Forum Replies Created
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Without knowing the number of miles on the car, it’s difficult to say but it is going to come down to the AMOUNT of metal chunks in the trans fluid.
If the bottom of your drain pan was glittering like a guy panning for gold.. that’s bad. Or if the chunks were of a semi-largish size.
The grinding noise, assuming it is coming from the transmission, could be the bearing, or it could be something deeper inside.
This really isn’t very helpful, I know. I’d sincerely take it to a trusted mechanic and have them look at it. If you’re lucky, it’s a bearing he can change out. If not, then you may be destined to find a different vehicle or destined for a transmission repair.
Eric… some time ago when you were contemplating the switch to change the format to that of a build site for the Fairmont, a number of us crawled out from under our rocks and offered words of caution. We warned that your site would decline if you shifted your focus to build videos… and we were right.
You say you have experienced declining views, and that this is affecting your bottom line. I agree, for what my opinion might be worth. Your Video Empire is set up on views; you are the manufacturer of the video and we, your viewers, are the consumers. It may help if you think of yourself like a Retail Shop; we come to you to shop for your videos. We click, we watch, you get paid by the views.
What happened then and what is happening now is changing the entire dynamic. While I do see that lack of proper notification of your videos might cause a dip in viewership, it isn’t going to cause as much a dip as you think. Many of us come to your website to seek your work out; we’ll see your videos here even if we don’t get a bleep from YouTube, right?
The problem is… think of it like this. If a Retail Shop is known for making the most wonderful and varied flavors of Ice Cream, they’re going to be quite popular.In this analogy, it’d be like the Shop deciding to concentrate solely on Clam-and-Scallop flavored ice cream instead of Chocolate chip, Rocky Road, etc. Yes, there may be a few souls out there that might actually enjoy that, but by and large… most of us won’t. We’ll keep stopping by to check out the older flavors and see if any is still in stock, or if there might be something else we’d enjoy.. but we’ll avoid the Clam-and-Scallop because it simply doesn’t interest us.
Your videos are much the same way, but with a twist. Yes, you HAVE worked hard for many, many years. Yes, I DO think you deserve to build a car, if you so choose. The problem? There are far too many of your paying customers that don’t want to watch it. Yes, some do. But the cold equations of the matter are quite clear; the Fairmont Videos are NOT cutting it financially for you. Your viewership is in decline, you’ve said so yourself. Why? Because you’re no longer selling the product you were, and this has led them to drift away and go elsewhere. In other words… there are those that don’t want to pay for it, and won’t.
I think there is also some lingering resentment about the Fixing-It-Forward campaign. A LOT of your viewers were gung-ho about contributing to this. You even still have the ‘donate for fixing it forward’ button on your site! And yet, FiF is on hiatus… and if I read it correctly, is being held hostage against an increase of viewers. You said, I believe, that if the viewers don’t increase, then FiF won’t really come back. A LOT of us were really looking towards that, and we wanted to help it grow and flourish. We lauded you (and still do!) for the work you did to help others. But… you’re not concentrating on that. You’re not producing the repair videos and FiF videos that brought a lot of us here. You’re concentrating on the Fairmont Project… something that your viewers’ views paid for.. and it isn’t a project that you intend to auction off to a Charity, or auction off to support FiF… it’s a toy for yourself.
Do I think you deserve that toy? Absolutely. But do I want to watch videos of you building the toy? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. There’s a reduction of your viewership, right there. A bunch of others feel the same way, it seems… as your viewership decline has shown.
Another problem is the fact that you said.. let’s see if I can get this direct quote right… “If after the Fairmont videos are done, you think I’m going back to Repair Videos.. think again.’. Well… those that were hanging around and checking back periodically to see if there WERE repair videos to watch… they’ll stop coming back at all, now. You’re insisting on producing Fairmont Videos to near exclusion… Clam-and-Scallop flavored ice cream… and are concerned when it doesn’t sell.
YouTube is an excellent microcosm of Capitalism, when you think about it. If you produce a product that people want.. (YogsCast, SovietWomble, TotalBiscuit) then you’ll succeed. If you don’t… then you won’t.
This is your channel, Eric… and as one of the beneficiaries of the FiF program (My Dad, Jerry Hall, still drives that Sentra you fixed for him and we are forever in your debt as a result) I always pray for your channel’s success.
You are a 20+ year veteran of things Mechanical.. you know your way around a car. I’m a 20+ year veteran of things Networking and Internet (Back when it was still mostly a DARPA-based project, even pre-AOL and Prodigy!). I have seen this play out before… I fear, Eric, that you are in the shoals with precious little water left under your keel. If you want to make your living at YouTube, as uncomfortable as it might seem, you’ve got to pander to those most willing to click and watch. It’s the only way to succeed.
Whatever you decide, you have my support. If you truly decide that you’re done with YouTube because you are tired of making only repair videos.. then I can understand and respect that. Then it’s time to develop a new product and try that, instead. It will take years to build back up to where you were before the decline, but you’ll make it. You’ve one of the strongest work ethics I’ve ever seen. The Fairmont videos aren’t cutting it as the decline shows. Perhaps pushing FiF to the forefront might revitalize the channel. There was, and is, a whole lot of passion and energy for that just waiting to be tapped.
For what my opinion might be worth.
Take care, Eric.
-Hinoki
I’d have to disagree.
I’ve put Fumoto valves on all my cars and not once have they leaked.
With concern to how they’re oriented, Fumoto USA has put out the SX series valves that allow you to orient it however you see fit.
It makes life a lot easier, and I’ve never had one fail nor had one leak.
http://www.fumotousa.com/ if interested.
PS: No, I don’t work for them. I just like their products.
