Alcorp

Archive for the ‘Automotive’ Category

Have a 1995 Dodge Grand Caravan 3.3L Motor.  Noticed at the last oil change it was pretty low on anti freeze.  So I filled it up and moved on.  Wife calls me tells me it is not heating up but the temp gauge is showing normal operating temp.  When I got time to look at it a day or two later I started it up and it sounded like it may be the water pump bearing noise so I bought a water pump.  The water pump was on  $20 for it.  It is fairly easy to change once you get the belt off and removed the pulley from the water pump you only have 5 screws to remove.  That is when the problems started.  First 2 screws came out easy.  Then 3rd screw twisted off.  4th screws came out with no problem 5th screw twisted off also.  So now out of the 5 screws 2 of them were twisted off.  I really didn’t see anything wrong with the old water pump either.  The back of the water pump appeared to be cast as part of the block but after closer looking at it I could see a line and it was part of the timing chain cover.  To take the timing chain cover off I had to removed the oil pan, motor mount on the right side, support the engine, and remove the drive pulley4. Took about 4 hours to get it all apart and after I got the timing chain cover off it looked like the leak may have been in the timing chain cover.  The gasket around the water port toward the back of the engine was mostly gone.  Put it all back together and it actually ran with now leaks.

My dash lights don’t work on my 1997 Ford F150. I have tried to look into it before but have had problems removing the headlight switch. I have check all fuses they all checked out good. Today I tried to remove the headlight switch and pretty much broke it taking it out. I could still reuse it with some glue. But I was checking the dimmer part of the switch and it is open. It shouldn’t be open so the problem with the dash lights all along has been the dimmer switch part of the headlight switch. So I ordered on off eBay today for 30 dollars.  That should take car of that problem. There will be more to come on this vehicle it has other problems.

Day 1

Have a 2002 Oldsmobile Silhouette 3.4L. The heater don’t seem to be working correctly. Noticed that the temperature gauge will go from almost 3/4 of a full gauge down to just over 1/4 and when it does the heater works good. when it is raising up to the 3/4 spot it don’t blow out as hot of air as before. From what I have read on the Internet it maybe a thermostat, an air bubble in the coolant line, or low on coolant.  So rather than mess around with it all day. A new thermostat is only $10 so I am just going to replace it and fill up the coolant and see what happens.

Day 2

I changed my mind I messed around with it all day. Now tomorrow I am going to replace the thermostat it is in a very crappy location and will probably take a while. Good thing I have most of the day to mess with it.

Day 3

Messed around with it most of the day. Replaced thermostat. Started it up and the temp gauge kept on rising. So all that work for a $10 part and didn’t change a thing. The fans did kick on I don’t remember them being on before so that might help someone narrow it down. Reading on the Internet I see some posts about a blocked radiator or a bad radiator cap. So in the little time I have to work on it tomorrow I am going to go in that direction.

Took a couple days off so I could work at my job.

Day 4

Decided to go with the cheapest solutions first and hope one of them was the problem. Bought a radiator cap and when I took the old one off when the car had not been ran for 2 days antifreeze came out of the radiator lots of it. Put the new cap on and started it up. Idling in the driveway it the gauge got up to just below half way and didn’t go up any higher. So I jumped it and took it for a 5 mile drive and the gauge never went any higher. So the problem may be corrected. And all it took was a $5.45 radiator cap.