[The_Evenger]

so that radio is junk. I felt like something was off since I picked it up from the junk yard (installed it in the yard parking lot), like the left was missing. well, I put a sound test on a CD and sure enough, the left channel was nearly completely missing. what ever sound coming out of the left speakers was actually bleed from the right side, once the sound test CD would switch to left channel testing, the only noise it made was coming from the sub and very little from the rear woofer. once that was disconnected, it was pretty much silent.

the nearest junkyard that had another one of these radios for a reasonable price was a 3 hour drive away, not wanting to drive that far for a factory radio I started looking into double dins and HOLY CRAP! those things are like a carnival in a car! I mean, Jesus ****ing Christ! lights, lights ****ING EVERYWHERE! I don't know where it happened, but at some point double din radios took one hell of a wrong turn. I hate touch screens, so that leaves me with single dins.

I ended up with a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X701, it has buttons that are somewhat big and satisfying, not too flashy, and dual rear USB and rear AUX! it also has a new Bluetooth protocol that apparently has enough bandwidth to play music without losses, I can't test this because I have a $30 smart phone from 4 years ago, but it gives me room to grow at least. you can turn off pandora and iheartradio from the source list if you're like me and don't use it, and it even retains station presets even after the battery was disconnected! sweet! I'm for the most part satisfied with this radio. my biggest issue with it is the screen. what was wrong with standard LCD displays, they worked so much better than the ****** displays all these aftermarket radios use. as in, you can actually READ IT when there sunlight on it, unlike all the aftermarket radios...

I wish I had 3.5mm shrink tube for the wiring harness, but I only had 2.5, so it had to work. I really like how the wiring harness turned out because I bought some wiring harness tape for the engine bay, and it really makes the radio wiring harness look factory

I also stumbled across some NEW factory Tiburon radio mounting hardware when looking for factory radios, for $15!

overall, I miss the look and feel of the factory radio, but this one is a necessary evil, and it gives me room to grow in the aftermarket space.

Edit: accidentally posted early.

I also noticed my clutch fluid turned black again, and was low.... hmmmmm.... after doing a little bit of investigation I found a ton of brake fluid coming into the cabin from the clutch master cylinder. great. looks like I get to replace the master cylinder in the near future. hopefully the paint isn't totally ruined, I may need to play touch up.

 

[Charlie-III]

LOL.....love the description......

Glad you got it done.
I have no clue on some of the myriad "bells and whistles". For me, clean sound and good reception are paramount, some minor addons are nice.
I'm Frikkin driving, no need for all the rest.
>

 

[The_Evenger]

......For me, clean sound and good reception are paramount, some minor addons are nice.
I'm Frikkin driving, no need for all the rest.
>

I agree completely, and I totally forgot to mention that this radio actually has great reception compared to the other two that were in this car. the other two would cut out the second I pulled into the garage, this one can still hold a good signal in there. very impressive.

 

[The_Evenger]

got my new clutch master and slave cylinder. changing that master isn't a huge pain, but that bottom nut, really? I replaced the slave cylinder as long as I'm opening up the system. that old master really did a number on my firewall, looks delicious.

I also replaced my bulbs for the fog light switch and hazard switch. I bought some new T3 led lights off eBay that actually use a 12V led. I can't find 12V leds anywhere so I just bought some of those, removed them from their housing, and put them in the stock tib housings. it worked great for the hazard light switch, but the fog light illumination was dim, and the fog light indicator was flickering, so I decided to solder them directly to the switch. pretty easy and cheap way to replace those pesky bulbs.

I'm once again dealing with the pesky o2 sensor slow response code. I can't believe how little information there is on this code for tibs, considering I've struggled with it on ALL THREE TIBS I've owned now.

 

[The_Evenger]

today did me a surprise

so I was cleaning up the engine bay from below and noticed there was a ton of junk on the side of the transmission. I was worried that there was a seal failing, but when I was cleaning the by the fill plug I bumped it, and it moved. I was able to remove the tranny fill plug with my fingers, not only that, it was missing it's aluminum washer. so I filled the tranny with the leftover redline from last time and it took all 2/3ds of a quart that I had left.

I can't believe it wasn't making any noise or acting up, this transmission is actually the only one I've ever used that let me go into first while moving so I wasn't particularly concerned about it.

I also noticed that my inner CV joint boots are throwing grease absolutely everywhere. they're not cracked, it's just leaking out the edge of the boot, what could cause this? how can I combat this?

