Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
Here is another short video spinning it by hand: you can still hear the same noise.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8TJbUt1KSo[/video]
[quote=”college man” post=181516][quote=”jmlarios13″ post=181502]Hi Eric,
I’ve heard that LED lights are brighter but more dispersed and thus not as effective as HID lights. I’m looking to convert my halogen lights on my 2006 Odyssey but I’m still torn between HID and LEDs. Since you now have both types, which do you like best?[/quote]I had both and did not like the beam pattern of the led. so hid all the way.
if you have fog light/driving lights led is good. Not for head lights.[/quote]+1 on this. I had aftermarket LED and HID.. While the LED was much more simple to install, the way it output light was very substandard (it had a flat bar with 3 diodes on the bottom for low beam and 2 diodes on the top of the bar for high beam). and highbeam really made no difference.
The LEDs were a very brilliant white and while they were a huge upgrade over the standard halogens, they were extremely bright (i had to re-aim my headlamps after the install due to blinding other drivers). Also i had one of them fail on me (the LED started strobing very quickly.. not a good thing on a dark road around other drivers.) They were under warranty, so i returned them and replaced them with HIDs. Im so glad i did!
The HIDs on the other hand, took more effort to install. (on my particular car i chose to remove the front bumper to run the wiring and ballasts), but the difference in light output was amazing. Even without projector lenses, the beam pattern is very crisp and ‘refined’. Plus i really like the blue tinge that the HIDs have.
And as college man said, stay away from the cheap Ebay kits. You will regret it. The ballasts are bad, the bulbs do not last and the wiring is very cheap. A good HID conversion set is going to run you $150-$200 dollars.
[quote=”college man” post=181183]I wonder if Ford would take it under a warranty? Everybody seems to be giving 100k
on drive train.[/quote]Unfortunately not. 3 yr/36,000 mi basic, 5 yr/60,000 mi powertrain. So its definitely out by mileage and most likely by year.
So its either rebuild it myself (ive never done one, but helped a few times with them and i know there are a lot of precise measurements.. however i dont have the tools…press, dial indicator, in/lb torque wrench, bearing splitter at home), or really the time.. (i already do this for a living.) or find someone i trust to do rebuild the complete rear end, for a price i can afford.
Watching Eric’s 8.8 rebuild video for a recap at the moment.
Still factory sealed and never been opened. No marks on any of the bolts. Ive put 13,000 miles on the car with no issues and it just seemed to appear out of no-where.
I’m totally mystified as well. Any rear noise I have ever heard in differentials has always been a loud whine or a rattling. Never anything like this.
I’ve seen so many rear wheel drive vehicles go to the junkyard with > 200k on them with the original gear oil and never once made a sound. I’m very confused on what is causing this.
I thought about pulling the axles to check the axle bearings. My hope was that the bad axle bearings were transmitting the sound to the middle. But I don’t feel any thing on the axle housing or hear any noise with a stethoscope from that area. It’s all coming from the center section as you can hear.
Definitely one heck of a Christmas present. This car is my baby and I treat it as such. Although I could do a full rebuild on the rear end from a technical standpoint. I don’t have the tools or the time to do so. Whatever it is, is not going to be cheap in afraid.
Anyone else have any suggestions based on possibly hearing something like the before?
I believe the problem to be aftermarket sensors. Ordering OEM sensors. Had multiple people tell me they have run into the same issue. I’ll keep you all updated on what happens once they come in.
I work on newer cars everyday for my job, and I can tell you that Land Rover is using it, Chrysler, some Chevrolet’s, Subaru, and a few Toyota’s.. however we do not have the service equipment for it yet. I do know that there is a special service procedure you have to walk though – including checking the vents for refrigerant leaks before it will allow any kind of evac/recharge.
Also word on the wire is that there is another experimental refrigerant in tests as we speak that is 100% o-zone safe… however the stuff is extremely flammable/poison under pressure and supposedly when an accident is detected, there are dump valves installed in the a/c system that immediately vents the stuff to atmosphere so it doesnt have a chance to heat up under pressure and poison you… Safe for the environment… but hazardous to us.. Oh, and no to mention you accidently set off an airbag, your replacing this new expensive refrigerant on top of an airbag..
Thank you for the reply, I appreciate your input. I also forgot to mention that i did the cluster self test (hold trip button with key off, turn key on, release button) and all of the needles and lights worked in all positions so im fairly certain that the cluster itself is ok. Its just something on the control side thats not letting it see the proper fuel level.
Im guessing the easy (although not so easy) test is to gain access to the fuel pump module connector and try grounding the signal wire. I also have access to an Autel Maxisys Pro that will allow me to monitor PIDs on different modules. Im guessing the ones i am looking for are fuel level in % and sensor voltages. Also i just read the following in Mitchell:
I am wondering if somehow it was overfilled and is causing a false reading. I sort of doubt that is the case, but it was interesting to read that it will show a low fuel level, even if it is overfilled.
