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What did you do to your car today?

2M views 19K replies 451 participants last post by  StarFighter1 
#1 ·
Lets keep this a continuing, never gonna die thread.

For the Toyota truck, I changed the plugs, plug wires, distributor cap, and changed the oil in it this morning. Also ran a can of seafoam through it before I changed the plugs, gotta love that huge cloud of smoke. Love how stupid easy the 22R-E is to work on. Runs a lot smoother now, and fixed my rough idle problem.

Tomorrow I'm going to wax and detail the Cadillac. Gonna be a long ass day.
 
#1,682 ·
I assume it uses the wear indicator. The LS430 illuminates a light. Unfortunately, once it reaches the point where the light comes on, you have to replace the sensor itself, or solder it back together, which adds a little to the cost of the brake job. I have no idea if they are reusable on the Seville or how exactly it works.
 
#1,684 ·
It's a little wire loop (not really a "sensor") that mounts into the pad, and once the pad wears down to a certain point, the wire loop gets broken by the rotor, and the circuit opens, prompting the message. Once the message is activated the sensor must be replaced or repaired.

AC Delco brake pads include new sensors, but others (like the Raybestos that I got) do not. I assume you could repair the sensor with some soldering, or you could just cut the connector off and solder the two ends together. The sensors are really just a last ditch warning effort anyways.

It would probably be more complicated and expensive but an optical type sensor would probably be a better solution. At least you wouldn't have to replace it every time it goes off.
 
#1,685 ·
Just curious, but didn't they perfect a non-electrical sensor on disc brake pads EONS ago? Its a little metal prong type of thing that mounts to the back of the pad. Once the pads wear down to a certain point, that metal prong contacts the brake rotor and makes a horrendous grinding/squealing sound.

Little details like that brake pad sensor tend to turn me off from the newer model FWD Cadillacs. All of those little touches are a neat idea in concept, but IMO the lack of quality control combined with the cars coming through the R & D process rushed with lots of new technology(for their time) is so off putting to me. A big "luxury" is not having to send your car into the shop every month. Or having the car proclaim such things as "service ride control" "3 malfunctions indicated" or other such nonsense every time I start it.
 
#1,689 ·
couldnt they make something that closes a circuit once the pads become too thin instead of opening a circuit?

obviously the brake caliper travels more when the pads are too thin, so, you create something like a switch. once the pads become to thin, a solid part of the caliper pressed this switch and completes the circuit, which tells you you need to change your pads. Once the pads are changed you can release the switch to reset

easy peasy (just make it out of tough material, or, if its made of cheap material, agree to a standard so it can be bought cheaply at autoparts stores)



and thats the simple on or off version, you could add to that and make it more complex if you wanted to.

you could have the caliper always make contact with that sensor, add a potentiometer, and based on how far the "switch" travels you could calculate pad life percentage for each wheel. this would also help you identify uneven wear.
 
#1,690 ·
obviously the brake caliper travels more when the pads are too thin,
Not so. As pads wear down the caliper gradually 'compresses' to compensate for the wear: the caliper piston does NOT ever travel more than a few thousandths of an inch - it ever so gradually moves out in its caliper cylinder bore and automatically compensates for pad wear - pedal travel - which is why the pistons (pucks) must be compressed back into their cylinders at a pad change. The caliper piston is one-sided, part of a mechanical-hydraulic system, so pad tension is equally transmitted to both sides of the caliper (both pads) if the caliper is mechanically operating as designed.

The pad wear sensor opens a series circuit which trips the message. A pad wear sensor is for Granny and those who do not regularly check their vehicle systems for proper level, wear, tension, and function.:lildevil: All things being equal, the wear spring fingers should begin to make horrible noises BEFORE the wear sensor breaks and trips the message.

The new EBC Redstuff pads that I just put on the STS have the spring fingers as well as sensor cutouts. The original pads that came off at 56,000 miles were less than 50% worn and the sensors weren't the least bit worn - looked brand new.
 
#1,691 ·
well smack me around and call me stupid then

in that case, couldnt a caliper be designed with a monitor on the piston to monitor beginning position, travel, and ending position? set a maximum recommended travel distance and when the piston reaches that distance it trips the warning

the warning could be made to trip BEFORE the wear indicators on the pad go off.

you cant always hear the brake pads squealin with the windows up. from what ive noticed people pay more attention to idiot lights or warnings than they do to weird noises comin from their car
 
#1,692 ·
Darn trouble is, the rotors get thinner, too. A set of pads or two and a rotor skim cut and it will be thinner than DOT regulations allow for continued service, so you would need to factor that into the wear equation.

Wearing out a sensor circuit to trip a message IS sort of primitive............