I also got my new shift knob from tuscani customs, only problem is that it arrived cracked. luckily they sent me a picture of it before the sent it, and the crack showed up on the picture so they're sending me a new one now. I don't know how it would have went if the crack didn't show up in the picture, but I'm happy even with the cracked shift knob. there's nothing worse than dealing with that disgusting aluminum one.

 

[The_Evenger]

I got my new shift knob... again... from tuscanicustoms.com for free as my last one was cracked! I'm very happy with their customer service. I also got my new AEM water sleeve for my filter, this one is a super snug fit compared to my last one, hopefully it'll do a better job filtering water out. my last $5 eBay water sleeve worked, but it still let a lot of water past, I have high hopes for the AEM variant. I also replaced my transmission fluid with reline 75w85 GL-4 tranny fluid. that thing was very low on fluid, I'm honestly surprised it didn't grenade on me.

 

[The_Evenger]

Norbs... I just asked for a steering wheel, not all this.

I got a new passenger buckle and steering wheel... plus some... from my local salvage yard, and found some very interesting stuff. I plugged in the buckle, and the air bag light went out on it's own, I didn't need to clear codes... weird. but after I had everything bolted back down, it came back on, well ****, unbolted the seat again, tilted it up, and it went back out. turns out, there's a break in my harness somewhere, I can actually make the light go out by moving the seat back, and make it come back on by moving it forward. there's no obvious damage so I'll need to tear that entire harness apart to find the point of failure, my old buckle might not have even been bad until I broke it attempting to open it. the code is: B1513 PA.BELT SW-OPEN/SHORT 2 B+

I also asked for a steering wheel and got more than I bargained for. they gave me the whole shaft that holds everything together in addition to the steering wheel, this thing is like a gold mine! I'll have to start a thread in the for sale section and sell some of the additional items. I may actually be able to make use of the ignition cylinder if I can figure out how to swap them, the keys for my car are both cut keys, not original keys. as a result, they both work very poorly. I always end up fighting my ignition cylinder trying to get it to either start the car, or get the key back out of it. I think I'll call my dealer and see how much a genuine key costs first though.

My old steering wheel was tearing at the seams and very uncomfortable because of that, this new one is in worse shape, but it will at least slide through my hand nicer than that other pile. I may try my hand at re-wrapping the old wheel someday.

 

[The_Evenger]

After further inspection, the wiring harness was perfectly fine. the cable was broken right by the buckle housing where it bends, I just must have been bumping it or something when I was trying to test the harness.

I broke apart the housing and soldered the wires together in non-damaged areas, and presto! the SRS is now working! I used JBweld to glue the buckle housing back together and some wiring harness tape to clean it up a bit.

 

[The_Evenger]

I noticed my fog light projector lens was broken a while ago and got a replacement, but DROPPED IT!!! Brand new fog light, ruined. great. I was planning on also replacing the driver side because of corrosion, but now I need to work with what I have.

In order to fix the passenger side, I need to replace the projector lens. the only fog light I have is for the driver, from NoSloppy. so that leaves me with one option, extract the lens from the driver side and put it in the passenger side. doing this was fairly easy with a heat gun, just heat up the housing and pry the glass off. once you have the glass off, it's just a screw, and you have your prize, the projector lens. repeat for the broken housing, and you're done.

Next, I modified the HVAC controls illumination to be LED, mainly because the bulbs are SUPER EXPENSIVE and the only bulb that sometimes worked was the zone selection.

I used a combination of hot-glue and JB weld to hold the LEDs in place, along with some surface mount LEDs for the knob illumination. it turned out to have pretty good coverage, but it was bright as hell! I originally was going to wire in one resister to reduce the brightness, but it turns out if you put red LEDS and white LEDS on the same power rail with a resister on it, the white ones drop out almost IMMEDIATELY while the red ones stay let A LOT longer. because of this, I had to wire the red and white LEDs on different power feeds to keep them both lit AND dim. (more info in the "...pics" link)

Lastly, I got a second-hand like-new Injen intake on the cheap! it was very close to a bolt-in, no modifications necessary install. the only snag I had was with the factory horn extender, it's hole wasn't big enough for the bolt. I ended up having to drill it out a bit.

It seems to fit way better than the AEM, but more importantly, it gets the filter out of the way of water. even with the new hydro-shield on the AEM, It still started chugging and threw a CEL for the MAF when it rained. I'm done dealing with water, and this is my solution.

...pics​

 

[The_Evenger]

Paint work.​

So, the clear has always been faded, or something, and really looked disappointing, no matter how much I scrubbed, it wouldn't look clean. Well, my dad decided what Jezebel needed was a good buffing, and MAN WAS HE RIGHT! Jezebel was cleaned just before we started, so what looks like dirt or dust is actually just how it looked. THAT is just how big of a difference a good buffing did! It almost looks like it's had a paint job!

took quite a while, but it was damn worth it. I'm going to wax it soon too to protect the now good looking paint.

