Car Enthusiast Club [Now Motorcycle friendly!] - First thread to 150k! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[HM-2]

Car blue.

Interior white.

Lots of shiny things.

Will be getting a BMW warrantied 360bhp remap and cat back exhaust on receipt. 

[8tg]

mmm gross

so I learned after the fact you’re not really supposed to mess with the IAC and I broke it, so I ordered a new one that will be here tomorrow 

beyond that, spark plug time 

1-3 shouldn’t be too bad but 4 is behind a hose that I think is for the AC? Something with pressure behind it anyway

[8tg]

1-3 went fine, all 4 cylinders work (albeit with the current rough idle problem I created)

 

Besides two of the old wires ripping off at the plug and requiring anger and pliers of course

 

plug and wire 4 is probably going to result in me breaking more things, so I’ll probably hand that off to the mechanic who’s gonna do the CV axels, it’s behind what I think is a line for the air conditioning which I kinda just want to remove entirely, and the alternator

[Beerzerker]

Being an ex-Ford shop guy I don't envy you....

The plug you refer to will take either a really long pair of needle nose pliers or a specialty tool that's similar with a end that has a "Grabber" that can be used to pull the wire off the plug and pop it back on too.




Speaking of problems I'll have to pop off the carbs again since I now have all I need to get it 100%.
Over the past week I've ridden it to see how it's doing, gotten it cleaned up and it seems to run down the road just fine but still have issues at engine idle speeds so I'll have to check the carbs again.

Symptoms you ask?
Once you crack the throttle it straightens out and runs great with good power but it's like only half the cylinders are firing at dead-idle, those cutting back in once you start to open the throttle and the engine starts taking the load of moving the bike. I'm thinking one carb still has problems in the idle circuit and that shoudn't be hard to get right.
It more or less amounts to cleaning that out of any blockages that may exist and I believe I'll need to adjust the overall air/fuel ratio too, that should help.
As to pulling them again, I kinda figured this would happen but it's no big deal, these carbs are simple and easy to work on as long as you pay attention to what you are doing.
After I got the carb set I just popped them on since they were supposed to be from a bike that was running so I didn't want to dig into them if I didn't have to, plus if they came off of one already running it's a basic cleaning and checkover kind of thing to truly assess them properly, which I have now done. I did check and they looked great as they came so I was confident I could at least try them before having to tear into them, which I was hoping would not be the case but hey - It's just a thing.

No hurry or rush to do it, I'll get to it a little later on and get all that taken care of when I do.

[Bitter]

6 hours ago, 8tg said:

1-3 went fine, all 4 cylinders work (albeit with the current rough idle problem I created)

7 hours ago, 8tg said:

mmm gross

 

 

so I learned after the fact you’re not really supposed to mess with the IAC and I broke it, so I ordered a new one that will be here tomorrow 

beyond that, spark plug time 

 

1-3 shouldn’t be too bad but 4 is behind a hose that I think is for the AC? Something with pressure behind it anyway

 

Besides two of the old wires ripping off at the plug and requiring anger and pliers of course

 

 

plug and wire 4 is probably going to result in me breaking more things, so I’ll probably hand that off to the mechanic who’s gonna do the CV axels, it’s behind what I think is a line for the air conditioning which I kinda just want to remove entirely, and the alternator

To get the #1 plug wire off you can make extra room by taking the AC return line hold down loose, the line has some flex to it. If the wire is shit anyway just pull on the wire boot really hard with some long pliers while also pulling on the wire and/or cut a slit in the boot with a knife. To get the plug out a plug socket and a long extension should get in there fine. I'd highly suggest checking compression, rough idle on these can often be a low compression issue not just worn plugs.

How the hell did you break the IAC?? You just hose it out with carb cleaner and q-tip or gently poke with a blunt pokey bit any hard carbon left behind. They do burn up pretty often so that one may have been bad anyone. Avoid parts store brand IAC's, you might as well just buy them direct from China if you want that quality. Stick with OE Ford or maybe Standard branded parts for those.

I see a new radiator and that concerns me that the engine has been overheated, as I mentioned before these engines almost always drop valve seats when they've been overheated.

[8tg]

18 minutes ago, Bitter said:

To get the #1 plug wire off you can make extra room by taking the AC return line hold down loose, the line has some flex to it. If the wire is shit anyway just pull on the wire boot really hard with some long pliers while also pulling on the wire and/or cut a slit in the boot with a knife. To get the plug out a plug socket and a long extension should get in there fine. I'd highly suggest checking compression, rough idle on these can often be a low compression issue not just worn plugs.

