The "Questions for Spectre" thread

If it's an automatic (which it seems to be), the transmission is basically made of glass and if it hasn't been recently rebuilt (in the last 40K) it will probably explode (expensively) soon.

Thanks for the insight! I've been helping my wife's friend search for something for her soon-to-be 16 year old son to drive. I don't think this will be it, although I'll probably give the seller a call out of courtesy and ask about the transmission. I'm a bit put off with the mother... the son mows grass to make spending money and really needs a small pickup. I found him a REALLY clean, one-owner early-2000s Nissan, but the mom doesn't want to take the time to teach him to drive a stick.

SL
 
The "Questions for Spectre" thread

The "Questions for Spectre" thread

Wasn't the premature engine failure on the 3.0 V6 from the EGR pulling bits of the catalytic converter into the intake?

The Mazda version of the Duratec 3.0 had several issues. One of them was that, yes, but unlike the Nissan QR25 motors (often in Altimas) that do the same thing, something usually precipitated the pre-cats' disintegration. Usually this would be something related to intermittent coil failure or fueling errors that would cause damage to the cats. Those same things could also cause the actual cats to become clogged and believe it or not even without disintegrating blow the motor. Finally, they had issues with sticking rings and gas in the oil, exacerbated by a bad PCV system design that clogs quickly causing the engine to burn oil. Gasoline doesn't work well as an engine lubricant for some reason... Especially when the car has quietly burned much of its oil.

Swapping in the Ford Fusion version of the Duratec is a very popular fix for these.
 
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Resurrecting this thread, if sorts. Occasionally the clutch pedal will stick to the floor of the Porsche. From what I've read, do I need master/slave cylinders replaced, or is there air in the lines, or both?

I had the brake and clutch fluid changed a few weeks ago in the Porsche, and the slave cylinder cleaned out.
 
From what I've read, do I need master/slave cylinders replaced, or is there air in the lines, or both?

All of the above, plus the possibility of the pressure plate beginning to fail. I don't know the 924/944 hydraulic clutch system well enough to be sure, but check for any return springs and their function; most systems rely on the clutch's own springs (pressure plate or equivalent) for the return force but there are systems that have internal and external return springs.
 
I have a similar question
It's a french car, I don't expect you to be familiar with, so it's mostly a generic technical question.

Manual transmission, hydraulic clutch.
Last year I did a major transmission overhaul (clutch kit + gearbox primary shaft bearings front and rear + seals + oil).
Since then I did about 8k km, ~3k km of which were 3 long drives (800km + 800km + 1200km) to holiday. The rest is just short town drives with very little start-stop traffic.
There was no issue, I like to short-shift, there was no slipping, everything was fine.

Last week I did a long drive through a couple of countries, on the motorway I observed that my clutch started slipping in 4th. It was weird because under normal acceleration everything was fine, but on heavy/aggressive acceleration (like overtaking someone on a 2 lane country road) it slips.
I made it to destination, the car cooled down and everything was fine again. I crawled a very very steep hill about 1km long in 1st gear with no problems every day for 5 days.
On the way back I made it to 150km/h on the motorway (which is a big deal because it's a 1.4l n/a engine and there were 4 passengers with me in the car) but it was still slipping on heavy acceleration.

I was thinking that a gearbox shaft bearing crapped itself and damaged the seal and gearbox oil was leaking on the clutch. Coming home I inspected and the gearbox is dry and the oil level seems to be ok. Next I thought that it may be the flywheel that overheated, but it works fine when accelerate hard and short-shift from 1st to 3rd.

Since it was working fine during my second to last long trip (in May) I started to think what changed since then.
In May I installed an engine protection plate, but I didn't cut out the technical holes in it, I thought it would help keep the engine bay cleaner/less dusty.
That + the fact that the slipping seems to develop only after some long (in time) drives led me to thing that it may be somehow heat related.

Here's my question:
I drive this car almost 3 years and I never replaced the brake fluid (so it's at least 4+ years old) Just theoretically can my problem be caused by the old brake fluid + excessive heat?
I was thinking that with the excessive heat the fluid might expand in volume thus having the clutch engaged just a little. Is this at least theoretically possible?


holyfuck I've written an essay. I'm sorry that it turned out to be this long
 
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So if I read that correctly, it only slips in 4th (I assume this is the top gear) and only when the car is warm? No other time?

If so, this definitely isn't going to be a problem with the gearbox itself but the clutch. Let me know if the above is correct.
 
