Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

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Originally Posted by snowaddict91

Picture this- you're cruising along at 40 mph on a snow covered dirt road to the local Nordic TH when suddenly your truck warns you that it's overheating. Because you drive a Ford, you assume its a bad sensor, but before you finish that thought you smell coolant. Opened the hood and found that the upper radiator hose's plastic connector end had exploded.

Pretty weird failure that resulted in a tow home, didn't want to risk engine damage since I was probably 20 plus miles out. Thankfully the tow truck driver was in a 4x4 rollback and didn't give a shit where I was. Also thankful for the 1 bar of service I had.

New rad hose and coolant, time to cross my fingers and hope that it wasn't a symptom of a bigger cooling system problem. I replaced the cap as well to rule that out. Test drive went well.

Seeing how brittle the connector was that broke makes me think I'll swap the rest of the hoses and plastic bits after winter's over. Might just do the water pump while I'm in there.

Pretty scenic spot to break down. Lesson learned, don't go Nordic Skiing.



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I had that same thing happen to a QX80. I did a shade tree repair with JB weld. Had the service tech take a quick look while I was there for something else and he said, " Not sure what would do that. I know sometimes they get hit when changing the battery"
This guy had no idea, but the dealership had changed the battery about a week prior. Our service agent kinda went pale. Truck got flooded by Helene before I could make them fix it.
Did you recently change the battery?

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Originally Posted by warthog

Did you recently change the battery?

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I love a good story/guess like this. It was actually the other end of the hose that blew, buried down by the thermostat, under the throttle body. I don't think anything could have hit it from above or below.

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Why on earth do we have four by four hose clamps? The Autozone cashier didn't even ask me if it was two wheel drive or four wheel drive.

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Originally Posted by snowaddict91

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Why on earth do we have four by four hose clamps? The Autozone cashier didn't even ask me if it was two wheel drive or four wheel drive.

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Usually they'd want to know the drivetrain and engine configuration so they could tell you which windshield wiper fits.

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Originally Posted by warthog

I had that same thing happen to a QX80. I did a shade tree repair with JB weld. Had the service tech take a quick look while I was there for something else and he said, " Not sure what would do that. I know sometimes they get hit when changing the battery"
This guy had no idea, but the dealership had changed the battery about a week prior. Our service agent kinda went pale. Truck got flooded by Helene before I could make them fix it.
Did you recently change the battery?

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Same, but different. Had the CPS replaced on the Rover and they busted the little nipple on the top of the radiator that fed the expansion tank.

I didn't even call them on it, it prolly needed a new one anyways.




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I’ll just leave this here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DE5xb...c4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

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Originally Posted by frorider

I’ll just leave this here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DE5xb...c4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

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One of the benefits of living in FL. I couldn't get my truck to roll 3 ft if I pushed it.
I still chock the wheels though.

The Audi steel pressed into aluminum parts are fucking diabolical.

I had an Audi once. Once.

This applies to many cars. I don't know why no one sells, at least on Amazon, a big receiver cup to remove bearings. I destroyed my hand trying to get it out with the slide hammer and it did not budge. I was going to get a 4"L 6"Dia pipe to put it against the knuckle, but before I went to the supplier I made a box out of 2x4s. Then using the bearing threaded press it popped right out. I win.

Well, here's one more vote for doing stuff yourself. I had an odd no start situation every once in a while with the Bronco. Always happened at the worst times for my daughter. It would eventually start, but needed to cool down first it seemed. This last time I opened the hood and saw coolant bubbling from the hose connected to the throttle body. Hose was cracked a bit, and the inside looked melted.
Brought it to the auto parts store and sure enough, they confirmed it was fuel hose, not coolant hose. Not rated for that kind of heat. He suspects the IAC was sensing an overheat and not giving the engine enough air.

Mechanic that did my engine swap seemed knowledgeable, shared lots of info, let me supply my own parts, etc. I guess he just had this hose laying around and didn't want to bother getting the right stuff?

Some nimrod hit my Tahoe mirror while it was parked on the street. What's the easiest way to get an OEM?

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Originally Posted by Rideski

Some nimrod hit my Tahoe mirror while it was parked on the street. What's the easiest way to get an OEM?

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Does it need to be OEM?

I replaced both manual outside mirrors on my 2000 Sierra with cheap aftermarket, and they were fine. The old OEM ones were so sloppy they vibrated a lot, and you couldn't see much through them.

My 2005 Sierra came with aftermarket tow mirrors (heated and with turn signals), and they work fine.

It's a 2012. They're power and heated.
I guess I'd do an after market if there were good reviews and saved a ton.
I haven't had the best luck with after market lately.

Anybody buy from 1aauto? They have the best repair vids. Not sure if it would be OEM or what guess I could search. I tried rock auto once and it went well.

