Automotive Help

Dunno if this is a "no no" thread but Ill give it a shot.

Quite a few people have hit me up through 8wayrun to get advice and questions on your Hot Rods. There is a reason why they call me Hot Rod Dave, Ive been doing this shit since I was 8 years old, Have done everything from sweep the shop, played mechanic, running the business side, owning my own shop and now machine work

I make this thread to offer my services. If anyone has any questions or needs advice on whats wrong with thier car, Id love to help. I can ship parts to anywhere in the country and let you know if someone else is ripping you off.

The following are my specialties:
Brakes
suspension
engine
exhaust
air conditioning
heating
cooling
engine rebuilding
clutches (for RedDjinn)
machine work
Hot Rods (60's-70's american)

If you need specs or just suggestions feel free to hit me up!!
If this thread is not in the best interest of 8wayrun, feel free to delete it, I didnt mean to start any trouble, just trying to help

HRD

Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX Turbo AWD... Clutch is being a bitch, Losing pressure, always falls to the floor, replaced master cylinder still didnt do shit... LoL but you didnt say clutch was your speciality... FUCK ~!

Grinding gears and shoving it in gear at the right RPM is really getting old though, then it will magiclly build pressure back up again and pop back up otherwise i got to pull the bitch up with my foot...

Im seriously tired of this damn car... LoL its so pretty and fast though :(

Good car, but just not my style. When you get a cool car like a mustnag or something then Ill say your totally cool.

I suspect you have 1 of 2 problems

#1 Your slave cylinder is wiped out. Older mits had them externally on the tranny not sure bout yours

#2 You have air in the line cause you didnt bleed it properly. Or you have a small pin hole in your clutch hose, but you SHOULDVE noticed low fluid levels in your master.

The reason your pedal doesnt wanna return up is because the master/slave combo is not maintaining constant pressure, If youve tried a new master with no results, then Id say your slave took a shit *looks up price for a slave*........I can ship you one would cost around $30 WITH shipping.

EDIT: Found one....Its external...2 bolts and a pressure line and is off. Try bleeding the fuck out of it again. crack the bleeder open on the slave, take the cap OFF the master cylinder and let it DRIP (one drop per 30 seconds is ideal) and let it bleed over night. see if it helps any!!

HRD

Cool brotha, Im glad I could help. I wouldve gone back to the carb guy and shoved the bill up his ass for that, cause he should replaced that when he rebuilt the carburator.

I may not be fantastic at SC but I can do some hot rods!!

HRD

Naw not at all.

You and I have had this conversation. Dont expect to get rich of doin this shit. stay in school, dont do drugs

HRD

Ok, I collided with a coyote one night. I heard a hissing when I finally got a chance to check out the damage (minimal I'm guessing) but my AC doesn't work anymore (just blows hot air) so I'm assuming that hissing was my AC's coolant leaking out. I've been afraid to check it out further due to cost concerns. Is there a ballpark rate I'd likely be looking at for something like this?

Also, how hard is it to glue down a dashboard that's started curling up around the vents due to heat?

Damn Coyotes....cant they use the cross walk??

If you hit the coyot from the front, you prolly did a few different things. You wither broke your AC condensor (most likely) or you popped an AC hose. Thats what the hissing sound was, The sound of your refridgerent leave the system.

To put it in laymens terms as best I can.....Your AC condensor (sits in FRONT of the radiator looks like a small radiator) condences liquid refridgerent to a vapor. The coolant then goes from the condensor to the AC accumilator. The accumilator holds all the moister that gets in the system and prevents it from getting back to the compressor. Now that you have leaked all your coolant out, your accumilator is now contaminated. so you not only need to replace the condensor but the accumilator and oriface tubes (or expansion valve, basically its a AC in line filter) and refill it back up with coolant. Honestly it can be quite expensive depending on what kind of car you have. AC is one of the most expensive repairs you can do to your car. But you live in Cali!! It doesnt get that hot.....roll down the fuckin window....LOL.

Gimme year, make, model & engine size and I can tell you a ballpark of what your looking at.

As far as your Dash goes. LOL gotta love californias heat!! Does cool damage to plastic. Auto-queers, Pep-girls, or some other parts retail sells a 2 part expoxy that comes in a suringe. when mixed together, it makes for some sticky ass shit. Lay some epoxy down and get something heavy or some clamps of some kind and let it sit over night. That should help.

HRD

Very few crosswalks on highway 7 in CO. ;)

It's a '99 Contour. I hit it square with the license plate. (IIRC, I was going 55 at the time.)

OHHH I keep thinking your in cali. How often do you need the AC really in CO. Damn coyotes have no sense!!

