[V8] Was: Replacing the thermostat Is now: Timing belt time

[John Bysinger]

Well, the darn V8 addiction kept me from letting the car go.  Instead it
got parked until I could afford to get these issues taken care of.  Well
now, I can so it's time to order some parts and while I've got the front
end apart I'm going to try to address all the problems I can reach with the
front end out of the way.

My todo list:
Water pump
Timing belt
High pressure line from PS pump (possibly more lines if they look sketchy)
Fix a wiring glitch from when I installed the Euro headlights (only one
bright works, need to troubleshoot that)

My question is where is everyone buying parts for timing belt replacement
these days?  I was looking at rockauto.com's prices and they seem ok, but
I've had mixed results with them from other purchases before.  I would
rather avoid ebay, since now that I can afford to do this I don't want to
deal with unpredictable shipping.  Does anyone have a quick list handy of
everything I should be replacing for the timing belt?  I remember a good
timing belt FAQ/howto posted on here years ago but I can't seem to find it.

I plan on using Spokane Hose again for the power steering plumbing, I used
them for the two going to/from the rack previously (I should have done all
the hoses back then!)

Any other suggestions of what to look at/check/replace while I've got the
front end off?

Thanks as always!

-John
'90V8Q

OH!  I also spotted a very clean looking silver V8 last week, stick shift
on BBS wheels at Achtuning in Redmond, WA, is that a lister?

On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 1:35 AM, John Bysinger <doog at bysinger.net> wrote:

> Thanks everyone for the tips, changing out the thermostat was actually
> pretty easy.  However, it turns out that was just a symptom.  The problem
> is the water pump.  Unfortunately that means timing belt, and I'm at 55k on
> the belt, so it needs done too.  Also recently the high pressure line from
> the power steering pump is also gone, I just had to replace 2 tires within
> a month one from hitting a down branch, the other a blowout from what looks
> like a cut from something I drove over.  And the window switch / wiring
> issue has reared it's head too.
>
> I think it's time for me to retire the car.  It's got 170k-ish on the
> clock, dark blue, grey leather.  Up until the water pump she still pulled
> strong with the typical cold puff of smoke pulling away from a stop.  Euro
> headlights fused and relayed.  S4 style (no name) 18" rims, front rubber is
> new, rear has 40%ish left.  Front suspension needs work too.  Body is
> mostly straight, it rear ended a camry 4 years ago at low speed which
> pushed in the bumper and broke the headlights (which was when I converted
> to Euros), bumper supports were replaced, but it's still about 1/2 out of
> square.  Blower motor replaced 5 years ago, new gaskets on the master
> cylinder last year.
>
> Would make a great parts car, or could be brought back to life if someone
> wanted to invest the time.
>
> Car is in the Seattle, WA area, asking $2k but am open to negotiation with
> listers.  If it doesn't sell here I'll probably put it on craigslist in a
> month.
>
> I'm sad, but we've had the car for 7 years, and thanks to everyone here,
> it's been fun and not the nightmare I was told it could be.  But don't
> count me out, I may come back if the unicorn 5sp/4.2/black '94 crosses my
> path down the road. :)  Thanks to everyone here who helped when I asked,
> and who's own problems and discussions were archived in my email over the
> years for me to search.
>
> -John Bysinger
> 1990 V8Q, now for sale.
>
> On Sun, Feb 19, 2012 at 10:35 PM, John Bysinger <doog at bysinger.net> wrote:
>
>> Tomorrow I'm picking up a new thermostat for our '90/3.6L V8Q.  Over the
>> weekend she ran a little hot (125C on the dash guage, oil temp never
>> wavered), and hasn't wanted to run back at the normal temps since.  Coolant
>> was low, but I don't know if that was before it overheated or because it
>> did overheat.  The pressure relief cap on the reserve tank under the hood
>> was doing it's job and venting over pressure in the system.  This kind of
>> symptom on other cars I've owned has always been a stuck thermostat.  But
>> there's always great advice here, so I thought I would check in to see if
>> there's anything I'm missing, or any advice on replacing the thermostat, I
>> checked my email archives from here and it seems to match the symptoms.  It
>> seems a fairly straight forward procedure, right on the passenger side
>> front of the block.  Any tips are welcome.
>>
>> Conditions when it overheated were very low stress, I was driving to a
>> tire shop on the spare so I was taking it very easy.  45MPH on a
>> straight/flat, about 15 minutes down the road from a cold start at home.
>>  Once I got it home, first thing I checked was the auxiliary fan, since
>> I've had to replace it's fusible link before.  No issues, runs through it's
>> cycles fine, including hurricane simulation speed, and does kick on when
>> the temp climbs above normal.
>>
>> As always, Thanks!
>>
>> -John
>> 1990 V8Q
>> john at bysinger.net
>>
>
>
>
> --
> john at bysinger.net
>



-- 
john at bysinger.net