I’ll try some methods to wiggle in there and try to get the hoses out of the way. I’m mostly doing plugs for the sake of doing plugs, doesn’t hurt, cheap parts.

18 minutes ago, Bitter said:

How the hell did you break the IAC?? You just hose it out with carb cleaner and q-tip or gently poke with a blunt pokey bit any hard carbon left behind. They do burn up pretty often so that one may have been bad anyone. Avoid parts store brand IAC's, you might as well just buy them direct from China if you want that quality. Stick with OE Ford or maybe Standard branded parts for those.

I doused it in throttle body cleaner and now the adjustment screw does nothing. I may have damaged it in some way when tapping it off the gasket with a screwdriver.

It may also need to just adjust to a clean throttle body, I don’t know for certain, a new one can’t hurt.

I got whatever I could find on autozone, just a Delphi one.

20 minutes ago, Bitter said:

I see a new radiator and that concerns me that the engine has been overheated, as I mentioned before these engines almost always drop valve seats when they've been overheated.

The new radiator is due to the presumed accident it had with the previous owner, it also has a new front bumper and one new headlight. There’s a lot of stuff in the front end that implies it drove into what I presume was another car at low speed.

I’ll toss the new IAC on tomorrow when it shows up, if that fixes the issue, all is well.

If it doesn’t, that’s when I’m just going to hand it off to a professional because im not a professional.

The car idled mostly fine before throttle body cleaning, not perfect though, adjusting the throttle cable a little helped with the wobbly throttle issue and I presumed cleaning would help with the inconsistent idle. It did not.

 

Side note, it stalled the first few times without extra throttle. Then after idling for a bit, albeit roughly, it would then start and run without the added throttle. Maybe it just needs time. I don’t think this car is new enough to need to relearn idle throttle position.

[vetali]

Sales has been going and buying EVs lately. A Tesla Model Y LR and a VW ID.4. The ID.4 was much more annoying to figure out how to use than the Tesla. The damn touch button to toggle the drivers window switch from front to rear had me stumped. Finding the mileage on the Tesla was weird. I didn't expect the Tesla's seats to be as comfortable as they were. Kinda looked like they wouldn't.

[Bitter]

1 hour ago, 8tg said:

I’ll try some methods to wiggle in there and try to get the hoses out of the way. I’m mostly doing plugs for the sake of doing plugs, doesn’t hurt, cheap parts.

I doused it in throttle body cleaner and now the adjustment screw does nothing. I may have damaged it in some way when tapping it off the gasket with a screwdriver.

It may also need to just adjust to a clean throttle body, I don’t know for certain, a new one can’t hurt.

I got whatever I could find on autozone, just a Delphi one.

The new radiator is due to the presumed accident it had with the previous owner, it also has a new front bumper and one new headlight. There’s a lot of stuff in the front end that implies it drove into what I presume was another car at low speed.

I’ll toss the new IAC on tomorrow when it shows up, if that fixes the issue, all is well.

If it doesn’t, that’s when I’m just going to hand it off to a professional because im not a professional.

The car idled mostly fine before throttle body cleaning, not perfect though, adjusting the throttle cable a little helped with the wobbly throttle issue and I presumed cleaning would help with the inconsistent idle. It did not.

 

Side note, it stalled the first few times without extra throttle. Then after idling for a bit, albeit roughly, it would then start and run without the added throttle. Maybe it just needs time. I don’t think this car is new enough to need to relearn idle throttle position.

The screw on the IAC is set from the factory, you don't mess with it. You just push the plunger aside with something that won't gouge it up and clean the seat and pintle really good then the rest of the cavity and it's passages on the throttle body. Clean the throttle body really well also, especially the plate edges and the bore where the plate rests.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/how-tos/a/ford-f150-how-to-clean-replace-iac-valve-430372

[vetali]

Getting those old Fords to run right requires a PHD in necromancy.