Nope, 5th is top gear.
I noticed it slips in 4th because I tried to overtake someone and changed from 5th to 4th and it started slipping. So I put it back in 5th and drove calmly the rest of the trip. I think it slips in 3rd too.
It definitely doesn't slip in 1st and 2nd. It's related to load/speed somehow.
To get it to slip in 5th I would have to have a very high speed to get the high rpm. I could drop the clutch, but I don't like to abuse it like that.

If it's a gearbox fault, that would mean stripped gears, wouldn't it? I would think there would be a considerable noise..
And it works fine 'when it's cold' and on short trips.

Anyway, I cut some ventilation holes in the underside plate and tried to gravity bleed the clutch but there was no air escaping so I gave up.
I drove it today around 10 km in the city, abusing it every bit of clear road I had and there was no slipping. But then again, I never noticed it slipping in the city before too...
I will drive a coupe of hundreds of km in the week-end to my grand mother, I'll see how it behaves then. If it doesn't slip (as much) then I'll just replace the brake fluid and call it done.
If not, then it's gearbox off. :( And I really really don't want to do that..
 
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Do you ride the clutch at all?
 
Only when I have to drive the car immediately after I start it up (when it's in open loop) and only when shifting from 1st to 2 because 1st is very short and if I don't it it just bogs down.
 
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When a clutch starts losing clamping force or 'bite' it usually starts slipping in the higher gears as the load is increased. This can be caused by a number of reasons including the friction disc wearing or the pressure plate failing. However, with a hydraulic clutch system there's another possibility, albeit rare.

Brake fluid, the working fluid for the system, is hygroscopic - it attracts and absorbs water. Really old brake fluid can hold a surprising amount of water. When the clutch system heats up, the water in the fluid can flash into steam, which can increase the pressure in the system. In a brake system, this pressure usually isn't enough to cause more than a minor brake drag, though the gas pockets in the system can cause the pedal to go to the floor and the brakes to fail to varying degrees. In a hydraulic clutch system, the pressure can sometimes slightly disengage the clutch like slightly depressing the pedal.

The first thing that should be done is the old brake fluid should be drained out and the system thoroughly flushed, then refilled with fresh brake fluid. See if the problem returns. If that doesn't solve the problem and subsequent examination of the hydraulics shows the seals and such are fine, then you're going to need to pull the clutch out and examine it for problems. I think it's likely that the problem is just bad old brake fluid, though, so give replacing that a shot first.
 
That's what I thought too.
I replaced the fluid - nothing changed.

So, it was to be gearbox off.
And there it was - the input shaft seal leaks. Worse - it had sealant at the base. And I brought those fuckers all new parts, I have no clue why they did this shit.
The clutch was brand new, even the printing hasn't worn out yet.

I feel like I owe an apology, since I was kind of insisting that it must be the fluid or nothing.

Thanks for your answers
Don't trust mechanics :lol:
 
Still looking for a car for our friends' kids. Here are the 2 latest ones she likes:

I know less than nothing about the Rondezvous, other that it's a GM product and it's UGLY - the combination of which means that I've never bothered to learn anything about them. I really can't imagine this being a good choice...

http://huntington.craigslist.org/cto/5812195320.html

I really don't mind Taurus-es, but I can't remember when Ford managed to overcome their transmission problems. This one looks to be reasonably well kept.

http://huntington.craigslist.org/cto/5805615205.html

And yes, I reminded her once again to go hunting for Civics and Sentras.:p

As always, thanks in advance!
SL
 
Still looking for a car for our friends' kids. Here are the 2 latest ones she likes:

I know less than nothing about the Rondezvous, other that it's a GM product and it's UGLY - the combination of which means that I've never bothered to learn anything about them. I really can't imagine this being a good choice...

http://huntington.craigslist.org/cto/5812195320.html

I really don't mind Taurus-es, but I can't remember when Ford managed to overcome their transmission problems. This one looks to be reasonably well kept.

http://huntington.craigslist.org/cto/5805615205.html

And yes, I reminded her once again to go hunting for Civics and Sentras.:p

As always, thanks in advance!
SL

The Rendezvous (and Aztec) are terrible choices. Poor crash test scores thanks to their U Body minivan based platform and (apparently) flaky AWD systems. Plus look at them. Pass.

Taurii are very safe, as I can personally attest. Spectre likely can drop more knowledge on the autobox (mine was a SHO stick).
 
