Tag Archives: diy
A decent car on a budget
So, the time has finally come for me to replace my wife’s car. Not to toot my own horn, but I’ve done a pretty decent job keeping it running all these years. After all, the car has 320,000 miles on its original, unopened engine and automatic transmission, so I must be doing something right. But, the car is finally starting to show its age and mileage, so we’ve decided to move her into a newer, lower-mileage used car. Of course, with what the used car market is these days, finding a decent car on a budget has become something of a challenge. Low mileage cars needing no repairs and that are caught up on their maintenance are demanding a premium these days. Cars that are in our usual price range are getting more and more ragged in terms of condition.
So, after a couple of months of shopping around, we finally found a car that was a bit of a compromise all around. It was a bit newer than her old car, but only had 115,000 miles on it. The engine, transmission, and body were all basically solid, though neglected. The seller had obviously sugar-coated the description. The “brand new” tires certainly had most of their life ahead of them, but had seen quite a bit of use. The “brand new” exhaust was in good shape overall, but loud, likely due to a failed gasket, and was probably somewhere between a year and two years old, based on appearance.
The car ran and drove, but there were a number of issues. Although the seller claimed a recent timing belt job, he had no records to back up his claim. Given that the timing covers looked undisturbed, I’m going to err on the side of caution and replace the timing belt and water pump while I’m in there.
As they look original, I’m going to be replacing the accessory drive belts as well as both radiator hoses and the heater hoses. This will, of course, necessitate fresh coolant and a new radiator pressure cap. Also on my list is new spark plugs and wires. The engine has some minor leaks, so I’m going to go ahead and replace the valve cover gasket and intake manifold gasket.
My goal is to get the car to the point where it’s completely caught up on its maintenance, so I’m also going to be replacing the fuel filter and fuel hoses, as well as the transmission fluid and filter and the differential fluid.
Once I’m done with the work, I estimate I’ll still have spent less than the book value of the car, and will have a car that is reliable and dependable to show for it.
Shock and strut replacement
If you’re out on the highway and you’re feeling every crack in the road and every pebble you drive over, chances are that your shocks or struts are worn out and need to be replaced. Shocks and struts perform the same basic function – dampening road vibration. When they wear out, you experience decreased comfort as well as decreased safety on the road. Wear in your car’s suspension can lead to instability on the road and increased stopping distances when braking. Many people don’t think about it, but your shocks and struts are are a vital part of your car’s safety systems.
When it’s time to replace them, the first thing to do is figure out whether you have standard shock absorbers or MacPherson-style struts. A traditional shock absorber typically will bolt directly to the car’s body and then to the suspension control arm. The leaf or coil spring is a separate piece with its own distinct mounting points. A MacPherson strut also tends to be an anchor point between the wheel carrier and the car’s body. Replacing MacPherson struts requires special tools, but can be a suitable DIY job.
Replacing standard shock absorbers is a comparatively easy process. Generally, you raise and support the end of the car you’re working on, unbolt, and then remove the shock absorber. To install the new one, you simply bolt it in, paying attention to the factory-approved torque specifications, of course.
Strut replacement is a little more complex. As struts tend to be further integrated into a car’s suspension and steering, more care needs to be taken. Often, you’ll find that a car’s alignment can be disturbed when a strut is removed and installed. One thing you can do is make alignment marks with paint to ease reinstallation. However, you should probably err on the side of safety and have an alignment done after strut replacement.
As with shocks, you raise and support the appropriate end of the car. Once you’ve made some alignment marks, you generally unbolt the strut from the wheel carrier. From there, you unbolt the strut bearing from the car and remove the strut. From there, you can either install a pre-built strut, or you can rebuild the strut yourself before installing it. To do so, you’ll need spring compressors to release the tension from the coil spring before you disassemble the strut.
Often, the difference between a worn strut and a new one is night and day in terms of road feel. In addition, your car will be safer, and new struts can only help with fuel economy.
Caps and rotors
If you have an older car, chances are that one tune-up item you need to pay particular attention to is your ignition system. One item you don’t see too often anymore is the distributor. Most cars, these days, have long since transitioned to distributorless ignition systems, thus simplifying the tune-up process. But, if you’re maintaining a car with a distributor ignition system, it isn’t too hard to add this to the list of items you need to take care of.
