man on the moon

My thought as well. Once I had a chance to process everything, I realized it defies my current understanding of physics for the motor do what the gauge said happened, especially with no good cause and no symptoms aside from the gauge. I'll be playing with it/keeping an eye on it for the next few days. I dumped some gasket in a can in a few days ago but no significant improvement on the leak, so I may bite the bullet and do the water pump/whatever other gasket (thermostat comes to mind) in whatever snow the sky sees fit to dump next weekend. Gonna mess around with the wiring, too, and see what happens!

Hey! I've done that, too! "Banana" is a good description. Ok, not THAT banana, but...you get the idea. Winter time. "Warm" day. Roads were wet leaving work, sun set on the way home. Road stopped being wet, but the H2O was still there--albeit in another form. Not a bad repair, just requires some elbow grease and a little real grease. A 12, 14, and 17mm wrench. I think the brake line needs an 8mm. Replace the round part and the flat part--it's way easier to do them as a unit than try to separate what may well be two bent pieces that both can be replaced for not too much dough. Even if the flat part isn't bent, it's a b*tch to separate from the radius rod.

So...what you're saying is I need to invest in more tools? I already put a ratcheting 10mm box end wrench on my list (for valve covers and the *** clutch fan). Now a 12mm...I could just jump for the whole set and save by buying in bulk

*Some* sort of exhaust would be nice . Any chance the one from the donor car is any good? That would be easiest, the EA82 manifolds won't fit and the cutting and welding just to get a too small diameter pipe...what a mess. Get the 2.2 manifold and cut/route/weld the pipe just in one or two spots, and weld the under-body hangers into the EA82 position; way easier. No idea what an exhaust pipe at PnP will run, but I can guarantee it won't have a cat. Next step: build thread

You can leave the compressor in if you don't want to mess with rigging a new alternator mount. Just unplug the two wires coming off it so it doesn't come on. I went the extra mile and took out the a/c lines and condenser. I left the evaporator, but you can take that out, too, if you want to mess with the dash. I used a hacksaw to cut the lines about two inches from the compressor, crimped the cut ends 'closed' in a vise, slathered the sharp bits with silicone to 'seal' them, and poured a few tablespoons of oil in the compressor (via one of the line in/out holes) to keep it from seizing up. Over two years now and running strong! The hour of labor and trash dump run beat the heck out of trying to modify a bracket for me.

I got spooked coming home last night. Just about hit my head on the ceiling. I got on the freeway, checked my gauges, all was fine. Speed good, RPMs good, temp good, electric good. I looked up at traffic and back down again in the normal 5-10 second sweep. My coolant has been dripping, and I add a couple cups a week so I keep a close eye on the temp. This particular time, though, the temp gauge went from normal to pointing at 12 on the proverbial clock in the few seconds between glances. Yes, 12, as in it was beyond the red into the off the charts area. I exclaimed a curse word, but even while I was exclaiming, the temp dropped back to normal. I exclaimed another curse word and pulled off the freeway at the next gas station (about one mile). At no time did the engine make any change in noise or power, and when I got the hood open it did not even feel warm. The radiator and hoses were warm/appropriately hot. I added a cup or so of coolant, went on my way, and things were happy. And don't worry, I wore gloves and put a towel over the radiator cap before I opened it. It was just low and cool enough that it hissed and fizzled, but only the most insignificant amount of coolant came out. But like I said, I only had to add a cup or two (at most) of coolant. It may need a bit more if I have a bubble somewhere, but the everything besides the damn leak checks out. Heater lines, rad hoses, surface temp, sound, temp gauge...just had some freak episode I think. My suspicion is that either a bubble of air was working it's way around the system (it should be in the radiator now, having gone through the thermostat/thermometer) or something happened to the wire connecter and it briefly grounded out for some reason. Everything else was well within normal except the gauge.

I think the Pull 'n Pay in Aurora quoted me $1100, sounds about right. You could part out the rest later if you have storage space, otherwise it's only $100 bucks or so ($150 maybe) for a motor you can rebuild. That's the cheapest route if you have the time and space.

I like the cold re-torque idea. I will put some research into that next time. I do clean the bolts, and do everything else mentioned. So far it has held, but I know it could fail. The factory cold re-torque actually makes sense, I hadn't thought of it that way before. As for how much over...a handful of pounds is the most I've ever done. Not keen on stripping the threads deep inside the block. I don't mind spinning a wrench, but retapping those holes? No thanks!

The retorque is supposed to happen after you have driven the car a bit. It's a pain in the butt since this requires doing and undoing the cam towers twice, but it beats the heck out of doing the head gaskets twice, let me tell you. Some suggest just overtorquing slightly, and it's worked for me but I've 1--been gentle on it, and 2--willing to do it again if I have to. There's no gaurantee this method will work (could even damage things if you go over by too much). And you DO have to follow the three step sequence, that part is not optional unless you want to gaurantee doing a lot of work two weekends in a row.