[8tg]

I love my ghetto engine lamp

an ikea bendy usb lamp hanging from the hood

I didn’t disconnect the battery last time and that may have fucked up the IAC memory according to the internet, so before I install the new one that arrives tomorrow, I’ll leave the battery disconnected overnight 

someone fucked up the negative terminal by just clamping it shut as hard as possible (it still wiggles a little) so I just removed the cable from the clamp outright

 

[AlwaysFSX]

Oh how I miss when hood lights were still somewhat a thing

[Radium_Angel]

9 hours ago, vetali said:

Sales has been going and buying EVs lately. A Tesla Model Y LR and a VW ID.4. The ID.4 was much more annoying to figure out how to use than the Tesla. The damn touch button to toggle the drivers window switch from front to rear had me stumped. Finding the mileage on the Tesla was weird. I didn't expect the Tesla's seats to be as comfortable as they were. Kinda looked like they wouldn't.

This is what keeps me from buying an EV. Instead of making the interior controls and gauges etc, as "normal" as possible, EV makers have to go, "Look! We're REALLY different!" and that is dangerous thinking when Joe Average is piloting a 2 ton vehicle at speed and gets confused about how the controls work...and then gets distracted.

 

The Caddy EV (based on the Bolt IIRC) did it right, it looks very car-like inside. I'd buy one of those if I could find one. 

[Bitter]

8 hours ago, 8tg said:

I love my ghetto engine lamp

an ikea bendy usb lamp hanging from the hood

I didn’t disconnect the battery last time and that may have fucked up the IAC memory according to the internet, so before I install the new one that arrives tomorrow, I’ll leave the battery disconnected overnight 

someone fucked up the negative terminal by just clamping it shut as hard as possible (it still wiggles a little) so I just removed the cable from the clamp outright

 

They don't have adaptive idle, it's just a lookup table based on airflow, air temp, engine temp, and throttle position (which may just be open/closed). Your rough idle may be bad mounts or an engine issue like low compression. You can take the weight off the mounts by lifting the engine slightly by the oil pan with a block of wood on a floor jack. They're also sensitive to dirty MAF's, make sure that's been cleaned.

9 hours ago, vetali said:

Getting those old Fords to run right requires a PHD in necromancy.

The CVH's are such simple engines beyond mechanical issues there's really not a lot to them. Hell, they'll even run AND DRIVE on just 2 cyl with half the coil pack dead! I don't think Ford designed them to do that but they'll do that.  They're not great engines but they can be reliable engines if you know what you're doing which is all basic common sense mechanical knowledge, like don't chase problems until you know what's causing them lol.

[vetali]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

This is what keeps me from buying an EV. Instead of making the interior controls and gauges etc, as "normal" as possible, EV makers have to go, "Look! We're REALLY different!" and that is dangerous thinking when Joe Average is piloting a 2 ton vehicle at speed and gets confused about how the controls work...and then gets distracted.

 

The Caddy EV (based on the Bolt IIRC) did it right, it looks very car-like inside. I'd buy one of those if I could find one. 

There is a learning curve. I still don't like not having dedicated HVAC controls. I didn't miss the gauge cluster at all in the model Y. A HUD would be nice though.

 

58 minutes ago, Bitter said:

The CVH's are such simple engines beyond mechanical issues there's really not a lot to them. Hell, they'll even run AND DRIVE on just 2 cyl with half the coil pack dead! I don't think Ford designed them to do that but they'll do that.  They're not great engines but they can be reliable engines if you know what you're doing which is all basic common sense mechanical knowledge, like don't chase problems until you know what's causing them lol.

Problem isn't their complexity. Its the availability of parts and quality of parts. Aftermarket replacement parts are your only options for them, and I don't trust anything aftermarket anymore.

[8tg]

1 hour ago, vetali said:

Aftermarket replacement parts are your only options for them, and I don't trust anything aftermarket anymore.

I speak as someone in the automotive industry, you shouldn’t even trust oem parts:

Also it all comes from the same places. The companies we get like, wiring harnesses from, make them for every major auto manufacturer and sell individually as aftermarket. Almost everything is like that. We get trailers of alternators, brake master cylinders, heater cores, calipers, whatever. If you look into the company and what they do and who they make stuff for, it’s the same shit for Chrysler, GM, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, etc 

 

Champion Spark Plugs, 6912 of them pouring out of that gray container there because the supplier stacked them high, are made in China and shipped to Federal Mogul in South Bend Indiana to be inspected and then forwarded to us, and then we send it them to every single Chrysler engine plant in North America.

Its all the same shit 

[8tg]

New one installed, idle rpm is fixed 

 

video with idle:

 

 

[Bitter]

The parts that commonly fail on those cars are parts that Ford used for 30+ years and are available in either Motorcraft or decent aftermarket.

