Cadillac Owners Forum banner

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.
 
#17,870 ·
Dually project? Do tell

Dad's DTS got a new AIR pump. Odd it went south at such low mileage, but what can you do.

Still waiting on the bodyshop. Fog Lamp on the left has persistent moisture, so I may go ahead and replace that, and inspect the old one for failure points. I sealed around the lens to body seam with clear silicone, not sure what the deal is. Maybe I will use gasket maker this time.
 
#17,871 ·
Just drove a few days in a Mustang with the ecoboost and ten-speed tranny.

It is the worst power train in any modern car I tried.

The chassi was good. Real fun. But completely screwed by an ever changing, no control, jerky transmission and an engine with no high end torque and shaky behaviour every time you dump the turbo pressure.

No ecoboost for me.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#17,872 ·
And only 25mpg highway?

Yikes. That's not that great.

Haven't done much to the cars lately. Changed the oil in the Corvette because the OLM got to 15%. My buddy who changed it for me at his shop when he did the rear diff a few months back must have superhuman strength because I couldn't get the drain plug off on my back, so I took it to work and one of the techs even had to use an air chisel on it. Oops. New plug and all is well.

Escalade running just fine as well. Head gasket fix was a success. Going to use it to pick up the wife from the airport on Wednesday before we leave for our big Corvette road trip. Excited!
 
#17,875 ·
And only 25mpg highway?

Yikes. That's not that great.

Haven't done much to the cars lately. Changed the oil in the Corvette because the OLM got to 15%. My buddy who changed it for me at his shop when he did the rear diff a few months back must have superhuman strength because I couldn't get the drain plug off on my back, so I took it to work and one of the techs even had to use an air chisel on it. Oops. New plug and all is well.
Always install a drain valve. Your experience is one of numerous reasons to do so.

My thread here (but out of date due to US distributor changing and other developments): https://www.cadillacforums.com/threads/oil-drain-valve-for-ats.560106/

Here is a current thread on another forum (not sure if owned by same company as this one):

 
#17,873 ·
I hate this dually. Its been an on going project in my shop for the last couple of years. Its to the point now that I've pushed it into the corner because I'm so disenchanted with the build. Its close to me driving it again, 2-3hrs and it'd be back on the road. Maybe one day soon.

 
#17,876 ·
Laziness and lack of motivation. When you haven't driven something in a couple of years, its tough to keep moving forward. I try to limit my projects to 6mo when possible. I've been enjoying playing jeep lately, so much so that I,,,,,,I mean coco,,,,,bought another one.

Its the time of year when I spend time in the shop being more productive because its not a million degrees. I want an LS in the jeep, but won't allow myself to do it until the dually is finished. I hope that'll get the dually on the road, and eventually sold.
 
#17,878 ·
It's a Jeep thing, and I don't understand. :)

But yeah I'm there right now with the wagon. Last year I made so much progress, drove it for the first time since 2014, and then just lost interest when I got the Corvette. The Corvette runs, drives, stops, steers, has AC, is faster.... oops.

I don't know man.
 
#17,879 ·
I hear ya there. I get wistful when I start up Alexandra, but the list is long, and intimidating.

I was going strong with Clyde, then life got in the way, and I got to tinkering with my brother's old Camaro. It's slower, but it's LOW and that thing handles like a go cart. Unexpected fun! Factor in my stupid infatuation with seat adjustment in Clyde, and he's not as fun anymore. That and I get way too OCD about some things. Box protector gaps, wheel finish damage, seat adjustment, I need to take a damn chill pill and enjoy him again!

Fortunately, with the deer thing, that brought him back front and center. Got parts for that, parts for the condenser, parts for the radiator, beautification parts for the front end, new fog lamps sans moisture (hopefully), four shiny new wheels with shiny new center caps and shiny new TMPS sensors and shiny beefy new tires and it will be like he's new again. And I have a project again. I know I can work on Alexandra too, it's just breaking things into smaller goals and going for it. That and my sister's car is a brand new Equinox and Dad's DTS is back to top shape, so hopefully I can focus on MY cars for once (and the weather will cooperate). We shall see.

Part of it is learning to accept Clyde's aging. He's not brand new anymore, and I drive like I get paid to, so stuff will wear from time to time. No biggie, just a new project. It's finding the time that drive me up the wall and across the ceiling.

EjS, in June I drove a rental to Denver to fly to Arkansas to get my dad's latest hot rod, an 09 DTS. The rental was a brand new vert Mustang with the 4 pot and the 10 speed trans. It did ok, though 99 percent of the driving was highway, so I can't attest to the lurchiness of it. Had no issue reaching 122 before I decided I did not want to torch a driveshaft at 2 am in desolate Wyoming. That said, it felt slow. Like really slow. Like Clyde could take it to the cleaners slow. All noise and no action.

That and the fuel economy was comparable, I think around 25-26. I had to put a little in to make it to the airport (did the pay in advance for a tank, ended up coming out ahead on that one). May be comparing apples to oranges here, but Clyde can make it to Denver and back to Cheyenne if I start with a full tank. I think Alexandra is comparable. "economy" minded car should do better, not worse.

So what are the plans for THIS Jeep MrHolland?
 
#17,880 ·
Roo, drive a jeep, and the temptation will be there, not a newer jeep, but a TJ

Luke, Wow, you have a lot goin on!! That's too bad about the mustang.

