ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[zmotorsports]

Who would have thought that libraries in this day and age have information.....

My wife and I both have active library cards and my wife utilizes out county library a LOT. I don't use it as much as I did a decade or so ago, but I may have to change that. We have a very nice newly remodeled (about 8 years ago) county library.

 

[ntsqd]

They just announced that our County's main library is going to get it's next major remodeling in ~30 years. It's finally going to get AC!

 

[gearhead1960]

I’ll have to check my library for access to the service manuals. I’ll need it for the new to me 98 Ford Ranger that fell into my lap for $70! I am a heavy user of an app called Libby that allows you to check out Kindle versions of books from the library. If you like to read on a Kindle, this is the way to go, especially if you don’t need a hard copy. Saves a lot of money…

 

[signcrafter]

Thanks. The Driven HVL's consistency is somewhere between regular 30w motor oil and Lubriplate. It will stay put for a bit before dripping off, but even then it leaves a slight film. Nowhere in the literature or any other information states to do that so it might be a bit controversial, but I just couldn't bring myself to put it back together with dry cam lobes.



I can do that if you'd like. The last Subaru CVT I serviced if memory serves is that I ended up putting back just under 5 qts. I remember my son bought 6 qts. but I don't think we used the last quart. The FSM states to check at between 95 and 113 degrees F, so I will drain and measure, then put fluid in until it comes out the fill port and then bring to temperature and see how much more it will take. You also want to be sure to go through the shift pattern upon starting to ensure the circuits are charged with fluid. Even though this is a CVT transmission, it still has a valve body and circuits which need to be filled with fluid.

Mike, what is your process for getting the trans up to the temp range specified to check the level? I usually will already have the vehicle up on stands to do a repair or take the tire off to access the plug. After draining fluid and putting in new fluid I will run the vehicle and shift through the gears and wait for it to get up to temp. Lower the front end down using the jack so it's level and pull the plug to see if fluid comes out. But I've had some vehicles that take forever to get up to temp. I don't really want to put tire back on and go take it for a spin until up to temp and then pull back in and take tire off again. I had one recently, think a 2015 malibu that was taking forever to get up to temp, even raising the rpms a little it wasn't getting there. I read somewhere while I waiting to put it in second gear, not sure if it was service info or something online. That seemed to work and brought it up to temp fairly quickly. Curious what the correct way to get up to temp is besides putting it back together and going for a drive, especially when it's snowing or crappy weather and then drag all that and the cold into the shop to take the tire off again. Unless driving it is the only way to correctly do it.

 

[Xti04]

You've had quite the "eclectic mix" of vehicles lately, Mike! I think this might be a the winds of karma blowing back at you for all the fun you poke at yourself for "I do more than rings & pinions!!"

That being said, this certainly brings back some PTSD, I had a brief love affair with a Subaru Forester that I traded for a Ford Ranger many years ago when I needed a dog hauler....It was a great car till it ate a head gasket and I decided to do the head gaskets and timing set with the engine in the car...not fun!

Those cars helped pay for my last house. I would do at least one a week at my old shop. Always did them in the car along with all new timing belt water pump etc. Single cam 2.5s are gravy, dual cam turbo engines are where you have to really pay attention especially with the shim under bucket valve tappets and getting valve adjustments perfect. I havent done one in a couple of years, and the one I was supposed to do last year got totalled on the way to my house to be repaired.

 

[ScepterToad]

I access service info online for free through the library. In Iowa I needed to have a library card and log in each time. In Wisconsin I just go to the libraries website and under digital resources they offer chilton service info. Which from what I can tell is pretty close or the same as factory info. You can tell each manufacturer is written different so I'm guessing it comes from the factory info some way. I don't have to log in or have a library account. It lists all the WI libraries but there is on option for "enter zip code below" and I just type in my zip and access the info. It has service info, labor times, TSBs, and all that stuff. I use it pretty much everyday to skim the repair info before I start a repair to see if there is anything that may pop up or something special. Use the labor times if I'm working on someone else's vehicle. Use wiring diagrams all the time and they seem to be accurate from what I've come across. I'm pretty sure most libraries offer this and it's a really valuable free resource.

Thanks for the info!!

I hadn't thought about the library! Which is a bit weird, because I read every night before bed and you guessed it, free books form the library.

I'll also check out all dataDIY.

 

[zmotorsports]

I hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Friday night I worked late to get the Subaru completed as the couple was leaving on vacation Saturday so I wanted to have it completed so they could pick it up early Saturday morning, so that meant getting it completed and a thorough road test on Friday night.