I also figured out what was wrong with my factory radio this whole time: I was being autistic. turns out you can pull the "bass" knob out more after you pop it out, and it then controls balance instead of bass. I then continued to brake it from pushing on the screen to make it work, making one of the illumination LEDs come in contact with the housing and short out the illumination trace. I had to de-solder the connector and radio face connector from the damaged trace and run a wire to get the illumination working again. I also re-soldered the LCD since the solder joints cracked.

I also re-added the AUX tape mod and installed two aux jacks for my convenience.

...pics​

 

[The_Evenger]

oh man, a lot has happened...

a while ago I got pulled over on the highway and received a warning for my tint and exhaust(!!?), well 7 weeks later, I get pulled over by the same guy on the same road and got a fix it ticket this time. the tint is understandable and it WAS illegal, but the part that really rubs me the wrong way is the exhaust. By no means is the DC Sports cat-back exhaust loud, but by state law it has to be the factory exhaust system to be legal.

My problem with this starts by people I know who have both INTENTIONALLY cut off their mufflers, had the exhaust rust and fall off leaving the car with open headers, and had so many leaks that I couldn't talk outside the car! do these people EVER get pulled over or ticketed for their exhaust? no. never. not in the 5 YEARS of knowing these people have they ever fixed their exhaust or ever received a ticket for it.

BUT HEAVEN FORBID I HAVE A MUFFLING DEVICE THAT JUST SO HAPPENS TO BE SLIGHTLY LOUDER THAN FACTORY! but not only that, but the lying pig told me it would take 5 minutes to remove my tint, IT TOOK DAYS! I had to buy a steamer and pick at it for hours and hours because the clear plastic separated from the film and the film was as delicate as a fly's wing.

I don't have a problem with cops, I don't have a problem with the fix it ticket, but I DO have a problem with being lied to.

/rant

I traded exhausts with my friend and got the ticket cleared, and my friend liked the DC Sports cat-back so much he bought it from me. it's funny, the factory exhaust is actually louder than the DC exhaust courtesy of a huge exhaust leak, but it passed inspection anyway.

I also had to replace my washer pump, I was suspecting this was going to happen because the output was never all that impressive and it didn't work when I first got the car. I had to heat it up and hit on it to make it go, once I got it going it lasted for the summer, but gave out once the cold months came around. the new pump works WAY better, very happy with it.

I also ****ed up my climate control board by shorting some pins together, so now I'm stuck in recirculating mode... I'll have to see if I can force it back into fresh air mode.

last but not least, I'll be able to put Jezebel away for winter courtesy of my new car: scubaru (scoob for short )

I was originally just looking for a winter beater, but when I saw this I couldn't pass it up. as always with the cars I tend to buy, it doesn't move. the guy was on a road trip and hit something (probably curbed it) and actually managed to BEND THE STRUT! the wheel is at a 90° angle for straight forward loading it onto the trailer. apparently it happened somewhere in Colorado and the guy drove it all the way up to Wisconsin. he went to California and bought a car with the intent of bringing it back for a daily driver, but decided it wasn't worth the effort to fix so he sold it.

It only has 168k miles (lowest I've seen around me), and if I were to guess why the tranny went at that mileage, I'd say it was torque bound to death from the ****ed suspension, the wheel with the bent strut is actually down to the cords on the inside with 75% of the tread left in the middle and outside.

Hopefully I'll get it on the road before the snow does

 

[Charlie-III]

Sucks about your ticket.

What year is the Subaru, about 2000? Look over at Nasioc for more info on it, I'm there, same screen name.
Or, ask in OT here.

 

[The_Evenger]

Sucks about your ticket.

What year is the Subaru, about 2000? Look over at Nasioc for more info on it, I'm there, same screen name.
Or, ask in OT here.

2002 3.0

I've been lurking a bit over there, not sure if or when I'll post there. I'm still going through as much information as I can about these cars.

I don't intend to post about scoob anymore on this forum, but I thought the story was interesting enough to write about.

 

[The_Evenger]

Jezebel is back! With a laundry list of stuff to do!

I got my tib back over spring break with the intent of fixing pretty much everything that's been bugging me and install everything I've bought.

