First service but no $$, what to do?

[knickers]

Well I've clocked up a touch over 5000km in my galant, so i've booked it in for a service at a recommended mech in Melbourne to maintain my warranty. I don't have the money to do a major service, but is there anything I should not defer?

Car is a 99 manual with ~82000k, last serviced by dealer on delivery. Tappet noise is getting stronger so I'm going to ask for a 0w30 oil. Apart from that the only thing I can tell are wrong are the discs and flywheel are both warped - now to see if I can get that covered under shitty warranty..

 

[matchtheclown]

Ahhhhh.............. Oil and filter wont cost much. I would have zero faith in the dealer service.

Your brake discs are warped.... good luck on gettign warranty on that... you might be lucky.

And your flywheel? Warped? Really? Please explain.

 

[snickells]

Yea, hu? Wouldn't that cause catastrophic failure seeing as they have to be balanced quite precisely?

As for the service, I'd be getting some MBL8 to chuck in with your oil. It's awesome gear and really does quieten those pesky lifter's.

 

[OVR444]

Nic,

As you have a Type-V with no AYC you're lucky there... I would still get the gearbox fluid changed if this is your first service; god only knows what is running in there.

Apart from that; I would suggest the normal things. Oil filter, Fuel filter, Engine oil, etc...

If you are worried about your noisy lifters; there is plenty of discussion on here about a solution called Pro-Ma MBL8; just do a search and you will find details about it. My car is quiet as a mouse now, and I used to have the dreaded tick quite loudly. I think from memory its only like $20 for a bottle.

If you don't have the money for any major work; I would stay away from looking @ the clutch as labour will most likely kill you. Get the basic done then save up for the other bigger work IMO.

edit: damn you steve, you beat me to the Pro-Ma plug

 

[knickers]

Yeah I'm not confident about getting the brake discs done under warranty as they're not specifically included, and discs are generally excluded.

My clutch is on the way out, and I get an strong shudder when engaging 1st or 2nd with too low revs/not enough clutch. If this is just the clutch and not also flywheel related then cool.. But I asked previously and was told flywheel. Makes sense that there would be more symptoms though, and there's no shudder in taller gears/with momentum which doesn't make sense..

Service is $198, it's at tech///sport

EDIT missed those other responses;

I'll grab a bottle of the pro ma, I had read about it on here, but wanted to see if a better oil would ake care of the noise exclusively.

 

[OVR444]

I'll grab a bottle of the pro ma, I had read about it on here, but wanted to see if a better oil would ake care of the noise exclusively.

I would go with the thicker oil and pro-ma combination to ensure the noise is really suppressed or even disappears like mine.

 

[snickells]

edit: damn you steve, you beat me to the Pro-Ma plug

Sorry! Its ace stuff hu'!

 

[SiliconAngel]

Nic, for starters if you are low on cash, you should really consider doing as much work as possible yourself. I know it can be daunting at times when you have no experience with something, but cars are really simple beasts, it's just a matter of undoing and reassembling nuts and bolts, essentially. If you can wield a spanner you can do most things on a car I DO understand you have a warranty issue, so maybe at this stage you should continue to get the essential stuff done by them, but anything and everything else you should be trying to do yourself.

So, as to what is critical:

• Fuel Filter - your fuel filter(s) should have been changed at compliance, if they weren't the RAW has some explaining to do. I have a bad feeling they're only changing the main one, though - there's another one in the fuel tank which should also be changed.
• Gearbox oil - use Castrol Syntrans, as it's the best synthetic GL4 gearbox lube I've been able to find and it's not very expensive. You'll need about 2.4L and it's about $20/L from memory.
• Transfer case and diff - These take a GL5 75 to 85W 90 hypoid gear oil, I use Amsoil SVG (Severe Gear) but you can use what you like.
• Power Steering - this is often overlooked and really should be done as a matter of course. The PS pumps in our cars are quite delicate and it's real easy to burn them out, just turning the wheels to full lock and doing a bit of circle work is enough to kill them with the car in stock form, which is why so many of us have upgraded to proper heat-exchanger (ie integrated radiator) cooling. So ensure your PS lube is always in good condition.
• Brakes fluid - by far the most overlooked fluid replacement has got to be the brake fluid, no one ever thinks to change it and even most mechanics believe it only needs to be topped up. This is a very serious error - standard (ie non-silicone) brake fluid is hydroscopic, which means it attracts and absorbs water vapour from the air. As soon as you crack the can or bottle it comes in, this will start occurring. Once you have a significant proportion of water mixed in your brake fluid, your brakes become less effective and will start to feel 'spongy'. This is because when you push down on the pedal and the brakes engage the water in the brake lines will heat up and expand, and if the brakes are hot enough it will boil, so you'll have gas in your brake lines and you'll be effectively unable to apply your brakes at all. As you can imagine, this is extremely dangerous and could easily lead to an accident.
  Different brake fluids do have different properties. True racing fluid has a very low useful life, but the tradeoff is extremely high boiling point, so it's fantastic for a track day, but you do need to replace it every single race meet and it should never be used in a street car. Standard brake fluid has a much lower boiling point, but it lasts a lot longer - in normal applications it should be changed every two to three years. The best compromise between the two that I've been able to find is ATE Super Blue, which has a much higher boiling point than typical street car brake fluids but similar life - ATE says it lasts three years also. Being blue it also makes bleeding very easy, as it's obvious when you've bled out the old fluid.
• Brakes - warped rotors are very common on VR4's as they aren't made to withstand the heat we can produce stopping such a heavy car over short distances. The uneven heating causes the metal to warp, hence the shuddering brakes. I highly recommend upgrading to rotors designed to withstand the kind of heat they may be subjected to, Trav (Hipsi) sells RDA slotted rotors which won't set you back much. Obviously if you are very low on cash, this will have to wait for a bit, so in the mean-time don't push your car too hard so you never have to stamp on the brakes. The slight shuddering will be ok for a while, as long as you take it easy.
  Then of course there's your pads - so much about your braking performance is down to your pads. With the right compound you'll have good bite and good heat transfer to the calliper, which will then dissipate it. With cheap pads they glaze easily, the compound doesn't work well under high temperatures and they exacerbate the problem by not transferring the heat to the callipers well, so they stay hotter longer and are thus even more likely to fail. There are a number of excellent options available from sellers on this forum which I recommend you explore as soon as your budget allows. Once again, brakes are extremely easy to service yourself, so don't be afraid to give it a shot and save yourself a packet. There are plenty of guides on the web that will show you how to do it, and if you're still stuck there are heaps of people on here who will be happy to help you out
• Coolant - get yourself some demineralised water and a good glycerol concentrate and mix 1 to 1. This will give you the highest boiling point and best corrosion resistance without introducing additives which may not be great for your engine. Steer clear of premixes IMO and never ever use water wetter (I posted a link last week which explains why).
• Engine Oil - 0W30 or 5W30 fully synthetic, have a read in related threads on here to see what people have been using safely in their cars. Avoid Royal Purple as it has very poor lifespan and will degrade long before you come to replace it, which could potentially damage your engine - it should only ever be used in drag cars which replace their oil after every run.

On the subject of lifters, there is clearly an inherent flaw in the design Mitsubishi used for the lifters in both VR4's and a range of their cars from the same era, as they all suffer from unusually common lifter noise. Minor noise isn't much to worry about - basically what's happening is the diaphragm in the lifter is a little worn, which is allowing some of the oil inside it to leak out, so the lifter becomes slightly spongy. The result is when the cam lifts to it's highest point there is a tiny gap between the lifter and the top of the valve stem, so as the cam lowers back down the lifter closes the gap as it hits the valve stem, creating the 'ticking' noise. Generally this is quite safe and doesn't cause any mechanical issues for years, it's just slightly annoying. However if the noise gets noticeably louder (ie the same frequency of ticking but louder, not more 'ticks') then the lifter may be failing completely and must be changed or it will foul the valve stem which will bend it. Pro-Ma may be able to mask the noise, but it won't 'fix' the actual problem.

Also be aware that even brand new, these lifters MUST have adequate oil supply or they will tick, so make sure your oil is always topped up to the full line on your dipstick.

Finally, I think your shuddering clutch is almost certainly the friction material not the flywheel, but either way you need the clutch replaced and the flywheel machined while you have it all apart. This won't be real cheap, so try to nurse it for as long as you can, but eventually it WILL fail and your car will be undrivable. The upside is you probably won't do any damage in the mean-time.

Good luck!

 

[knickers]

Very helpful post, thanks for the info!