3.8/AWD Town and Country Ltd arriving Monday...

[Vigo]

Whatever, im lowering my van some more!

[Ondonti]

Is your AWD actually functioning? I don't know what breaks on the newer style.

[RoadWarrior222]

You know what, maybe it wasn't, but it is now, next time I went out, it was scrabbling for traction after I turned out end of street then felt a bump, and got traction. Maybe sticky/glazed or something after not actually kicking in for a year or something. Now it gets going easier on the white (Well technically browny grey) crap, no bump required. Or I hear sometimes it needs to warm up before it works.

Then this evening the main arterials had got plowed/salted, so could get to normal city speed, with pavement under the tire, and there's a sweet spot, about 1550 RPM you can let it trickle along about 30mph, gets 12l/100 = 20 Mpg near as dammit. on the instant. So anyway, seems so far, all the "mileage" is between 1500 and 2000, which is pretty much where I expected to find it, being a stroker.

TPS system keeps whining at me, either got flat batteries or needs retraining. Maybe I should get that manual out. there's still 50 frigging switches I'm afraid to touch

[Ondonti]

2002 has the setup with no vacuum powered reverse clutch thing right? I don't understand how it wouldn't work unless your viscous coupler is dead.

[RoadWarrior222]

Not sure. AWD system details very scarce on web. Haven't got any kind of service manuals yet. Oddly, Haynes split it '96-02 then 03-07... huh? Might mean 02 was last year of the original type AWD.

[RoadWarrior222]

Buyers remorse kicking in...

Might be getting a soft spot on passenger rocker, drip rails are starting to rust, inside back arches, the folded metal started rusting, around passenger rear light, paint cracked on edge all round, thin brown line, subtle signs of touch up there, I think it might have had a slight fender bender, got PDRed, but paint cracked.

Anyway, saw the bottom door seams had a bit of staining, thought that was as bad as it was. Spent an hour with a can of WD-40, doing all the door seams, hood seams, up the corners around shock towers, inside back wheel arches, dribbling some under cladding, and drenched all those spots above. Previous experience, this does work to put the brakes on it, but you need to do it monthly especially if you get a lot of rain or drive in spray. Door seams on '88 were same way when I got it, and had done that regularly, it bust out elsewhere though.

I'll console myself with the fact that there was a lot I looked at for around same price, even $500-1000 more that were a lot worse... well all of them were worse actually.

[Ondonti]

Krud Cutter?

[RoadWarrior222]

This one?
http://www.rustoleum.com/en/product-...-and-inhibitor

Mayyyybe... all the "paint over" rust convertors I've ever tried so far have been ungood.

However, just found out why, when I do the WD-40 thing multiple times, on a vehicle, then start forgetting, the previously treated WD-40ed parts stay good, even though if you don't do it regularly in beginning it doesn't work... and also why, WD-40 repeat applied bits aren't crumbly/flakey even if they were in beginning....

Turns out WD-40 is banned from marine electronics in Navy because it forms sodium silicate, waterglass, in contact with salt and puts hardass coating on contacts... so frick me, it kills our road salt and you eventually get hardened coating, and soaks into flakey bits, hardens those up too. Wow. In future I'm not going to bother rinsing salt off stuff I'm trying to protect in winter, I'll just WD-40 right over it.... but with that, I'm also going to keep it away from electrics.

Yah, only bandaid still, mostly intended as "I don't wanna screw with that, because, not big enough/sucky time of year/too busy."

I've got some "good" rust spray I didn't use because of thinking it was too cold still for it to penetrate well, it's quite a bit gloopier, coats longer.... also a PITA to get off anything you want to clean up/grind/fill/primer/paint. Save that for underneath after done full worm-eye-view inspection.

In other news.... reset economy average when filled up yesterday. However, after that, did school run and me and wife had to drop off rental, during icey crap, so city driving in that, and school run a bastard, 'coz sit idling forever waiting to move...

<rant>you just tweak forward and all the kids, parents etc within 20 feet of you RUN to get across ahead of you, FFS, if you carried on walking normal speed I'd have been out. grraararararrrrrrr.... then also problem of so much snow all roads and laneways narrow, and dumbass pedestrians walking 4ft out from curb, well snowbank, think you've got plenty of room to avoid them.... well I would have had but there's another dumbass 4ft out on the other side, move the F closer to edge of road dammit, it's nerve racking because of that, parents are biggest offender, assume you've got plenty of room to avoid even if they step another 2 feet further out, when you're 10ft from them on ice, yah, congrats if I instinctively reacted I just killed the guy on the other side, if I panicked I just got it sideways and got both of you. If I stopped, I might just get out and slap you</rant>

Which is all pointless gas waste for 10 mins a day... I try and arrive 5 mins late to avoid worst... maybe should have saved another $5000 for good used hybrid ....

But anyway, that and wife to work highway run only has me at 13l/100 18mpg on the average so far.... (I know you're saying, why dafuq did you buy this if you want mileage, because mileage/winter/light towing/repair costs/purchase cheap/do weekend trips best combo, compared to 1500 crew cab or Durango etc... ... commuter car yet to be replaced.... this shouldn't be commuting after that.... and will try to get best mileage anyway.... and it was $25 a day for rental car plus $5 gas... 13l/100 is coming out at $20 a day, woot, saving $10 still... though possibly school run is burning $5 of that as it would anyway.)

Also though, according to GPS, speedo reading 5kph low at highway speed so gauge should be 5% off... oh dumbass here didn't set the trip counter, NFI what miles it's done at next fill derp.