Car-part.com

^^^ this. Car-part.com is the way.

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Originally Posted by Rideski

Anybody buy from 1aauto? They have the best repair vids. Not sure if it would be OEM or what guess I could search. I tried rock auto once and it went well.

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I did once. The price was right and I got what I expected when I expected.

So I brought the Benz in to take care of an open recall and asked the guy to take a look and see what he thinks the value is. First thing he did was check the car's history and apparently my dad only changed the oil once, 4 years ago :eek: so he stuck a thing in the oil fill and it came up with air and water bubbles in the oil. Damn MB oil changes are expensive! uggh The difference was immediately noticeable, that shit throttle response it had before went away in the first few miles :)

...when your mechanic says 'just drive it, if it makes a really ugly noise when you start it or turn it off just call for a tow and put it out to pasture'...

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Originally Posted by gravitylover

I did once. The price was right and I got what I expected when I expected.

So I brought the Benz in to take care of an open recall and asked the guy to take a look and see what he thinks the value is. First thing he did was check the car's history and apparently my dad only changed the oil once, 4 years ago :eek: so he stuck a thing in the oil fill and it came up with air and water bubbles in the oil. Damn MB oil changes are expensive! uggh The difference was immediately noticeable, that shit throttle response it had before went away in the first few miles :)

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I know you're just getting the car back in action, but for next go around you should tackle the next change yourself! At least on my E350, they're shockingly easy to do. Especially considering what the dealer and Euro shops charge for the privilege. Maybe the A220 ain't too bad either.

Sent from my Pixel 8 using TGR Forums mobile app

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Originally Posted by gravitylover

I did once. The price was right and I got what I expected when I expected.

So I brought the Benz in to take care of an open recall and asked the guy to take a look and see what he thinks the value is. First thing he did was check the car's history and apparently my dad only changed the oil once, 4 years ago :eek: so he stuck a thing in the oil fill and it came up with air and water bubbles in the oil. Damn MB oil changes are expensive! uggh The difference was immediately noticeable, that shit throttle response it had before went away in the first few miles :)

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I'd dump that thing.

1. The oil hadn't been changed in the last 4 years. What other PM items did dad skip out on? I betcha there are at least two different brands of tires.

2. If you're scared of the oil change prices just wait till next week when it needs a cylinder head.

3. You're balking at having to put premium fuel in it.

Clearly it's not the car for you.

<p>
Dude get the fuck off my back. I have no plans to keep the thing, as soon as the title gets here it&#39;s getting flipped. But I don&#39;t expect you to have paid attention when I said that before. And no, with 12k why would tires have been changed? Scared of the oc price, nah just complaining and why would I want to spend an extra $1/gal when I do 40k miles a year? @Mf, I won&#39;t have it long enough to worry about it. The only reason I even want to open the hood is to add windshield washer fluid.&nbsp;</p>

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Originally Posted by gravitylover

The only reason I even want to open the hood is to add windshield washer fluid. </p>

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Might want to add some engine oil while you're in there.........

Are BMWs really that bad? Been looking at getting a town car to add to my single vehicle of an Express camper van (2seats). I want something sorta sporty with a manual transmission and RWD or AWD. Subaru XTs all have blown crank bearings and turbos, and manual Volvos you have to go way back to the 240.
So Imlooking at 3&5 series BMWs from about 1998-2007 in the straight-6 only (no v8 or turbos). Ive seen that this engine and vehicle are relatively reliable and about 50% of the models Ive seen are manuals. However, so many forum and Reddit posts talk about how terrible they are maintain. I can do almost all my own maintenance except a full engine rebuild, especially when it&rsquo;s a single DOHC rather than a Subaru boxer or the like. And I&rsquo;m a handy electrician. Does this make a BMW of this age reasonable? Id still like to be able to drive it 1000+ miles on road trips and now worry about breaking down partway.

We had a 2006 BMW 330xi that was a blast to drive. Didn’t make it to 100k before the engine was shot. Probably didn’t help the car was built the same time the World Cup was in Germany. After a year we were chasing a ticking noise at the top of the engine. Eventually there was a recall to fix.

The car did make it 14 years but it was mostly a short trip car for my wife so not a lot of miles. Probably shortened the life. What started as looking at an oil leak led our awesome independent shop to say it wasn’t worth fixing. Given that the car was in great shape I told them I’d be willing to pay more than the value to repair. They told me it would never be right again if they started messing with the lower part of the engine. Didn’t recommend a swap either. Sucked to let that car go. Now we have a 330e so short trips are all on electric. Still a fun road trip car.

Good luck on your quest. They are a fun car but that engine needs to be run. Best mileage we ever got was during European delivery cruising the autobahn at 100mph.