| Author | Message | ||
     Ourdee |
You have before. | ||
| Rick_a |
You, sir, are extra un-ordinary. | ||
| Rick_a |
My great vehicle luck continues. A replacement blower fan assembly came in from Amazon...in a wide open package...broken. One of the positioning pegs is broken off. Should work fine. On attempting to install some springs...the rear went as expected and took minutes...the front...had everything (literally) stuck and one of the strut shaft bolts released its threads on the way out...killing both the bolt and shaft. Complete KYB struts are on the way...but what a hassle. I spent all day carefully working corroded fasteners out...just to have the most important one fail spectacularly.   20191219_092307 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr The top collars were so oxidated that they literally crumbled in my hands...so it might be for the best. The rest of the strut is also relatively skanky.  20191219_093200 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr  20191219_093212 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr I'll probably just drill this sucker off.  20191219_092333 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr I did a bit of a plus size while I was at it. Those stock tires are found lacking. They'll be on one of these weeks.  20191218_120245 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr Original is 175/65R15. I went 195/55R15 on alloys. The new stuff is only 1/2 pound or so lighter. The wheels I wanted were 3lbs lighter each, but were backordered for weeks.  | ||
| 86129squids |
At least this is progress, albeit slow and aggravating. Maybe you should wait a while before the reverse donuts.  | ||
| Rick_a |
At least my pleather steering wheel wrap installation went okay.  | ||
| Rick_a |
 20191212_131311 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr | ||
| Tootal |
Wow, those struts are nasty! My brother just swapped out both front struts on his 2005 Toyota Rav 4 and they were in much better shape than that. Good thing you're replacing the struts. | ||
| Rick_a |
The front brake line fittings make me feel uneasy as well. Probably going to go braided on those. | ||
| Rick_a |
I just found out that my car has a passenger airbag recall. After this round it'll be the next course of action. | ||
| Rick_a |
One of the AC control knobs has a dead bulb...it's necessary to pull the radio to get to it. All those little panels to get to it are a PITA. It may stay dead for a while... | ||
| Rick_a |
It's back together with a working blower motor. What a hassle.   20191226_125305 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr | ||
| Pwnzor |
Those wheels look good on it. | ||
| Ourdee |
What a hassle. Blower motor looks like it is needed for that green house front window. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I would have soooo many antennas on the roof of that car. | ||
| Rick_a |
I just ripped out a piece of glued on floor mat. There was glass and dirt all underneath it. The carpet got a few bald spots getting that out. Who does that? It was completely sealed around the perimeter. Some jerk glued it over a dirty carpet.
Some lady driving by the other day laughed at it. I assume that means she's quite impressed.
I keep it on a pretty low setting this time of year...the 2nd lowest fan setting and lowest heat setting. The old Fit had a hard time keeping the rear seaters cool in the summer. We'll see how this one does. I really like how this car handles. With 100% more power it would be a legitimately fast slow car. Right now it's getting 32MPG over mountainous terrain. Not too bad. This looked like fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrnCpimnjH4 | ||
| Rick_a |
So, took the Fit in for an alignment and passenger airbag recall. Feel better about carrying a front passenger, and the front toe was corrected. The right rear toe is 0.01° out of spec (not adjustable). I could probably loosen the entire rear beam to see of I can center it up or leave it be. It used to oversteer a bit when pushed a little. It's more neutral now. Not sure how I feel about that It saves from undue front tire wear, in the least. I was expecting the usual dealer list of things to correct that often don't even apply to the vehicle in question, but they were honest. They also missed that the TPMS system light is on as the new wheels don't have the sensors. They also didn't check the tire pressures...which is a very basic and fundamental thing to do...one would think. A salesman came up in record time...and opened with an offer to run numbers on a new car. How bonkers. I literally just wanted to see a new Fit up close as I haven't had the opportunity...said he'd pull one around for me. I said, "no thanks, I'll look for myself," at which point he slinked back into the dealership with a dejected look on his face. I really like the interiors of the new cars...it's a bit more refined...but the 2nd Gen car is probably the best. I'd like to drive a 2018 or '19...but I'm not signing a sales contract first | ||
| Ourdee |
We know the salesman following a potential lead is more important than tire pressures. Nature of the beast. Could they shut off the TPMS light? | ||
| Rick_a |