I pulled the plug on the transmission and got quite a bit more than I expected even just pulling the fill plug, but then again, it hadn't been running for a few days. The oil was quite dark and definitely needed to be replaced.


With the oil draining from the transmission I cleaned the belly cover as it was oil soaked from the leak.


It cleaned up pretty nicely.


New gaskets/seals for all of the drain plugs ready to go back on once the plugs are thoroughly cleaned in the solvent tank.



This is for Cody, aka @madison069 as he asked me to measure exactly how much came out of the transmission and how much I would put back in. I have a gallon just full and the mix-ratio cup has 16 oz in it, so here is 4.5 qts.


Here is another 16 oz. so now 5 qts.


And about another 3.4 oz, so all in all just over 5 quarts is what I got out of the transmission.


With the drain plug back in the transmission, I pulled the drain plug on the front differential and it actually looked much better than I expected.


Nothing on the magnet either.


Drain plug cleaned and new gasket installed, ready to be reinstalled and torqued to spec.



Stay tuned for more.

 

[Jgaz]

RatioRite measuring cup for the win!

I still have the one I bought in the 70‘s when I got my first motorcycle

 

[zmotorsports]

Continuing on.

With the front differential drained and filled I moved to the rear differential. The Torx head drain and fill plugs had a lot of debris in them so before inserting a Torx bit, I removed all of the debris to ensure a tight fitment of the socket to avoid damage. I see this all too often when people don't get their bits fully engaged into the fasteners, so it's worth taking a few seconds to clean them out.


They were pretty tight, but no damage to any of them.


I didn't get anything trickling out when I removed the fill plug so I was able to use my newly made tool to check and see where the fluid level was at, and it was right at the threads so completely full.


And the rear differential fluid also looked pretty good.


With nothing on the magnet.


New gaskets installed and drain plug torqued back in place so the rear differential could be filled.


Once the plugs were torqued to spec, they were paint marked.


Front fill plug paint marked after being torqued.


As well as the front differential drain, check and the transmission drain plug.




Stay tuned for more.

 

[zmotorsports]

Continuing on.

This is for Scott, aka @signcrafter , I do the same process as you described. Just start it and run through the shift sequence to ensure all passages in the valve body are filled, then run it until it warms up to the desired temperature. The temperature stated in the FSM for this vehicle is 95-113 degrees F for transmission temperature. I generally will just use a IR gun unless I already have one of my scan tools out for something else on the car, but I thought I'd see how close the data from the TCM matched the actual temperature of the transmission. The scan tool is reading 73*F here.


And the IR gun pointing at the outlet for the cooler is reading relatively close.



Upon the initial fill, it took 3.5 quarts before spilling out of the fill hole. Once started and running through the shift sequence, I was able to add almost another 2 qts. So I added back in exactly what I drained from the transmission.


Scan tool is reading 95*F so up to temp.


And I put the last bit of fluid in until it just started coming out of the fill/check hole.


Installed the fill plug and torqued to spec.


And paint marked the plug.


With a quick glance at the cam covers and work on the engine, I reinstalled the lower chassis cover.


And took it for a test drive.




After returning from the test drive, it was later than I expected and dinner was getting cold, so I locked up the shop and called it a night. Tools and shop would be cleaned Saturday morning after a half dozen cups of coffee.

Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

RatioRite measuring cup for the win!

I still have the one I bought in the 70‘s when I got my first motorcycle

Agreed. I bought mine in the late 80's and still use it, even though we don't have bikes or sleds to need it, but it still serves a purpose for other tasks. Then a quick dunk in the solvent tank and a wipe and it's clean and ready to go for next time it is needed.

 

[zmotorsports]

Saturday morning with coffee in hand, I headed out to the shop to clean up my mess and await the couple to pick up their car.

The shop floor swept, benches wiped down and tools all cleaned and put away.


Subaru is gone and they seemed pleased. They'll drop off their 2018 Jeep to me when they return from vacation to have me go through and zero that out.


With the last couple of jobs, my floor was a mess from the cleaning and spraying down of engine oil and debris, so I grabbed a lightly soaked rag using solvent and gave the floor a little attention at the lift. It's far from perfect, but it was quite badly stained with oil and brake wash from the last couple of jobs. This looks better than it's looked in a while at least.



Then Sunday morning I headed back out the shop to service our 2006 Silverado since the lift was free.




This service also called for a spin-on transmission filter and fuel filter change so those were attended to. The transmission fluid is still looking nice and red.


New oil and transmission filter installed.



