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Chevy S10/GMC S15-Sonoma: Problems & Solutions
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Comments
2015 Mazda 3 Skyactive 6spd. auto 2008 Mazda Tribute S 4spd auto.
Although the engine vacuum pulls the air from the hoses - when the engine is shut down the fumes from the engine can travel up the lines (if there is no check valve - or if it's stuck open) and the fumes can then rot the lines.
Also the hoses just "age" and the ends crack - causing leaks (and rough engine idle/performance). I had a car back in the late seventies? that had a recall to add a check valve in the brake vacuum line - the fumes were rotting the brake booster diaphram.
Congrats - sometimes we get lucky and it's an easy fix !!!
Canufixit
Canufixit
Any help with this problem would be greatly appreciated.
2.2 or 4.3 ???
4.3 liter.
thanks
Last summer I had to change the intake manifold gasket on my V6 because it was leaking coolant on top of the engine. In my case it was evident by the smell and the puddle of coolant on top of the engine. Next time your under your truck shine a flashlight up on top of the transmission bell housing where you can see the backside of the heads. Maybe some coolant is getting away from you there and evaporating when it hits the exhaust manifold and pipes. If so, it will leave a tail-tail sign. In cases where I've seen coolant seeping out externally around head gaskets it hasn't been to the extent where it would take a gallon a week. However, if that's the case and you want to buy some time, maybe you can try some stop-leak.
p.s. don't forget the jack stands.
joe4739@gmail.com i've filed a "complaint" with GM. :lemon: ?
Good luck.
ALso how common are ball joints to go bad on a zr2?
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Thanks!
kcram - Pickups Host
Chevy S10/GMC S15 and Sonoma Group
Anyway, now on to replacement. You have to undo the bolts bolting it to the door and you also have to take off the panel on the door. If it weren't the middle of the night I would go out and make sure I was looking at the right things, but the bolts are all torx bolts. T-50 or T-45. The panel snaps off, but you have to undo the seat belt anchors. Once you get those off if you are fairly mechanically inclined you should be able to pull the old handle off the latch mechanism and put the new handle in in it's place. It was pretty straight forward for me and I didn't have any real problems. I had never done it before nor did I know what I was really doing, but I just jumped in a started removing bolts that were around the door handle and looked to see what might need to come off to get to where I needed to be. (not the most recomended way, but as long as you remember what came off where and put it back the way it came off you should be fine )...
If you don't want to go through all that you can just leave the handle broken and pretend that you don't have a third door, since the new handle will probably break again right away. Luckily mine hasn't and it has been probably a year since I replaced it but I will not be surprised if it breaks again. I know people you have replaced the 3rd door handle 3-4 times.
My first thought is a bad connection at the tail light assembly it self, but then why does the tail light work? I am think that it might have something to do with the turn signal switch housed in the steering column? But there again, why would that affect the brake light? Is it possible that is could be located there? I hope not because changing that particular switch is a pain because I dont have the reverse torx bits to pull apart the steering column.
I am thinking that there is a short some where else because I do not have a hazard, brake or turn signal. All three are affected. I would think that if it were just a signal or hazard light problem, it would be located in the turn signal switch, or if were isolated to only the brake light, it would be a brake sensor switch, but since it is all 3 I am stuck... Please help if anyone has any ideas. Thx.
I had wired in a trailer connector a couple of years previously and so that is where I thought my problem might lay so I disconnected the harness and put all the factory wiring connectors back in and tried that but to no avail. Then I tried test lighting everything to figure out which wires ran where (I did have a Chilton in the house but didn't bother to consult it until after I had no luck with the test light). It was after consulting the ever reliable Chilton and crawling back under the truck to trace the wires back to the front of the truck (I was looking for any connectors that may have a wire that broke loose or came undone. I figured it was a long shot that a wire had frayed since they are all wound up together in electrical tape and encased inside plastic wire protectors, that I figured the only place for a wire to go bad was where it connected to other wires ).
