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Grex > Cars > #121: The Winter '02 Car Care Item |  |
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| Author |
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| 25 new of 184 responses total. |
mooncat
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response 98 of 184:
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Feb 18 17:39 UTC 2002 |
re #96- great... now I have to find a hill. Or can I pick up one of
those too?
re#97- Thanks John. It's me lunch time now, so I have time to go check.
Will report my findings shortly. (an hour or so...) (and I even know
what a serpentine belt is! My last Olds had one that had to be
replaced, though it didn't break just was about to.)
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scott
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response 99 of 184:
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Feb 18 18:09 UTC 2002 |
Look for a fluid leak under the front, too. If the battery light came on then
I'd buy the belt theory, but otherwise you may have a leak.
Ha! Possible vindication for my leaky-future-hydraulics theory! ;)
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mooncat
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response 100 of 184:
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Feb 18 19:01 UTC 2002 |
Glad to be of service, Scott. ;) And no, the battery light didn't come
on.
Didn't see any leaks (then again I parked next to a melting snow
pile...) but the serpentine belt was fine, and the power steering fluid
is empty. Not sure how this happened, but for now my wonderful roommate
is going to pick up some fluid for me and as soon as I can I will take
the car in to get looked at.
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keesan
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response 101 of 184:
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Feb 18 19:08 UTC 2002 |
Sorry, Jim got rid of his three old Jeeps and would never own a Volvo as they
are very fuel inefficient and won't carry refrigerators easily.
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mooncat
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response 102 of 184:
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Feb 18 23:45 UTC 2002 |
<grumps> Wasn't the power steering fluid. Car no drive, I'm at work
still waiting to be picked up by my wonderful, helpful roommate. <sighs
and wanders upstairs to wait>
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mdw
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response 103 of 184:
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Feb 19 12:51 UTC 2002 |
Sounds to me like there was probably a reason there wasn't any power
steering fluid in the reservoir. Must be a leak somewhere...
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scott
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response 104 of 184:
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Feb 19 14:15 UTC 2002 |
Maybe some catastrophic leak out in the street, so there wasn't much left to
make a visible puddle in the parking lot? :(
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gull
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response 105 of 184:
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Feb 19 14:19 UTC 2002 |
I'm reminded of the time the main seal on my Crown Victoria's
transmission blew out on the freeway. All the transmission fluid wound
up on US-27 somewhere. By the time I realized something was amiss, it
was already far too late. (Why is there no 'transmission fluid
pressure' warning light?)
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mooncat
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response 106 of 184:
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Feb 19 14:29 UTC 2002 |
I figure the first leak was something that happened on the road so it
wasn't immediately noticeable. Before my last post I added power
steering fluid and when that didn't help I just parked the car and went
to call my roomie and a couple car places.
Later, I actually checked the fluid level and it was empty again, this
time I saw a puddle under my car and could see little drips from
testing it in the parking lot and re-parking.
Nice thing is (I think...) when I bought it I was talked into an
extended warranty- so it's at a dealership now and shouldn't
(hopefully) cost me anything to fix. If it does cost me, I may have to
yell at some people.
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lynne
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response 107 of 184:
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Feb 19 15:52 UTC 2002 |
re 96: rotfl. :)
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jmsaul
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response 108 of 184:
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Feb 19 16:54 UTC 2002 |
;-)
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dbunker
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response 109 of 184:
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Feb 21 03:03 UTC 2002 |
Re #101: So I'm guessing you and jim know nothing of Volvos built after 1970?
If you did you'd know you can damn near fit two refrigerators in the wagons.
There's even a local harpist who uses one for local gigs. Oh yeah, you're also
wrong about the mileage, unless your talking turbos.
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mdw
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response 110 of 184:
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Feb 21 03:43 UTC 2002 |
Re #109 -- you'll have to complain to Mr. Joseph M. Saul about that, not
Sindi & Jim.
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jmsaul
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response 111 of 184:
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Feb 21 04:01 UTC 2002 |
Wrong. Go back and look.
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keesan
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response 112 of 184:
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Feb 21 04:07 UTC 2002 |
Do they get 40 mpg and let you open the hatchback to carry tall things?
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mdw
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response 113 of 184:
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Feb 21 13:24 UTC 2002 |
!sed -n 1205,1206p /bbs/cars/_121
Looks pretty clear to me.
