A weekend update!!
Work continues slowly on the multiple projects from the interior to the oil cooler.
Last update was about how I had oil in the coolant :-( Very distressing to see. I pulled the cooler and pressure tested it only to find a leak from the oil side to the coolant side. I ordered a new "S" cooler which is about 2x the size of the original base cooler and once it arrived, I bolted it right in. It fits without taking any other parts off!! I like that.
New Cooler:
Old bad bad bad cooler:
New cooler bolted in and not it comes to filling the cooling system and figuring out a way to get the grease and gunk out of the coolant and system. I did some interweb reading and found that the majority of folks that have this issue use dishwasher (Cascade) to mix with the water and break the oil down. We didn't have the massive milkshake level of intermix but enough to leave a fugly film on the inside of the tank and I'm sure everywhere else. I put 1/4 cup into some water, mixed it up and poured it in with my fingers crossed. I let the dishwasher wash and took the car for a drive. after 10 miles or so I got back to the garage and the coolant looked all white and disgusting. I let that sit overnight and then drained it out thru the plug in the bottom of the engine. Refilled with fresh water and took for another ride. 10 miles more and another drain and refill. Today I once again repeated the cycle with simple green in the coolant and I'm getting to the point where the stuff stays clear but there are some white oil boogers floating around that also creates a film in the tank overnight. Not sure how many flushes it will take to get the majority of the oil out. Maybe 1 -2 more i hope....
While waiting for the oil cooler to arrive, I began the install of a new stereo and that required a bit of rearranging of the center stack. I moved the climate controls down to the cubby location and then moved the CD holders up to the top where the climate controls were. I have a single DIN stereo with the fold out screen to install just below the CD holder (useless) and when the screen folds out, it will fold out and stand in front of these cd slots. I picked up a regular sized cubby from Woody to replace the CD holder in the lower portion. All of this just pops in and makes the swapping mostly painless. The wiring from the stock stereo to the new stereo will probably be a challenge.
I also pulled the rear air-dam motor and system out because no matter what I did I could not get it to work. I figured it was going to have to be replaced but decided to give it a shot to get it going. Once pulled out it was easy to get the motor connections attached to a battery to see if there was life. Nope dead as a Dodo... I began disassembling the motor from the rest of the gearings and found RUST!! It appears that water got into the gear box and jammed the 2nd stage of gearing. Once the motor was pulled out it ran just fine in each direction. I took all of the gear sets apart and found rust and old hardened grease. Once cleaned and re-greased I put it all back together only to find that I didn't have the gears "timed" properly and the 2 posts were not even heights. Take it all apart again and set the 2 gear racks the same and then put it all back together. Practice makes perfect!
I installed in onto the car but it still doesn't got up and down. With a seized motor, I figure the relays have overloaded or burned and will have to be replaced.
Hybrid Mode
