With any luck, we will start seeing some warmer weather.  Amazing what happens once the sun comes out, as the cars start to roll in for spring maintenance.  I think everyone is ready to kiss this crappy winter season goodbye.  While it is still a bit chilly, having the sun out makes it feel a lot warmer!  I really miss being able to work in the garage with the door open 🙂 This was just a basic inspection and oil …

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330Ci continued

Edit:  2/23/2010 Last night I got the front and rear brakes on with new pad sensors.  Tonight I am hoping to get the brakes bleed, and transaxle and differential serviced.  That should wrap up this service. Tues:  Finished up the fluid swap last night, and started in on the front control arm bushings (FCAB’s).  There is a little trick to getting them off and back on, but it isn’t too bad of a job 🙂  One final test drive and …

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Ok, I’ll promise to stop being lazy and keep the blog updated in my spare time, lol. Right now one of the current projects is a 2004 BMW 330Ci that I am doing a service 2 on along with some other maintenance.  The owner is moving to Arizona, and wants the car in tip top shape in the hotter climate. And the pile of parts we have to go on the car. List of things we are doing: Radiator Coolant …

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While Val and I were out in Seattle for Xmas, I did some work on my mom’s 2002 Explorer.  The ford trucks from the late 90’s to the mid 2000’s have an issue with the digital odometer not lighting up randomly.  Some days it will work, others it will not and you can’t read the display.  Eventually, it will stop lighting up completely (this does not mean it will stop accumulating miles, lol)  The issue is from cold solder joints …

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Val’s jeep has had a couple of no start issues in the past year, all of which quickly subsided after sitting a few hours, but none the less, I was afraid it would leave her stranded somewhere eventually.  The jeeps have a fuel leak down issue on occasion, which requires updating some seals in the fuel sender unit.  Since I would be in there, I replaced the fuel pump and the filter/regulator as well.  Well, I got to do the …

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I had been doing some maintenance on Val’s 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee the other day when I noticed a leaking rear axle seal on the passenger side.  I had actually smelled gear lube after arriving in SD for thanksgiving, so I pretty much knew what I would find when I looked under the rear of the truck.  Jeeps are pretty notorious for this issue, and I had replaced the driver’s side a couple of years ago.  The process is fairly …

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Replaced a leaking output shaft seal on a 951 today.  It had gotten bad enough that it was leaving a puddle on the ground after driving, so it was time to replace it.  Remove the CV axle from the output shaft.  The bolts are typically 8mm triple square bits but they may have been replaced with 6mm allens at some point.   One the axle is out of the way, remove the 6mm allen in the center of the output shaft.  …

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993 Repairs

Had a 993 in the garage the other day for a few repairs.  First off I repaired the fan duct housing to the heater assembly, and then I went after a metal rattle in the rear of the car. New heater duct installed. Old air duct.  As you can see, the air wasn’t getting where it needed to go, lol There were multiple causes of the metal rattle in the rear.  The car had been in a rear end accident …

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And that is hunting…….. Thanksgiving (and usually xmas) week every year is spent hunting up in South Dakota with family.  Every year my wife and I (and the polar bear of a dog) head up for some deer and pheasant hunting.  Having family up there is really nice in regard to land access, and great hunting grounds at that.  Left late friday night, and were up early on Saturday to head out for some scouting.  I typically pull a doe …

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For some reason, black cars, in particular black 951’s have been known to put up a fight with me.  Not just one black 951, but multiple black 951’s, lol.  Oh well.  It was a project that just kept growing and growing as we got deeper into it.  IMHO, the root of everything was for years the car was running 15.5:1 AFR’s under boost after an upgraded turbo and MAF, but still using stock injectors (not my install).  We fixed the …

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