tuner4life Posted November 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2018 Another summer has come and gone. Besides a few small quirks that are persisting, I haven't had too many issues lately (KNOCKING ON WOOD AS HARD AS POSSIBLE AS I TYPE THIS) and have been driving this daily most of the summer. Over the past weekend, it was time to put it back into "winter mode". I jacked it up, applied nearly a gallon of Fluid Film to the undercarriage and inside of the rockers and every other orifice possible. (this is an annual thing I do, but I forgot how much of a pain/mess it is). Anyways, that should slow the rust down as much as anything. Also changed the Comets out for Andrasteas with Dunlap WinterMaxx tires. Also swapped the R-bumper out for the beater XC bumper (which I still haven't got around to painting). Going to stay prettymuch as-is until spring. I may work on some stereo upgrades and replace a blower fan that is on it's way out. Once spring is here, I'm going to be changing up the front half of the exhaust and downpipe, replacing the dead ABS hydraulic unit/pump, and maybe getting a tune. That is all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdog Posted November 14, 2018 Report Share Posted November 14, 2018 4 hours ago, tuner4life said: and maybe getting a tune Yes, do! Like both of those wheels, but yeah, comets are the best looking stock wheels IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted January 17, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2019 This thing is still pulling daily driver duty and doing a mighty fine job of it really! Goes through the snow fine despite being so low, hauls big stuff home from Lowes, and the dogs to the vet. I'm making a to-do list of things that need done in the spring, but that's for then.. Last weekend, we finally got some decent snow. This is usually depressing and I'm not a fan, but some friends convinced me to come out and play for a while. I'm glad I did. We had a blast and were able to stay in the same spot for hours. My brother came out and did some photography: 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander Riker Posted January 29, 2019 Report Share Posted January 29, 2019 I'm glad you restored this car and not only gave it a new life, but didn't lock it up in a garage all the time. Not only that, it's totally rocking the winter look hard! Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted January 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2019 (edited) 17 hours ago, Commander Riker said: I'm glad you restored this car and not only gave it a new life, but didn't lock it up in a garage all the time. Not only that, it's totally rocking the winter look hard! Nice work! Thanks! Unfortunately I had some issues today. It is -18F actual temp here and while the car started alright and drove me to work (30 minutes). I was smelling oil for the latter part of the trip. Upon arrival, I did notice some wet oil on the exhaust tips, as well as some oil looks like sprayed on the top of the engine. The dipstick was partially popped up, but the oil looks like it was coming from the oil cap area (nothing around the intake manifold like if it was coming from the dipstick). I am waiting for a spot in a heated building to open up so I can take a closer look, but I'm really hoping the extreme come weather didn't screw something up. It has never burned a drop of oil in the last 3 years.. Thoughts in my head: -Something clogged in the PCV system. Would explain the oil under the hood, and the popped dipstick, but doesn't explain the oil around the exhaust tips. -Maybe a ring issue? Would explain increased crankcase pressure as well as oil on the exhaust (really hoping this isn't the case).. -Turbo maybe? Doesn't really check all the boxed though.. Might AAA it home just to be on the safe side today. We'll see. Edited January 30, 2019 by tuner4life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted January 30, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2019 Pulled it in the shop and I'm almost a quart of oil low, and the weep hole on the intercooler has dribbled out about a 8" diameter puddle of oil. On a scale of "needs a turbo" to "needs an engine" how screwed am I? Going to attempt to do a compression test tonight.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted January 31, 2019 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2019 Compression test came back 155-160 on all cylinders.. That would point to the turbo right? The weird thing is that on the way home after work (it had warmed up to a balmy -9f), it didn't burn any oil or anything. Didn't smoke or lose a drop. And I even got into boost a couple times to see if it would act up.. Nothing.. I'm so confused. Is this just an early sign of turbo failure? Was ti just too cold for something to seal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdog Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 11 hours ago, tuner4life said: Compression test came back 155-160 on all cylinders.. That would point to the turbo right? The weird thing is that on the way home after work (it had warmed up to a balmy -9f), it didn't burn any oil or anything. Didn't smoke or lose a drop. And I even got into boost a couple times to see if it would act up.. Nothing.. I'm so confused. Is this just an early sign of turbo failure? Was ti just too cold for something to seal? Not following what you mean by "point to the turbo"? My first guess is that maybe ice clogged the PCV system and now it's melted since it was in-doors? Just a WAG.