Then new FASS fuel filters installed and a new Parker filter at the engine, fuel system bled, fresh oil installed and all of the wheels torqued back on and it was ready for a test drive.

Thanks for looking.

 

[madison069]

Glad to see it wasn’t low on fluid. It’s been reported that others have found the Subaru CVT low on fluid but no leaks were identified.

 

[rharman]

RatioRite measuring cup for the win!

I still have the one I bought in the 70‘s when I got my first motorcycle

Agreed. I bought mine in the late 80's and still use it, even though we don't have bikes or sleds to need it, but it still serves a purpose for other tasks. Then a quick dunk in the solvent tank and a wipe and it's clean and ready to go for next time it is needed.

I have my original from probably right at 1970 as well. And, the new one I bought 5 years ago after the original chipped a chunk off the base. It was still perfectly usable but my wife said "I want you to get a new one." The new one is much cleaner and flexible but I still keep the old one - good memories when I see it. I haven't owned a motorcycle in at least 35 years - maybe closing in on 40 years now - and, the last several years were all 4-strokes. These days, the Ratio-Rite gets used to measure Round-Up and things. Best dang measuring cup ever!

 

[SilverJimmy]

Mike, for cleaning your shop floor, have you ever tried using Simple Green? I had a customer that suffered from OCD (maybe substance abuse too!) and he kept his shop spotless. If a drop of oil hit the floor he would grab a spray bottle of undiluted Simple Green and spray the area where the oil was, and then he would hit the area with his mop soaked in plain water. For all his faults, his shop was perfect!

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, for cleaning your shop floor, have you ever tried using Simple Green? I had a customer that suffered from OCD (maybe substance abuse too!) and he kept his shop spotless. If a drop of oil hit the floor he would grab a spray bottle of undiluted Simple Green and spray the area where the oil was, and then he would hit the area with his mop soaked in plain water. For all his faults, his shop was perfect!

Thanks Sterling. I used the Simple Green Pro HD stuff, same stuff I use when pressure washing the coach's chassis. I used it a few times in my last shop, but I have not used it in the new shop, yet. I will probably wait until temps warm just a bit and give it a good scrubbing so I can squeegee the water out the door. When I did it, it actually served two purposes, as I used my large push broom to really get into the pores and clean the concrete, which also did a great job cleaning my push broom.

 

[rd65]

RatioRite measuring cup for the win!

I still have the one I bought in the 70‘s when I got my first motorcycle

Not a shop without one

 

[bigdave_185]

I’d like to know why Subarus leak, of the two in my reach not leak from what seams to be everywhere

 

[zmotorsports]

I’d like to know why Subarus leak, of the two in my reach not leak from what seams to be everywhere

I don't know Dave, but I don't think Subaru has the market cornered on leaks....

 

[zmotorsports]

I am sure getting more and more frustrated with parts quality lately. It is hard to believe that in this day and age with the technology we have and the manufacturing processes that we have supposedly mastered that quality is something that can be lacking, and getting worse.

While performing the LOF service on my truck on Sunday, I noticed that the new steering stabalizer that I installed on the truck back in October 2024 is already leaking out the rod end. I didn't want to go back to the same NAPA OE replacement (Monroe), so I tried a Rancho which they said they could get for me the next day.


Leaking Monroe stabalizer out.


New Rancho OE replacement ready to be installed.


I'll give this one a try and see if it's any better, the warranty seems to be better on the Rancho.



I'm even finding that my local NAPA store is being more restrictive on the warranties that they are providing me. Up until this year pretty much anything I have purchased from my local NAPA they have warrantied for me, no questions asked. A couple of weeks ago I had a headlight bulb go out on the truck and it was about 14 months and they wouldn't warranty it and sent me to the manufacturer. Yesterday I got the same story on the steering stabalizer as it only had a 1-year store warranty. This has never happened with them so they must be seeing the quality decline and have been directed from their mother ship to stop in store warranty claims if they go past the initial period. This is quite frustrating because they have never given me any grief over a warranty item, but then again, I can count on two hands how many warranty issues I've had over the past decade or so. I have had more in the past six months than the past decade.

 

[fouckhest]

That is super frustrating, Mike....seems like NAPA is being diluted to the level of the red parts stores.

I am current struggling with how to address a brake booster replacement on my white Golf TDi, OEM being $400+ and R-A being $150, has me concerned about the quality...

