What Did You Do To Your Car Today?

[Firm]

lol, hopefully it's not that....Though I don't think I've ever heard of failed head bolts on an 06+ example. I can't really get a great sightline on the leak, but it appears to be from where the plastic tank meets the aluminum finned part. So many things I'd rather do this weekend than a N* rad swap...

[Oliver]

I'll upvote the Northstar too. They were very refined and powerful. Had several in our family long term, and none ever blew up. 15 yr old me convinced my uncle that a Cadillac STS was a far better car than a LS400, much better looking, and cheaper too. The owner of the Cadillac store let him take his personal STS for the weekend, one all out trip to Banff (involving a friendly race with a 89-90-ish Trans Am GTA which the Caddy handily won) had him convinced too. That 94 STS finally got donated a few years back with close to 400,000 km due to oil leaks that cost more than it was worth to repair. Yes, they had their issues, but maintained well they see to go for a long while.

Funny that you also had STS' on the mind this week... I was just messaging with Firm and a few pals a couple days ago that I really love the facelift first-gen STS. I do think it's better looking and obviously cheaper than an LS400, but I would be doing my own favourite car a disservice by saying it's "better" overall, haha.

I'll have the LS400, but I wouldn't mind playing with a clean STS one of these days...

First gen, or second gen? Cuz this is what I think of when I think first gen. 

[Tortoise]

My Grandfather had a dark purple/burgundy first gen STS, with a grey interior.  I remember it being a big deal at the time. Years later I drove it from Timmins to North Bay, and remember it being a really comfortable highway car.

[Gurgie]

A bit of maintenance on Bella's 3 this past week. New battery & then new serpentine belt, water pump belt (stupid stretch fit style) & cabin filter. The belts were the worst I've ever done, just no way to get a socket on the tensioner. Ended up doing the serpentine thru the wheel opening while I was doing the stretch belt, needed my youngest to get the serpentine belt over the alternator while I was underneath getting the tensioner loose.

[Firm]

I remember doing belts on an old co-workers Mazda 3, believe it was a 2.3L first generation car, it I would agree that it was one of the worst belts I've done...stretch belts are just annoying.

[Firm]

I got the DTS back up and running, again, swapped the Rad on Saturday. I've done it enough times now that the process was pretty smooth, but it's still a ton of work. Started at 9am, wrapped up with re-filling and leak testing the system around 3pm. Hopefully this was lasts more than a year.

[TheHire]

I drove my mom's '15 E 550 for a couple days... has like 53,000km on it. I forgot how well these cars drive.

Need to spend some time in my old '11 E350 beater, which to this day I maintain remains the best $2,000 acquisition ever. 359,000km, one owner, clean Carfax, serviced at our place since brand new with all records.

Said $2K acquisition:

[Johnnymac]

I drove my mom's '15 E 550 for a couple days... has like 53,000km on it. I forgot how well these cars drive.

Need to spend some time in my old '11 E350 beater, which to this day I maintain remains the best $2,000 acquisition ever. 359,000km, one owner, clean Carfax, serviced at our place since brand new with all records.

Said $2K acquisition:

This speaks to the fact the best beaters are usually the ones that were well maintained during their lives and not necessarily from the most reliable brands or with the fewest kms.

[Revelations]

Nice looking $2,000 car. I've never been afraid of high mileage if maintenance has been kept up. That said, I's rather have a 250,000 km highway driven vehicle than a 150,000 that's spent it's life in stop and go city use.

[RRocket]

Nice looking $2,000 car. I've never been afraid of high mileage if maintenance has been kept up. That said, I's rather have a 250,000 km highway driven vehicle than a 150,000 that's spent it's life in stop and go city use.

Same here.

Don't mind mileage

[Firm]

That is a good looking $2000 car!

Mrs. Firm's 96 Firebird needed a new AC compressor, seals in the original unit gave out sometime late last summer. Figured it'd be a nice leisurely job for the day after Christmas, 3.8L V6, looked like fairly easy access....Man, was I wrong. Front 3 bolts took 4 minutes, single bolt holding the rear bracket and bolt holding the lines on the back took about 2 hours to get off and another hour going back in. Just insanely poor access. Got it done though, swapped out the receiver/dryer and orifice tube, it held good vacuum for 45 minutes, and then recharged. Blowing nice and cold (it was 23C here today), hopefully it stays that way. I am really sick of AC work....This is AC compressor #4 for me in about 2 years.

[TheHire]

Honestly, because real estate agent concentrated in one area (south Oakville) it's a ton of in-town use, but I don't really care. For $2K I'm not going to be picky, and it drives really really well.

[Firm]

Continuing to take advantage of warm weather and time off work to catch up on car jobs, did the boots on the front ball joints on the Jag today. Known issue with these cars where the rubber used for the original boots just disintegrates leaving the joints exposed. If you catch them early enough you can replace the boots and re-pack the joints with grease - avoiding having to replace the entire arm(s). Not a bad job actually...maybe 2 hours for both sides, while showing the kids how it's done.

[RRocket]

Continuing to take advantage of warm weather and time off work to catch up on car jobs, did the boots on the front ball joints on the Jag today. Known issue with these cars where the rubber used for the original boots just disintegrates leaving the joints exposed. If you catch them early enough you can replace the boots and re-pack the joints with grease - avoiding having to replace the entire arm(s). Not a bad job actually...maybe 2 hours for both sides, while showing the kids how it's done.

It's going to be awesome when the kids show you how it's done!! LOL 😆