3 projects attempted, 2 successful...

Installed the following things:

• Crank position sensor
• Reversing light cable
• Resistor pack for auxillary fan

First on the list was the resistor pack, which I had started on yesterday. Got a few parts from Radio Shack (connectors) and Home Depot (screws) and was able to wire it up pretty easily. Installing it was kind of difficult, but eventually worked out with no wires being accidentally grounded or anything. Unfortunately, the problem which led me to replace it is still occuring, i.e. the fuse for the high-speed fan circuit is still blowing as soon as I switch on the A/C (which turns the fan on). I guess it's back to the drawing board on this one, I think I'm going to start by trouble-shooting the fact that the low-speed circuit of the fan doesn't work at all.

Decided to try the crank position sensor next, which was kind of a pain in the ass to get in. I got the cable in easily enough, except getting one of the two bolts you had to remove proved pretty much an impossibility. No matter HOW much I tried, all I succeeded in doing was dropping the bolt into the endless array of crags and crevices that comprises the front of the engine. It cost me most of the day hunting that one bolt back out, repeatedly. Sad part is, after all that effort, I lost it one too many times and never found it again. For what its worth, at least the crank position sensor cable appears to be working (i.e. the engine is still running!).

Finally, with daylight starting to fail, I figured I'd give up my futile search for that elusive bolt and go on to the reversing light cable. With clenched teeth, I fired up the engine once, but there was no sickening crunch or any other weird sound or beahvior, which tells me that the bolt is either lodged somewhere where it's not causing any direct harm, or it's fallen out of the bottom. I mean to say
I searched my driveway thoroughly enough, didn't find it... The actual putting in of the reversing light switch on to the side of the transmission was pretty easy once the car was jacked up on the passenger side.

So that was the day. All in all I suppose not very fruitful, but then again, if you spend most of the effort hunting hardware, you can't expect miracles... At least two of the three components are doing what they're supposed to...

More Gremlins!

Ok this one's really weird...  Last Friday, I came home from the office as usual, turned the car off and that was the last thing I did, until the next morning, that is.

I got back in the car... and the key wouldn't go into the ignition (the door opened just fine though).  No damage to lock or ignition, so I'm ruling out the break-in attempt at this point...  Anyway, the key finally went in, and turned to position 1, but would not go any further no matter HOW much I tried.

Finally, last Sunday, I decided to get to the bottom of it and took the steering wheel off, the steering column switch assemblies (indicators, wipers, cruise control) apart and started twisting the key around in the locking cylinder until YES!! the key suddenly (but grudgingly) turned over all the way.  I sprayed some WD-40 inside the locking mechanism and followed it up by putting a small bead of bearing grease on the tip of the key, inserting it into the lock and turning it back and forth.  Rinse and repeat a few times and it's been smooth as silk ever since...

Another little success on the way to stability!  Stay tuned for the next one!

Installed new coolant temperature sensor

So after that (not so) little gremlin attack, I started researching the possible causes and decided to start with the small (read: cheap!) stuff.  The coolant temperature sensor was the first on the list.

First I thought I'd have to take off the fuel injector rail to get to it, but it turned out it was only the electrical connector rail (to the fuel injectors) that needed to be removed.  Quite simple really...

Gremlins!!

I decided to forget about posting pictures of the front suspension mainly because of this new development, which, for now, has mysteriously fixed itself.

I had noticed since the autocross that the car would occasionally misfire and lose power during normal driving.  Friday before last, on my way home, the problem got much worse and finally, the car just would not stay started anymore.  It would krank and start, but would shudder badly and die after about 5 or 6 seconds, as if it were only running on three or so cylinders.

After repeated failed attempts, I gave up and called a tow truck to have her towed home.  We were leaving for vacation the following week, so I figured I'd come back and take a look.

However, it was completely fixed and normal when I started the car the next time.  No shudder, no misfire, nothing at all.  I tried running it until it was warm, tried driving it around, I just could NOT reproduce the problem even once.  This is good and bad, good that it's fixed, bad that I don't know when this will re-surface again...