 

[WoodsTruck]

Quality aside, I'm thinking the online parts retailers are cutting into the store volumes sold at the parts houses. Lower volumes lead to lower profit with minimal margin. I used to have an Advanced Auto, O'Reilly's and a NAPA in town. AA couldn't keep up and closed, O'Reilly's has some foot traffic but the NAPA is usually pretty vacant when I stop in there. They cut back to Saturdays only and shortened business hours. I think the vehicle complexity and the overall longer intervals for maintenance keep folks out from under the hood.
Hard to operate a brick and mortar these days.

 

[madison069]

Hard to say what is the root of the problem, but I see bean counters as a common denominator.

 

[tarbellb]

It's not "lowering quality",

it's "improved optimization"!

 

[PugetDude]

Hard to say what is the root of the problem, but I see bean counters as a common denominator.

They see premature parts failures as an opportunity to increase foot traffic into brick and mortar stores.

 

[zmotorsports]

Quality aside, I'm thinking the online parts retailers are cutting into the store volumes sold at the parts houses. Lower volumes lead to lower profit with minimal margin. I used to have an Advanced Auto, O'Reilly's and a NAPA in town. AA couldn't keep up and closed, O'Reilly's has some foot traffic but the NAPA is usually pretty vacant when I stop in there. They cut back to Saturdays only and shortened business hours. I think the vehicle complexity and the overall longer intervals for maintenance keep folks out from under the hood.
Hard to operate a brick and mortar these days.

Around here I see a few more vehicles outside of the O'Reilly and Autozone, but the Advance and NAPA seem to have similar traffic and both of them seem to cater more to shops than the general public, at least in our area. Most DIY'ers seem to go to the first two mentioned and less to the NAPA and Advance stores.

I had been purchasing a few things from Rock Auto for some of last year trying to control costs on name brand items for supplies and parts, but I've been burned three times now by either wrong parts shipped or used parts in the boxes, so I don't think I'll be using them much in the future.

Hard to say what is the root of the problem, but I see bean counters as a common denominator.

Yep, we are seeing the same thing in my industry. Cutting costs everywhere but still trying to maintain quality. At some point those two practices don't play well together and quality takes the hit.

 

[zmotorsports]

I definitely don't have the answers to the problem, but it sure makes it difficult to provide quality to the end user and even to the point of having confidence in your own vehicles when the quality of parts is declining at such a rate.

 

[LXCam]

I had been purchasing a few things from Rock Auto for some of last year trying to control costs on name brand items for supplies and parts, but I've been burned three times now by either wrong parts shipped or used parts in the boxes, so I don't think I'll be using them much in the future

I’ve been burned by rock auto enough times that I’ve been done with them for a few years. As much as I dislike paying full pop at the local brick and mortar store, I do it to ease the wrong part exchange bs.

 

[zmotorsports]

I’ve been burned by rock auto enough times that I’ve been done with them for a few years. As much as I dislike paying full pop at the local brick and mortar store, I do it to ease the wrong part exchange bs.

Agreed Cam. A few extra bucks are worth it to me to have the ability to exchange parts if needed. Funny thing is though, I haven't gotten a wrong part from my local NAPA or Advance that I can think of, yet I've been burned by Rock Auto several times in the past six months alone.

 

[Jehannum]

Agreed Cam. A few extra bucks are worth it to me to have the ability to exchange parts if needed. Funny thing is though, I haven't gotten a wrong part from my local NAPA or Advance that I can think of, yet I've been burned by Rock Auto several times in the past six months alone.

I haven't had the same luck; I tried to get an alternator (for an admittedly low-production Audi, probably my first mistake), and the NAPA catalog cross-listed it with something from an '09 Kia. I took the chance, it didn't fit, and NAPA had no interest in correcting their catalog when I returned it.

So YMMV, but I've had better results from the Rock than NAPA with my rare ****. I was able to get the alternator from RockAuto no problem (it's even a reman Bosch unit, just like the original), but the convenience of "next day arrival" when the Audi was beached with no electricity in Salida was difficult to argue with.

 

[rd65]

I think a lot of it is from the severe shortage of quality new employees these days, which seems to have gotten MUCH worse since covid. No one seems to care anymore and taking pride in your work seems to be an afterthought. As us older workers retire, it is only going to worse.

 

[zmotorsports]

I think a lot of it is from the severe shortage of quality new employees these days, which seems to have gotten MUCH worse since covid. No one seems to care anymore and taking pride in your work seems to be an afterthought. As us older workers retire, it is only going to worse.

I completely agree with our work force taking less and less pride in their work. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to say that because it goes against what we are being told about our current work force. Even though I see it and deal with it on a daily basis in our department.

