I know everyone has a laundry list of stuff that they need to fix on their cars. I'm no exception. My 2002 SC has been merrily going along with 190k miles on it. However, old age is starting to creep up on it. The car has original struts and (as far as i can tell) an original clutch. The struts have held up ok so far. The clutch is starting to show wear. The engagement point is close to the end of travel and evidence of power loss in higher gears.
Added to those problems, I believe one of the motor mounts needs to be replaced since the there's a clunk every time I apply power and when the engine starts and stops, like the engine is rocking a bit too much (metal to metal).
Why do I mention struts when I'm talking about replacing the clutch? Good question! After watching some car **** on Youtube, it seems that I have to remove the driver's side suspension to remove the transmission to get to the clutch. Also, I have to remove the passenger side drive shaft. Why not replace that strut assembly too? And since I'm replacing the front assemblies, why not do the rear too!
So...clutch assembly, motor mount, struts. Nope, not that simple! Clutch, flex plate, bearing, seals, and tranny fluid probably all need to be replaced. And then I have to put my life in my hands taking those springs off the front struts. And then a 4 wheel alignment. Sounds like a big project. It is! And labor intensive to boot!
Unfortunately, I won't be able to do any of this since I don't have the tools, or the know-how, or the place to do work on my own. Bummer.
Time to save my pennies.

 

From a cold start:
Have someone else start the car while you stand next to the firewall with the hood up (poor sentence structure, sorry). If the clunk comes from right behindish the firewall, turn off the car and check to see if the exhaust system has any up and down wiggle to it. If the muffler hanger rusts through, the entire exhaust system will droop until you get up near the cat con (the next hanger I believe). End result is that (if I remember correctly) the cat will smack off the underside of the car when started due to the sudden application of torque. It may sound like it's under the hood but could be what I've described.

your 190K struts died at maybe 75K if blessed; they seem ok to you because they've been dead for well over 100K. The car is light; the springs do most of the work in absorbing shock, with the struts supposedly helping to control the re-bounce. When I did struts on my two SC2's all eight of the struts, when removed, slowly and silently retracted to their home position........

If you keep from burning your clutch in 1st gear and during hi rpm shifting on on ramps and such, you'll be surprised how long it takes to use up that last bit of clutch. Mine has been engaging up near the top since about 185K. I wouldn't say I baby it, but I don't try to dump the clutch w accel down to the floor at 4500 rpm in 4-5 shift on an on ramp either.

Given the age of the car, you may wish to drive it until it is truly almost out of clutch. The engine could use a re ringing and the head a vavle job w new valve guide seals --- but it's 13 yrs old. It's a DIY'ers dream car if they are sufficiently knowledgeable.

Motor mounts -- prob upper torque axis mount (pass side) if any though I think the rubber in the mount would need to be torn to get metal on metal contact. Inspect n replace as necessary. Be sure you look up the correct procedure for removal and installation,which requires you to loosen and re-tighten the lower torque axis mount (not difficult but important).

 

Yeah, the upper mount has a crack in the rubber from looking at it this morning. I'll replace that with my next oil change see if the clunk goes away. I don't abuse my cars, so the clutch replacement is hopefully far off, but still in the back of my mind. Struts I'll get to sooner or later.

 

Coming back from dropping my brother at the airport yesterday, I noticed that there was a very telling sign coming from the engine. Some liquid dripping on something hot. That's not good.


The round trip too and from the airport was about 200 miles, and I was driving for about 5 hours with a couple of short stops here and there. It wasn't until I got home that I could hear the dripping. It was pretty regular, mostly just a single drop at a time, but there was one instance of multiple drops.


I popped the hood and poked around with a flashlight. The front of the engine looked dry; no sign of trails where I could see. I checked the water pump and it too was dry. (I was tired from driving all day, so I forgot to look under the car.)


The "something hot" must be the exhaust pipe going under the block I couldn't visually confirm my suspicion and since there was a steady stiff breeze, I couldn't smell anything either. There has been a steady drain of coolant somewhere, and since the radiator and heater core were replaced I knew both of them were ok. I also had all radiator and heater core hoses replaced. So the odds of them leaking are small. Also at start, I can hear a cascade of coolant flowing into the heater core in the dashboard. Like it has a massive air bubble in the system.

So that leaves the head gasket. I check the oil regularly and would have noticed a milkshake condition. The car doesn't overheat and keeps under the halfway mark on the temperature gauge. The cooling fans kick in when they should and they work as they should bringing the temperature down past halfway when idling.


The car does stutter while at speed and between shifts, and pings at high RPM. I haven't determined if this is a lean condition yet, but I'm leaning that way. I'm also thinking of cleaning out the throttle body as well, just to rule that out.


Motor mount was confirmed by my brother. He watched it while I started the motor and it does allow excessive motion and there is a visible crack in the bushing part, so that's gotta be addressed soon too.

 

I'm gonna guess that sound is condensate from the A/C system landing on the exhaust. I hear it all the time on my 97 SC2 during the summer months when using A/C.

You did not mention any loss of coolant, so the condensate theory is not undermined. Does sound like the system needs a burping.

Don't wait too long on the upper mount, and make sure you buy new mounting studs to match the mount. Design changed over the years.

As for stuttering, throttle body cleaning is a good place to start

 

Oh yeah. I did run the A/C on my trip. Probably forgot what it sounded like.
Oops.


In any case, I went down and cleaned the throttle body, checked the oil and coolant level. Everything checked out all right. There was no puddle under the car. I just came back after a short drive (no A/C) and didn't hear the drip, so Derf is probably correct. Engine stayed cool. Tip in hesitation is gone and throttle is a lot smoother with the TB cleaned. On-power hesitation is still there, especially in 4th gear at around 2k to 3k RPM and again in 5th at cruising speeds 2.5-3k RPMs. Also ping is still present approaching 5k RPM, but I usually don't rev that high anyway.

 

Oops, meant to include pictures into that post, but forgot! Here ya go!


Looks like I have a little blow-by around the filler cap, as it's a little oily in that area.

 

Turns out both engine mounds were bad. Had both replaced. Engine much happier and smoother. Even shifts better now that the engine is sitting where it's supposed to be! Shifting into first always bound up. Now it slides right in.

 

I assume both torque axis mounts.

Ever changed the ECTS (coolant temp sensor) to the updated brass design?
May be skewing the air/fuel mix to the rich side, causing hesitation/bogging down among many other things

 

Yes, both passenger-side mounts were replaced with new studs. As for the sensor, I'll have to check my records. We've replaced a few sensors, but dang if I know the alphabet soup to remember them by.

I'll have to get back to you on that one. Summer school is getting a bit busy next week and I'm moving to a new apartment on the 15th. So car stuff is getting shoved to the back burner for right now.

Having said that, I've orderd a new climate control cluster and bought new bulbs for some burned out in the gauge cluster. I'll be doing that job when I get the time.