CHECKING TIMING BELT

    I dug into some others experiences with the timing belt issue and was suprized to find many that assumed an automatic replacement at @ 100,000 mi was a safe and good investment. It can cost well over $500 and back in the day we got as many miles from the belt as we did from the engine parts.
    So I looked into what it would take today to view the belt before replaceing it. It was major, and before I got there I read some horror stories of those who attempted to do it themselves and the complications that one can run into. I recall the teeth of the belt getting thinner and effecting the top end timing of the motor before we replaced a customers belt. So that was my indicator all these years later as to weather or not  to replace the belt. I looked at the cover myself and could not determine an easy way to remove it and cop a view, finally I found someone who said you had to remove the camshaft cover before removeing the timing belt cover.
     Well that was more involved than I thought I should have to go through so I did a 180 and decided to drill out a hole on the side of the cover and get a look at the teeth of the belt that way. I used a 3/4 inch forstner bit and drilled 2 holes in the strategic location and then used a wire cutter to snip off the remaining bits of plastic being very careful not to get any shavings or bits into the inside of the cover. [you could drop alittle bit down and be okay but that is a concern when performing a surgery such as this.
      It revieled just what I thought it would, a perfectly new belt that has no viewable wear, and I checked it a dozen times over the course of a month to get a different spot on the belt and it always looks the same.

      I checked the rear brakes again and they will last another 6 months and sprayed some brake cleaner to remove the dust. The car has 94,500 miles and has only recieved a battery and front pads, besides the occasional filter and one light blub.

REPLACING YOUR DOME LIGHT

This can be a tricky job, and probably costly once parts start being broken. You will need a proper tool also, just using a screwdriver probably won't cut it. Get a chisel at least 5/8" wide to 3/4". You will notice a seam between the plastic cover and the grey housing unit, place a sharp chisel between the two as shown in the photo, then carefully twist the handle of the chisel to the right or left and you will see the two separate, pry from the other side if need be to release the cover. The local auto parts store had the replacement bulb for (2/$5), simply replace it and snap the cover back into position with your hands. This could save you up to $20 from having another source do this simple task.

Milestone

Even though the car has been paid off and not consuming parts, this is where the true savings begin taking place as far as I'm concerned. On a trip back home I crossed that threshold and documented the event. Still to date the only parts that have been replaced are the front pads and the battery, although I noticed the dome light is on sometimes and off sometimes so I might post that job soon.

Transmition fluid change

Now is a good time to show thewayof changing your automatic transmition fluid. There are many facits to this job that require alot of research or the entire tranny can fail.

These particular transmitions have internal parts that get very hot, hotter than a regular one. Because of this they need special fluid only available at the dealer for an increased fee. There are 5 quarts of fluid but you can only remove 3 of them at one time. Leaveing the old fluid behind or wasteing new fluid to dilute the old fluid. The book is wrong with its recomendations and even the dealer will let it stay longer than it should. 30,000 mi is the dealer figure.

I prefer to change the 3 quarts every 10-15,000 mi depending on if I am using the trailor during that span. Another thing I found was the special ingrediant that is found in the dealers fluid, only in its own contanior, that way I can even go one step beyond the dealer and add more of the high temp fluid (to regular tranny fluid ie:STP) adding insurance to the expensive high end parts located in the tranny.

And those bottles are seen in the bottle photo.

Next comes the draining of the fluid, if you put the car on a lift you may get less than the 3 quarts that I get when when I tilt the car by jacking it high on the driver side and low on the passenger side. As seen in the second and third photos.

The first time I did the fluid many years ago I found there to be alot of grease on the end of the bolt. Since the dealer did the job I had no way of knowing if they removed the mess or simply left to accumulate. It was the metal fragment wear from the high temp plates being removed with a magnet. (photo) So I did the first one myself @60,000 and then again 80,000 to find the amount you see in the last photo. This tells me that at 30,000 mi the dealer did not remove the grease from the magnet making it less efficient than had they removed it. Hopefully with the added booster fluid there will be even less wear the next time I change the fluid @ 100,000 mi. So that is about it fo now, I dont have more publishable material in the forseeable future but you never can tell when a problem might crop up so keep ckecking.