CNY_Dave

If the rears have wear, and you replace the fronts, the circumference won't match. Did the edges on the front wear from a bad alignment? Low pressure? Can you just rotate the tires- it could be edge wear just from normal turn scuffing, the front edges always wear a bit more than the rear edges. Dave

Just this morning I was wondering if I'd get better mileage with lighter steel wheels... Dave

Wish the 3.0 PCV valve was that easy to get to... Dave

Where you headed that makes chains look attractive? (just curious) Dave

Is this from the PCV valve getting stuck open, or shut? Dave

Let me weigh in with a few thoughts- 1) I can find no proof HHO (Brown's gas) actually exists, or can be made. If there's a cite I missed, lets go check it out! 2) Water injection is a tried-and-true method for running a boost pressure, compression ratio, or load (high throttle high load) that you ordinarily couldn't. The P51 mustang fighter used water injection (50/50 water/methanol) 3) I have seen a claim where using water injection, the water breaks into hydrogen and oxygen into the combustion chamber- Bunk! 4) If you take an engine that doesn't detonate, ping, pre-ignite, etc. etc. and use water injection on it, you don't get more power or better mileage. Dave

My H6 loses a small amount of power on regular 87 vs 89 or 92. The loss is not in the top end, its in the mid-range. The mileage difference is small enough I don't think premium will pay for itself. caveat: here in NYS the winter blend is cruddy enough that the power loss on 87 is noticeable. 89 or 91 gets rid of it. My mileage on winter-blend is noticeably worse, too. I'm getting just shy 27 or just over 27mpg on 87, mostly highway at 70-73 mph, with some fair hills on my commute. Dave

Scrolling through this thread I was thinking the same thing. Add to that: add a photo of where the fuse box is, and where the fuse goes, and where the spare fuse is. Dave

Time for rattle-can black and now you have no excuse not to romp on it... Besides, the divots will make it go faster. Dave

Its, like, bench racing, man. Like, y'know? Besides, you never know when info like this will come in handy. Dave

Well, if the rear driveshaft bolts in at both ends that's pretty easy and straightforwards. Take it out, and pull the FWD fuse. Then you could go nuts and pull the pumpkin and the half-shafts at your leisure. Just remember (I think) you need to put in a half-shaft outer stub end to hold the wheel bearing together. Dave

Well, it takes *some* extra fuel to accellerate the extra mass, but yeah, that's a "one time" thing on the highway. More loss if its hilly. Don't under-estimate the powerloss in the rear shaft U-joints, rear pumpkin, and rear CV joints. And if its slipping, the powerloss in the front/rear clutch. Dave

I'm just looking at it for the fun of looking at it. Disable my AWD and I won't be able to confound the sporty cars by stomping on it on the on/off ramps. Dave

Just to examine this issue to the fullest degree possible- how much weight would be shed, and how much would mileage go up, if you pulled the rear driveshaft, the pumpkin, and the rear half-shafts? You could just use the shells from a pair of outers to keep the wheel bearings together. Would you get 1? 2? 3 more mpg? All that stuff weigh 50 lbs? Dave

Holy crap! I have a somewhat hard time believing the amount of fuel there'd be just from the fuel-rail pressure would be enough to hydro-lock the cylinder, but it was either that or something else got down there I guess. I mean, if they hydro-locked so easy, I'd assume ones with leaky head gaskets would be self-destructing all the time, no? Even though most leaky head gaskets seem to leak out, you'd see some doing this. Dave

In cali they do that to force older cars off the road. Dave

A 2003? After the problems we told you about with the '03 model year?!! Psych! Welcome to the '03 H6 club! Dave

Its strictly proportional. If 60mph is 2000 rpm, 120mph will be 4000 rpm. Dave

Just as a datapoint, my '03 H6 auto is 2500rpm just below 70. That'd be 2100-2200 at 60. Dave

You know, maybe the key is to weld something to the pin that will let you get a lot of leverage on it, like a big nut right down where it goes into the receiver. Then apply a lot of torque, and when it shears it just might shear flush with the hitch. Find a nut that'll just fit over the pin, cut the pin so it just protrudes from the nut, hit it with a mig welder or a gas welder (or even braze it), and turn that SOB. Dave

Hmmm, heat's going to be of limited use, because as you heat the pin it will get tighter in the hitch, but if you get it all hot you might be able to cool the pin very fast, which might create a small gap that will wick up some PB Blaster, or better yet, kroil. You could weld some more metal to the pin (for leverage) and try and rotate it, just a little will let freeing oil creep in. Maybe someone really good with an acetylene torch could cut the pin down enough that the whole hitch would slide out with the pin still in place. It'd be using the torch to divot the pin bit by bit. You could pull the whole shebang, cut the pin flush on both sides, and drill it out with a drill press. You might be able to drill it out without a drill press, but that'd be slow and burn a few bits, I'm sure. The easiest thing to do is hit it with freeing oil a coupla times a day for a week or so- try the easy way 1st. Dave

Got under the 'ru and took a look. I can see some wear and tear on the bushings (BTW nothing in the service manual is labeled a 'trailing arm'), I checked all of 'em but could not find any where the rubber had seperated. The sway links didn't seem to be in awful shape, either. Dave

For a piddling 2 years difference, the age difference is almost meaningless if the condition is the same. The price, I figure you just have to compare it to the KBB (for the matching condition). Around here, you couldn't find lower than the KBB. Dave

If you were nearby I'd say H so I could buy your snows. Seems to be little difference between B and H. When all things are "equal", maintenance records trump, especially if all the interval-maint has been done with the records to prove it. Dave

For a very small hit in mileage and power, the H6 is happy with 87. Dave