But yeah, the AC condensor is right directly behind the lisence plate area. So thats prolly what you broke.

I GUESSING a condensor is around $150 to $200, installing it is prolly a couple hours labor (california average labor is $75 per hour) a reciever drier (or accumilator) can be from $30 to $150 (dome driers have built in hoses others do not. Most late model fords have hose built in so its prolly the more expensive one) and bout another 1/2 hour for the labor. And your average AC recharge is about $50 to $80 or so.

Contours are in thier own little world. Its a mazda based car so most of the parts are foriegn, making things a bit more money. Hopefully you dont have the V6 cause thatll make the labor go up. Those things are a bitch to work on!! At least anything engine related!

HRD

Heh. If I was in Cali, I'd have probably tracked a gathering down or two by now.

Ouch. Of course it is a V6.

I can generally get by without the AC (Sucks in the summer tho since it hovers in the 90's here.) If the condenser etc is corrupted, is there any danger of the heater spitting out something unpleasant carbon monoxide or anything like that? I'll probably sit on it if the problem's relatively benign.

No. The heater and the AC system are 2 totally different things. All the harmful gases have already escaped out of your car. So theres no danger there.

The issue is "benign" so I wouldnt worry bout anything getting any worse. What I WOULD do is remove your AC belt. The AC compressor puts drag on your motor, by removing it, that will eliminate the need for the compressor to rotate around and lock up giving you more issues. Just make sure your AC belt doesnt run anything else, such as water pump, power steering etc. The AC belt is USUALLY a belt all by it self that has nothing more than a tensioner pulley.

Basically your AC system is exposed to the elements now. If to much dirt, debris, even more moister get into the system, it COULD eventually get back to the compressor and lock it up. That will cause significant damge (overheating, poor running, lots of noises etc) Removing the belt is just an insurance thing that IF the compressor locks up on you one day, you wont damage anything else.

I wouldnt rush out and do that like today or anything. Its actually MOST likely nothing else will happen. But if seen where it can. Its not life threating, dont lose sleep over it, youll be fine....Just no AC

HRD

Typically what happens when you run out of gas in a later model vehicle...Is you do damage to the fuel pump

The fuel pump is located IN the gas tank!! It is a small electric pump hooked to the fuel sending units (what makes your gas gauge work) and can be a small fortune to replace. Dunno that I wouldve put injector cleaner in it, shouldve asked me first you peckerhead.

The fuel system is made up of several different components. Starting with the pump, it goes into a fuel filter the works its way up to a fuel pressure regulator then into the injectors and thus into the engine itself.

Here is my theory....When gas is run out of the tank, it is typical that the pump takes a shit for a few different reasons. #1 fuel pumps are NOT designed to NOT have fuel running through them, they dont like that and it can fry the pump (if that were the case your truck wouldnt run at all at the moment) #2 you sucked up dirt and debris from inside the gas tank and shot it through the fuel system.

Heres what I would do first. Change your fuel filter. usually a cylindrical shaped filter usually located on the frame rail under the drivers side door. Just follow the fuel lines from the tank, youll find it trust me. I know on fords you have to have a special tool to get the filter off. Im pretty sure on a chrysler it just threads in with a couple wrenchs, dont quote me on that.

The stumbling at idle IM GUESSING is that the truck is not getting enough fuel when its at idle. By stepping on the gas you are forcing it to get the fuel it needs and prolly clears up. A clogged fuel filter will give you this symptom.

Are there any "check engine" lights on? I would think there should be. That is telling you that the ECM (on board computer) is saying there is an issue. I can tell you how to retrieve those codes depending on the year of the truck.

What concerns me is the noises. It doesnt make sense that the engine knocks now that you ran out of gas. It could be a weird coinsidence (weirder things have happened, I wouldnt be suprised) That you lost a rod bearing when you ran out of gas. Do you change your oil when ur supposed to? DONT FUCKING LIE EITHER, do you check your oil? do you maintain your vehicle properly....honestly? Id really have to listen with my own ears to see if thats the engine knocking. It COULD be the fuel pump knocking as well. After all it is just a really small motor with a piston in it. But that shouldnt be that loud.

So try changing the filter see what happens. A fuel filter should be around $10-$20 bucks and a half hour of your time to put in.

Lemme know if that changes things. Ill talk to my chrysler buddies and see if this makes sense to them as far as the noises go. Then get back to me

HRD

hmmmm....The knock you hear...does it do it at idle, or when you really step on the gas like going up hills and things like that. Does it correct itself if you put premium gas in it? Or does it do it no matter what.

Cause what it might be is just and engine "ping" because your putting cheap ass gas in it.

HRD

Cool...problem #1 solved. so far

Change that filter, I bet thatll fix it

HRD