maxbaby

If it's a "new" car, I'm thinking Smart, and if it's used I'm thinking VW bug from yesteryear... and I'm trying to play this without googling it...

Yeah, Simon, mine is mild, and just one of those things that you would normally ignore. I thought I would just throw it out there and see what the reaction was. ... and what is seafoam? I've not heard of it before. I have seen a few different spray-type intake and injector cleaners in aerosol cans, but I take it that this seafoam is some type of a foam product? Better or worse than aerosol cleaners?

Just as of late, when the truck is started after sitting overnight, she will catch as usual, but it seems like the engine is stumbling or about to stall for a second or two, and then it immediately goes away, and then everything is Zen... why? ... 94 XE with 185000 km, new timing belt and plugs in the last 2000 km...

Well, Green, I for one agree with you with respect to that "retro" thing... I'd be happy if they decided to bring out the original WD-21 anyway... If Volkswagen can market their "city Jetta" (the previous generation jetta still being produced in Mexico) alongside the newest Jetta, your dream isn't necessarily is far-fetched as some might think. I'd go look hard at a "new" WD-21 at the dealership... (keep rubbing that rabbit's foot of yours!)

Yeah, I hate to say it but Jeep's 4.0 Liter engine is anything but a lemon. My brother now owns my 92 Cherokee, still going strong at 350,000km, and I know a few others in the same boat. A lot of their other components are suspect, but that 4.0 Liter inline six is one tough engine. ... as for putting it into a pathy, I don't think it would work with its length. It is after all an inline 6 cylinder engine and not a V-6. The existing bodywork wouldn't accomodate it. You'd have to extend the front fenders and/or build some kind of unique pointy grill. And the rad would be another issue... nice thought though.

You'll find those accordian files at any office supply shop, I'm sure. They expand and have like 10 slots inside to organize your paperwork. You can find them made out of heavy paper but obviously you'll want one made out of plastic. The plastic is thin and flexible, but should be durable enough. ... and in your original post you mentioned that if it was metal that it'd have to be coated... I can't remember what it's called but there is that stuff that comes in a small paint can that you can dip items into, which then covers them with a rubber coating of sorts. I've seen it at the hardware store, and a buddy went nuts with the stuff dipping a bunch of tools into it.... just in case you need rubberized tips on whatever you come up with.

With respect to the 2WD and need for sandbags in the back, a friend who was in the same boat used to put 4 concrete patio tiles in the back over the axle. That allowed him to still use the box and not have to worry about splitting a sandbag open, although with a sandbag you have the option of splitting it open to spread the sand around in a really messy pickle...

Two ideas: First, I was thinking about your problem and happened to look at the door to my office... I have one of those clothes-hook thingy's that hangs over the top of your door. It's plastic and is approximately 30cm wide. It has 5 "pegs" on it that you'd hang clothing off the back of your door... you know what I'm talking about?... ... anyway, I looked at it and the pegs could be cut off with a dremel drill or some other type of cutter. Then a guy could cut down the overhanging tabs that help hold it onto a normal door and make it fit the lip of the window sill. You could even reshape them with a dremel drill sanding bit (yea, I'm a fan of that tool... Magyver was great inspiration...) if you needed to make the tabs slimmer. I would think that might solve your problem as it would give a durable, easily cleaned cover. They're cheap and available anywhere that you'd find closet organizers and hangers. You could even attach some type of heavy material or fabric to hang down further if you wanted to cover more of the door panel from puppy's prints. I also have a metal one which I thought would work too, just because the tabs on it are much slimmer, but it would be a little harder to work with, just because it's metal... Second, I was looking at this expanding accordian filefolder I have, you know the kind that you might keep bills or personal papers in. It's plastic, and they come in 8.5X11 and 8.5X14 sizes from any office supply place like Office Depot and I'm sure Wally World. I thought you could cut off the flap from one of those and slide that into your window sill. I'm not sure how secure it would be, but maybe with the addition of some type of grippy tape like tennis racket handle tape along the bottom edge, it would grip at the window enough that it wouldn't slide out of the sill. ... that's my 2 cents... if it works, I get the patent, okay?

