- Thread starter
- #21
Thanks a lot, that’s what I suspected so thanks for confirming!
Project - Auction Non-Run/Drive 2000 LX 470
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- Thread starter
- #22
@2001LC Hey man I appreciate your input, and I appreciate your depth of knowledge... couldn't sleep last night and was up until 3AM reading through your wheel bearing write-up. An excellent education, an abysmal nights sleep. Quick questions for you!
Starting to inspect on this vehicle, and found a couple Easter eggs before even getting into it.
1- Conical washers used to center axle flange are seated way too deep on one side, which is interesting to say the least. It looks about equally set in the photos, so I'm clearly no photographer, but I suppose you'll have to trust a stranger on the internet.
2- Have you ever seen a lug stud with this particular affliction!? I knew the car was missing a lugnut, and saw that the lug stud was pretty well rusted, but I don't think I've ever run across a stud with what I can only describe as a "belt"!
Starting to inspect on this vehicle, and found a couple Easter eggs before even getting into it.
1- Conical washers used to center axle flange are seated way too deep on one side, which is interesting to say the least. It looks about equally set in the photos, so I'm clearly no photographer, but I suppose you'll have to trust a stranger on the internet.
2- Have you ever seen a lug stud with this particular affliction!? I knew the car was missing a lugnut, and saw that the lug stud was pretty well rusted, but I don't think I've ever run across a stud with what I can only describe as a "belt"!
Nice score!
Have you changed all the fluids before driving around? You don't know how old the fluids are and if they are at proper levels.....coolant, engine oil, t case, trans, diffs, steering, brakes.....all that good stuff.
Have you changed all the fluids before driving around? You don't know how old the fluids are and if they are at proper levels.....coolant, engine oil, t case, trans, diffs, steering, brakes.....all that good stuff.
- Thread starter
- #24
If I'd done it any earlier, I'd have been bleeding brakes while it was on the uHaul on the highway haha. Ya the fluids are always a fun way to kill time. And I'm not trying to blow up anyone's spot, but Advanced Auto Parts has Zerex Asian Vehicle Red 50/50 on clearance for $3.95 a gallon. Four cases in the garage right now lol. My 200 will never know that anything other than SLLC and OEM-everything exists, but I'm going to be running this one on whatever is available and meets budget.
Make sure you pick up a brass hammer from Harbor Freight. It makes popping those cone washers out a non event. You might need to replaced the hub flange if it is wallowed out letting that cone washer sink so far, but you might get lucky and just need new washers.
Dangit, you got my hopes up! My local Advance Auto is still selling the Zerex @ 19.99/gallon. That fluid has treated my '99 well.
- Thread starter
- #26
Idk if they'll ship clearance items, but if they do... Store 6985 (Magnolia, TX) is your contact. Don't snitch if they ask who sent you lol.
Not sure how much it would cost to ship something that heavy but I'd be your in-between if you're in need. Guess that might negate the discount at a certain point.
ramangain
Clarksonian disciple
That photo of the ruined stud is a perfect example of why monkeys should not be allowed to use air tools.
gregnash
Anal Retentive Analyst
This is what I was thinking... looks like some shop idiot decided to use a rattle gun to force the lug on when it skipped a thread part way down. This is why I thread them on by hand first (and ask DT to do the same) so they don't strip my lugs.
If you have a few extra dollars, I'd just plan on replacing the conical washers. I reused mine a few times and finally got fed up enough get new washers and nuts. Also, if the brass hammer that @87warrior suggested above isn't available, a brass drift will work too (it's what I've used). Having something made of brass is super helpful as you're beating those conical washers out.
- Thread starter
- #30
Ya looking at the lack of care and attention the front end of this guy received, I think I’m going to go ahead and do wheel bearings, brakes, LCA bushings, etc so I’m making a pretty long list of things I’d like to get ordered. Definitely adding those. And thanks for the heads up on the brass, I’m going to order some punches this evening. I assume that those lugs holding the axle flags on are replaceable too? I had one come all the way out, through the conical washer. Didn’t see that mentioned in any of the FSM pages lol.
To follow on this, the drain drips down onto the right sway bar bushing that connects to the frame (not the end link) and rusts that area. I'm guessing yours isn't rusted since you said as much, but running a tube down onto the skid plate (plastic one) will allow water to drain at a lower point.
Re: wheel bearings, cruiseroutfitters (active member on mud) sells a kit, plus other parts separately. Good place to order from.
- Thread starter
- #32
Things are coming along pretty well with the project. Almost done with gaskets but I didnt replace the bolts with new ones when I went through the valve covers.