First off, where are the common wear points in a distributor-based ignition systems? Primarily, you’re looking at two different parts – the distributor cap and the rotor. The distributor cap is exactly what it sounds like – a cap that fits over the distributor. It’s easy to identify, if you haven’t seen one before. Follow the spark plug wires to where they meet up, and you’ve found the distributor cap. Once you unclip it and lift off the cap, you’ll find the rotor. The rotor sits atop the distributor shaft, and rotates with the engine. The rotor, combined with the cap, is responsible for getting spark to each spark plug in the correct order. In fact, that’s where the distributor gets its name – it distributes the spark.
It’s impossible to tell from the outside if your cap and rotor are worn, except perhaps by observing suffering engine performance. In order to inspect them, you need to unclip and lift off the cap and inspect the contacts inside it, as well as those on the rotor. Visible scoring is a sign of wear and indicates that it’s time to replace them.
Thankfully, the distributor cap and rotor are two of the easiest maintenance items to replace in your engine. Replacement doesn’t even require tools. However, make sure to note which spark plug wire goes to which contact on the distributor cap. If not, it’s easy to mix them up, and if you do, your engine may not start. If it does, it’ll undoubtedly misfire.
The rotor itself is even easier to deal with. Once the distributor cap is off, the rotor should pull right off the shaft. If it’s stuck, just give it a little more muscle.
While you’re replacing your cap and rotor, it’s a good time to replace your spark plugs. Also, take a look at your ignition wires. If you’ve noticed the car hesitating on a damp morning, only to behave normally after a moment or two, you probably have worn wires. If you’re not sure, start the engine while it’s dark and mist the wires with a spray bottle of water. If you see sparks, you know it’s time to replace the wires, too.
With a little attention, your ignition system should keep going for a long time. It’s easy to inspect, and it’s a good idea to do so if you’re not sure when it was last serviced.
Cylinder head replacement
Recently, my car developed a misfire. I was experiencing a recurring P0302 trouble code, indicating the misfire was in cylinder 2. Knowing there could be multiple causes of the misfire, I approached the problem by investigating the simpler possibilities first. Starting with spark plugs. After combing through the entire ignition and fuel injection systems to no avail, I decided to run a compression test, which definitively told me that the problem was in the cylinder head itself. As the car wasn’t overheating and I was seeing no signs of oil and coolant mixing, I was left with the theory that the problem was most likely a burned exhaust valve or a worn valve guide in that cylinder. At any rate, the cylinder head needed to come off to repair it.
I mulled over the possibility of rebuilding the cylinder head myself, installing new valves, guides and other parts as necessary. But, as I needed to drive the car, I decided that the most efficient way to tackle the job would be to purchase an already-rebuilt cylinder head. I waited until I had the new cylinder head in hand before I started disassembling my car.
Of course, the cylinder head wasn’t the only thing I needed. In addition to that, I needed new intake and exhaust manifold gaskets (as the intake and exhaust had to come off the engine), new exhaust studs, a new valve cover gasket, fresh coolant, and, most of all, a new head gasket. Working with a good shop manual, I tore into the job on a Saturday. In order to get the cylinder head off, I needed to remove the intake manifold, the exhaust manifold, the alternator, power steering pump, the timing belt, and camshaft pulley.
Once everything was out of the way, I removed the cylinder head bolts and lifted the head out with the engine in place. Installation was a bit more complex than you might have expected. The head bolts needed to be replaced, and needed a light coating of oil. The new head gasket was installed dry, as per factory specifications. Once the head was in place, there was a very specific torque sequence to follow in order to properly seat the new head gasket and get it to seal against the block.
After the new head was installed, the rest of it was nothing more than putting the engine back the way I found it. The timing belt had to be reinstalled. As the timing belt was recent, I saw no reason to install a new one. From there, the exhaust had to be bolted up to the engine and the intake manifold needed to be reinstalled, paying particular attention to all the electrical and vacuum connections.
As soon as everything was in place, I was able to start the engine and bleed the air out of the cooling system. The best part about it? The engine now runs properly and without the misfire.