Could someone tell me if the speedometer is cable-driven or is it an electronic sensor transmitted to the speedometer?

Yeah, but in my case, it's not the speedometer... that works fine... it's the odometer and tripmeter that stopped working.

yesterday the truck was driven two hours from home, and a strange thing happened... the odometer and trip meter stopped working, and yet the speedometer was working the whole time. Today everything seems to be working fine. I was wondering if anyone else has had such a problem?... and what could that be? (... and if I was a real cheap sheister, I'd let it happen that way so that when I sold the truck, it'd have lower mileage... ;0)

JDPATHY's latest entry above.... very nice!

I was just wondering if this is a thread that should be pinned, if not in "off-topic", then in "parts for sale"... I know I'd be pretty choked as a newbie if I got burned by him down the road. ... And someone was mentioning something about him having a website. Is this a web site that sells things? If so, all the more reason to pin it. You Mods KNOW you're gonna get asked about this in the future by another newbie like me...

Now that ^ was funny...

and now that I've had it running a few days, I find that while I have reduced the cold air flow a lot, I've still got quite a bit coming from a joint just above the "floor" opening for the heater on the passenger side... there's foam there but it doesn't seem to be stopping the air from "leaking" there... I can't see any broken plastic in the housing itself and everything seems to be fitted together properly. Anyone else ever had this problem?

So it's been -30 Celcius for the last few days and it's nice to know that my heater is more than just adequate. However, I did notice around the passenger side footwell that there was as much cold air blowing as there was hot air. So I snooped around and found that at the blower motor itself, cold air was being blown out all around the mounting plate of the motor, right where it screws into the plastic housing. I pulled the motor and noted that it was simply held in with three mounting screws right flush against the plastic. This does not seem very "air-tight". Now I know that the motor was replaced a few years ago by the previous owner. In the interim I have used some foam insulation tape and pretty much sealed the motor back in. I am wondering if there was supposed to be a foam gasket of some type between the motor mounting plate and the plastic housing... Mine's a 94 XE...

Ahh... disregard ... found it... but would someone save me reading 957 pages and tell me what POHO means?...

Yes, happy happy now... Uh... what exactly is this "POHO" thread??... can't seem to see where it is, dunno wut that word means either...

... further to the above, I used to work for a helicopter ambulance service. The mechanic there used to keep a couple of in-car warmers that he'd use on the engines of the helicopter by simply blowing warm air onto the components he needed to warm up. He'd just position them within the engine cowling and then plug them in. He didn't need a lot of heat but just enough to take the edge off of a couple of components in the extreme cold. Maybe a simple heater blowing on your starter overnight might do the trick (instead of a heating element up against it)?? Just a thought...

The heating element is underneath the magnet itself. It emits heat in the direction of the magnetic bottom and not simply in all directions. If you stick it to the fender, you'll be heating up the area of the fender that you've attached it to. If you were to stick it to the starter, then it would heat up the starter.... I'm not sure how well that would work... I don't know enough about the construction of a starter to know if a direct source of heat like that would be good or bad. I know that up north they will throw one onto the bottom of a transmission, a transfer case or the oilpan if there is a need. In some cases, you'd stick one or two on either side of an engine in the area of the cooling jacket to assist in warming the engine that way. Sometimes they are used on the bottom of a differential. The purpose is to warm up fluids or lubricant inside. I don't think it would hurt, but I don't know..??...

okay, so I'm a little confused... how much exactly is supposed to go into the transmission? 5 quarts? 5 and a half quarts?...

you rock... why couldn't i get that in my search?... thanks!

and I did just try to find it in the how-to's... no luck... anyone?

okay... I'll try to find this write-up... that sounds like what I need to do exactly... I'm hell on wheels with a pair of snap-ring pliers...lol... seriously, that doens't sound so bad if I can get the how-to

Actually, now that I think about it... Maybe tipping the truck is easier?... How much of a tip do I need to make if I choose that route?