I use this machine when i do tires.. i didnt like it at first.. coming from the old style (tire-iron instead of rollers) but now, it makes it a lot less stressful, especially with lower profile tires. However the duckbills are known to break quite a bit, even with normal use. They handle quite a bit more pressure due to the whole system being pneumatic.
Overall though, its nice once you get used to it. Not that i do tires all that much, but when i do its a lot less labor than how we used to do them.
[quote=”Monkey wrench” post=130015]Nice hows the progress coming?[/quote]
If your referring to my Escort engine swap.. It has been long gone and done! Those were the before/after pictures (before being torn apart, and after being complete.) I bought the car for $250 with a dropped valve seat.. replaced the engine & drove it for about 30,000 miles before selling it.
It was quite the project.. because at the time I was working 40-50 hours a week as a tech and i didnt have much of a home ‘tool set’ so i had to bring a lot of things home every night. My tools at the time consisted of Craftsman 250 piece socket/tool set and anything else i’d have to bring home. It was quite a project to tackle working between 8-5, 11-8 everyday and then coming home and wrenching on it on the side until 2-3am.. But at the time i was in desperate need of a car (how ironic.. not having a car and working on them all day) and did what i had to to make it work.
What made it worse was the first ‘donor engine’ had a bad bearing and i dropped it in without pulling the oil pan to check bearings.. fired it up and the damn thing sounded like a ball bearing in a metal paint can (i have a video around somewhere). Talk about being kicked in the face after all that work… But i was only disappointed for about 45 minutes. An hour later i was out there tearing it apart with full force & fury to get it running.
Anyway, long story.. didnt mean to throw the thread off-track. But its one of those things i’ll never forget. When i did get it running it was glorious to say the least.. The car was a constant money pit though.. and it really was a well taken care of car.. but it seemed no matter how much i pampered it.. it always wanted ‘more’ so i finally got fed up with it and sold it with 128k on the clock (bought it with a hair over 100k).
wow, i have never seen anything like that before.. even doing some searches im not seeing anything that would even fit that. Makes me curious what it is exactly. Hopefully some of the older techs might know what it is. so i’ll bump this to the top for you.
Are you getting a noise associated with this kick back? Or is it just normal quiet operation as it does it? Does this vehicle have ABS?
It’s 1 of 2 things off the top of my head.
1. There is air trapped in the system and your getting a bubble trapped somewhere and the fluid is suddenly filling the air cavity (air can be compressed, liquid cannot) so your getting a kickback when this happens.
2. You have air trapped in the ABS HCU due to air in the system. Which in turn is going to lead to the same symptom as above. Im not 100% positive that air in the system will lead to an ABS operation event, as this is mostly controlled by wheel speed sensors.. however i have witnessed some crazy operations due to air in the hydraulic control unit with stuck open/closed dump/isolation valves.
My best advice to you at this point is to replace the calipers and do a full re-bleed with the proper sequence and flush (and new fluid.. dont use a previous open bottle) Also take a good look at your brake hoses for any breaks/tear.. even if there is no fluid associated with them.. anytime a brake hose has a tear or crack in it, it is considered compromised and should be replaced. Do that, and it should take care of your problem! 🙂
Little bit of info here: Ill see what else i can find for you.. Definitely seems like a common problem with the control arms.
http://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-second-generation/692201-lower-control-arm-rx330.html
“bushing 3” seems to possibly have a significant tear in it on the left side, but its hard to say. the rest look to be just stress cracks in an 11 year old rubber bushing.. however i have replaced a lot of control arms due to bad bushings that didnt look half as bad as this and were bad enough to cause a dangerous pull to one side under braking due to the rubber shifting.. scary experience.. totally intermittent too.
That being said, is your RX330 FWD or AWD? It looks like i can see an axle in ‘bushing 3’ but im not sure. Also, do you have air suspension on this vehicle? Both factors come into play when it comes to the replacement of the control arms.
Edit: I just looked up the replacement procedure for the control arms in Mitchell… It’s not good news, and im stumped at the moment as to why. It’s calling for a labor time of approximately 15 hours for an engine/transmission removal just to replace these control arms! Can anyone else confirm this? It does show a labor time without removing the engine as 3.1 hours for both sides. But im not sure if that’s possible.
I do recall in the past doing a lower control arm on a Toyota Avalon that blocked access to one of the control arm bolts due to the transmission pan being directly in the way.. however i got around this by accessing the top transmission mount, unbolting it, lifting the transmission up for enough to access the bolt and remove the arm.
Ill get back to you on this exactly.. first time i’ve seen a complete engine removal for a lower control arm.. :ohmy: :S
