Fairtax4me

Good to know. It looks like the trailing arms come loose from the radius arm back there so hopefully the tube can be removed without worrying about cutting rusted stuck bolts out of old bushings.

I think it was just the bolt. Ive seen this "tube" under the chassis of many older soobs, how much difference is there between the models? I only really ask because an artist friend of my mothers is looking to pick up what I believe is an XT based on how he described it. It apparently has some running issue and has been sitting for a few years out in the country. If this is a common issue, rust is very likely, (I haven't seen an XT around here for 10 years or more) finding replacement chassis parts will not be easy unless I can take some from other models. Sorry to thread-jack.

My guess would be the sliders are rusted up and seized. The inner pad was doing all the work and the outer pad never moved. Either way, Remove the rotor and file/sand/wire wheel the majority of the rust off of the braking surface, or grab a decent rotor off a junkyard car. The amount of buildup on there will chew off half the new pad before it ever gets to clean metal, and still may not entirely remove all of the rust from the braking surface of the rotor. Clean up the sliders (remove all old grease/rust/dirt and re-grease with silicone Hi-temp brake grease. You can use the little packs that are $2 or whatever on the counter at the parts store. Clean up the caliper brackets where the pads it with sand paper/ wire brush and put everything back together with a new set of pads or decent pads off a junkyard car if you can find some. Autozone has a set of pads for under $15 that will work better than what's on there.

The "door" in the idle control valve will sit in different places depending on temperature. The ecu also cycles the valve opening as the engine is running to contole idle speed. After a while the valve gets crudded up and sticks. A good shot of Throttle body cleaner through the large hose usually cleans it up.

The outer section of the balancer is falling off. You can grab it and wiggle it when it gets that loose. Replace it now before it falls off and gets flung into the radiator.

Pretty sure there are only two screws. One behind the door release handle, the other under the door pull. Just have to pop the little covers off of the screws to get to them. The trim on the gusset seal (the black triangle) just prys off with a screwdriver. Then the rest of the door panel has plastic clips around the edges that pop loose easily with a trim tool.

Check your receipt, see what weight of oil they put in the engine.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. As long as you're feeding it fresh oil when it needs it it should be fine. The filter will play a bigger part than losing/adding oil, and you do at least change that when it's supposed to be.

I looked it up once it's like 87 ftlbs. Seems like it should be enough, but I don't want to be the one to find out. I torque them down pretty good with a breaker bar.

Yeah, but your Fluke will probably never die. Id love to have a nice Fluke meter with all the gadgets and gizmos, but my Craftsman $30 DMM works just fine for me. Has selectable and auto ranging, duty cycle/frequency test, diode test, and has a spot for a temperature probe, and of course all the usual stuff. I guess I've had it about two years now, no complaints. I had a smaller pocket multimeter with the leads that fold up into the case and that worked great for about 5 years until the wire to one of the leads frayed inside the insulation. I could fix it if I could find a new lead for it. http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482139000P?sid=IDx20070921x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=03482139000

There's a huge one under the dash where the wire harness comes through the firewall. It's way over in the corner over top of the drivers kick panel I think. Did you happen to check inside the plug on the alternator for corrosion/dirt/crud?

Most U-pull-it yards don't want you out in the yard cutting corners off of cars. The ones that pull stuff for you will usually cut stuff up. Know anybody who works at a body shop? I see quarters/thirds/halves of cars on flatbed trucks going to the shop down the road here all the time.

Gotta love those Japanese engineers. Vacuum everything! What a mess! I'm not much help but you do appear to have a loose hose on the upper left corner of the pic.

If you can manage to cut/grind/hack of the key off where it's messed up you can bolt the pulley on. Just as long as it goes on flat that's all that matters. The key doesn't do anything anyway, just lines up the sprocket, the bolt holds everything together and in place when it's tightened.

Yeah, that'll buff right out. Honestly I don't see any way of fixing that without cutting and welding. If you're really patient with a sledgehammer and a block of wood you might be able to get it "Good enuff". Getting the tail light to fit back in is going to be the trick part. But you're in WV right so, one of those square trailer lights wont look too out of place?

If you got enough battery you can probably make it home, but that's a long way to run on just the battery. You have the pulley and bolt, do you have any tools? Is this an auto or manual transmission?

If you can get the valve cover off you can get the rocker assembly off. It does take a bit of wiggling because there are two alignment dowels that it has to be worked off of. I said somewhere earlier in this thread to make sure the cams are unloaded before removing the rockers, that's not 100% necessary, but it makes it 100 times easier to re-install the assembly because you don't have to worry about warping or twisting the rocker shaft, or have to fight with valve spring tension while trying to get the bolts threaded in.

Pretty much the same exact thing happened to my 95 a few months ago. I had let my mother borrow it for a day and she got stuck in the parking lot at the dentists office. She calls me and tells me the car won't start, it does nothing when she turns the key. Not even a click. But the radio and lights all work. I come over about 45 minutes later, jump in turn the key once and it starts right up. Hasn't done it since.

I guess you'll be the first here. :-p Never heard of them myself.

Inhibitor switch is on the passenger side of the transmission. You can check that with a multimeter before replacing. I'm not at home or I would look up the circuit wiring to see what else there is in between the battery switch and starter. Seems to me there is a relay somewhere in there.

I happen to like my "fugly" wheel. But I digress, did you get the plugs for the airbag and cruise/horn wiring with the wheel? The airbag wiring is not something you want to screw up. It should be separate from the horn and cruise wiring, and probably has a yellow plug. You WILL need the proper plug for the airbag module if the one in the car doesn't fit. The others you can solder together, but you should't solder wires directly onto an airbag module.

You night be able to pry the key out with some vice grips. Just make sure the crank bolts is good and tight when you reinstall the pulley and you won't have problems.

The ping stops because the knock sensor is picking it up and retarding the timing. The amount of advance varies depending on engine rpm as well, so I'd this is happening at 1000 rpm the timing may be normal. But it should advance smoothly as engine speed increases, then generally reach a peak in the mid rpm range. Manifold pressure. Thats the MAP reading I was asking about. It looks like your intake vacuum is too low. Seems to me that it should be around 55-65 kPa at idle, but I'll have to check on that.

Had Cooper Life-Liners on my Lincoln and I wouldn't buy them myself. (they were on the car when I bought it) They did seem to last a long time, but they liked to hydroplane even in light rain. And they left something to be desired when I really needed to stop. Hydroplaning is no fun, not being able to stop when you really need to is no fun.

I found mine firmly encased in the grime in the bottom of the oil pan. I doubt any other pieces will go anywhere. Things is, I only found two halves of the washers. The other halves I think must have got stuck in the valve cover and were found when someone changed the gaskets at some point.