Any way, I traced the bunch of wires up to the front of the truck and then I realized after seeing where the wire bunch was heading what I had forgotten to do... DOH!! I crawled out front under my truck, and pulled the cover off the fuse relay center and viola! There is is labels plain as day a fuse for RT TRN SGNL. A 10 amp fuse that when I pulled it out had blown. Lucky for me I had a spare 10 amp fuse and 10 seconds later I plugged it in and WOW. My turn signal, brake light and hazard light all worked!!! I felt (and still feel like a moron), but at least I didnt take it into the shop for them to charge me an hours worth of labor to change the fuse!
Anyway, the best way to tell what I am talking about is try to get both the Envoy and the S-10 side by side and you will immediatly tell that the bumper will not directly fit. You said that customizing is cool soooo.... if the ends of the bumper match up under the turn signals of your truck and all you have is a gap under the middle of the grill where the bumper dips down, than you might be able to mold a filler piece attatch it to the gap and fill it in. That of course depends on your customizing ability and how good you are. Your best bet might be to transfer the whole front end over (I have seen this done). You might need to change radiator mounts for the headlights not sure as I have never done it myself....
I have been doing some investigation of different types of oil and I have always believed that you are not supposed to put synthetic oil into a motor once it passed the 50K mark as it has been conditioned to run on regular motor oil. I have been faithful about the oil changes and the type of oil used. Would I see any benefit to switching to synthetic oil at 70k miles and would it extend my engine life, or would I be best to stay with my Valvoline 3k oil change regime? I have also used high milage Valvoline in the past with my 95 4.3 and I switched to that because I was losing about 1 quart every oil change. (Whether this was due to the front main leaking or whether it was burning the oil I don't know since once I my oil loss stopped after I switched. The front of the motor and the oil pan remained covered in gunk, as I was afraid that the gunk was creating a partial seal and if I cleaned it off I would create an oil leak. Since I was no longer losing oil and I wasn't dripping on my driveway, I didn't bother with it. The truck was well abused before I bought it so I don't know what kind of history it had.) Anyway, I switched oil types in that vehicle to see if it would help my oil loss problem and it did. But I have been told that if I do not have any problems and I don't, than it was not neccesary to switch. I might lose 1/4 of a quart between oil changes which is normal. The fact that I didn't lose any oil after switching to high milage on my 95 4.3 with 100k on it is amazing.
I don't want to do any undue damage to my vehicle, but would like to be able to run to at least 200k. If I can do that with regular motor oil I would much prefer that as it is less expensive, but if switching to high milage or even synthetic is okay and will help it make it there better, than I am all for the switch. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. THX!
Anyway, the driving I did was mountainous driving and I averaged 18.5 MPG on my first tank driving the up hills and I kept the truck at around 70 MPH. Sometimes 65 sometimes 85 depending on the road. Since I was climbing hills, I was usually in either my passing gear (I wish I could get the truck to stay in this gear while climbing hills), or I was in 3rd, so my RPM's were high. On my way home I filled up before I left and most of the way was downhill and flat ground. I kept to about 75-80 mph and averaged about 23.5 mpg. Those 2 figures come out to around 21 mpg and I will call it hwy since that is where I was when I did most of my driving.
Before my next trip I am going to change the fuel filter and see if that does any good as well. I would like to see if I can get the mileage as high as 23 all the time. I might have to slow down to 60-70 mph though to do that instead of the 75-80 mph I was driving. To be honest I was surprised my truck did as well as it did as I had never been able to attain anywhere close to that mileage before. But then most of driving up to that point had been in town and I have a pretty heavy foot. I accelerate quite hard and that could have a major impact on my mileage. I will keep testing and see what I can come up with...
If you have 185K on the motor that is impressive!! I would expect the mileage to go down some with so many miles on the engine, but at the same time, what is keeping it from attaining the mileage it used to get?? Sensors, and maybe even spark plugs and wires. Maybe switching to a slightly hotter burning plug and thicker wires and getting a heavy duty ignition coil might help the enging burn the fuel it recieves better?
But anyways, here is what I would do. Like I said before, take it for a second opinion, and then a third. I would take it to a mechanic in the town where your son lives to limit how much he has to drive the vehicle. Once he gets all opinions, and if they all agree (which they won't), I would then decide to either have one of those mechanics do the work, or if you feel comfortable after have the problem throuroughly diagnosed, have him drive it home and have the work performed closer to home where you can take it to your regular trusted mechanic.