Sunday I drove to Kelowna and back (about two hours each way) to go see my Mom. Almost as soon as I get into Kelowna first and second gear are so mushy that I can get them to engage only by wiggling the stick and then pushing down at an odd angle. Soon after third gear was almost as bad.
It felt like I was stirring a bowl of oatmeal.
The weird thing about this was that I wasn't losing power, there were no grinding or popping noises, nothing smelled bad and once I was in gear everything was business as usual.
So I figured it was a linkage issue (or something) and Monday after work I started to pull off my dash and have a look at things. (It was raining too, so I was really hoping my problem wasn't under the car)
I pull the boot off to discover I only have two of the bolts holding the rubber boot-plate on. This isn't a good start. (I took this picture after I removed the two remaining bolts).
Pull up a couple more covers and I discover this. Looking at the plate shows me four holes, but there are only two bolts. The picture doesn't show it, but the two that are left have backed out so far that a half a turn removes them.:aigo:
So I fixed the problem by replacing all four bolts (and also the four holding down the boot cover) and tightening them properly and now the car shifts better than it did the day I bought it. I also made sure to use four of the same so that I don't need eight different tools the next time I have to remove them.
I'm also missing about half the screws that hold my dash on and the rest of the interior. I'm a little afraid to find out what else is missing...:3d_frown:
I'm not going to be surprised to find out one day that I only have one motor mount holding everything together.
So tell me, what's the scariest/funniest/almost catastrophic thing you've narrowly avoided by catching in time, or during a random inspection etc?
It felt like I was stirring a bowl of oatmeal.
The weird thing about this was that I wasn't losing power, there were no grinding or popping noises, nothing smelled bad and once I was in gear everything was business as usual.
So I figured it was a linkage issue (or something) and Monday after work I started to pull off my dash and have a look at things. (It was raining too, so I was really hoping my problem wasn't under the car)
I pull the boot off to discover I only have two of the bolts holding the rubber boot-plate on. This isn't a good start. (I took this picture after I removed the two remaining bolts).
Pull up a couple more covers and I discover this. Looking at the plate shows me four holes, but there are only two bolts. The picture doesn't show it, but the two that are left have backed out so far that a half a turn removes them.:aigo:
So I fixed the problem by replacing all four bolts (and also the four holding down the boot cover) and tightening them properly and now the car shifts better than it did the day I bought it. I also made sure to use four of the same so that I don't need eight different tools the next time I have to remove them.
I'm also missing about half the screws that hold my dash on and the rest of the interior. I'm a little afraid to find out what else is missing...:3d_frown:
I'm not going to be surprised to find out one day that I only have one motor mount holding everything together.
So tell me, what's the scariest/funniest/almost catastrophic thing you've narrowly avoided by catching in time, or during a random inspection etc?
