04-02-2012, 09:25 AM
So, updates on this thing.
I freakin' love it. It's older and not all complicated like a brandy-new BMW, it has everything I want (save for heated seats) and gets decent gas mileage.
Speaking of gas mileage, I made it better. The thermostat was stuck open, so the motor was never really warming up on my drives. Even 3 hours on the highway, it'd waver between 1/3 and middle. I bought the $11 t-stat when I bought the other parts (aka, a month ago) and never put it in. Finally, last week, when the morning temp dropped from 55 to 37 overnight, I decided I couldn't handle "no heat" any longer.
Replaced it that night (thank you, Kaan for drinking beer with me and helping a bit), and of course, it's not a 10 minute job like it is on a Honda. Took us a little while, but we got everything back together, seemingly with no leaks, and it's holding coolant properly (so I guess I bled it right). Oh, and it heats up fast now.
AND my MPG's went up. According to the OBC, I was getting about 22.5 MPG on my commute. Reset it and now it tells me 26.1 for the same drive.
Rock on.
I freakin' love it. It's older and not all complicated like a brandy-new BMW, it has everything I want (save for heated seats) and gets decent gas mileage.
Speaking of gas mileage, I made it better. The thermostat was stuck open, so the motor was never really warming up on my drives. Even 3 hours on the highway, it'd waver between 1/3 and middle. I bought the $11 t-stat when I bought the other parts (aka, a month ago) and never put it in. Finally, last week, when the morning temp dropped from 55 to 37 overnight, I decided I couldn't handle "no heat" any longer.
Replaced it that night (thank you, Kaan for drinking beer with me and helping a bit), and of course, it's not a 10 minute job like it is on a Honda. Took us a little while, but we got everything back together, seemingly with no leaks, and it's holding coolant properly (so I guess I bled it right). Oh, and it heats up fast now.
AND my MPG's went up. According to the OBC, I was getting about 22.5 MPG on my commute. Reset it and now it tells me 26.1 for the same drive.
Rock on.
Now:
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan
Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M
'16 Ram 1500 | '97 BMW M3 | Some Press Loan
Then:
87 BMW 325e | 91 BMW 535i | 96 BMW 328i | 95 BMW 325i | 95 Mazda Miata | 13 Focus ST | 09 BMW 128i | 00 Pontiac Firebird | 05 Yukon Denali | 96 BMW 328iC | 11 Ford F-150 | 06 BMW M3 | 10 Range Rover SC | '03 Ford Ranger | '18 Ford F-150 | '01 BMW X5 | '98 Volvo S70 T5M