First thing I did was buy my DC Sports exhaust back from my friend who bought it off me. the 3000RPM rice can sound was driving me insane. However, I decided to add a cat. I was thinking about it over winter and even though I don't need to go through any kind of inspection, it would probably be a good idea to add a cat. Plus, it is a bit louder than I would like having basically a straight pipe from the header to the tip. I cut the section of Y-pipe where the original 3rd cat would be and put the aftermarket cat in the same place. Used some cheesy exhaust bands and a summit racing converter, seems ok so far. hope it doesn't blow apart in 5k miles.

also, turns out if your right hand is one set of keys to the left and you go to type "miles", you'll get "nukes". there's a thing you know now.

Second thing I did was install my new window regulator. It was a relatively easy job, just makes you sweat handling the glass. The original issue was a popping sound that showed up whenever I rolled up the window, never down. The new regulator fixed that, had to spend more time getting the window adjustment right than I did replacing the regulator.

The next thing I did was install my multi-gauges and mod my gauge cluster back lighting so I can turn it on separate from everything else. I did them both at the same time since I need to go to the same wires for the mod and the multi-gauge. It's weird as hell that the multi-gauge uses the CAN bus to get the calculated torque, but makes you find the speed and injection input for the MPG gauge. why couldn't it get that through the CAN bus? beats me.

I used a lot of cloth tape to make the wiring look as factory as possible, I also modified the hands free calling button to be a holding switch by taking the metal rocker bar from one of my spare switches. I even scored a pigtail for the switch from a salvage yard, awesome! Also got a new radio, again, to use with the multi-gauges. I went with Alpine this time, liking it so far. has a dimmer wire & a very bright screen.

I also did a long overdue tuneup on the engine, that thing needed new spark plugs when I bought it and it's about time it got them. I also put a crap ton of compressed air in the A/C system to see if it's leaking, I'll check back in a few days to see if it's still in there. If it is, I'll see if I can get it charged. I'll be damn happy if it holds pressure.

I really love how the gauges look, especially at night! I also really like my on-demand gauge illuminations, really handy for cloudy days and sunglasses.

Airbags continue to be a PITA, I have a suspicion that the light goes out every time I talk to the SRS unit. I'm waiting for it to come back on again, then I'll talk to the SRS module with the Hi-Scan pro emulator and cycle the key. If it goes out again after talking to it, i dunno, but at least I'll have a re-producible symptom.

 

[The_Evenger]

Pursuit of fob programming​

I recently bought a xTuner E3 and just got it today in hopes of figuring out what's going on with my air bags... sigh... and maybe get transmitter code saving to work.

You have to register the scanner once you receive it, and unfortunately I wasn't able to get registration to go through until around 9:10pm.... not much time to mess around, especially in the cold. but I did eventually get it to work and ran out to my car like it was Christmas!

Connecting to the ECU is fine, connecting to the BCM is another story. even though it says in the on-screen instructions to have the ignition ON, I haven't been able to talk to the BCM once with the ignition ON. However I have been able to get short bursts of communication right after turning off the ignition, but that only lasts 10 seconds or so before I loose communication.

Once I make first connection with the BCM I can look at all of the bi-directional functions and data pids, but if I try to use any of them I'll get a communication error. if I turn the ignition ON again then back OFF after 5-10 seconds, I get another 5-10 seconds of communication for the bi-directional tests. I was able to turn on the left turn signal test and spend about 10 minutes trying to get it to stop because I lost communication with the test after a few seconds... not so good.

so clearly this thing has issues talking to the BCM, same basic story with the fob programming. I can get into the menu, but only after turning off the ignition. I can get into the code saving test, but it always ends in tests failure.

regarding the SRS module, I can't connect to it under any circumstance, but the AIRBAG light does come on when connecting to it, and in the quick scan menu it does show OK under the scanned modules list & the AIRBAG light flashes like I just turned on the ignition once it goes through it. (the light isn't currently on... it's been good lately)

I didn't check ABS yet, I got too frickin' cold to be outside any longer, but I'm going to take note of as many data anomalies as I can and contact support about it, see if I can get this thing talking.

I know these modules talk because I've talked to them through CASCADE many, many times & even used bi-directional tests through it without issue. my only issue with CASCADE is that any and all data pids it displays change constantly. SRS doesn't usually show codes, but when it does, it goes from faulty ECU to speed sensor codes. not what a SRS module should display. ECU and BCM data pids just go absolutely nuts, if you look at anything such as a seat belt buckle state, it'll be switching from bucked and unbuckled constantly.

TL;DR
It doesn't want to talk to the BCM or SRS, I'm going to contact support and see what I can do.​

 

[TexanTib06GT]

You've truly breathed new life in to an old and broken car. I salute you... I've been reading your entries as they come, don't let up!

