Tungsten
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Posts posted by Tungsten
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No it's not. I mentioned the heater because coolant could be leaking from the heater core. It's the least obvious location that's hard to spot a leak from. Head gasket leaks are all different depending on where the head gasket fails. In any case it will disturb the cooling system and coolant could (but does not always) enter the combustion chamber. Unburnt fuel produces a white smoke, not black. Unburnt fuel turns to water vapor as it passes through the catalytic converter. Black smoke or blue smoke is oil burning. The reason why I said the blue smoke can be a sign of a head gasket is if coolant enters the combustion chamber it can ruin the valve seats and piston rings causing a lot of oil blow by which will cause the engine to burn both coolant and oil. The best way to check for a head gasket leak is to install a device in place of the radiator cap that will sense it and color shift. The other good way to check is of course a compression test.
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At first I thought that it could have been a clogged radiator but from further reading it's unfortunately a head gasket failure. Very rare to see on a VG30E but it could happen. Good luck with the replacement and definitely do the timing belt while you're in there. The other alternative is to stick a VG33E in there but it's up to you and your wallet...
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Usually if you have a head gasket issue, burning the coolant will smell really bad and produced a more blue smoke rather than white. Water coming out of the rad is not a tell tale sign of a head gasket. Water will come out of the rad normally because water expands with heat. If it has head gasket problems you will also have issues with hoses coming off from the pressure building up and the coolant coming out rapidly out of the overflow bottle. Water/coolant level could be low for other reasons like a leak in the circulation system somewhere. Try draining the oil and seeing if it's a milkshake. Sometimes the coolant will mix with the oil in a head gasket issue. You can also have a shop install a head gasket leak detector and check that way. A compression test is probably the easiest way to tell too since you will lose compression with a gasket leak. Last but not least you can try turning the heater on and checking for a rancid odor.
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The reverse gear typically has a higher ratio than forward gears so it takes less effort for the engine to move the vehicle. It probably does not have enough torque at the moment to move forward. That's my theory as to why it only moves in reverse. Does it stall when moving forward? The ECU could also be shutting it down for protection.
White smoke is a tell tale sign of burning rich. Try unplugging the oxygen sensors. Maybe it's dumping too much fuel into the engine.
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Better crumple zones.
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10 years. It's now nearing 300,000. Really as long as you take care of the basics it will drive until it rusts in half.
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My low fuel gauge never comes on with the bulb check but I was close to running out of gas once and it has come on. Not that I care for it anyway as I always try to re-fill at 1/4 tank mark for the reason mentioned above.
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Yep people will be scared of taking sharp metal like that through their car.
I think it's fine for what it is. Best of both worlds where it's stronger than the tin foil bumper special but light enough to carry around. Bracing it to the bumper mounts is actually a very good idea too.
You should only buy an off-road bumper if you really need it. If you have dents in your factory bumper from wheeling, you probably do. Otherwise it's just a heavy boat anchor at the front.
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Yep LEDs are very nice and the best part is you can get them in the standard 200mm size. They are superior to HIDs because they don't need igniters and they won't go out when you are wheeling. Remember HIDs are not a coil like a regular bulb, they are much like spark plugs where there is a beam of energy being discharged all the time. I am curious to see how those KCs perform off-road if they are true HIDs.
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LEDs are the best head light technology available right now but crazy expensive. Honda has started to use LED light technology on their new Accords.
HIDs are fine for cars but are not very good on harsher riding off-road vehicles. They can go out and take up to 10 seconds to re-ignite if you are doing heavy wheeling or run something over at night. They can also over expose the area of the road making it harder to see around you although if they are 55 watt halogen equivalent you don't really have that issue. The main problem with HIDs is they require special HID housings and ignition ballasts to drive them. The best advantage to HIDs is that they are very low watt with high energy efficiency. They don't need heavy gauge wiring to be bright.
Halogens are fine. The problems with them are housing designs and power. Not all halogen housings are created equal. Also halogens are not as efficient but they are extremely reliable and cheap as a bag of chips to swap out. If you go to the hardbody style grille with H4 lights in 200mm housings you can actually replace the bulbs for as little as $5 a bulb and it will give you a 55 watt low beam and 60 watt high beam.
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That's it. If it works in industrial applications then why not cars and trucks?
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Good old frame rust. Anybody that lives up in the salt belt knows all about it. Salt makes the metal on the frame oxidize (or rust) much quicker than it will normally. An oil coating can protect the frame but it doesn't necessarily go everywhere. Recently I have been looking at boats and they come with these interesting strips of zinc attached to them called zinc anodes. Apparently when metals like iron suck up zinc, they will not corrode. Galvanized frames have a coating of zinc on them so they corrode on the surface by reacting with the metal underneath and prevent the frame from corroding. Zinc can be effective in feeding iron when submerged either in water or in oxygen. The best part of all is that you really need to do is just make electrical contact between iron and zinc. So my theory is that by bolting a block of solid zinc to the frame you are effectively galvanizing it and protecting it against any corrosion. Sounds almost too good to be true but I am going to try it and stop by a local marine place and stick zinc blocks to my frame. Maybe it will survive salty winters for much longer.
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http://www.quadratec.com/products/97017_1600.htm
These are 200mm and should fit with great results but you have to do the grille and bucket conversion.
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Which housings do you run exactly?
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PIAA XtremeWhite headlight bulbs work well for me. I did relay them directly to the battery though. The cream of the crop for improving headlights is to swap to a hardbody grille and use H4 bulbs with relays directly to the battery. You can also look at adding auxiliary off-road headlights and put them on the brush guard.
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Nice idea, poor execution.
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You can try removing the wireless connection from the list of stored connections and connecting again.
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I would not give up on ICE just yet
Check out Coates too
This piece of technology here looks awesome
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Fan on at 175 F
Fan off at 165 F
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Interesting... I could try it with a simulation.
In other news I got a new alignment today along with some nicer tires. I'm going to hit the same spots that caused the steering wheel to jump and see how it works out.
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They just can't compete. Take their Kizashi for example. It's a decent mid size sedan but it costs the same price as a full size.
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That's a very good point but a locking cap could still prevent someone stealing the cap as a joke or something like that.
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I have no idea what is there to analyze. It's almost obvious that there is a selection instead of an election. 8 years D then 8 years R is the way this game is played.
On that note... I could use a few beers myself right now.
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I like it but I would put some sort of a locking cap on it just to deter people from siphoning up your gas.
Timing belt issue. Cam sprocket marks moved 4 teeth!
in The Garage
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Did you turn the engine over at least twice after you put the timing belt on and tightened the tensioner? Where did you set the tensioner? It should be set with the allen key hole at either the 5 or 11 o' clock position. Preferably the 5 o' clock because of where that spring is. The belt can jump because you are going from 0 to 1500 rpm in less than a second and that's a crazy amount of force on the belt. If the belt was not seated and/or tensioned properly it will jump once you go and start the engine. Good luck with the re-install.