Getting creative with NLA items
Three letters you don’t want to see when shopping for parts for your older are NLA. In case you didn’t know, NLA stands for “no longer available.” Often, when a car is older and long out of production, the vehicle manufacturer no longer makes or stocks certain parts for it, and sometimes the aftermarket hasn’t stepped in to take up the slack. This leaves owners of those cars in something of a bind.
One option that some people resort to is looking for used parts. The problem with this approach is that used parts are used, and are partway through their useful lifespan. This becomes a particular problem when the part in question is a wear-and-tear item such as a molded cooling system hose. Thankfully, with a little ingenuity, you can come up with a functional replacement.
The most important thing to note when looking at a cooling hose is its diameter. Most cooling hoses, you’ll find, are the same diameter on both ends. For a hose with only two ends, this simplifies the problem. Replacing a curved, molded cooling hose with a piece of straight hose may seem like a no-brainer, but can introduce unforseen difficulties. Often, a straight hose used in place of a curved hose will need to bend, and if the bend is too severe, the hose can kink, cutting off flow in the cooling system, leading to an overheat or worse.
One way to avoid this is to route such a long piece of hose that the curve becomes more gradual and the hose doesn’t have any sharp bends. In many cases, this is an acceptable solution. Sometimes, it isn’t. A way to avoid this is to use a flex hose. A flex hose has an embedded spring that allows the hose to be curved without sharp bends. Still, these often don’t work in tight spaces or with smaller hose diameters.
In these kind of cases, another option it to match up the diameter of the old hose to a section of straight hose, and then with use of various angled hose connectors, replicating as closely as possible the original shape of the hose. Hose connectors can also be useful when replicating a molded hose that has more than two ends or one that has ends of more than one diameter.
One last pitfall to watch out for when substituting non-original cooling hoses is the potential introduction of air pockets. Typically, this isn’t a long-term problem, but non-original hoses, as described, can inadvertently complicate the process of bleeding air out of the cooling system when filling with fesh coolant.
At the end of the day, NLA parts are not an insurmountable problem in keeping your car on the road. They do, however, require some ingenuity.
Exhaust repair challenges
In the past, I’ve discussed exhaust system layout and the functions of the individual parts. Sometimes, these parts need to be replaced. This is doubly true if you live in the rust belt and drive on salty winter roads, or otherwise subject your car’s exhaust system to abnormal wear and tear. Unfortunately, these conditions, combined with the heat and cold cycles that exhaust systems go through every time they’re used, often make the job more difficult than it would be otherwise. But, if you keep a few simple tricks in mind, replacing exhaust parts can be much less difficult.
First off, you’ll need to determine where the damage is. If you have a rust hole or damage in one part of your exhaust system, other parts might still be serviceable. If you can’t see the damage from a distance, get the car up on a lift, ramps, or jack stands and inspect it more closely. Once you’ve found the wear or damage, your next task is to determine how the exhaust system is assembled. In most cases, you’ll find that the exhaust is bolted together and secured to the car with rubber hangers. Sometimes, the exhaust is welded together, either by the factory or by the last exhaust shop to have worked on the car.
If the exhaust is bolted together, you can save yourself some trouble later on by soaking the exhaust bolts with penetrating oil a couple of days in advance. You’ll find that exhaust nuts and bolts tend to rust together pretty badly, and this will help you separate them when you have your new parts ready for installation.
If you have a welded exhaust, you’ll first need to determine which individual pieces are available for your exhaust system. You’ll need to decide if you’re replacing sections or the whole system. Once you know that, and have the new parts in hand, you’re going to need to cut out the old parts. There are a variety of tools you can use, from hacksaws, to rotary cutting tools, to purpose-built exhaust pipe cutters. Just be sure that you work safely, as you’ll be in a confined space underneath the car.
Once you have the old parts out of the way, it’s time to install the new parts. If you’re working near the engine, you’ll sometimes find that your exhaust manifold studs are too beat-up to be reused. If that’s the case, take the time to replace them, so as to avoid a leaking exhaust manifold gasket upon reinstallation. Also, if the penetrating oil didn’t do enough to help loosen the fasteners, you can speed things along with careful application of heat via a torch, or by using a nut splitter to cut the old fasteners out.