 

Anyway, got to use the big gun today. Just gotta figure out how to reinstall with the air hammer....

 

[8tg]

As an example of “it’s all the same shit”

the Delphi IAC I ordered came from BorgWarner:

 

They’re a supplier of a variety of parts in my workplace, example based off part reports:

(this information is non confidential and includes publicly researchable part numbers, no time specific information is present here)

 

this is filtered by BorgWarner and their sub names, and excludes all unnamed parts just to show the part variety 

They “make” god damn everything, tubing, transmission components, core engine components, brakes, timing components, hvac components, and they make them for basically every vehicle ever made.

This stuff goes everywhere.

This whole parts sheet is updated often but right now it’s over 54,000 unique parts, from 350 different suppliers. And if you look into who these suppliers are, they’re massive companies and names who make stuff for every company.

”Delphi” alone is another 30 different parts in our system and it’s just more BorgWarner on the boxes.

After working here that whole “get the oem part” thing is nonsense, unless you’re buying clearly 3rd party stuff direct from China, it’s OEM. And even then a substantial amount of auto parts are from China as the first party.

Example, part 68194604AA from Beijing Zhongyong Auto Parts Co, Is manufacturered in Beijing, assembled in Cuautitlán Izcalli Mexico, and then shipped to us, who then sends it to the Kokomo Indiana engine plant where it’s put on the 2023 Dodge Hornet, and every jeep ever made as “exhaust camshaft sensor capacitor cover”.

And that company makes those sensor heat shields for everyone, I get several thousand of them at a time, they cost $12 each on mymoparparts for some unholy reason.

[8tg]

Another good one, this is a trailer from Mexico, it’s current as of today so the full number is hidden.

pardon my cut up finger, spark plug 4 won the battle

 

that is 1080 turbochargers and 12672 ignition coils

guess where they come from

BorgWarner, out of Mexico 

to be installed in whatever boring Chrysler engine has a turbo on it 

it’s all the same, it all comes from the same places

[Bitter]

But quality control is different between different brands and lines? We used to get a radiator same brand, from our warehouse supplier it was A LOT better quality and slightly higher price, from a retail supplier it was cheaper but way worse quality. Same brand on the box! Retail part often didn't fit right and had thinner plastic.

[8tg]

1 hour ago, Bitter said:

quality control

Counterpoint:

Quality control is meaningless when even the manufacturer can’t take care of their own parts after affirming their quality, the rest of the chain has very little say in what is certified good or not 

[Bitter]

10 minutes ago, 8tg said:

Counterpoint:

Quality control is meaningless when even the manufacturer can’t take care of their own parts after affirming their quality, the rest of the chain has very little say in what is certified good or not 

Sorry, I slammed on my brakes in front of that truck. My bad.

[AlwaysFSX]

10 hours ago, 8tg said:

I speak as someone in the automotive industry, you shouldn’t even trust oem parts:

 

Also it all comes from the same places. The companies we get like, wiring harnesses from, make them for every major auto manufacturer and sell individually as aftermarket. Almost everything is like that. We get trailers of alternators, brake master cylinders, heater cores, calipers, whatever. If you look into the company and what they do and who they make stuff for, it’s the same shit for Chrysler, GM, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, etc 

 

Champion Spark Plugs, 6912 of them pouring out of that gray container there because the supplier stacked them high, are made in China and shipped to Federal Mogul in South Bend Indiana to be inspected and then forwarded to us, and then we send it them to every single Chrysler engine plant in North America.

Its all the same shit 

Problem isn't (as much) just OEMs. Logistics as a whole is a completely fucked industry. Nothing is transported properly and most of the hands that touch what's being moved have zero care to follow procedure.

[vetali]

9 hours ago, 8tg said:

I speak as someone in the automotive industry, you shouldn’t even trust oem parts:

I speak as someone that works on these shitboxes for a living. Just had two back to back Ford Exploder condenser jobs. One OEM, one aftermarket. I had to bend the aftermarket one to fit. Motorcraft one bolted right up. Our aftermarket warranty cost is usually around 15-25k a year including labor. OEM Honda is a bit high right now due to a tech screwing up an install on a EPS rack and causing it to bind up, but its only one part YTD and not the parts failure even though they forced it through parts warranty.

[HM-2]

New car is here.

 

 

F30 340i. Loving it so far.