Not orthodox, but I've strung straps around the block cozied up to the oil pan to keep pressure off the heads, stuck a pole through both straps, put a friend on the far end of the pole, and counted to three. Light motor and easy to get out.

If it is rod knock, it's easier and cheaper to replace the motor (six bolts vs. a sh*tload. Same for hours of labor.) than fix the rodknock. If it is low on oil and overheated it could be pinging and/or lifter tick, too. Get a recording and put it up! Good price, will be under a grand for purchase price, new motor, timing belt kit, and full gasket kit AND a replacement motor if you have to go that far. Keep us updated.

Like the car, like the price...not sure how to get it to me, though. And more than the driving is the title. I had a real problem coming from California to Colorado, I don't want to imagine what it would be like coming from another country . Of course, that was partly due to having a salvage title, but even so...

Did they tell you what codes the ECU is blinking? If you aren't familiar with how to read the codes, there is an LED in a little viewing hole that will blink when the key is in 'run' or 'start'...just count the blinks. Apologies for the review if you already knew that. It's also possible that the tensioner was not replaced when the belts were, causing relatively new belts to fail. Check them anyway before you get too deep into things.

If it was stolen, I assume it was running, so it was probably a sudden failure of something critical that caused it to stop running rather than the wearing out of something, or bad gas. You mentioned it gets fuel, so the driver side belt is intact, though it may have jumped. Until you get a chance to eyeball the ECU it's gonna be a guessing game beyond that. I assume you checked that all the wires are intact? Sensors plugged in, coil and disty connected, etc.

I re-read the whole thing again. You are right--I apologise! Thank you for correcting that.

And welcome to USMB. And don't be afraid of that search tab up at the top/right-of-center, a lot of information is already here and will save you waiting for a response if you use it.

Put all the pieces together in the proper sequence Set them on top of the cross member where the bolt hole is Insert the bolt and tighten That's all! The pressure will hold it together

It snowed last night. While that is hardly the end of the world, it puts me more in a mood to stay home and drink hot chocolate than go out and freeze myself just to answer a curiosity question. Freeze is the wrong word--I don't care to go out and dig junkyard cars out of the snow and get cold and wet unless it's bringing my car back from the dead or I know I can do it fast. Hard to do what I want in bulky snow clothes (that I also don't want all greasy/muddy/torn). Putting it off til next week, sorry guys.

I can see the axle popped off the transmission. That may be fixable if the only things busted there are the axle itself and the roll pin. I can see other parts of the control arm hanging down, but it's difficult to tell whether the frame was destroyed when they broke loose, or the suspension. If the body is ok, you can straighten the fender, replace the bumper, and put new suspensions bits in. If the frame has a hole ripped in it, though, it'd probably be cheaper and faster to take the insurance money and get a new body and move your motor over. Got any pictures of underneath and/or under the hood we could take a peek at?

Go to a junkyard and look for one with lower/ish miles that shows body damage suggesting it was t-boned or totalled (stay away from rolled) somehow. If the body looks ok, check the timing belt--if it's broken, it's a good bet it was driving happily until the belt broke.

Ah, I see what you are saying. It is possible, but I am not in a hurry to by a lock/unlock device when 1--I have one already, and 2--I know nothing about how it works. That is ambiguous, let me clarify: I don't want to spend money on an unlocker that I don't know how it works. There are a variety of locking mechanism and I don't want to mess with adapting something for a ratchet type lock to a finger and groove type lock, for example. I just want something made for moving a latch of known mechanism. The ring and cable is good, a door handle may work, etc. I appreciate the idea you put here--and it would look sweet, but I am really after the simplest working solution that won't have deadly unintended consequences.

If the money part fails, swap the EA82 into the touring model (I thought touring DLs had 82s to start with but I get lost in the small/minor trims and models). A little body damage is either repairable, or live-with-able. Was that the only reason it was totalled?

I don't want to unlock the door, I can already do that. I want to open the door. This doesn't look too bad as long as it will fit in the hatch itself. It certainly puts out enough pressure! And as long as it stays mounted as has been previously mentioned.

Not as cheap as a junkyard, but OEM fuel pumps are still sold new. If you can find an alternative that fits the hoses and produces the right pressure, the wiring would (probably) not be too hard. If you go with a completely different pump your chances of having to re-plumb the whole system (as well as get it to play nice with the ECU) go way up. I believe NAPA sells them, among others.

Junkyards are good, too, if you have one you can walk in to where you are. You can even test it before you take it, one of the few junkyard parts you can test in the yard! You might also post in the 'stuff wanted' section of this forum, and search the 'parts for sale' to see who is parting out a similar car. A part-out comes up every few weeks in there.