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| Going to Gatlinburg Tn; Car breaking down | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 9 2010, 12:10 AM (4,898 Views) | |
| DesmondGhostRider | Sep 24 2010, 01:27 PM Post #106 |
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We got home at 5:40 am this morning. I'm writing out a big posting, when its done I'll post. Thanks EngineDoc! |
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| Memphis metro | Sep 24 2010, 01:29 PM Post #107 |
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Glad your home safe. Always good to get back home. |
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| DesmondGhostRider | Sep 24 2010, 03:11 PM Post #108 |
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So we set out on the 17th a bit later than we intended b/c I had to finish adding syncromesh and tightening the exhaust. About halfway to Memphis the exhaust hanger on the back snapped. I had 7 in total so it didn't fall or anything, but it squeaked in low idle. Prob. squeaked in faster idle but I couldn't hear it. At this point the exhaust settled itself behind the rear bumper. The new muffler is one of those really big ones that you could put your fist inside. So now I have a fist size hole where the exhaust melted through the bumper. Its not that big of a deal considering I was planning on hanging it where it ended up and cutting a hole for it there...but it looks kinda funny. The rubber is still attacked in some places and it dried flowing backwards a few inches. Once we reached Memphis I knew something wasn't quite right. My lights were really really dim. We pulled into the welcome center right after the Ark to Tenn bridge. The alternator belt was really worn and had come loose again. I tightened it up and gave the car a once over. Everything seemed pretty good. I got a guy in a 2010 SUV to give me a jump. On a side note they put the battery way to far into the engine compartment on these newer cars. My jumper cables are kinda short and they would bairley reach. Once the car was started we made our way to "Chang's Bubble Tea" Its in Germantown TN. When we pullled in I locked the doors and pulled my key out of the ignition to keep it running and charging. After we had grabbed our tea we continued to Gatlinburg. This is when it started to really suck. The alternator belt came loose again. I pulled over at the brightest gas station I could find and tightened it up. I looked at the timing belt and right as I noticed "hmm I may want to replace that when I get back to AR it snapped. The mere thought of having to be replaced and it thought I meant now. After ascertaining a tow truck company I gave them a call and was told there was a town a few exits away from Memphis (in our general direction) that had a cheap hotel and a autozone. I dont know about you guys but $75 a night is not cheap. $40 is cheap...but it was a really nice room and we mad the best of it as most honeymooners would lol. The next morning I called autozone and ordered a timing belt and began posting on here. The timing belt couldn't get to autozone until 3pm. Check out was at 11Am. We were both still tired so we just sat in the Geo listening to some old Lights Out programs and drinking Dr. Pepper. 3pm rolls around and I take my battery over to autozone to charge and purchase the timing belt, alternator belt, a 15mm socket, Carb cleaner, Spark plug Socket, and lastly some hand cleaner. Then I told Stoney (the wife) that I would need about an hour or so according to the forum to pop the new one on. When I got back to the Geo I pulled my tool tub (its a rubber-made tub thing) and began to set to work. I removed the alternator belt, the AC belt, and the pulley that goes over the belt adjuster. I was not aware that I had to remove the lower pulley to see where the timing belt went. I looked at a white dot that was marked on it assuming the last owner had marked the timing. I have no idea why this made since in my head...it just did. At this point I wasn't expecting anything diabolical from the car. After hours of forcing the belt on, not knowing why it was so tight, and kicking the tires I got back on the forums. After a while EngineDoc came to our rescue. We tried getting it on and realized that it was way to tight and that my top sprocket (cam gear?) was different from his. We looked at the old timing belt and realized it had been square. The lower pulley was rounded, but the top was square. Wtf. He said he'd go part hunting for us in the morning and we parted ways. We got a 2nd night at the hotel, had to deal with the "witty" old bat at the counter poking fun at our luck and then it was back on the laptop. On another side note. My laptop is shit. Only 1/4th of the screen works and the charger broke on the way up there. The wires have to be gently twisted in place and then not touched. I cant plug it in unless its one of those protected plug sockets (like in bathrooms and such) Best of all the battery is long since dead so I cant even charge it. So every time I wanted to post it was a 20 min ordeal getting it hooked up, tightened just right, and then wiggling around and around the forum page trying to see what I was reading. Back to the topic at hand however. We both got online and found that the 93's and below have square toothed timing belts, while the 94's and above have the rounded.The last owner swapped my cam gear with a older model. Engine Doc tracked one down for us and brought it over. We put it on in a matter of min. The car started, its idle was a bit lower than usual, but it ran like it did when I first got it. We deemed it good enough to get going. We thanked Enginedoc and offered to pay him for the belt and time but he insisted on giving us the belt and another wedding present. Thank you EngineDoc your kindness really helped us. We are both really appreciative and will never forget your kindness. All of our friends and family know the help you gave us to make sure we made it on our trip, and back home safely. If your ever in AR let us know, we should get together. After getting the car packed up again we set off. The idle was really really low and it didnt like to pull us up hills. I had to use the clutch to kinda lift us up the hills. Like rev it up then gently (as gently as you can) drop it back into gear. We pulled over. I let the car heat up some more and then I realized I had left the damn parking brake on. I took it off and the car started running just fine again, a bit slower but fine. We went down the road and I passed our turn on purpose to stay on a road with a lot of turn offs until I was sure she was ok. Then she started missing. I chugged into a gas station and filled up assuming it was a gas problem since we dont have a working gas gauge. Maybe the timing incident had used