2006 GX470 Sport - from Chicago (25 Viewers)

[CarGuyCarl]

Hey nice S2000! What year is yours? Looks like an AP1 with an AP2 bumper? Do any tracking? You're not far off from me.

Yes, fixed the KDSS a while ago. Still working great. Issue I have now is a noise coming from the front ram. But it's been this way for a long time.

 

[10sec]

Hey nice S2000! What year is yours? Looks like an AP1 with an AP2 bumper? Do any tracking? You're not far off from me.

Yes, fixed the KDSS a while ago. Still working great. Issue I have now is a noise coming from the front ram. But it's been this way for a long time.

It's a 2000, it now has AP2 headlights and taillights. It is setup as a track car, has 255's squared, Fortune auto 510's, and some other goodies but I daily it in the non-salted months. I refuse to put a roll bar in it and a lot of tracks are requiring it now so it'll probably get retired. I've been to all of the "local" tracks like Autobahn, Gingerman, Road America and Blackhawk. The best mod I've done to it hands down is the 477FD, it's so much fun to drive. Just accelerates so much faster, it's an easy trade off for 1000 more RPM on the highway.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Not a whole lot going on this year, been busy with work and getting married so the GX hasn't seen any cool trips or any off road activities. Noticed my rear sway bar links kept destroying the bushings, which is due to the fact that the super rusty sway bar has let go of the clamps that hold them in place. Got some Whiteline clamps for it and we will see how things hold up over time.

Next year, the GX will hopefully see a lot of maintenance as another car joins the family and the GX will stop seeing daily and work use. It still has original tie rods, UBJs, UCA bushings, LCA bushings, and a lot of the KDSS rubber is original. Sitting at around 135k miles these days. Might also try and refresh some of the rear arms and bushings. Its rust is also progressing, and I really need to remove the rear bumper and get a feel of what is going on back there. Definitely could use some frame patching, as I want to have this thing for a long time to come and still tow my S2000 with it to track events. It could also use a new catback exhaust as it was hit in an accident a few years back causing the muffler to crack and now it kinda sounds weird as a result. Trying to figure out a 460 exhaust and bolt up. Want to keep things stock and quiet.

If all goes well, next year it should see all of the suspension components above replaced and maybe we can work in a new dash cover as well since the cracks continue to progress.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

These Whiteline clamps are holding well. GX just ingested 3 whole cans of fluid film black. Rear most part of the frame and body mount areas starting to look like baklava... Lol

I might order some Moog LCAs for a 460... and just swap my good 555 ball joints on and keep whatever comes on them as spares. But that's a next year problem.

Still snooping around for a factory 470 or 460 exhaust.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Not many things to update here as of yet. Crossed over 135k miles. The Wildpeaks look to be about halfway done now at about 30k miles on them so far. Wearing nice and evenly and still pretty quiet overall. They did start to feel a little less capable in the snow this year though, what little we had so far. Have been debating on which tires to pick next. Perhaps, something a little less aggressive like the Yoko GO15As

Ordered inner and outer tie rods just to have in the spare parts bin. Still kinda wafting around what to do with the LCAs. Will probably wait until after tax season and experiment with the 460 arms.

Coolant appears to be very slowly going down with no visible leaks. Honestly, it's happening so slowly I can't even tell if it really is going down. Will need to inspect a little further sometime soon. Planning a trip to southern IL in early April for the Solar Eclipse. Not much hardcore wheeling down there but should still get a chance to get the truck a little dirty. Made the trek in 2017 and it was absolutely jaw dropping to witness the total eclipse. If you can manage to see it, I would highly recommend it.

Used/exercised the center diff lock. After 2 years of no use, still working just fine. Phew!

Gave it what could be the best wash its had in years the other day and a really good cleaning inside and out. Wrists hurt from the power washer, especially for the undercarriage and frame lol
Found some really old stuff under the front seats lol Still looking around for an exhaust as this one is pretty rough. Somehow it is very quiet under normal driving, but sounds like a bed sheet tearing through a flute at WOT.

Need to figure out a spare situation as this thing still has its original one. I guess it's a mobile fire pit for camping.... LOL!

Really want to get a dash for it before they discontinue them. So might have to commit to that purchase this year. Overall, still love this thing. It's been so trouble free. Really loving the Dobs suspension. It's almost like its broken in further and feels even more supple than it used to but it could just be all in my mind.

 

[MeanMachine]

Nice rig! I'm a few hours from Chicago in Indiana, have you ever been to Badlands off-road park?

 

[VSPro9]

Nice rig! I'm a few hours from Chicago in Indiana, have you ever been to Badlands off-road park?

If you ever get into Michigan holla at me!

 

[CarGuyCarl]

I have not! I've been meaning to go to Badlands for a while but it's not been working out with my schedule. Lol

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Coolant seems to be disappearing a little bit faster than it used to. No visible exterior leaks. Oil looks fine. Garage floor is very dirty so it's hard to see whether it is dripping.

Due for an oil change. So I'll take all of the plastic shields off and check out if there is possibly a leak inside as well. Before I knew any better, I used RockAuto parts for my heater and EVAP cores and expansion valve (noisy AF).

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Well folks, there are no obvious signs of coolant leaving anywhere. Radiator is clean. All hoses are clean. I'm a little unsure of how to check on the water pump as it is all covered up by the timing covers. Also, if it were the heater core leaking would that leave traces of coolant in the AC drain? It's clean on mine, and there is no odor of coolant inside the vehicle.

There are plenty of little oil residues and things below the upper intake manifold. Hard to tell what's going on, either valve cover gaskets or something else. But definitely not coolant.

