First car, lx450! (1 Viewer)

[tug123]

Popped out the tie rod, popped it back in and now clicking is gone. Not sure if maybe the grease just needed to go through a few heat cycles or what but I'm not complaining. Finally did an oil change and sent that off to blackstone, swapped diff fluid (i'll do one more time probably), and fixed the O2 sensors. Driving better than it ever has been.

There are some small things left (whining on acceleration, little brake rattle) but I think at this point I'm just gonna enjoy that my car is working and not worry about the small stuff. I've kind of decided that I'll keep it as stock as possible for the foreseeable future - seems like everyone is in agreement that stock is the upper limit for drive quality. I'll get new tires before the winter but this way I have some time to decide if I really want 285s.

It's been almost exactly a year since I got the car, really happy with how it's all turned out. Had never opened an engine bay, let alone turn a wrench, but thanks to pretty much exclusively mud I've become extremely comfortable wrenching. Now I'll probably have to buy a new one so I have something to do with my spare time.

 

[banjo1981]

Popped out the tie rod, popped it back in and now clicking is gone. Not sure if maybe the grease just needed to go through a few heat cycles or what but I'm not complaining. Finally did an oil change and sent that off to blackstone, swapped diff fluid (i'll do one more time probably), and fixed the O2 sensors. Driving better than it ever has been.

There are some small things left (whining on acceleration, little brake rattle) but I think at this point I'm just gonna enjoy that my car is working and not worry about the small stuff. I've kind of decided that I'll keep it as stock as possible for the foreseeable future - seems like everyone is in agreement that stock is the upper limit for drive quality. I'll get new tires before the winter but this way I have some time to decide if I really want 285s.

It's been almost exactly a year since I got the car, really happy with how it's all turned out. Had never opened an engine bay, let alone turn a wrench, but thanks to pretty much exclusively mud I've become extremely comfortable wrenching. Now I'll probably have to buy a new one so I have something to do with my spare time.

And the addiction begins . It’s definitely rewarding to work on and fix stuff on these old tanks.

 

[tug123]

And the addiction begins . It’s definitely rewarding to work on and fix stuff on these old tanks.

It's taking every ounce of self control I have not to pull the engine and rebuild it right now

 

[tug123]

As soon as I think it's all good, CEL comes in - P0116. I just cleared the code, will wait to see if it comes back. I replaced the tstat last summer so if it persists I'm guessing temp sensor. I did notice some squealing coming from my engine bay though this morning when I saw the CEL. I replaced the belts last summer too and they feel tight enough, maybe a tiny bit too loose. Could this be coming from the pulley as well, or is this usually always the belts themselves?

*Edit: found this, seems pretty similar, I'll pull the belts off and see if the bearings feel off. If not might as well just try swapping the belts to see if it gets resolved.

 

[tug123]

It all kind of resolved itself, code never came back and noises disappeared.

Quick question on oil though - I was running 5w-30, swapped to 10w-30 and noticed lower oil pressure, also smells at least like it's burning more oil. I don't want to run Xw-40 since it does get very cold here, I guess I could swap for winter but I like to keep things simpler.

At idle on 5w-30 it would sit dead center in the gauge, basically always stay there unless I'm in 2nd going downhill, it'd go right below the second highest mark (mark after H). Now on 10w-30 it always sits just above the L mark on idle, if I'm up to speed it settles out but definitely below what it used to be. I know these gauges aren't exactly high accuracy, but seeing the relative change definitely makes me wonder. Maybe just swap back to 5w-30 and not worry about it?

 

[ppc]

Besides ambient temp and oil viscosity you haven indicated what gauge readings are observing at cold startup and normal running temp.
What oil filter are using?

 

[BucketEighty]

I wouldn’t stress about the oil pressure. It probably is different and it doesn’t matter as long as there is pressure. It could be lower from the fresh oil, or from a fresh filter. I also wouldn’t stress too much about which oil you run. Just change it regularly. I’ve been running Shell Rotella T6 5W40 and it seems good. My oil pressure is at the lower of the two middle marks when the engine is warm and idling, and at the higher of the two middle marks when I’m cruising down the highway.

-Bucket

 

[tug123]

Besides ambient temp and oil viscosity you haven indicated what gauge readings are observing at cold startup and normal running temp.
What oil filter are using?

Stock oil filter, has about 2.5k miles on it. Been watching it the past couple of days, when it's cold idling it sits pretty centered, as it warms up it goes to the lower marks. Probably just gonna let it be at this point.

 

[ZackR]

Stock oil filter, has about 2.5k miles on it. Been watching it the past couple of days, when it's cold idling it sits pretty centered, as it warms up it goes to the lower marks. Probably just gonna let it be at this point.

Sounds normal to me. I wouldn't worry about it.

If you are dying to know if you are in spec you'll need to attach a real oil pressure gauge and measure the oil pressure per the FSM. It sounds crazy but idle spec is only 4.3psi+ .

 

[tug123]

Sounds normal to me. I wouldn't worry about it.

If you are dying to know if you are in spec you'll need to attach a real oil pressure gauge and measure the oil pressure per the FSM. It sounds crazy but idle spec is only 4.3psi+ .

View attachment 3922295

Dang I coulda sworn I saw someone say it was like 7PSI, that is a lot lower than I expected. I think I'll just let it be and swap to 5w-30 before the winter.