Oh nice thing on highway, motor plenty grunty enough for me, check mirror, plenty of room to change lanes, car back there keeping pace 100ft back, put on signal, check mirror, oh, arsehole, he's trying to shut me out, light squeeze of pedal, leave him eating dust... yah, not good on gas, it was either burn gas braking for the truck merging or burn gas going a bit faster to merge though. That point on highway towards big smoke, where signal "I intend to change lanes" changes meaning to "please cut me off if at all feasible" is coming 10 miles this way every year.... coz once you get past where you know it's in force, you just move lanes, then flash it once for "Haha, made it"

[dwh4784]

Well, one thing about minivans vs comparable SUV's is you likely saved a lot on the initial purchase compared to an 02 Durango or equivalent 7 passenger SUV. That was the argument that finally won over my wife. The gas mileage could be better, but the SUV would theoretically be even worse.

[RoadWarrior222]

Yah, the '88 Voyager, tended toward 18mpg for messy parts of winter anyway, so given 1000lb more heft and nearly 30% bigger motor I shouldn't whine.

It seems to coast amazingly far though, so feels like rolling resistance is way low as it is, meaning alignment must be fairly neutral and tires must not be too bad for it.

Not entirely sure so far, how much fuel cut it's getting though, instant gauge counts down slowly, 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1... then I have had to brake and/or it kicks in fuel to maintain engine RPM above minimum (Probably around 1000rpm) .... not used to how far it rolls yet, so could have foot off gas earlier, not need so much brakes at next planned turn/stop.

[thedon809]

My 02 300m's MPG gauge was like that. It didn't respond instantly. I think its just the way the gauge works.

[RoadWarrior222]

Yup, got into manual, it says "last few seconds" average. Guess it's better than being super twitchy and not being able to read it.

[RoadWarrior222]

Brought it up to 12.5l/100 19mpg... still cussing myself for not resetting trip.... Interestingly, found myself on the 50mph limit road due to highway backup, and cruise at 50 seemed to be using exact same as cruise at 60.... however, in "fast city" 40mph roads I was seeing better I think, didn't have long on them, but thought it was going to do 7s and 8s ~30mpg... so guess If I was really stuck for gas money any week I could piss everyone off driving 40 on the 50mph country roads

Bought my wife a 2015 Note SV today though, so probably not doing any more regular highway for a while starting next week.

[Vigo]

I know in the old system there is a sprag that engages in forward and slips in reverse which is why the old system has a dog clutch to engage in reverse. IF the sprag were slipping it would give you no rear drive but it would also destroy itself pretty quickly with metal-to-metal contact. There would be evidence of that in the fluid in the section where the sprag is on those systems. I kind of doubt that's what your problem is/was.

[RoadWarrior222]

No funny noises from anywhere, so doesn't seem like anything should be eating itself. The bump may have been a coincidental snagging a bare patch of road, and I'm wondering if I was "too" ginger on throttle before that, i.e. feeling slight slippage and backing off, rather than doing what yer average joe does and give it more throttle, give it more and the AWD is there, back off every slight feel of slip and it's prolly not enough torque/speed difference to engage. Bit annoying for those times you wanna pick your way through something carefully but still have AWD, rather than try powering through, suspect I'll get a knack of a quick stab and back off to engage it...

It's been making it's way out of "the hellhole" pretty good last couple of days though, which is a gravel, seldom plowed, lot by the school, with about a 15 degree ramp in and out, which is varyingly half a foot deep in slush, polished ice, or somewhere in middle. Had a little fun with the rental Accent, when in ramp was only a little covered, coming in on a left turn and treating it like a mountain hairpin and 4 wheel drifting round. (Only when there was nothing at all in that end of lot and at relatively low speed) That thing would rotate way too easy though, I mean you sat in it lower, and had "fall in" bucket seats, so felt sporty, but you could lose the back end wayyyy easier than the Versa Note, rode rigid/rough too so expansion joints turned into rodeo. Anyway, for all it's sporty pretension it actually handled worse than Note when pushed. Journos slammed Note for not "feeling" exciting.... it's not frigging supposed to feel exciting until you've got it on the limits, if everything else feels "exciting" just driving round the damn city, then maybe they actually suck. Yeah, I'd thrown the Note around that ramp turn in before, when seeing it was emptyish on approach and it needed sharper turn in and 5mph more speed to 4 wheel drift. I wouldn't have taken either of those or the SIL's Spectra in there this week though, they'd have got beached somewhere, or sunk in to subframes.

[RoadWarrior222]

Didn't seem to like something this morning, either the temperature or the stiff crosswind. Instant wanted to hang around 12l/100ish. it was 5F, -15C.


Edit: by tracing all my movements with google maps, I have a best guess distance figure, just over a quarter tank now, I think by the time I pick my wife up this eve and refill with about 61 litres, I should be dead nuts on 20mpg for the tank. So if I bring l per hundred average from 12.4 down to 12 this run it will more or less agree.

[RoadWarrior222]

Buyers Remorse II

Got a reluctance to try to start thing happen, turn key, zip, slight blip maybe, try again, nope, try again, bursts to life, hard to tell so far if it felt like some bad contact in ignition switch or some sticking accessory stopping engine turning. Could be NSS or something also. Slightly suspicious of alternator. Had belt squeal on start one morning, everything gets that once in a while, didn't have it again.

Took 62.5 litres on fill, with google guessed mileage, that worked out 19mpg, same as average ended up at.

[RoadWarrior222]

Think that has been a sticky or dirty contact, it seems to be happening less frequently, spacing into weeks between glitches... I don't have a hope in hell of figuring it out until it gets worse anyway.