Of course. I've researched it...there's no way to turn it off. Some use a piece of black tape. It's occluded by the steering wheel for me, so it's not much of a bother. I told the GF that it would get supercharged when it comes time to adjust valves and replace plugs. I don't think she was really listening 50% more power would be nice. 100% would be better, but that gets expensive and more laborious. | ||
| Rick_a |
In order to return the car to its formerly misaligned front end responsive glory, a 19mm rear sway bar is coming. Previously, pushed hard it would oversteer. Currently, the tendency is the typical FWD understeer. | ||
| Rick_a |
I have full race car mod. Sometime during it's previous ownership life someone curbed it pretty good...cracking the bumper cover. The crack was propagating steadily, so out came the drill and zip ties.  20200117_120916 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr I also tried to do some better pics...unsuccessfully. I can take pretty good pictures of other people's vehicles, but never my own.  20200123_102123 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr  20200123_102859 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr  20200123_101634 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr  20200123_101909 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr | ||
| Tootal |
I saw a picture somewhere that had a cracked bumper cover. It was a white car and they drilled holes about an inch and a half apart along the break. They then used the black wire ties to hold it together. It looked just like stitches! I thought it was brilliant! | ||
| Rick_a |
It's a common way to fix abs plastic among racers and stunt bikers. | ||
| Rick_a |
Adding to the car saga, it dumped an axle on the way to work a few miles from home. After securing the part from a local O'Reilly's over the phone, the girlfriend took off work early to rescue me from the site, take me to pickup the part, and to retrieve tools for the repair. For her troubles she got lunch and desert on me. Turns out the OEM axle shafts are a two piece design with a rubber boot slip fit over the splice. This is a known failure point as moisture and road salt gets underneath the boot and the resultant corrosion eventually leads to failure. The replacement axle is a one piece shaft and it appears that the driver's side has already been replaced. What a day. I lost a day of work, spent most of the day on the repair, and replaced my first CV axle on the side of the road. Fun. Looking pretty on the side of the road. It had just been pouring rain torrentially. Dark clouds loom.  20200303_114807 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr Not looking good.  20200303_114552 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr  20200303_173235 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr Ugly.  20200303_173232 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr | ||
| Chauly |
A classic 45 degree torsional fracture. The first one I saw was the front torsion bar on a Porsche 914/6 that had hit a curb---hard! You could see where the fracture started: the bar had a line of corrosion pits along the underside where condensation had formed. I was able to duplicate it in class with a piece of chalk with a nick in it. 45 degrees! | ||
| Rick_a |
Seeing the corrosion intrude deeply into the steel like that is a bit scary.  I have to thank the lady that had the right of way at the four way stop and wouldn't move. I accelerated briskly due to her delay. If it would've happened entering the highway far from home it would've really sucked. Dirty mess of rust on the other side.  20200304_110409 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr | ||
| Rick_a |
A rear sway bar is installed. The car is more stable over all conditions...though it transmits more vibration into the cabin. It doesn't affect anything other than additional interior buzzing. | ||
| Pwnzor |
A small price to pay | ||
| Rick_a |
Yeah, man. It was a bit of a gamble as some guys with spring kits complained that ride quality suffered. My spring kit was a moderate drop with rear spring rates set for an unladen vehicle vs having passengers and cargo capacity in mind so it turned out perfectly. On further inquiry it was found that the OEM axles are not a two piece design, but incorporate a rubber damper mid axle. At any rate they're known for becoming a two piece design My new axle from Pep Boys clunks when I go forward/reverse, start out in gear, or anytime the load changes from acceleration to deceleration. Not feeling very confident over it. A buzz the car always had in that corner is gone. It's a lifetime warranty to I guess I'll see how long that is. | ||
| Tootal |
Here's a great video that I saw a while ago but is directly related to your problem. The mechanic is a bit of a goof ball, entertaining but very good. His computer diagnoses video's are really good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy43rntdb8s | ||
| Rick_a |
The guy has a pretty good attitude and makes it look easy. The rack of uninstalled parts for his lady's car is pretty telling of his profession. Initial signs are that my new axle has an inner joint going bad from the get go. Some folks have gone with a factory axle and simply cut the dampener off due to bad luck with aftermarket parts. |
