Instead of posting in my "Hope to Own 2002 SE" thread, I decided I'd make a thread specifically for it. Some background on the car, it has 129k miles currently, when I bought it, all the struts were replaced and supposedly the brakes as well. Still need to pull the wheels and give everything a once over. The radiator has been replaced and coolant flushed out. One tie rod replaced, alignment done to it. I got it for $2400, but has the 2-3 transmission flare that I won't be fixing. Body isn't perfect, but it doesn't bother me. Has the typical wheel well rust, but not horrible. I polished up the headlights using one of those cheap kits. I know the haze will come back, but they needed to be cleaned up. I attempted to clean the MAF sensor, but one of the torx screws stripped due to being rusted in place, so I'll be pulling out the intake tube and using a hacksaw to cut a slice in the screw head to get a flat blade screwdriver in there. Oil is clean and full, tranny fluid is nice and red and full. Front VC has residual around it, but nothing fresh or wet looking so maybe someone spilled some? I'll clean it up and take a peek. Interior was pretty nasty so I gave it a good cleaning.












(Yes I did replace the DRL light on the top on the pass headlight)

 

And it does pull to the right while driving, even after the alignment. Steering wheel is straight when going straight, so I'm gonna swap the front tires around see if pulls to the left. Tire pressure is the same for both sides.

 

Nice pick up keep us updated

 

Turns out my right rear caliper was sticking. Pulled the caliper off and removed the brake pads and clips. They were really gummed up and stuck in place. I cleaned them up and lubed them up nice and put it back together. The piston was pretty rusty on the end so I assume the caliper needs to be replaced, but I got it working for the time being. Hopefully it remains free and working for awhile.

 

Pulled out my cabin air filters. Found that both were installed wrong. And they were really dirty. So I blew compressed air in them and cleaned them out and installed them properly.

 

If you guys could check out this video and let me know if I need a new IAC valve or what.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rKWtoSS9sfQ

I read it's normal for the rev, but you can hear the chain for the first second or two so that's where I don't know if it's bad or not.

 

i didn't watch the video but can confirm you don't need a new IACV. 2002 doesn't have one

what is your idle once you put it in gear?

 

Not sure, I just let it sit for a little bit and then shift in reverse or drive. It doesn't seem to drop much after waiting, it's at maybe 1100rpm? Just above 1000 and then will slowly drop.

 

Your warmed up idle is 1100? If that's the case that's way to high. You probably need to do ecu reset and the relearns. Type 5.5 gen idle relearn in search box and scroll down until you see the 5.5 gen thread. Follow the instructions.

 

No that's still while it's cold. If you watch the video you can see where it sits. When you drive the car and get it up to temp, the idle is at like 700rpm or whatever the normal is. I've never let the car sit on its own long enough for it to get down that far unless I drive it.

 

when you switch into drive it's still at 1000+? usually switching into gear immediately puts mine where it should be

 

To be honest, I haven't payed attention. I'll do another vid later.

 

Gonna clean the oil off the engine and try and make it look nice. I need to look at the rear struts as I'm getting a bit of noise back there while going over bumps. It's like a hollow sound, as if you hit a tire with a hammer. And still need to swap the front tires around.

 

Jesus, I went ahead to try and clean the little crevasses of crumbs and what not until I removed the rubber piece around the e-brake. And then I couldn't get the rubber piece back on so I pulled the whole center console. What a pain that was. And it was really dirty.







I also investigated my cupholder and found out why the lid did not close properly. It was a plastic end piece that a pin went through that snapped and the pin is just flopping around.

 

Oops, I accidentally made the SES light come on. I unplugged the MAF earlier because I was gonna remove it, but changed my mind but forgot to plug it in. So when I started it up, it started and the light came on. Now I gotta get it cleared lol.

 

As long as car runs fine a couple high rev shifts + few km driving usually fixed it for mee

 

Ok, thanks man! I'll take it on a spirited drive tomorrow and see if it resets.

 

So I was looking into the timing chain rattle on start up. Only happens on cold starts for 1 second. I was thinking a thin weight oil would be better as it can build up oil pressure quicker vs a thicker weight. I'm just worried about when winter comes around, I don't want it to destroy itself.

 

Mine does this too. I was told:

I'm going to use a thinner oil as well when it's time for an oil change. Running 10-30 high mileage right now.

 

Ok, I figured it was timing chain related. So could I replace just the tensioner, or do the guides need to be replaced as well. And do you need to pull the timing cover off for the tensioner.

 

You can't replace the tensioner. The new one doesn't work b/c it's made for the new style guides.
Replace the O ring on the tensioner. It's the same as doing a water pump except you skip everything pump related.

I wouldn't bother for that short of a rattle unless you're bored.
Precats should be the priority.



Thinner oil won't do anything. Building pressure isn't the problem. The problem is that all the pressure escapes when engine is off due to the bad O ring.

 

My battery is dead. Well not completely dead, but to the point where the car won't start and it just clicks. Guess I left the doors open too long when removing the glovebox.

 

That's a relief! I thought it was the guides becoming all ****ed up or something. It's good to know that it's not a serious issue and will not cause damage, just a little noise. When winter comes around though, I will be throwing in a synthetic 5W-30 just to be on the safe side.

It's weird that there is no new tensioner that will work. So even if I bought one on RockAuto for my year, it won't work due to the style of the original chain guide? That's kind of dumb if you ask me. Thanks for the input on my issue, I really appreciate it.

 

Haven't done much. Cleaned it yesterday. Apparently the car has directional tires and one of them is installed backwards. It's on the rear right now, but I need to swap that around sometime soon. And I'm gonna zip tie the splash shield back in place today as it's hanging down a bit.

 

I was driving around today and decided to do some fast highway driving just for fun. Now normally my steering wheel shakes anywhere from 45mph or above. It's enough to shake the watch on my wrist when on country roads or the highway. But I found when I got 90mph, it goes away. The car has had 1 tie rod end replaced and had an alignment done when I bought it. The tires are balanced so I don't think they are the issue. I did not see anything out of the ordinary when I last took the wheels off. So with those things out of the way, what should I look for? Don't really want to take it in to save money.

 

I just started college, so I put the car in the garage to store for the first semester. I removed the battery so it wasn't sitting in there the whole time. When removing the negative terminal, it was so corroded, that when removing the connector, it just lifted up the whole battery post and started leaking and hissing acid. So now I need a new battery.