FD issues! yay fun :P
 

2 seperate issues in my FD. One I think is maybe PPF, the other has me confused.


Car has "weird" handling... it's fine and has buttloads of grip unless it's a rough/bumpy surface, and then it gets all weird. Something "clunks" I can't tell if it's in the rear or the front. I've noticed when holding the shifter that when the clunk happens the shifter moves to the left about 1/4". I thought a motor mount or something but the mounts appear fine. It seems to be really tail happy, I don't know if this is standard for these or not. Car has about 80k miles. Allowing the wheels to spin while turning the steering wheel at all produces strange behavior as well.



Second...
It's eating coolant. Doesn't appear to be leaking it, and it isn't burning it, but every morning it'll be down 3-4 oz. Somtimes the overflow will be totally full and the engine down 12oz, (like it expanded and then failed to suck it back in when it cooled off) - and other times the overflow is nearly dry yet the engine is still down some.

The heater doesn't work worth a crap, it's basically useless. I don't know if that's related or not. Car literally takes an hour to warm up inside if it's 30F or warmer, and never will if it's colder than that. I don't really care as it's never driven in the winter, I just brought it out a bit early this year since we've been having good weather for nearly a month and the salt's all gone.

I think a safe bet for the coolant issue would be test it with a coolant presurizer system. ( i think partsource lends them out for free ) .

Have you checked your control arms?

Number one sounds like a cracked PPF.

Number two, champagne bubble test. Watch the car warm up with the rad filler cap off, look for tiny bubbles (exhaust gases in your coolant).

I'd also might check the radiator cap for rips or tears in the seal. It might be letting in air and the coolant flows into the AST.

exhaust is not getting into the coolant.

Rad cap is new.


I'll check the PPF tomorrow up on the lift. Do they crack anywhere in particular?

You have a coolant leak somewhere. The O-F system appears to be working properly (since it winds up empty sometimes). Do a pressure test to determine where the cooling system is leaking. If you can't find a leak, then, as Rich said, check for O-ring failure symptoms.

Low coolant will often result in poor coolant circulation => poor heat.

Dave

Another comment - sometimes the o-rings can leak coolant into the combustion chambers w/o combustion gasses getting into the coolant. It depends on the exact nature of the o-ring failure.

Dave

My PPF has cracked in the middle as well as at the rear where it attaches to the diff. sometimes you can't really see the cracks in the middle until you take the ppf off the car. Based on your symptoms, I'm pretty sure your PPF is screwed. Wheel hop at the strip cracked three PPFs on me.

Re: your coolant problems, Dave is right. Hopefully it's not the motor, may just be a pinhole leak. If any of your coolant hoses are original, replace them, and check all of your hoses for leaks.

number 3 is probably a clogged heater core.

I had a wierd coolant leak like where it wouldn't drip any coolant but some would mysteriously disappear every time I drove the car.

Wound up being a hose clamp that didn't have enough torque anymore and would leak small amounts of coolant when the car was running and the coolant system was under pressure. Purchased new hoses and OEM hose clamps from Ray at Malloy and replaced all the hoses I could reach. I think its important to use the OEM hoses and hose clamps *when possible* b/c they are built to have the correct clamping torque and won't dig into the hose and cause the hose to fail like some worm type hose clamps do. That happened to me also.

wow guys, thanks for all the replies.

I looked at the PPF while I was under the car today and did not see any cracks.

Anything unusual involved in removing it? I don't have to take out the trans or the diff, do i?

yes, unbolt it from the tail of the transmission and the diff, support the diff with a jack or otherwise, believe exhaust has to come off too

Catback can stay on IIRC.

They are four pretty large nuts, like 22 or 24mm. You'll need an extension as well to get at the tranny ones. Don't forget about the bolt that threads in from the rear driver's side of the PPF :).

my biggest socket is 21mm :(

looks like I'll go make some purchases! are they 22 or 24? I kinda need a 24 anyways so I guess I'll just buy that first. (24mm = dsm transmission drain plug hole, and they blow up transmissions with surprising regularity it seems :P)

my PPF is mint. No cracks, breakage, etc anywhere.

Bolts that hold it on are 24mm. It comes out pretty easy. Exhaust stays on.


Any other ideas as to what could be wrong? Motor mounts maybe?

Odd. I would have put money on the PPF being cracked. It's a long shot, but check your rear swaybar. That won't explain the drivetrain movement obviously, but it would explain the crazy handling over bumpy/uneven terrain.

Check your diff mounts - hopefull the PPF is off since you can access them pretty easily with the diff hanging down.

If the diff mounts are good, I would remove my rear shock assemblies and wheels and monkey around with the suspension to see if I could find the problem.

Dave

well

I jacked up the motor and pulled the motor mounts.

Both had "seperated" and were no good. Made some new ones and IT'S ALL GOOD! No more vibration, no more clunking, no more strange movement. YAY. Car is SO much nicer to drive now