a lot of gas. But no it needed $3 in gas. When I got back in the car I noticed it was over heating. I went inside and bought water bottles. One for me, one for the wife, and one for the car. After letting it cool back down I went to add water...but it didn't need any. I crawled under the car and tightened the water pump belt and restarted the car. Life sparked back into it and we were on the road again. We went cruising down the road, and the Gps took us through some farm land, which was fun for the wife who had never seen cotton being grown. I pulled over to check the timing belt tightness and when I got back in the car she had evidently picked some loose cotton off the side of the road and was slipping it into the glove box. Kinda sad but funny. The car didnt give us any other problems till we reached the mountains. It took me a bit to get used to driving stick up and down steep hills with all the extra weight in the back. Every once in a while we would be going down a hill for a long time and I would have to run my brakes all the way down it, when I'd get to the bottom they would be smoking and stink. Is there a better way to slow the car down the hills by using the engine or something. I've heard that hot brakes can snap. The only other things I can say that are car related are: 1. I need to replace the suspension its really worn. 2. The tires really needed an alignment and the rear ones needed to be replaced before the trip. We were going to do it on the road, but we didnt find a good place to do it in Gatlinburg. I'm getting speed wobble at 68mph. This is from running them crooked and with bad bearings for a long time. Now that the bearings are fixed I can really feel it. More on the trip: We ended up going to Gatlinburg first. We visited the Aquarium, Hard Rock Cafe, Guinness World Records, The hot Sauce Shop, and a few other shops. The Aquarium was always good, Hard Rock Cafe was much better than the one in Memphis (I've been to the Memphis on about 4 times and it wasn't good at all), Stoney got some hot sauce stuff at the hot sauce shop, and the Guinness World thing sucked. It was worn down, dirty, and a lot of the lights for the exhibits were out I should have asked for my money back but Stoney didn't want to create a scene. Oh and the penguins at the Aquarium were ok. They dont have it all set up yet so wait to go if you are thinking about it. They had eggs and stuff, but they didn't have the "playhouse" set up quite yet. Looks like they are just finishing the decorations though. To finish off the night we went up on the Space Needle. I hate heights...but the wife really wanted to do it so I manged to get myself up there. After I bit I distracted myself by finding the Geo through the telescopes. I took a picture of it from 260 stories up in the air. I even got one where i took the pic through the telescope. Kinda cool. I'll post pics when I dig out the camera. After we got down I played Time Crisis 4 for about an hour. That night we slept at a rest stop. The next day we went to a "As seen on TV" store and I got a shake up flashlight, which didn't work but I already threw away the packaging and receipt. It was only $5 and theres some powerful magnets in it I can use for something. We also got some souvenirs for Stoney s siblings and I got myself a animal snuggie for my cat. Yes thats what your read. I didn't need one for myself since I have 4. Dont be hatin! We also went and did the whole wonder-works thing. It was fun and kinda cool. The motion simulators went upside down and stuff. I didn't see this till I was already next in line. I chickened out in-front of the whole room. Stoney wasn't too impressed but oh well. I'm not good with heights or not having control so upside down rides dont work for me. We found a A&W nearby, something we dont have in AR. We stopped by a goodwill to try to get some pants for Stoney (we refuse to buy new cloths unless its Tripp pants) and I found a huge 3rd brake light. Its got Leds in it. I bet the last guy to buy it spent at least 20 on it, and I got it for $5. I'm going to put it above the hatch. It has a big brake light and two reverse lights. We stopped by walmart for some extra camping supplies and I grabbed a much better emergency tool kit. Then we went out to Douglas lake and camped for 2 days. After camping we packed everything up and headed out to Chattanooga TN. We visited Rock City, Ruby Falls, and the Incline Rail Road. I havent been out there in about 5 or 6 years. They've really improved a lot of stuff. if youve never been you should go. My only dissapointment was they changed a room in Ruby Falls. A few years back (5 or 6) they had the new Leons room devoted to a twilight zone theme. I'm sure they got in trouble for copyright protection or something. The whole reason I rushed us out to Chattanooga was to go though the haunted cavern in Ruby Falls...but it doesn't start till Sat! There were signs for it everywhere, but none of them had a date on them. We were heading to Purple Tiger Road Drive In when we decided to stop at a gas station. We checked our balance on the ATM and well...we blew through all of our vacation money...and my geo money. I was a bit disappointed at first, but we've got some money coming to us from jobs and wedding presents from grandparents so I should be able to at least get the tires sorted out for now. After the initial shock of how much we blew though I've come to realize that having the memories will be much more important down the road than having the car run smoother a few weeks earlier. For now I'll just baby the car and do what I can. We decided to skip the drive in and head home. We were going to hit the Apple Barn on the way home, but we didnt have enough funds or energy for it. On the way home I saw what I thought was a souped up 93 Metro, but it was a souped up Civic with 94 Metro lights. Tinted just like mine. He had used them so that he could fit some LED light things on the side as brighter side markers. It looked great. I tried to initate a bit of a race but he gave my car a once over and just shook his head. Didnt even think I was worth a rev lol. Cant blame him though it was riding low, kinda loud from the exhaust, and we had "just married" written all over it. Well thats just about how the trip went. I might have combined a day or something but its close enough. Thanks for all the help with the timing belt, and thanks again EngineDoc for savin us. Have a good one guys, I'll be posting pictures when I dig out the camera. |
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| DesmondGhostRider | Sep 24 2010, 03:11 PM Post #109 |
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Double Post so I'll say something random Fish Old Fashioned Root Beer Road Work Ahead Lucas Oil Solvent. Edited by DesmondGhostRider, Sep 24 2010, 03:23 PM.