Made note of the level and the date so I can keep track of things and have hard numbers rather than "Oh s*** that's going down and maybe quickly?!"

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Went down to southern IL to check out my second total eclipse. Brought the GX this time and used it to do some mild off roading and slept in it. What a lovely area down there, hard to believe it is IL. It was a lovely time, and as always it returned better fuel economy than I was expecting. High teens are easily achievable at reasonable speeds with little wind. Did just over 1000 miles averaging about 17.8 MPG hand calculated. My buddy brought his Macan on Falken Wildpeaks. Cool look for sure, but hopeless in terms of rear down travel on the suspension. Super easy to get that thing confused and stuck once a wheel or two lifts which happens super easy.
The exhaust leak on the GX has been a nuisance long enough, so I'll be ordering a muffler for it and will likely just go new OEM. Tires are also getting noisier at speed now they have nearly 40k miles on them. Probably got one more winter in them before I try something new.
As with every trip in this thing, I come back loving it even more and with more plans for mods and maintenance.
KDSS cylinder up front still clunking but otherwise the system seems to be working great.

 

[Rednexus]

You should have swung around 90 minutes west of there and I could have hooked you up with my old OEM muffler for free .

That part of southern IL is pretty awesome. Looks like bluffs along Snake Road near Grand Tower/Anna? I did a gravel bike race through there back pre-COVID - feels quite a lot like the Ozarks just across the river in MO!

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Yes, that is roughly where we were! It's probably dumb to ask if you'd wanna ship that thing... Lol Of course I'd pay for it.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Took a trip to the UP in mid June, which was a GREAT time. Went with my buddy with his Macan. Camped near High Rock Bay 2 nights. Bugs were bad but survivable with good coverage clothing, permethrin, picaridin, and of course the patented cheap canopy with a net crudely attached. If you have dogs, keep an eye on them, as they can't protect themselves. Munched on quesadillas, Korean BBQ, Polish sausage. Checked out Delaware mine, did some hikes, can't wait to go back to be honest. Was gonna go to Shawnee but decided to take a risk on bugs in favor of not dealing with 90+ F day time temps. It paid off.

As for the truck, it seems like age, mileage, and lots of idle time are catching up to it. We are floating somewhere around 145k miles. That said, the last 45k miles were added in the last 3 years. The vehicle does a lot of idling, slow driving, package deliveries, awful Chicago traffic. Guessing this means it's got higher "mileage" in terms of engine hours than it would suggest on the odo.

Anyways, early May got codes P2445 and P0175. Installed the Gen 1 Hewitt Kit. Had a month+ and 2K miles+ of trouble free motoring. About 2 weeks ago, got codes P0418 and P0606. The battery was also weak as shown by starting issues on first try and slow cranking. Replaced battery, had about another week of code free driving when I got P0418, and P0172 and P0175. I'm thinking I've got two separate issues here brewing potentially. It seems P0606 can be caused by O2 sensor errors and/or weak battery. Battery is new and the code has not come back. Just P0418 and rich codes. Proxy pack on order to deal with the P0418. As for my diag so far on the rich codes. New Hitachi MAF. TB looks clean, was cleaned maybe a year or so ago. Ran fuel cleaner through it. So far nothing, codes have come back. I've ordered OEM O2 sensors, so now it's a game of what ships first. I think I'll be installing Proxy Pack first, although gut feeling is those issues are unrelated.

This exhaust was sadly a victim of getting rear ended a while back, and I'm not sure if the shock from the impact have caused issues, but that was 4 years ago at this point. Got a new eBay mid muffler on. Will need to remove the header heat shields to check on cracks, although mine does not sound all that bad compared to what I've seen/heard on YouTube. Guessing removing those heat shields is gonna end in them never going back on, but that's fine. Sounds like I should replace the original upstream O2s anyways as a maintenance item, so that'll be happening. I feel like I'll nail the issue here soon, but posting here for input and posterity.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

 

[CarGuyCarl]

 

[Rednexus]

Rich codes/problems could be caused by the MAF pigtail/wiring. I've had to replace mine before due to MAF issues.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Anything you noticed via TechStream that was a give away? Erratic data, etc? Mine is now connected through the Hewitt Module, not directly into the MAF.

 

[Rednexus]

Anything you noticed via TechStream that was a give away? Erratic data, etc? Mine is now connected through the Hewitt Module, not directly into the MAF.

Yeah, the MAF readings would oscillate all over the place. At idle they would dip super low, then super high. The same thing happened in the ST and LT fuel trims. It would alternate between adding a ton of fuel and pulling a ton of fuel. This would occasionally stop for a while if I pulled the MAF connector off and then put it back on, but then it would start again.

The connector is only around $16, so it's probably worth a try. I used normal heat shrink, butt splice connectors after cutting off the old connector.

EDIT: You could also have a leaky fuel injector or two. The Bank 1 and Bank 2 fuel trims would help you identify that. If you are still running the OEM injectors, it's honestly not a bad idea to replace them or have the reconditioned. I upgraded to a set of 12 hole Denso injectors from Dirty Deeds (I personally think the 12-hole mod is overrated). Places like InjectorRX will rebuild and flow test your stock ones fairly inexpensively, if you can have the rig off the road for awhile. I'm guessing there are local shop(s) in Chicago that offer the same service.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Thanks for all your input! If not tonight, I'll have the techstream hooked up in the next few days. Might go ahead and rebuild the connector. Did you have any visible issues?

Injectors are original. Having the truck off the road is a major pain as it is relied upon daily for work. If I do anything about the injectors, then I'll have to order a new set.