 

[gearhead1960]

I use RockAuto quite a bit. I've had very good luck as far as getting the right parts. I usually stick with the name brands that I know and consistantly cross shop between my local parts houses (Advance, O' Reilly, NAPA), and Walmart to find the best price. Surprisingly, Walmart sometimes beats the RockAuto price along with FREE shipping. Interestingly enough, I just purchased a Draw-Tite hitch from them for $75 cheaper than Trailers.com and it's being shipped for free. While I'm not advocating shopping at Walmart or RockAuto, it pays to comparison shop within the name brands between platforms.....

 

[zmotorsports]

I use RockAuto quite a bit. I've had very good luck as far as getting the right parts. I usually stick with the name brands that I know and consistantly cross shop between my local parts houses (Advance, O' Reilly, NAPA), and Walmart to find the best price. Surprisingly, Walmart sometimes beats the RockAuto price along with FREE shipping. Interestingly enough, I just purchased a Draw-Tite hitch from them for $75 cheaper than Trailers.com and it's being shipped for free. While I'm not advocating shopping at Walmart or RockAuto, it pays to comparison shop within the name brands between platforms.....

Mark, when I was buying from Rock Auto I also used only name brand parts and in a few cases OEM that were available for the specific vehicle. I still had a use part show up and several incorrect parts. Two of them on my son's Acura RDX alone when we did his timing job. Had to get the parts locally because the car was apart and then got dinged on the shipping because it was outside the 60-day window from when I bought the parts so ended up losing money, plus they would only do an in-house credit, not an actual refund. I thought I was doing a good thing by ordering the parts a little at a time to help my son out and have everything on the shelf beforehand, but it burned me in the end.

Then another issue with a Gates pulley and belt which were packaged incorrectly. Belt had a different number on it than the sleeve/package. Granted, they were good about refunding that one, but I still had the car apart when I found the error and NAPA came to the rescue.

I've just came to the conclusion lately that a few bucks here or there isn't worth my time and frustration when parts are incorrect.

 

[SilverJimmy]

I have not used RockAuto as I’m afraid I‘ll end up getting counterfeit parts. Crooks will exert almost as much effort to cheat someone as they would doing the right thing just to make an extra few bucks. I don’t want my vehicles to fail because I tried to save money on parts.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have not used RockAuto as I’m afraid I‘ll end up getting counterfeit parts. Crooks will exert almost as much effort to cheat someone as they would doing the right thing just to make an extra few bucks. I don’t want my vehicles to fail because I tried to save money on parts.

Agreed Sterling. While I haven't had any counterfeit parts issues, I have mainly been trying to save a few bucks for me, my son and my clients. Unfortunately, each time it's bitten me in the **** when dealing with Rock Auto. I did order some Wix filters a few weeks back and they arrived correctly, but I am definitely going to be more cautious in the future.

 

[rd65]

I completely agree with our work force taking less and less pride in their work. Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to say that because it goes against what we are being told about our current work force. Even though I see it and deal with it on a daily basis in our department.

My previouse career was in Powersport as Service Manager. So, so glad to be out of that environment these days. It was hard hiring back then, I was out in Jan 09. By the time I left, the shop was really winding down on snowmobile work so it became more of a seasonal shop with layoffs in the fall and trying find decent help in the spring.

 

[GRN96WS6]

Rock Auto's PITA return policy makes it not worth it IMO

I'll pay a little more for better policies and less waste of my time.

 

[ntsqd]

I try to shop locally to support the local shops. Can't always do that, sometimes the local shop can't get what I need or want. I'll buy from RA then.

I do like their online catalog, makes 'frankensteining' something much easier when I can look up the parts that I need, note their application(s), and then be able to tell the local guys that I need the Johnson Rod for a '58 Wartburg and the Klugenvalve for a '29 Stutz Model M. Until they get used to me they always look at me with a "WOT?!?!" look on their face.

 

[Dh3256]

I have not used RockAuto as I’m afraid I‘ll end up getting counterfeit parts. Crooks will exert almost as much effort to cheat someone as they would doing the right thing just to make an extra few bucks. I don’t want my vehicles to fail because I tried to save money on parts.

I've never heard of anyone getting counterfeit parts from RockAuto, that seems extremely unlikely. I have heard people claim they got counterfeit parts from Amazone and even the dealer.

Rockauto is essentially a drop shipper - they contract with the warehouse companies to supply the parts. Rockauto doesn't actually ship anything, it is the warehouse companies, and they vary in consistency and quality. There are a couple I avoid, but most are decent. You can tell where the parts are coming from by the shipping cost and timing.