Fittingly, I snapped off a bolt in the 9-slot (the bolt at the very front of the valve cover). Three questions for folks in the know:
1- Is it possible to drill that out, and if so, how? I've seen a couple folks with experience in this realm, but I think it's an 10mm M8 or M6 bolt, so its not a lot to work with.
2- I was under the impression that the torque specs for those bolts was 18 Nm. Am I mistaken?
2- Lastly (and speaking to the root of the problem here), can someone guide me to the right place in the FSM for this job? I spent a WHILE looking for the valve cover gasket job section, and had to settle for following the instructions for removing it just to get to things further into the motor. I had to try and dig for torque specs on those bolts when replacing the covers so I want to make sure I'm following the FSM.
Apologies, first time delving into this kind of stuff, and crossing fingers I haven't just jacked this up too badly.
Fittingly, I snapped off a bolt in the 9-slot (the bolt at the very front of the valve cover). Three questions for folks in the know:
1- Is it possible to drill that out, and if so, how? I've seen a couple folks with experience in this realm, but I think it's an 10mm M8 or M6 bolt, so its not a lot to work with.
2- I was under the impression that the torque specs for those bolts was 18 Nm. Am I mistaken?
2- Lastly (and speaking to the root of the problem here), can someone guide me to the right place in the FSM for this job? I spent a WHILE looking for the valve cover gasket job section, and had to settle for following the instructions for removing it just to get to things further into the motor. I had to try and dig for torque specs on those bolts when replacing the covers so I want to make sure I'm following the FSM.
Apologies, first time delving into this kind of stuff, and crossing fingers I haven't just jacked this up too badly.
ramangain
Clarksonian disciple
When you pair new conical washers with a new hub flange, all OEM, you get to experience how much easier it is to remove/replace the hub flange. The amount of wailing away with a brass hammer to pop the conical washers loose is cut down tremendously .
- Thread starter
- #34
Intake manifold, cylinder cover and valve cover gasket jobs are pretty much wrapped up. Intake and cylinder cover jobs were pretty straight forward. I undid everything I could around there, had to “jiggle” a little bit to get the lower intake manifold thing out of the way, just because of the fuel rails.
Valve cover jobs were a bit of a trick, the first time around. I moved too quickly toward the end of the evening and just wasn’t as diligent as I should have been (root cause analysis on the **** up was pretty easy there). Snapped the 9-slot bolt on front of the valve cover. Thankfully, it snapped just under the head, and with the valve cover in place meaning that the bolt was easy to get back out, thankfully.
Valve cover gaskets actually didn’t look terrible, still slightly pliable without cracking, but good to just have that taken care of for a while. Spark plug seals were SHOT though. All new now.
Previous spark plug seals were really baked in there, so I put the heater on them and they popped out much more easily.
Took a while to get everything out of the way, but all-in-all a pretty painless job! If I were to be in this position again to be doing things pre-emptively, I’d have a reman’d starter waiting and just do that while I had my lower manifold off and access was easy. Oh well, I’ll have more practice soon enough. Also, key was moving slowly, for me. I don’t have any experience with this type of work, so I would have fared better if I’d had torque specs on-hand before snugging stuff down, and just moving a little slower. Lastly, a quality socket-redirect-joint-thing would be helpful. Mine is a cheap one from Home Depot and didn’t play well with my (by my standards) expensive Craftsman sockets. Didn’t want to spin very easily, so I might invest in a decent one here soon. Drivers side lower valve cover bolts were a bit finicky to get to, from the topas a result (but manageable)
Spark plugs and coils tomorrow.
Valve cover jobs were a bit of a trick, the first time around. I moved too quickly toward the end of the evening and just wasn’t as diligent as I should have been (root cause analysis on the **** up was pretty easy there). Snapped the 9-slot bolt on front of the valve cover. Thankfully, it snapped just under the head, and with the valve cover in place meaning that the bolt was easy to get back out, thankfully.
Valve cover gaskets actually didn’t look terrible, still slightly pliable without cracking, but good to just have that taken care of for a while. Spark plug seals were SHOT though. All new now.
Previous spark plug seals were really baked in there, so I put the heater on them and they popped out much more easily.
Took a while to get everything out of the way, but all-in-all a pretty painless job! If I were to be in this position again to be doing things pre-emptively, I’d have a reman’d starter waiting and just do that while I had my lower manifold off and access was easy. Oh well, I’ll have more practice soon enough. Also, key was moving slowly, for me. I don’t have any experience with this type of work, so I would have fared better if I’d had torque specs on-hand before snugging stuff down, and just moving a little slower. Lastly, a quality socket-redirect-joint-thing would be helpful. Mine is a cheap one from Home Depot and didn’t play well with my (by my standards) expensive Craftsman sockets. Didn’t want to spin very easily, so I might invest in a decent one here soon. Drivers side lower valve cover bolts were a bit finicky to get to, from the topas a result (but manageable)
Spark plugs and coils tomorrow.