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck W Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 Just curious, where in Indiana are you? Both cars look great, BTW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 1, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 12 hours ago, gdog said: Not following what you mean by "point to the turbo"? My first guess is that maybe ice clogged the PCV system and now it's melted since it was in-doors? Just a WAG.. I was thinking of the different places where oil could be leaking into the intercooler piping and out the exhaust.. Since compression came back good, that eliminated my concern about piston rings or something internal. Most likely culprit was the turbo then.. But since the issue stopped later on after the car had thawed out, I agree that it was likely a frozen/Clogged PTC or PCV hose. Going to pull that apart this weekend and make sure it's cleaned out. 11 hours ago, Chuck W said: Just curious, where in Indiana are you? Both cars look great, BTW. I'm in Bremen, about 30 minutes south of South Bend. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andzey Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 @tuner4life how are your yother rear toe ends doing in winter? those dust guards are still holding,aint uniballs rusted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdog Posted February 2, 2019 Report Share Posted February 2, 2019 (edited) 15 hours ago, tuner4life said: But since the issue stopped later on after the car had thawed out, I agree that it was likely a frozen/Clogged PTC or PCV hose. Going to pull that apart this weekend and make sure it's cleaned out. Just ran across this old post of yours. Your heater hose PCV didn't come back to bite you, did it? Edited February 2, 2019 by gdog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted February 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2019 (edited) I pulled the PCV system back apart this weekend and everything looked fine. There was a bit of condensation and milky oil residue around the PTC on the intake tube. Due to the amount of condensation I saw there, it wouldn't surprise me if it just froze there enough to clog the pcv system until it thawed. I chalk this condition up to driving it the day before, then it being parked outside as the temp dropped to -22F the next morning. Hot engine slowly cooling to a deep freeze is bound to have some condensation issues. I cleaned everything out thoroughly and poured some Seafoam through the intake system. After the smoke from that cleared out, everything seems fine. I was able to blow through the heater hose with no issue at all once the dipstick was pulled out or the oil cap was off. I drove it to work this morning and, besides some smell of the residual oil burning off of things, I don't see any smoke or oil in the ground. I'll check it over again when I get home tonight. On 2/1/2019 at 3:53 PM, Andzey said: @tuner4life how are your yother rear toe ends doing in winter? those dust guards are still holding,aint uniballs rusted? As of a couple weeks ago when I checked, the boots are still intact and there is no play or noise that I can tell from the joints. I'm going to have it up in the air again in a few weeks to replace some stretched exhaust hangars and I'll check it all again. Edited February 4, 2019 by tuner4life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuner4life Posted March 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2019 (edited) Over the past weekend, I enlisted the help of a friend and professional mobile detailer to help de-salt the daily drivers and get them cleaned up for spring. I was on the fence as I usually handle thing kind of thing myself, however the very useful power sprayer attachments for under the car sold me. He literally Foamed the entire undercarriage and then power sprayed it clean. It is likely cleaner now than it has been in my entire ownership lol. I helped things by removing the wheels and bumper/shields underneath for better access. Afterwards, I installed the R bumper and the since it'll probably be June before the C70 comes out to play, I stole the 18" Bremmer Kraft BR11s to run on the wagon for a while. I am very happy with the result. We went out that evening and my photog brother got some cool shots! Edited March 22, 2019 by tuner4life 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apeacock Posted March 23, 2019 Report Share Posted March 23, 2019 Not sure if the matched mud flaps would work as well on any other color! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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