + terminal on the battery to disconnect the battery if the airbags fire. Passive Restrain fault still displayed and now some electric widget on the engine is constantly buzzing and the car won't go to sleep. Disconnect the battery and give up for the night.

'Net research tells me there's another connector on the - battery terminal that gets corroded so I clean and Deoxit that one and get rid of one Passive Restraint fault but another like a cel is still displayed. This also fixes the constant buzzing from the engine.

Hook up scanner, clear codes and kill second passive restraint fault. About 5 hours to change a battery.

Not sure how the water got in the battery box but I think it's that vent about the battery - rubber flap has disintegrated.

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I took the Continental on a spin around the block today. The "check suspension" light (it has 4 wheel air suspension) blinked randomly. I've never seen that before. They don't normally flash codes unless the diag connector in the trunk is jumped. Of course it seemed to only blink while driving so I couldn't note what exactly it was flashing at me.
 
It's all back together and running fine again but the toll on my body from rolling around on the Concrete floor will take a little time to heal.
I know the feeling. This past summer I felt like I was working on one project or another non-stop. And yes, I was quite sore after each one. Kept telling myself the exercise is good for me. :D

Kinda wish I had the room in the garage and the tools (and the brains) to work on my kiddo's transmission--I'd crack it open and clean it out. It's just too much for me to handle anymore.
 
Yes the body will go before the car itself will even the interior is doing fine. I am tempted to have it painted on the cheap but it is a nice set of wheels. Still got the original tape deck in it working fine. I record a lot of blues shows off the radio.
That Buick got the 3800 in it? Things are pretty much bulletproof. I had a Bonneville SSE that ran great for 260K before the body rotted out ...
Yes the car is fine to me, you are right the body will go before the mind ahhh I mean everything under the hood and the interior is fine just fine. Still got the stock tapedeck really should get it painted and that is it people do ask when I am gassing up how old is that car and I say you should see my 80 chevy had two one four door and one two door a 79. All those cars I got for under $1000 except the Buick most I ever paid for a car two grand but it was well worth it if i told you the milage on those cars when I got them you would not believe it. Thanks for noticing the value of a nice older car. I was buying the wife a new car and the guy at the place said you know the 4 cyl is as powerful as the 6 cyl of old. No it is not idiot. I hate when people say things like that.
Canton
 
Canton,

It can be true that the 4cyl is as powerful as the 6 cylinders of old because of turbo chargers and even DOHC heads. Look at the turbo 4 cyl. out there with commonly 250-260 HP.

In fact that's better then many V8's of old if you go back to the mid to late 70's to the early 80's or so.
 
Canton,

It can be true that the 4cyl is as powerful as the 6 cylinders of old because of turbo chargers and even DOHC heads. Look at the turbo 4 cyl. out there with commonly 250-260 HP.

In fact that's better then many V8's of old if you go back to the mid to late 70's to the early 80's or so.
I stand corrected
Canton
 
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Cracked exhaust manifold. I knew it’s been cracked for a loooog time but lately the exhaust fumes have been getting bad. I did some research, read about someone who said it was a 3 hour job, that was BS! Took me about 8 hrs. Bad thing is exhaust manifold is held on by studs that have 16 yrs & 265,000 miles on them & if I were to break one of them there’s no room to drill one out, engine removal time if that happened. Almost all the nuts came out with the stud attached. I’m almost to cautious when I know what could happen so after a few beers I can work harder & faster. 64 yrs old, alcohol does kill the pain a bit.
 
View attachment 1400444 View attachment 1400445 View attachment 1400446 2002 Nissan Frontier crewcab 3.3 V6.
Cracked exhaust manifold. I knew it’s been cracked for a loooog time but lately the exhaust fumes have been getting bad. I did some research, read about someone who said it was a 3 hour job, that was BS! Took me about 8 hrs. Bad thing is exhaust manifold is held on by studs that have 16 yrs & 265,000 miles on them & if I were to break one of them there’s no room to drill one out, engine removal time if that happened. Almost all the nuts came out with the stud attached. I’m almost to cautious when I know what could happen so after a few beers I can work harder & faster. 64 yrs old, alcohol does kill the pain a bit.
It's only cracked a little. Still good.

Murray
 
There’s only one after market exhaust manifold made which was 80.00. I didn’t take the time to look at Nissan’s. Had to keep a window down due to the fumes. Picked up about 1 more mile per gal, 17mph now, BFD! Check engine light finally quit lighting up..... for now.
 
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Stopped by to see Kegger's Mom yesterday and saw her car was back from the shop. We started talking and she told me she didn't know why it cost $300 to have a battery installed in a 2009 Journey.:(:bs:

Ok, I did Google it and the damn thing is buried in the fender ahead of the driver's tire, but still it shouldn't take more than 45 minutes from lot to lot.

That's why we still do this stuff....
 
Stopped by to see Kegger's Mom yesterday and saw her car was back from the shop. We started talking and she told me she didn't know why it cost $300 to have a battery installed in a 2009 Journey.:(:bs:

Ok, I did Google it and the damn thing is buried in the fender ahead of the driver's tire, but still it shouldn't take more than 45 minutes from lot to lot.

That's why we still do this stuff....
it is a pain to get to looking at a video of how to change it . terminals looked bad on the video and i can only assume they all might corrode given battery location so maybe they replaced the cables too ?
 
Stopped by to see Kegger's Mom yesterday and saw her car was back from the shop. We started talking and she told me she didn't know why it cost $300 to have a battery installed in a 2009 Journey.:(:bs:

Ok, I did Google it and the damn thing is buried in the fender ahead of the driver's tire, but still it shouldn't take more than 45 minutes from lot to lot.

That's why we still do this stuff....

Dodge is good for that stuff. Back 10 years ago, my car was in the shop so my grandma offered me to borrow her '96 Stratus. It just happened to be the coldest day of the year and it wouldn't start. I called a friend to give me a jump so I could get moving and get a new battery. When I popped the hood to look for the battery, nothing was there. Being that it was so damn cold out, I took it to a friend's shop and he showed me where it was, in the driver side fender. He had to remove the wheel and the liner to get to the battery. I could've done it myself but it was brutally cold out, about like what they're forecasting for us tomorrow.
 
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