Not much I don't think, maybe the rims and tires that came off the silver jeep. I bought it to sell, price was right. After getting it home though, maybe we'll keep it for a while so we're not battling to drive the one jeep we have.
 
#17,881 ·
I've driven a few of them. I still don't get it lol


As for today - finished installing the stereo in the Corvette, finally. Wired up the compression drivers and tinkered with the digital signal processor to let each driver play in its recomended range with minimal overlap. It's LOUD, and clear.

Drove with the roof off to my buddy Phil's house, about 20 minutes, and had a great trip. Just vacation prep now.
 
#17,882 ·
first time posting in here but this is one of my projects and definitely not something you see very often. The car is a 2000 Honda Insight, car originally came with a 60hp gas engine and a 13ftlb electric motor assist. I bought the car with the stock engine and it had a bad ima battery which I was able to bypass to keep the car running on the gas only engine for a while. It put down 55hp and 56ftlbs on the local dynojet I tune on lol. I was able to pull 80mpg with good driving techniques on 2+ hour round trips to Portland and back. Got tired of the gutless motor so I decided to build an engine for it, current motor puts down 152/130 to the tire. Just yesterday I put together a close ratio transmission for it basically using parts from a few various d series Honda Tranny’s (no one likes d series stuff, people will literally give parts away) I figured it was the perfect engine for this chassis and as far as I know this is the only d series swapped insight out there. The car scales at 1750lbs or 1950 with me in it, that’s with full interior, power steering, power everything else and a small sub in the trunk. Still has full exhaust, a cat pretty much everything a normal car would have. Its the most go kart feeling Honda I’ve ever owned / built.
 

Attachments

#17,883 · (Edited)
The factory battery in our 2013 ATS has gave the slightest of hesitations on a few starts so I replaced it not wanting the inevitable failure to be while my wife is driving it.

So I bought a Champion H7 AGM from Pep Boys. They normally install for free but since the ATS battery is under a bunch of stuff in the trunk, they wanted ~$50 to install it so I did it myself. Only extra expense was for a set of Torx. The largest I had was a 40 and the tie downs that also secure the panel they are on take a 45 to remove so I bought a set of magnetic tamperproof torx for $15 at HD.

I was slightly worried when I removed the factory battery and saw it was around an inch shorter of length than the new one but the new one fits with a good 3/4 inch to spare. I didn't realize how standardized the shape of batteries were other than the 3 dimensions and post. My second worry was how the battery bracket was form fitted around the topology of the top of the factory battery but it wrapped around the new one fine.

Cadillac mounts a distribution block on top of the battery but it wasn't obvious how to get it off when in the car so I undid some cables I wouldn't have to if I knew how to remove the distribution box from the battery. Once the battery was out, it was clear how to get it off the battery.

One good thing is the new battery must be twice as powerful because both posts had a cover labeled positive on them. ;)

New battery:

574273


Installed with the distribution box back on but cover still open and bracket yet to be reinstalled.:

574275


Distrubution box cover on and ready for the pile of trunk panels to go back in:

574274


Tired puny factory battery:

574283
 
#17,884 ·
It is weird how standard the sizes are. Clyde's new Autocraft H7 AGM from Advance fit like a glove, and the distribution block on top (much like yours) snapped right on.

T-7 days till shop in for Clyde. Hopefully get a cool rental, we shall see what Enterprise comes up with. The weather seems to want to cooperate this week, so later today (early Tuesday here for me) I will head to Big O with my tires and wheels and have them mounted and balanced. That way, when I get him back from the body shop, I will be ready to mount the new stuff right up. Likely will have to wait till after body shop time to replace my cooling system parts. Not wanting to tackle such a big job with a finite amount of time to do it in.

Been awhile since I've been to Laramie. Need to head that way!
 
#17,888 ·
Clyde is in the shop. I believe they started on him today. The guy I requested had a family emergency, so he sat all last week. I had the option to get him, but I figured it would be quicker (and allow for sleep) if I left him there. He's earned a break as it is.

Got an 18 Wrangler Unlimited. Not a bad little ride, handles nice. Ride is firm, but it does well on the worn out dirt roads we have around here. Interior is spartan! I find it fascinating these are so popular in today's age. No infotainment, manual seats, hard plastics all over the interior. I do appreciate the simplicity of it though. A nice change of pace...though I do miss my leather buckets...and everything else about Clyde. Soon.

Had a unfortunate occurrence Saturday morning. Was coming back to the highway after a back-roads cruise on dirt, and I hit a cattle guard a little harder than I expected. May need to get the RF tire checked out. Won't hold air very well, I can inflate it to 41 psi and I come out after work (or sleep) and it's down to 20. Most mystifying thing is I cannot for the life of me find any damage. Wheel isn;t out of round that I can see, bead seems to seat properly all around. I did the soap bubble test this morning when I got home and didn't see anything obvious. Maybe I ran over a nail I haven't seen in the tread. I'll go ask tomorrow, see if they're OK with me putting on the spare.
 
#17,889 ·
Bought new tires for the 2003 Deville I bought in May, what a difference -- random vibrations at highway speeds, it's the road surface, it's not the road surface, it's something seriously wrong.... It's like a damn hovercraft now! On decent asphalt the only sign that you are accelerating is wind noise and motor noise. Cooper Evolution Tour All- Season Radial, less than $300 installed, Amazon/Sears Auto Center. It was on my to do list but moved to the front when something that looked like a stone arrowhead pierced one of the old tires.
 
Top