Not arguing the different sensor tripping possibilities - but a switch or contacts is always susceptible to "bridging" or short circuit - those pads and semi-metallic brake pads throw off a very electrically conductive dust which would rapidly short circuit an open switch. That sort of precludes using the spring fingers for a contact point - the dust would short the metal finger to the pad backing plate in short order.

Every driver uses brakes differently, so pure mileage won't work, either.

You're dead right about people ignoring weird car noises..............If it doesn't sound like the day you drove it off the showroom floor, something's wrong.
 
#1,699 ·
My Town Cars have a neat system. The brake light that comes on with the e-brake also comes on when the fluid gets just a little bit low. And when any brake pads get low, enough brake pressure is needed to get the fluid low enough to trip the light. That usually gives me about 2-3k miles before a pad is worn down to the backing plate...
 
#1,701 ·
That's not specific to the Town Car - most cars from many manufacturers have been doing this for a few decades. The volume of fluid required to fill the calipers with the pistons pushed out (due to pad wear) lowers the reservoir level and turns the light on. As soon as the pistons are compressed when installing new pads, the level returns to normal and turns the light out.

That said, I see nothing wrong with it being done that way and I think GM's (and others) electronic system is more hassle/money than it's worth.
 
#1,700 ·
Bought the slimmest black steel license plate bracket I could find. Also got the black plastic bolt head covers. Took off the temps and discovered there were only two nut-serts to hold the plate. The plate is so flimsy the whole thing looked warped and Appalachian Engineered so back to the store for a pair of nylon nut inserts and two more 1/4" screws. Funny thing - there are several sizes available and one bin was labelled "All GM 1976 and newer" and beside it "Cadillac rear bumper 2001 and newer". Hmmmm, I would have sworn .... forget it. At $.59 each I bought them both. Put on the new "Farmville" Ohio plate (what moron thought pastel countryside scenes on plates was a good idea?) and saw one edge peeking 1/8" beyond the frame. Too thin to cut with tin snips, too lazy to get out the grinder. Hammered it over, painted the raw edges of the plate black with a Sharpie - problem solved.
I am not putting the front bracket and plate on until and unless the Law states otherwise - up close and personally.
 
#1,704 ·
Put three spare Cadillac wheels/tires on my uncle's crappy Venture just so he could move the thing. The van sat for six months on flat tires, has a broken sway bar, a stuck caliper, a leak in the power steering, and it fails IL emissions. It's the most decrepit car I've ever seen. I swear, sitting in that Chevy and then sitting in one of my Cadillacs makes you think there were two different General Motors.
 
#1,706 · (Edited)
I wish I knew. I did everything I was supposed to. This all started with replacing the intake manifold gaskets to stop my oil leak. I then, apparently, messed the timing up so I had to pull the distributor and treat it like an all new engine. Okay, fine. So I:

Pull distributor
All eight plug wires and coil wire.
Disconnect negative battery cable
Disconnect EST wire between intake and valve cover
Make sure #1 cylinder is TDC on the compression stroke, set timing to 0
Place distributor back in making sure it slides into the grooves and seats all the way
Make sure rotor is pointing at the coil, #1 wire goes here.
Reattach cap.
Follow firing order on intake (FSM matches this number) 1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2
Crank motor without EST plug - no start
Crank with EST plug - no start.

Makes NO f*cking sense at all.
 
#1,709 ·
I wish I knew. I did everything I was supposed to. This all started with replacing the intake manifold gaskets to stop my oil leak. I then, apparently, messed the timing up so I had to pull the distributor and treat it like an all new engine. Okay, fine. So I:

Pull distributor
All eight plug wires and coil wire.
Disconnect negative battery cable
Disconnect EST wire between intake and valve cover
Make sure #1 cylinder is TDC on the compression stroke, set timing to 0
Place distributor back in making sure it slides into the grooves and seats all the way
Make sure rotor is pointing at the coil, #1 wire goes here.
Reattach cap.
Follow firing order on intake (FSM matches this number) 1, 2, 7, 5, 6, 3, 4, 8.
Crank motor without EST plug - no start
Crank with EST plug - no start.

Makes NO f*cking sense at all.
oh dear lord
thank you gods of the automobile for electronic ignition
 
#1,707 ·
Finally sent the Cadillac to the bodyshop, because my last appointments kept getting pushed back (Imagine setting up an appointment two weeks in advance, calling throughout that time, including the evening prior to the appointment date, lending someone one of your other vehicles to drive you back when you drop your car off, arriving the next morning and learning everyone is on vacation)

Instead, after an interesting series of events involving cement shoes and baseball bats went down in my driveway and I had to move the Lincoln back, I decided to take it for a spin around the neighbourhood (something about needing a plate to legally drive on the highway or some crap like that) and bestowed some fresh tyre patches unto my local suburbs.

Hopefully the Cadillac comes back home soon.
 
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