Ah OK yeah I guessed so seeing as the sides of it are welded or something. Really those are the only areas with rust and if yall wouldn't be terribly concerned then I'm not terribly concerned :P

And I'll get some better pics of it and the water pump when I do those. I'll probably just do it this Friday or this weekend.

 

sand it off and paint it. gotta stop the rust

 

Hey for the record guys, the o2 sensor change and spark plugs and wire change bumped my gas mileage up from 12 mpg to 17-18 mpg. it idles ALOT smoother now too

 

you should be getting 20-27mpg. maybe have your injectors cleaned and flow tested. check brakes, may have one dragging. have you flashed for trouble codes?

 

Only code in getting now that I cleared up the o2 is ac sustenance performance. Probably do need an injector cleaning. I'm going to do that here after I do the water pump, drive belt, radiator hoses, thermostat. I just bought them but I haven't actually done it yet. Brakes need a changing they don't "feel" right ever since I bought the car they've felt off. Thanks for the tip though def injector cleaning next up. Any idea of how much id be looking at of i took it to a shop? I want them professionally cleaned if that's a better option or I could do it myself if you think is not too complex.

 

this is the place i use in washington http://www.docinjector.com/services1.htm has a base price of 19.95 per to service. i sent mine in by ups and had them back 2 days later. I'm sure you have shops in your area, just google injector shops in florida.

 

I finally had my first real issue yesterday with the 93. 4-5 months now with basic maintenance on an older, higher mileage car without much known history guess isnt too bad. 119k miles you kind of expect some of the stuff to start to go bad.

So im driving to work at around 730 pm and I get about half way there on a 40 minute drive and I start to overheat. I caught it right as it was getting into the red so I immediately dropped into neutral and shut it off and coasted onto the grass. I had checked all the fluids not even 30 minutes prior just before leaving and all looked good so I figured, hmm gotta be the water pump going bad. With it being hot and all I didnt want to touch the radiator cap so I called my job and was able to get the night off and then called my sister to come tow me home. I got her back around 10pm and set up a few spotlights and went to work.

Thanks to craby pointing out my weep hole on my water pump was going.. I had already purchased but hadnt installed a new water pump, thermostat, radiator hoses, and drive belt so I pretty much had everything I needed already. I figured that since Ive got the stuff might as well just replace it all even if the water pump etc isnt the real problem.

I drain the radiator and not much comes out.. maybe 1/2 a liter? I figured hm.. maybe ive got an extremely gummed up system? the weird thing is the reservior/overflow had the coolant looking relatively healthy. anyways.. i get the air filter out, fans, hoses off, water pump off all WITHOUT getting a single drop of fluid on the opti(which was protect with towels and garbage bags anyway). I tested the thermostat on the stove and it worked fine. i took the face plate off the water pump and the impeller didnt have any play at all nor did the spline. the hoses, though old and rough, seemed fine as well. huh.

then i disconnected the reservoir and pulled it up out of the fender well and emptied it out. bright green then a blood red color after a few seconds of pouring. i thought, hm.. either someone mixed the red and green or thats rust/sediment in the water. well as it turns out the little metal hose that goes to the overflow underneath the battery was completely clogged. i tried to blow into the cap after it was emptied and figured air would come out the hose where it connects to the radiator but no dice.

so i removed the actual hose from the rest of the unit and got a metal coat hanger and tried to clear the blockage and was able to get some nasty dirty stuff to come out. took a few minutes of jamming it into the metal side before it cleared up.. so im guessing the blockage was right at the elbow on the metal section. a wire brush got most of the rust on the outside surface off and it looks good as new.

all in all im guessing that the problem was the clogged overflow and that the radiator itself wasnt getting any of the extra coolant from the reservior and i was none the wiser thinking that it had plenty of coolant. i check it regularly. now ill know to check not only the overflow but the radiator itself as well.

looks like someone put gray RTV on the opti's connector to the wiring harness. has anyone ever heard or seen of someone doing this? i snapped a picture. does this protect the opti or can moisture get in by other means?

i got the water pump on no problem torqued properly. i had trouble with the thermostat housing.. of course i snapped two of the housing bolts because those little bolts definitely didnt take 21 ft lbs. hell they wouldnt take half that before they would snap. ended up getting replacement ones at autozone and just torqued them till they were tight then a little extra. i hope it doesnt leak coolant all over the opti. any suggestions here or is it best to just make em snug and hope for the best or try to get that torque spec?

also the water pump temp sensor gave me trouble. i didnt realize it wasnt on the new water pump until i had removed the old one so getting it off was quite a task. i ended up getting it right before work today so i didnt end up finishing the task. i damaged the plastic where the pigtail connects and im not sure its salvageable but ill get another if necessary only 10-12 bucks.

the timing cover was coated in oil pretty thick. maybe a leaking seal of some sort? got a few pics from after i cleaned up a bit. i took the pics so that i might be able to see what was down behind the opti without having to remove it and it was just grime.

still gotta put the hoses on, fill her up, reassemble, and bleed out any air.

 

Just want to double check because I don't have my book on me, but is it 21 foot-pounds or 21 inch-pounds? As that will make a difference if you went by torque specs. I always just snugged them and haven't had any leaks.

Never heard of any one using RTV to seal it, but I suppose if done right, it'd keep moisture out but it'd make it a pain to disconnect. Dielectric grease is much, much more suited for that job.

 

The Haynes manual says for all engines except 98 and newer, use 21 lb ft for the therm housing bolts. 98 and newer says 132 lb in which is 11 lb ft. I thought it was my torque wrenches. I have 2, 1/2in 10-150 lb ft and a 3/8in 120 lb in to 720 lb in and I also have the pittsburg 1/2in digital torque adapter. after the first snapped bolt i got replacements and then i put the digital adapter on the 3/8 to confirm that it isnt the wrenches and the bolts just spin at around 14 NM which is about 10.3 lb ft and the torque wont increase from that point. So I just got them snug and then gave em a little extra and said **** it good enough. Ive snapped an intake manifold bolt and two therm housing bolts in the past week and im sick of snapping bolts.

 

lt1 intake manifold is 71 inch pounds first pass and 35 foot pounds second pass. thermostat housing is 21 foot pounds. i would have my torque wrenches tested to make sure they are correct. 20 foot pounds is not that much, should not be breaking bolts.