Re: Engine cleaning.....
So when you pull up to a "do it yourself" car wash in California, the coin selector that allows you to choose, rinse, soap, wax etc, doesn't have the one that says "engine degreaser / tire cleaner"?????
Is that selection, like, what...... Taped over, or marked out with a black Sharpie or something??? Gum maybe.... Huh?
You guys in California are gettin ripped... We have a full selection of choices here in Ohio....
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I used an engine degreaser at a coin-op place once (years and years ago). The high-pressure spray got water in to the distributor and I barely got the car home. I opened up anything electronic, dried it out carefully with canned air and a hair-dryer and reassembled. I think the distributor was the second or third thing that I tried.
I'm much more careful now, relying on soapy water, very gentle agitation and nothing stronger than the 'mister' or 'rain' setting on my hose-end sprayer. The nasty gunk usually gets hit with a solvent and wiped up with paper towel first.
I've had several mechanics come out and thank me for keeping the engine bay so clean. It makes their job much easier (and makes it easier for me to check on their work and spot leaks).
I wonder what would have happened to me, had I lived in California and they spotted this:
![[IMG]](http://tapatalk.com/mu/4b200808-feb2-f3d1.jpg)
Yes... that's the trail of Royal Purple (about $40 worth) that blew past the torn o-ring (got nicked in the install) on my oil filter housing. I made it about 2 blocks away from my house when the oil pressure lamp started coming on in the turns. I've done over 10 oil changes and never had this happen (yes, I lubed the o-ring with fresh oil during the install). I've learned my lesson and now check for leaks before going on the test drive. I would like to think that I would have noticed the oil trail down the driveway, but it was 1am when I took the test drive, so was kinda dark!
One of my local MINI techs called it the 'Trail of Shame'. You can track the entire route that I drove around the neighborhood. I'm still amazed at how quickly that oil blew past the o-ring!
Speaking of leaks... Engine damper #3 just failed! Grrrrr! TSW Damper, here I come. Way... expect a call soon!
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Great write up, good job converting it for the web, too. I like the nav bar on the top right. I did all of these steps to my car in three weekends last year; I'm impressed Aaron did it so quickly and managed to document as he went. Also, any tips that bear my name probably came from Dan at Grassroots Garage - definitely the expert.
A point on heavy engine bay cleaning: do it on your lawn. Any particulates will be filtered and trapped by the soil, and oils and grease will mostly remain trapped in the subsoils. If you clean the engine and hose down the car in your driveway, it will run into the street, through the storm drain, and straight into your local stream, without any filtration. Also, do it on the side yard in case you chose a harsh engine bay cleaner and it kills the grass (oops). Or bring it to a shop that properly disposes of harmful waste.
Shops are usually required to hold and pump their waste or discharge it into the sanitary sewer system, but think about it in terms of concentration. A homeowner will only discharge oils and grease every so often, not enough to affect the natural ecosystem, but a shop does it much more frequently, hence the need for additional measures. -
Sorry to go a bit OT but just to spread the word...
That's an option for any article in our Library. All you do is subdivide it into more than one page and the Article Navigation box will be automatically generated to show all your page titles. It's a nice trick and helps to add structure as well as improve navigation, etc.
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All of the props for formatting go to Steve! He's always right on the ball when I submit an article and this one was much longer and more complicated than most. I also asked 'em to pull the files from my web host to theirs to make sure that my dinky little account doesn't get overwhelmed by the MA audience (plus, that PDF is huge with all of the imbedded images)!
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agranger,
I am trying to open up my SC to replace the oil or change it out if necessary. Could you help me with a couple items?
How does this connection on the front of the ac compressor come apart?
![[IMG]](http://oi48.tinypic.com/2s7ulw5.jpg)
Also, I'm having trouble getting the dipstick out. It hits the bottom of the SC.. any help on that item?
![[IMG]](http://oi48.tinypic.com/2n1e0es.jpg)
I'm hoping to replace the crank sensor gasket too. I'm new to this kind of work so any help would be great! -
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I'm glad somebody revived this thread - I think Aaron posted this DIY while I was off the forum for a while. It's awesome. I'm swapping my SC sometime soon, and had a bunch of the gaskets and such already, but this reminded me of a few other things I needed, as well as pushing me over the edge to replace hoses and the thermostat housing while I was at it. So, after ordering parts 3 or 4 times over the past several months, I think I'll finally have a full parts kit for the project.
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Thank you! I just left them both on. Should be easy to get the dipstick out now!
Well, I have the back off. There was definitely less than 2 ounces in there. When I spin the pulley I hear the blower scraping a bit inside there but all the other internal parts on the back look ok? Are the gears worn down at all? I haven't had the front off yet. It is way over tightened..
Thanks for any help here guys!
![[IMG]](http://oi50.tinypic.com/29o4fgm.jpg)
The connection between the water pump and the SC look fine but are these gears warn down?
![[IMG]](http://oi46.tinypic.com/30m4nyr.jpg)
![[IMG]](http://oi45.tinypic.com/23w8jdw.jpg)
Does "it" look like I need the rear gears replaced? Thanks everyone for your help! -
Those look lovely.
This is what "worn" looks like:
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Wow! That is what I was expecting.. Car was making the rattle sound so I stopped driving it. Not sure if this is where the rattle was coming from now. Local shop said it was coming from SC so not sure. I cleaned out the front and flushed it with a bottle. came out pretty brown both times.. trying to figure out where the noise is/was..i'll edit this post if I find something productive to add
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^ That's cool!
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I can't comment on the sprintex, but that charger is toast!
Mike emailed me the pics... I'm attaching them for him.
Note the color changing on the lobes of the supercharger blades. That's not good. Shows that the bearings are going / gone.
Eeek... one of the gears cut a U-shaped channel down the center of that large gear. Those are shot! That's what transferrs power from the pulley to the supercharger shaft or from the supercharger shaft out the other side to the water pump. Either way... not good!
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