I don't know if it was just me, but I always thought the seats in that generation Taurus/Sable were horribly uncomfortable. I'd recommend a Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, or Lincoln Town Car, but those may be too big or use too much gas.
 
We're the small fwd boxes that much better in fuel economy?
 
Still looking for a car for our friends' kids. Here are the 2 latest ones she likes:

I know less than nothing about the Rondezvous, other that it's a GM product and it's UGLY - the combination of which means that I've never bothered to learn anything about them. I really can't imagine this being a good choice...

http://huntington.craigslist.org/cto/5812195320.html

In addition to what rick said, the Rendezvous and its Aztek sibling had craptacular transmissions in FWD form. They were based on a minivan, were heavier than the minivan but didn't have the drivelines modified to take the weight into account. Really, really, really bad idea.

I really don't mind Taurus-es, but I can't remember when Ford managed to overcome their transmission problems.

That would be "never" prior to the discontinuation in 2006. All the AXOD variants used in the Taurus were terrible.

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I don't know if it was just me, but I always thought the seats in that generation Taurus/Sable were horribly uncomfortable. I'd recommend a Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, or Lincoln Town Car, but those may be too big or use too much gas.

I think it was just you.

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I don't know if it was just me, but I always thought the seats in that generation Taurus/Sable were horribly uncomfortable. I'd recommend a Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, or Lincoln Town Car, but those may be too big or use too much gas.

I think it was just you.

- - - Updated - - -

We're the small fwd boxes that much better in fuel economy?

They can be.

 
One more that you'll probably trash, but that's OK...

Today, I found an extremely clean '99 Saturn SL1. 142k miles, original paint (clear-coat peeling slightly), almost new tires and battery, clean interior, etc. Owned by an older lady but looked after by her son. I spoke to her by phone today, but haven't test driven it. Her son had parked it at a local mall with a For Sale sign in it.

I'm not a big Saturn fan, but I've had several friends who owned them (mostly non-car people) and they generally liked the cars and didn't seem to have many problems with them. Jill was supposed to go look at it tonight and, if she likes it, I'll probably at least give it a test drive. While the question is for Spectre, comments from anyone with first-hand experience (Rick??) would also be welcome!

SL
 
The "Questions for Spectre" thread

The "Questions for Spectre" thread

One more that you'll probably trash, but that's OK...

Today, I found an extremely clean '99 Saturn SL1

Not only no but FUCK NO. You have only to look back at Rick's demented People's-Temple-esque posts praising his shit box Saturn to the skies and compare it to the reality of the problems he himself reported/admitted to see an example of the deranged cult-like following the mediocre-at-best Saturn offerings have. Saturn owners are the kind that will claim 4 head gasket failures in less than 100K is actually somehow a worthwhile feature and in no way detracts from the good qualities of the car.

The car actually had to literally try to kill him multiple times (no, I am not exaggerating, it really did try to kill him) before he finally realized the reality of what he was worshipping. We spent years trying to pound reality into him before he got to that point.

The cars were a generation behind when they were released, they were slow to update, they didn't hold up well on average, they were underpowered and buzzy even for the class - the things were basically crap. Not as crap as the J-body or the Aspire - but crap nonetheless.
 
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Sometimes life just makes decisions for you. Jill informed me this morning that her daughter doesn't like gold or tan cars. (The Saturn was champagne-colored.) Then the (very) nice older lady who was selling the Saturn called to tell me that it sold to the first person who test drove it.

Jill then sent me some other cars she'd found on Craigslist, none of which I'd touch with a 10-foot pole - so, I decided to search a bit myself. And, this turned up:
http://chillicothe.craigslist.org/cto/5813282687.html
Oddly enough, I'm going to be in Chillicothe either tomorrow or the next day, so I should be able to take a look at it and maybe test-drive it. We'll see.

And, even though I'll probably create a separate post on this later; my reason for being in Chillicothe (Ohio) is that my buddy Kevin and I are in the process of writing a tour rally in honor of Dick Paddock, one of the organizers of the Sunriser Pro Rally. Dick passed away last year and the Columbus club asked us to create a tour through some of the more memorable stage roads that comprised Sunriser. I finished the draft copy of the route this morning and I'm anxious to see if it fits within the time/distance constraints that CORC (Central Ohio Rally Club) is asking for. So, I'm planning to drive up there and take an easy cruise through the course. As it stands, the event is planned for November 19th.

SL
 
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