So, I'm coming up on ~85k miles, and about half of them haven't been the kindest of miles on the car (too much autox). My car, so far, has been extremely reliable, but that seems to be catching up with me. Since I only know enough to be dangerous, I figured I would ask MA for feedback on my diagnosis and repair plans for several issues the car seems to be having: Problem 1: Oil Leak. Part A - Engine Oil: Noticed this a few weeks ago. It's actually dripping and seems to be coming from the trans side of the engine since that half of the oil pan is oily along with the bottom of the trans case. My guess: rear main seal. Parts to order and replace: rear main seal and oil pan gasket, just for good measure. Easy enough. Part B - Transmission Fluid: Upon close inspection for the above issue a friend also suggested that I could be getting some transmission oil leaking at the axle on the driver side. Since the inner boot shows signs that it may be starting to tear, I figure I will replace it anyway before it dies. If I order one (axle or boot repair kit?) does anyone know if this will come with new seals for the transmission side? I'm struggling with the part #s on what exactly I need on this count. Also regarding the transmission: Cusco trans fluid is hard to find and expensive. When I asked Jan if he could find me some, he suggested to me I could find "Joe Gibbs racing oil for manual transmissions" instead. Looking in to it, this seems to be synthetic oil, which I thought was not supposed to be used on clutch-pack diffs? Then again, I don't recall how I came upon that bit of information, so if anyone can shed some light, by all means! Problem 2: Cold Start Stalling. This has been getting progressively worse and recently late at night, the car took 3 tries and some gas to get going. Turning the key to the 2nd click for a bit before starting (starts the fuel pump?) seems to fix this most of the time. The idle has also gotten rougher and seems to fluctuate quite a bit between 800 and 1800 rpms, meanwhile stumbling and almost stalling when I go to back out or pull forward. I started reading and saw it suggested on NAM that replacing the injectors and/or the fuel pressure regulator may help this. I am still on stock injectors despite my other mods, so I should probably upgrade regardless. Thoughts? Problem 3 (maybe): Supercharger/Water Pump/Belt/Gremlins? I'm getting a weird whining-ish sound at idle lately, especially loud near the pulleys and the belt. Tensioner looks good, belt is not terribly old but was planning to replace it soon anyway. Never had any issues with the crank pulley as some have, so it's still original. It doesn't seem to me to be making all the rattling noises of destroyed water pump gears, but I'll listen more carefully when I get home this afternoon. Any tips for diagnosing this one? The car is still pulling strong, feels great, and I can hear the SC whine when I get in to the higher revs, all of which makes me think it can't be anything too devastating (in fact, I've been looking up youtube videos for what normal idling sounds like just to see if it's in my imagination! Oddly enough, it doesn't seem many people video their cars at idle when they are working correctly for some reason ut. At the same time I'm feeling quite paranoid and not sure whether or not I should be brave and go to autox about 100 miles from home this weekend like I'd been planning to. rrr: Insight is most welcome!
Is this a stick or auto trans car? Rear main seal usually means pulling the transmission and clutch assy. At 85K I'd plan on replacing the clutch if you pull the tranny. (stick shiift only, of course) Idle problems could be temp sensor related, is it throwing any codes? Maybe stop by an Autozone or such and have them check if there are any codes stored. Transmission oil seals are different than boot and don't come with. If you have the axle out to fix a boot, that's the time to replace the stub axle seals too - even easier if the tranny's out. If you have the front end off to gain access to remove the tranny, that's the time to check and see if the supercharger still has oil in it - both ends. You can buy S/C oil from a GM dealer. Same stuff used in Cobalt SS and such....
If you have an aftermarket differential, the leak is more likely from the transmission input shaft seal than the rear main. Collect the drip and smell, gear oil has a distinct odor, or a florescent dye can be introduced in the gearbox and checked with a black light. If you have a boot tear (radial grease marks flung on the case, control arm, and subframe), replace the boot and lube; $500 less costly than an axle set, which does not come with output seals. Without lube in the tripod or CV joint, wear occurs rapidly. The list is long for idle inconsistencies, for an erratic hunting idle suspect the supercharger intake duct profile gasket, for hesitant idle change the spark plug wires (if older than 50k-miles change anyway), corrosion on the coil pack terminals, worn spark plugs (incorrect gap also), dirty injectors, poor seal on the IC bellows, crack in the MAP sensor tube, have an associate start the car while observing the BPV to be sure it is opening and not fluctuating, also press its actuating arm and test for free movement, if after addressing those parts the poor idle continues, come back and ask the question again and we’ll go from there; I haven’t even mentioned the elephant in the room yet. To test the crankshaft vibration damper, remove tension from the belt, and grasp the pulley, if it wiggles or moves the slightest, the pulley is failing. Grasp the idler pulley and feel for wiggle and spin listening for grating or roughness, if loose, try tightening to 33 lb-ft and check again, if noisy, replace. Perform the same procedure to the tensioner pulley. If no problem there, start the car without the belt on and listen, if the noise is no longer present, replace the belt, if the noise remains after changing the belt, pull the supercharger and have a look while changing the oil in both reservoirs.
Manual transmission. Plugs aren't very old, but will change them also for good measure. I hadn't thought to change the wires. CV boot isn't torn yet, from all I can tell (no grease anywhere), just looking like it's starting to crack. This isn't a huge priority, more that I don't want to be losing trans fluid (which I am still not sure what kind of fluid to switch to). I did smell the oil when I first found it was leaking, and it did not smell like transmission oil to me, seemed like engine oil both in color and smell. I replaced the input shaft seal when I did the LSD. Because I didn't have a clutch alignment tool, the clutch did not come out and the rear main was not touched. Clutch only has 35-40k miles on it. It only takes a few hours to take the trans out, so I'm not worried about replacing it at this time. I will replace/add oil to the supercharger. It was on my list of christmas break maintenance to do, but my house getting broken in to took over my free time. It's back on the list to do next weekend when I have 3 days to break stuff and can have all the appropriate tools and parts. Thanks for the advice and I will definitely check the pulleys when I go to replace the belt. Seems logical to do all this at the same time as the oil pan gasket. I'm not sure I dare ask about the elephant.. I'm relatively new to working on cars in general, so don't be too shocked if I've overlooked something important.
For me the whine was a power steering fan about to fail. You can check with the car on jack stands or ramps at idle. With my car, you could hear it as soon as the fan kicked on. See: http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/cooper-s/1921-engine-sounds.html
Do you have an Oil Catch Can? If you do you should check if any of the hose is pinched at all. I was having a super bad oil leak because a hose was pinched...
No OCC. PS pump was replaced ~4 months ago. Fan was working fine then, but I'll throw the car back on jacks this weekend and re-check it.