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davel
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response 114 of 184:
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Feb 21 13:41 UTC 2002 |
(That's resp 96 - #109 referred to #101.)
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mooncat
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response 115 of 184:
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Feb 21 14:24 UTC 2002 |
Oh bother... the problem turned out to be the 'power steering fluid
return line' okie fine. Next problem- AFTER they completed the work
they contacted the warranty people for payment- only to find that
my 'bumper to bumper' doesn't happen to carry hoses. The return line is
a metal pipe- they don't care, still won't cover it.
Heh, according to a co-worker- bumper to bumper means either bumper,
but nothing between them. I have to go yell at more people over the
phone.
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jazz
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response 116 of 184:
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Feb 21 17:12 UTC 2002 |
Hey, it's better than when the dealership that'd sold me my Dodge
refused to pay for the work that was necessitated by something that they
screwed up. That left me out $1200.
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mooncat
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response 117 of 184:
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Feb 21 20:13 UTC 2002 |
Yah well, this is only $222, but it's still real annoying.
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gull
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response 118 of 184:
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Feb 21 20:52 UTC 2002 |
I take it hoses are considered a 'regular maintenance item' and that's why
they're excluded?
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mooncat
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response 119 of 184:
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Feb 21 22:57 UTC 2002 |
Something like that, yeah.
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senna
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response 120 of 184:
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Feb 21 23:14 UTC 2002 |
$222 is $222. No getting around it.
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drew
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response 121 of 184:
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Mar 1 21:33 UTC 2002 |
I took the Grand Am to a radiator guy nearby who pronounced the problem
to be a cracked cylinderhead. There was an extension of coverage by GM to
7 years or 100,000 miles to cover this, as a lot of these cars were having
this problem. The car has 96000 miles, but is a '93 and well outside the
time limit.
The guy who looked at it says he can fix it for $1300 including a new
water pump, oil, coolant, and timing belt (??? I was pretty sure that the
diagrams for that engine in the Chilton manual showed chain timing. That's
the first thing I looked for when I got the car.)
A second place I called quotes anywhere from $900 to $1300 depending on
whether it *is* a cracked head or just a blown gasket. (He thinks it might
just be the gasket.) But his price doesn't include a water pump.
As the car has 96K on it, there doesn't seem to be enough probable
life in it to justify the cost. A few things are new on it, and I'd be
getting a couple other things new with the repair. But a few other things
I don't trust.
Exploring one of my other options, I'm asking if anyone has knowledge
of Ford diesel-powered Escorts from the late '80s. Someone I know (and a
few other people on Grex also know him) will happen to have one for sale
for a rather cheap price (he *paid* a rather cheap price for it). It most
likely has a God-awful number of miles on it, but this may be mitigated
by the reputation of diesel engines for robustness, simplicity, et al.
And the cheaper a car is, the less distance it has to travel to "pay for
itself".
Anyone know if these cars are any good, or if there are problems with
them, particularly after that much time, and|or why Ford stopped making
them? Or did they?
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mdw
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response 122 of 184:
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Mar 2 03:39 UTC 2002 |
The first generation of american diesels ended up with a bad reputation.
The GM V8 diesel of ca. 1980 was basically a gasoline V8 turned into a
diesel, and it turned out to be under-engineered for what it was
supposed to do. A properly designed diesel engine really has to be
designed from the ground up to be more robust, because due to the higher
compression ratio it's under quite a bit more stress. Diesel engines
also have a narrower power band; which means they really need more
speeds than the equivalent gasoline car. That's one of the reasons
trucks typically have 18 speeds or more. That's overkill for a car, but
a 6 speed gearbox would not be out of line.
The reasons diesels have gone out of favour in cars is more than that.
Firstly, diesel fuel used to be much cheaper than gasoline. That
changed a few years after diesel cars came out. Secondly, diesel fuel
is more dirty when it burns than gasoline. This produces problems with
pollution requirements, and is also an aesthetic issue as drivers
contend with nasty black sooty deposits on their cars. I think these
are the main reasons why diesels went out of favour. Diesels
traditionally are harder to start in cold weather than gasoline --
supposedly the newer automotive units have fixed this, but I wonder how
well they age. Diesel fuel is also harder to get -- it's easy to get
along expressways, but it's not necessarily at the corner gas pump in
town.
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