As with any repair job, a little planning ahead can mean time and effort saved when working on an older exhaust system.
Brake pad and rotor replacement
You’re driving along, hit the brakes, and all of sudden you hear a scraping sound you haven’t heard before. Or, maybe that brake pad wear indicator light in your instrument cluster comes on for the first time. Either way, this means one thing – it’s time to replace your brake pads (and most likely rotors, too). Failing to do so can lead to further damage down the road. At this point, your car will still stop, but you’re not far off from wearing completely through the friction material on the brake pads. Once you’re through it, you’ll be running the brake pad backing plates directly on the rotors, which will wear through the rotors. So, it’s best not to hold off on this repair.
There are more choices than ever in the aftermarket for brake pads and rotors. Do your research. There’s everything available from cheap parts all the way up to race-grade items. Thankfully, competition and choice have made it so that even decent quality items are available at decent prices.
The first thing to do, as would be expected, is to determine whether you need to replace pads and rotors at the front, rear, or both. An experienced ear can tell on the road which will need to be replaced. If you can’t tell from the sound, you’ll need to investigate visually. Usually, this means raising the appropriate end of the car and removing the wheel. You can usually get a good enough look in the caliper to see how worn the brake pads are. You can certainly get a good look at the condition of the rotors this way, too.
Once you’ve determined whether your problem is in the front, rear, or both, and have ordered parts, it’s time to do the work. Once again, you’re going to want to raise the appropriate end of the car, support it on jack stands, and chock the wheels on the opposite end of the car. From there, you dismount the wheel and set it aside. Once that’s done, you remove the old brake pads. Usually, this involves unbolting the caliper lock pin, pivoting up the caliper body, and pulling the brake pads out. If you’re replacing the rotors, too (which is always a good idea – most modern rotors aren’t manufactured with enough thickness to allow for resurfacing), you then unbolt the caliper body and bracket and hang them out of the way with a stiff piece of wire (never hang it from the brake hose). There may be a small, countersunk set screw, but otherwise, the rotor will just pull off the hub. From there, reassembly is the reverse of the process.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that brakes are done front and/or rear, and NEVER left or right. Brakes must be done on the left and right at whichever axle you’re working on.
Ignition wire replacement
You start your car on a damp morning. The engine sounds like it’s struggling, and for the first moment or two, it acts like it’s low on power before returning to normal. Or, maybe you have a newer car and you’ve just gotten a diagnostic trouble code indicating a misfire. What happened here? In both cases, your ignition wires are a suspect for this kind of behavior.
What exactly is going on, though? Well, with older ignition wires, the constant heating and cooling with the engine ages the outer rubber insulating layer on the wires. Once this layer dries out and cracks, stray sparks will find the shortest path to close the circuit. Rather than making it all the way to the spark plugs, this often means the spark will ground itself out against the head or engine block, causing a momentary misfire, and the aforementioned stumbling condition. At any rate, the only cure in this situation is new ignition wires.
Quality of ignition wires can vary, as can different ignition systems’ reaction to aftermarket parts. Do your research here. However, most quality aftermarket ignition wiring will probably be a pretty safe bet. Once you’ve selected your new wires, it’s time to replace them.
Replacing ignition wires is a great job for the beginner do-it-yourselfer. There’s just a few simple things to keep in mind to make sure the job goes smoothly. First off, replace ignition wires with the car OFF. For added safety, you can disconnect the battery’s negative terminal, though this isn’t usually necessary. After that, don’t just tear into things. Look things over. If it isn’t painfully obvious, draw yourself a quick diagram showing ignition wire placement. These wires are routed in a particular order and mixing them up is a guaranteed recipe for a misfire.
Next, replace the ignition wires one by one. Don’t disconnect them all at once. Again, this is to avoid misrouting ignition wires. That’s pretty much all there is to it, but there are some other parts you should inspect and perhaps consider replacing at this time.
Chances are if your ignition wires are that badly aged, other parts may be in need of replacing, too. For older cars, this is a good time to inspect and possibly replace your distributor cap and rotor. For all cars, regardless of age, you should take a look at and replace your spark plugs if they’re at or past the manufacturer’s recommended replacement interval.