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| mcmancuso | Sep 24 2010, 03:17 PM Post #110 |
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Oh god! don't use brakes on long hills! it will boil the brake fluid and possibly catch fire! Always put the car in 3rd gear or whatever is necessary to let the engine slow it down. I saw a suburban at the bottom of one of the long hills here in TN with flames coming out of the wheels from braking all the way down. Also, I used to love really close to the incline railroad, about 3 blocks away. I like Chattanooga a lot. Edited by mcmancuso, Sep 24 2010, 03:21 PM.
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| DesmondGhostRider | Sep 24 2010, 03:25 PM Post #111 |
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Cant that hurt the engine? Yea my Grandparents lived out there for the longest time and they just loved it. I can see why. The whole time we were up in the mountans we were thinking how much this would suck in the snow. |
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| mcmancuso | Sep 24 2010, 04:42 PM Post #112 |
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No car is in decel fuel cutoff, and is using vacuum to slow the car down, car manufacturers tell you to do this, if you have a manual it should be in there. A cartalk article, also on the show, and many experts agree: "As pointed out in the Cartalk article, continuous braking on a grade can cause your brakes to fail due to excessive heat when you need them most. Prior to failure your brakes lose effectiveness due to the heat because of a buildup of gases between the brake pad and the rotor, also known as fade. You should always downshift and use the engine to slow you during long steep grades whether you have a manual or automatic transmission." Of course, thats not to say drop it into first, you don't want it to rev past redline and risk throwing a rod through the block, but 4K RPM is not going to hurt anything. Edited by mcmancuso, Sep 24 2010, 04:50 PM.
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| Coche Blanco | Sep 24 2010, 05:18 PM Post #113 |
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Troll Certified
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Yep, 3rd or 4th gear when going down long hills. When you brake be sure it's not a constant drag on them. i.e. brake for 3 seconds coast for 6. I'm glad enginedoc was able to save the day for you two. I probably would have rented a car before I took the Geo on a trip like that...but you made it and it seems like you had a good time. Edited by Coche Blanco, Sep 24 2010, 05:45 PM.
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| bogs | Sep 25 2010, 02:13 AM Post #114 |
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Duct tape heals all wounds
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My what an adventure to have
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| Ryan | Sep 25 2010, 03:40 AM Post #115 |
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Ryan
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I hear there's a Walmart store having a grand opening in that neck of the woods |
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| Woodie | Sep 25 2010, 06:50 AM Post #116 |
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What's the story with your belt coming loose? Do you know there are three bolts holding the alternator? |
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| Memphis metro | Sep 25 2010, 07:00 AM Post #117 |
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The one on the bottom back aint the easiest one to get too! Cant say about the belt but I do know this, one of the last questions I asked my man there is, did you tighten that belt up? The man had getting on the road on his mind, cant blame him!
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| DesmondGhostRider | Sep 25 2010, 02:08 PM Post #118 |
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I thought it was tight enough, but it needed to be a bit tighter. It took about 4 or 5 seconds. |
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| Woodie | Sep 25 2010, 04:20 PM Post #119 |
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Maybe I misread, seemed like three different times. |
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| DesmondGhostRider | Sep 29 2010, 06:13 PM Post #120 |
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I meant after the new one was installed. |
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We stopped by walmart for some extra camping supplies and I grabbed a much better emergency tool kit. Then we went out to Douglas lake and camped for 2 days.
The man had getting on the road on his mind, cant blame him!
1:57 PM Jul 11