- Thread starter
- #35
A lot of gunk had built up around the edge of the valve covers, so after struggling to clean the area without having small debris fall into the cam area, I got the shop-vac out and used a screw driver to avoid contamination. Worked great and helped with peace of mind. Still a little in there that I couldn’t clean out, but oh well. If that’s all it takes to blow up a 4.7, I guess I’ll have to write someone a letter.
Good work. If it were me, i'd replace the starter.
- Thread starter
- #37
Ya I should have had one ready to throw in, but just hadn’t thought of it. My lack of prep-work for this job will be paid for at a later date. Might just get one next week and face the music.
- Thread starter
- #38
Between my assesment of the situation, and your pointing it out, starter motor ordered. Denso Reman.
- Thread starter
- #40
Valve covers buttoned up (to correct torque spec this time... no busted bolts), spark plugs and coils done. Went with the Denso IK20's instead of the SK20R11's for spark plugs (primarily because they were listed as OEM equivalent on RockAuto). They were pretty cheap relative to most others, and figured that if I had an issue with them in the next year, I'll pay the piper and swap them out for the SK's. For coils, I went with some cheap-O's off Amazon. $100 for a set of 8 because I wanted to swap everything out to troubleshoot a slightly rough idle. Again, for that little money, I'm planning on using those as a stop-gap until I've got through with refurbishing more important things on this LX. Planning to get Densos in a couple months, so that everything stays OEM long-term. Still looks pretty crispy, having shiny new coils!
@2001LC I WILL say that I can add another data point to your observation that the interior plugs seem to loosen a little. Upon pulling the plugs, the corner plugs were real tough to pull (was a little hesitant to crank on them that hard, as it was my first time doing this job) and the interior plugs (3,5,4,6) came out with very little hassle. It follows that the only plugs that looked to be in any kind of marginal condition were those interior plugs. Additionally, the only coils in marginal condition, were the interior coils. Boots on three of the inside four were cracking, burned, dirty. The corner coils appeared to be in better condition, with one having looked recently replaced with non-OEM coil.
The photo below is of spark plugs, lower left being drivers side front, and arranged corresponding to their placement in the block. The two in the third row back (I THINK they're the #5 and #6 plugs?) look straight up toasted.
Below are the coils. All three in the lower left group were pulled from four interior slots. All three on the lower right were all OEM, in good shape. The upper two were non-OEM and in good shape. One looking quite new with a much softer boot material. The other with a shorter boot than OEM, but in good condition.
I do have a question though... I'm going to hang onto the coils in usable condition as emergency replacements (I suppose a busted coil wouldn't necessarily leave me stranded apart from catastrophic failure, but seems prudent to hang onto a few spares). Can anyone advise 1- how best to test function of the coil itself (multimeter?) and 2- can I expect a reboot and new plug seal to in any way extend the life of these old coils, or is that negligible as far as functional lifespan of these guys goes?
Next up, starter motor on Wednesday night.
@2001LC I WILL say that I can add another data point to your observation that the interior plugs seem to loosen a little. Upon pulling the plugs, the corner plugs were real tough to pull (was a little hesitant to crank on them that hard, as it was my first time doing this job) and the interior plugs (3,5,4,6) came out with very little hassle. It follows that the only plugs that looked to be in any kind of marginal condition were those interior plugs. Additionally, the only coils in marginal condition, were the interior coils. Boots on three of the inside four were cracking, burned, dirty. The corner coils appeared to be in better condition, with one having looked recently replaced with non-OEM coil.
The photo below is of spark plugs, lower left being drivers side front, and arranged corresponding to their placement in the block. The two in the third row back (I THINK they're the #5 and #6 plugs?) look straight up toasted.
Below are the coils. All three in the lower left group were pulled from four interior slots. All three on the lower right were all OEM, in good shape. The upper two were non-OEM and in good shape. One looking quite new with a much softer boot material. The other with a shorter boot than OEM, but in good condition.
I do have a question though... I'm going to hang onto the coils in usable condition as emergency replacements (I suppose a busted coil wouldn't necessarily leave me stranded apart from catastrophic failure, but seems prudent to hang onto a few spares). Can anyone advise 1- how best to test function of the coil itself (multimeter?) and 2- can I expect a reboot and new plug seal to in any way extend the life of these old coils, or is that negligible as far as functional lifespan of these guys goes?
Next up, starter motor on Wednesday night.