Remember that ignition wires, even though they appear stationary, are a wear and tear item like many other parts of your engine and do require periodic replacement. Thankfully, it’s an easy job and one that will make an immediate difference in your car’s behavior.
Inspections – A Necessary Evil
When it comes down to ways I’d choose to spend my time, taking my car in for its annual state inspection ranks right up there with going to the dentist and going in for jury duty. But, where I live, it’s a requirement. My last inspection was over a year ago, and my current sticker runs out at the end of the month. So, this past weekend I took my car down to the local service station to get the inspection over with.
Normally, I don’t have a problem with inspections. Over the years, my cars have passed more often than failed. In fact, I can remember only four failures. My first was for a chipped windshield, which I had to have replaced to pass. A few years later, my weekend car failed inspection due to higher-than-normal emissions. As the car had been garaged all winter, the inspector advised me just drive it for a week or so and then come back for a re-test. I did, and I passed, without any additional parts expense. The third time, I failed for worn-out tires. Some new tires and an alignment helped me pass the re-test. This weekend, I failed due to excessive play in the front end of my car.
Inspections exist for a reason – to keep the cars on the road in safe, environmentally-friendly operating condition. Every single time I’ve had a rejection, I’ve repaired my car, and been better off for it. This case is no exception. Today, the inspector advised me to check my front wheel bearings, and gave me the business card of some unfamiliar repair shop. I took that advice with a grain of salt, and drove away with an inspection sticker.
Once I got home, I put my car up on jackstands to inspect it myself. I’m a DIY guy, after all. The first thing I checked was the wheel bearings. I grabbed each front wheel at the top and bottom and rocked it. To my surprise, there was no movement. Next, I grabbed the wheel at the sides, as the inspector had, and rocked it again. There was a noticeable clunk and movement on both sides of the car. So, the plot thickened.
I got underneath the car with my creeper and started checking suspension components. I grabbed each front wheel and rocked it again. The outer tie rod ends checked out OK, as did the sway bar links and bushings, as well as the ball joints. Unfortunately, the play seemed to be coming from the steering rack, where I could see and hear the play. As one last check, I pulled off the steering rack boots, and got a pleasant surprise, of sorts. It turned out that all the movement was in my inner tie rod ends. So, I ordered the necessary parts, and will be repairing that as soon as I can. Hopefully, I’ll have that valid inspection sticker again very soon.
Engine swap basics
As many automotive DIY-ers eventually do, I’m currently knee-deep in my first engine swap. In my case, I’m not going for an exotic swap to win points at a car show. I’m also not building an sleeper that’ll win at the drag strip. I’m just doing a one-for-one swap to replace the tired engine in one of my cars with an (almost) identical unit.
A brand new engine simply isn’t available for the car, and a quality rebuild is way out of my budget. I ended up locating a used engine with healthy compression in my budget, so I decided to go that route. In reference to an earlier comment, I say almost identical because although the engines are from the same make and model, the old engine in my car is mated to a manual transmission whereas the one from the donor car was mated to an automatic. This necessitates the first and most necessary part swap – I’ll need the flywheel off my engine. If the clutch still looks like it has a good amount of life in it, I’ll keep it. If not, I’ll install a new one.
Aside from that, I had taken very good care of my old engine, and as such, there are a lot of low-mileage parts that I’m swapping to the donor motor in order to save money. Naturally, I’m replacing items such as cooling system and intake gaskets with brand new items. I will be re-using as many verifiable low-mileage parts as I can in order to keep costs down.
I will be replacing standard tune-up items with new parts. The engine will be getting new spark plugs, oil and air filters, new engine mounts, and a new cap and rotor. Items like molded cooling hoses will be transferred from the old engine, as I replaced them shortly before the bottom end finally wore out and wouldn’t hold oil pressure anymore.
The general rule I’m following is that if there’s a serviceable part on either engine, the better of the two goes to the new engine. Anything that’s even remotely questionable, such as oil pressure and coolant temperature senders, will be replaced with new parts. The goal is to put together the best engine I can on a budget with the best parts available.
When all is said and done, I expect to be able to get in the car, turn the key, and take it back out on the road. Taking the new and used parts into account, I should, in theory, be able to drive it for some time (keeping up on preventive maintenance, of course), before any repairs need to be done.
