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Well, today was a warm day to do some needed car maintenance. I ordered a Goodyear Gatorback serpentine belt and 3 quarts of Red Line MTL from Summit Racing Monday and that came in yesterday. Just a little side note, they have the cheapest shipping for the Red Line MTL ($9.99) out of all the sites I checked. Also I picked up a 5 qt. jug of Mobil1 5W-20 fully synthetic motor oil and a Mobil1 M1-110 oil filter from Auto Zone. They had a deal going on for all that for $29.99, so I took advantage of it.
I started off replacing the serpentine belt, which took me about 20 minutes to do with the help of my grandpa. I started from the bottom up, and it was a little tricky keeping the belt around the crankshaft and A/C pulleys at the same time, but I got it on. The tensioner had a lot of resistance, so I attached a 3 foot long pipe to the end of my ratchet so I'd be able to use less force to move it. In all, it worked out well.
Now where the real problem came in is when I went to change my oil. I started off changing my oil like I always do: put the car on jack stands, get a drain pan under the oil pan, and take the drain bolt off and let the oil drain into the pan. I did exactly that, but when I put the bolt back on, it wouldn't tighten snugly. Well, come to find out, part of the thread on the pan was stripped. I was able to hand tighten it, but if I tightened it too much more with the ratchet, it would come loose. So, my grandpa put some Teflon tape around the thread on the bolt to make it fit a little more snugly, and then I just put the old oil back in my car until I fix the thread.
I didn't leak any oil on the ride back home, but I'm scared the bolt might blow out. On the way home, I stopped at Advance Auto Parts and bought an oversized oil pan drain bolt that starts off small in the front and gets bigger in the back, so it should tap a new thread hopefully. After I put it in, I'll put in the fresh oil.
As far as the manual transmission fluid change goes, I didn't do it today. I was already fed up with the oil pan problem. I looked at the transmission fill bolt, and I've never seen a bolt like that. It's a square hole! What am I supposed to put there to loosen it? I put my ratchet extension on it and it look likes it fits, but I think I'm going to have to take off my stock intake to reach it. And to be honest, I might take my car to an oil change shop to get them to change my transmission fluid with the Red Line MTL I bought.
Anyway, I thought I'd share my experiences with my maintenance. If I had anything to say, I'd say that whenever I fix something, it seems like other stuff starts to break. Bummer. I guess that's just my luck.
I started off replacing the serpentine belt, which took me about 20 minutes to do with the help of my grandpa. I started from the bottom up, and it was a little tricky keeping the belt around the crankshaft and A/C pulleys at the same time, but I got it on. The tensioner had a lot of resistance, so I attached a 3 foot long pipe to the end of my ratchet so I'd be able to use less force to move it. In all, it worked out well.
Now where the real problem came in is when I went to change my oil. I started off changing my oil like I always do: put the car on jack stands, get a drain pan under the oil pan, and take the drain bolt off and let the oil drain into the pan. I did exactly that, but when I put the bolt back on, it wouldn't tighten snugly. Well, come to find out, part of the thread on the pan was stripped. I was able to hand tighten it, but if I tightened it too much more with the ratchet, it would come loose. So, my grandpa put some Teflon tape around the thread on the bolt to make it fit a little more snugly, and then I just put the old oil back in my car until I fix the thread.
I didn't leak any oil on the ride back home, but I'm scared the bolt might blow out. On the way home, I stopped at Advance Auto Parts and bought an oversized oil pan drain bolt that starts off small in the front and gets bigger in the back, so it should tap a new thread hopefully. After I put it in, I'll put in the fresh oil.
As far as the manual transmission fluid change goes, I didn't do it today. I was already fed up with the oil pan problem. I looked at the transmission fill bolt, and I've never seen a bolt like that. It's a square hole! What am I supposed to put there to loosen it? I put my ratchet extension on it and it look likes it fits, but I think I'm going to have to take off my stock intake to reach it. And to be honest, I might take my car to an oil change shop to get them to change my transmission fluid with the Red Line MTL I bought.
Anyway, I thought I'd share my experiences with my maintenance. If I had anything to say, I'd say that whenever I fix something, it seems like other stuff starts to break. Bummer. I guess that's just my luck.