 

[The_Evenger]

HOLY CRAP I got lucky!​

I was driving and noticed my headlights would kinda dip momentary and recovery from time to time but charging voltage was staying at 14v, so I thought it might be a loose battery terminal or something and decided I'd check it when I get home. When I opened the hood I was greeted with A) a very loose battery cable B) COOLANT EVERYWHERE!

Radiator developed a crack along the top plastic tube and was dumping coolant all over the engine compartment. I got extremely lucky I noticed this now opposed to on the side of the road!

I seriously hate that manufacturers are using plastic this and plastic that for stuff as CRITICAL as the coolant system! The inside of the radiator looks perfect, there's no problems with it other than the time bomb that is the plastic tanks. It feels like a complete wast to replace a radiator that is 90% ok. If manufacturers didn't use plastic I wouldn't be in this situation, but since plastic is the automotive equivalent of a time bomb, here I am.

I was also driving with my new gauge cluster and noticed quite a few issues.
•RPM reads 1.5x higher than it should since it was for a 4cyl
•fuel gauge fixed at full when on
•speedo needle doesn't light up
•MICOM leds are waaay too bright
•cruise set light doesn't come on
•I decided I can't stand the blue

The F/L2 gauge cluster has double the LEDs for the MICOM display than the F/L displays, and if you replace them with orange LEDS, it's bright. very bright. I tried, and tried, and tried to find a solution to remove the blue accents from the gauge faces but they're not going anywhere. If the blue bothers you, don't buy F/L2 gauges. you ain't getting rid of it.

I really wanted the cruise set light to work, but it's not in the harness in this year. the pin is there on the servo, and part numbers between the 03 and 07 diagrams don't change, so I suspect I can run my own wire to and get that light to work. I'll figure out when I get my other new gauge cluster and some spare time. I bought one from a 05 GT with the trip computer, but I really just want that cruise set light to be honest.

I've heard nothing from xTuner, seems they don't think they care enough to fix the issues with BCM connectivity dropouts, at least not right away. In my last attempt of finding a way to program key fobs myself I've bought a SBB V33.02. They're used for programing keys by locksmiths & it's my last hope of doing it myself. I bought one with the slowest shipping possible so I'll be waiting a while, but I really hope it works. I can't get my only XP compatible computer running so my only other option is taking it to the dealer... sigh.

 

[Charlie-III]

Good catch on the leak.

Good time to do radiator hoses, clamps and coolant, maybe even thermostat.

Plastic.......
Easier to make a mold to fit a space.
Cheaper materials.
Likely to last through original owner/warranty.

Yes, better to find now than 500 miles from home.

 

[The_Evenger]

New radiator is installed! I got an all aluminum one from ebay for $130, which when the OEM style ones on rock auto are $50 it feels a bit expensive but you get what you pay for. It was a direct bolt-on with no modification needed at all, and it's twice as thick as the original! I'm very happy with it and hope it'll last unlike the original. It even came with a new radiator cap, how nice of them. I wasn't expecting it and bought one already, but they're cheap enough so whatever.

I did what @Charlie-III suggested and put hoses, coolant, and a thermostat in it. thermostat was sticking open anyways so now's the time. I didn't do the clamps though, I had leaks before but I've always been able to fix them by cleaning corrosion off the outlet with a brass brush. I haven't had the occurrence of insufficient clamping force cause a leak yet.

I also got my new gauge cluster, has about 90k more miles than the car does but I don't really care, I don't plan to sell this car anyways. I was gonna try to swap the odometer chips but in addition to the chips having different numbers on them, they're a serious pain to get at with a connector right next to 'em so I'm just going to leave it be. I didn't have time to mess with the cruise, I've been rather busy lately and just wanted my car moving again so I'll be working on that on a later date.

I also finally fixed my sticking throttle body! No amount of cleaning was ever able to fix it's initial stick it had if you let it slam shut. I decided to take it off the car and do whatever I had to to make it stop sticking. What ended up working was removing the butterfly and flipping it around, only then did it finally not stick. once I did that the sticking was gone, completely! I've gotten so used to having to tap the peddle before pressing it that I forgot how nice it is not to have to do it.

The SBB hasn't arrived yet, hasn't even moved since I last posted, at least according to the tracking #. I'm really hoping it works.

 

[Charlie-III]

Since the system is mostly drained, it's always a good idea to do a little more maintenance work while at it.
Keep in mind, rubber bits and some fluids have miles AND time limits.
Good job.

As to your throttle plate, I wonder if someone messed with the mechanical idle adjuster at some point to fix another issue. This can allow the plate to dig into the body bore causing a sticking.