-Hinoki
Apologies for the relatively poor quality of the picture, but the cell phone available wasn’t equipped with the best camera.
Even so, this seems to show what I meant. You can see there’s the tan color over the ground electrode. The insulator looks fine, actually.. but that black ring around the base and up onto the threads is tacky to the touch and smears right off with relatively little effort.
I’m not sure if that’s due to the previous owner doing something with the car (Modded, perhaps? It’s stock NOW, and was sold as Certified Pre-Owned) or what.
My concern is that the black goop is actually burned oil. I only took one picture, because they’re literally all like this. Not sure if it is normal due to it being a GDI, or what… so I’d truly appreciate your thoughts.
What do you think, CollegeMan?
-Hinoki
I’ll get pictures of those this weekend when I can get my hands on the car again.
Thanks, CollegeMan. Appreciate it, and I hope I’m wrong about it burning oil. >.<
-Hinoki
No, you won’t be.
The sealant will do very little to prolong the life of your car. Moreover, it might make it worse insofar as it will give you a false sense of security.
-Hinoki
Okay, I see what you’re saying now, Night. If the leak is on the intake side, it’d be possible to bleed oil into the coolant jacket and contaminate the radiator and backwash into the overflow bottle.
I guess the telling sign, Jade, would be to let the engine get STONE COLD and open your radiator cap. If it is contaminated sufficiently, you should easily be able to tell.
Would there be any way whatsoever to post pictures of what you see in your overflow bottle and COLD radiator? That would help quite a bit.
Thanks for setting me straight, Nightflyr. Muchly appreciated.
-Hinoki
Basically what happens is when coolant mixes with oil, then it turns into the consistency of a milkshake. Pale colored, definitely noticeable.
Oil darkens as it ages and is used, and is considered perfectly normal (to a point). So if the oil darkens and doesn’t look like a milkshake, that’s generally a good sign for the purposes of our current situation.
My concern about what Evil-I was suggesting is that there’s no physical way for oil to get into the coolant overflow bottle aside from being deliberately added or from the radiator. If oil had contaminated your coolant to the point that it back-washed into the overflow bottle, then it’d be literally everywhere throughout your entire engine and cooling system… and WOULD show up on the dipstick.
So if the dipstick is dark, then I sincerely doubt it is leaking from the engine. If there’s oil in the overflow bottle as you say (and I have no reason to doubt you), then I strongly fear that one of the mechanics you took it to is messing with your head and trying to get you to implement unneeded repairs.
A creamy texture (and discoloration/milkshake colored oil) under the oil fill cap is not necessarily an issue as there can be a degree of condensation under the cap. That can and will cause the milkshake appearance there due to water without it being a systemic problem.
Nightflyr just posted some EXCELLENT pictures that should help.
We’ll help however you need us to. We’re a useful lot, here.
-HinokiEvil, something about this bothers me, though.
If there’s oil in the overflow coolant bottle, but no coolant contamination on the dipstick, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to me.
In order for oil to make it from the engine to the bottle, it’d have to go one of two ways. Either the entire system is contaminated and it’d show on the dipstick, or somehow oil got added to the overflow bottle directly.
I just can’t see a leaking head gasket causing contamination ONLY in the overflow bottle.
I strongly suspect something else is going on.
-Hinoki
No, unfortunately not.
The O2 sensor would have absolutely no effect on oil being in the coolant resevoir.
When you check your oil, is there goop that looks like chocolate milk on the dipstick or does it look like normal oil?
-Hinoki
Understood. I NEVER go into the shop unless ask.. that’s just plain RUDE.
As for shop-talk, I can cuss anyone under the table but for the saltiest of sailors.
That being said, I do understand.. and I’ll stay on the far side of the yellow line at the shops. Y’all need your privacy away from the likes of me, your customers.
Cheers.. and thanks again for all you do.
-Hinoki
Once again, I cross the yellow line and venture into the Technician’s Only forum.
I apologize for the transgression, but I wanted to chime in.Am I guilty of being a fishbowler? Yes. Yes, I am.
Even though I’m a SysAdmin by trade, I get people fishbowling me all the time… and they do it to me for the same reasons I do it to you.
What you do is pure MAGIC to the uninitiated. To see you take something that is effectively a black magic box to us (consider that the rank and file of your customers might not even know the axiom of ‘righty-tighty, lefty-loosey’) that won’t start… and then watch you pull it to little itty-bitty pieces? And -THEN- not only put all the pieces back together but make it run better than before?
Am I guilty of fishbowling? Yes. Yes, I am.
But I do it out of -respect- for you and the skills you possess. I watch in awe as you pull a transmission and make it work, when the best -I- could do is to wave a rubber chicken over a cracked bellhousing and hope that somehow it’ll Just Turn On.
On behalf of fisbowlers, sorry for putting you on the spot. But it’s like watching a magician ply their trade; totally enchanting, very interesting, and if anything, develops even more respect for the mechanics as a person and a profession.
My .02.
-Hinoki
Armed, Rob, College Man, and Toyota Karl already told you how to proceed… you need to change the coolant, first and foremost.
Anything else is mere speculation and is not indicative of any problem that may or may not be present.
Change the coolant first, and then take it from there.
-Hinoki
Not really, no.
Book value on that vehicle in good condition is going to be significantly less than the cost to have someone drop a motor in.
I might be wrong in this, but I get the general vibe that you’re a shade-tree mechanic (like me) and don’t have the experience or tool to yoink a motor out and swap it. That means labor will be a factor, as a motor swap isn’t for the faint of heart.
Given the engine done blowed up real good, the odds of everything else being absolutely spotless and perfect is pretty much the same as me winning the lottery. Twice. In a row.
TL/DR: No, not worth it. Too expensive for something that’ll need more work after the swap.