Plain Jane OEM nothing to see here rebuild

[JustJeff]

One thing I forgot to add last night. I've got soft brakes. I thought that I had bled all 4 brake lines well enough. I didn't see any air in the lines at all. But still soft brakes. Last time I took it down the street and back I had to use the ebrake.

I'm guessing the master cylinder is bad. I don't know if it's related or not, but when I first filled the reservoir I came back the next day and the whole thing had drained from a leak in the seal/s at the bottom. I filled it up and put some screw clamps around it. It hasn't leaked since. But the brakes haven't worked right since then either.

[Pete_89T2]

Definitely replace that master cylinder, any leaks there result in no brakes.

On the fan wiring, is it still per the schematic diagram on post #112? Is it blowing those 40A fuses when turned on with the switch, or is it just not running repeatably when you flip the switch on/off? If it's the latter, first thing to check is the wiring & grounds - may have a loose intermittent connection somewhere, or its also possible the relay contacts may be going bad (carbon arcing). If it is blowing that 40A fuse, you've got a short circuit to find.

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

Definitely replace that master cylinder, any leaks there result in no brakes.

On the fan wiring, is it still per the schematic diagram on post #112? Is it blowing those 40A fuses when turned on with the switch, or is it just not running repeatably when you flip the switch on/off? If it's the latter, first thing to check is the wiring & grounds - may have a loose intermittent connection somewhere, or its also possible the relay contacts may be going bad (carbon arcing). If it is blowing that 40A fuse, you've got a short circuit to find.

I haven't worked on the car since. I'm trying not to let a sniffly nose and raw throat turn into a full blown cold...what with family coming into town for the holiday and all. Last night I opted not to lay around on cold concrete.

For the brakes I'm trying to get some speed bleeders to make sure I've got them bled properly. Problem is, my small town doesn't carry much in the way of metric parts. For anyone reading, four piston calipers on our cars are m8x1.0. I'm assuming the rears are the same.

I'm trying to avoid replacing the master cylinder if I can. Obviously for the work involved, but also for one other reason. I've got a southern vert shell that I very well may be keeping. For now it's been my parts car. I'm giving thought to taking my time with that shell. Giving it a proper paint job and swapping my turbo drivetrain BACK into it. I"ve already taken the clutch hyrdaulics off the shell, less work I create for myself down the road the better.

For the blown fuse. It turned on fine with a flip of the manual override. It stayed running till I turned it off. When the temps started to rise I checked to make sure the fan would turn on with the thermoswitch. I flipped the manual override to make sure it was operational....and got nothing. Temps weren't high enough yet for it to have turned on with the thermoswitch, I was just testing it. That was my cutoff point for cleaning up and heading to dinner. The only thing I did from that point was check the fuse and saw it was blown and bleed some of the air out of the cooling system.

I believe my ground wire for the fan is smallish and that might be causing my problems. The gauge on it is smaller than 10, maybe 12. I'm going to go through the wiring and make sure it's all 10 gauge. Well I probably won't do the thermoswitch wire that big. My understanding is that thermoswitch doesn't need that large.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by JustJeff

For the brakes I'm trying to get some speed bleeders to make sure I've got them bled properly. Problem is, my small town doesn't carry much in the way of metric parts. For anyone reading, four piston calipers on our cars are m8x1.0. I'm assuming the rears are the same.

Instead of speed bleeders, look up the Motive Power Bleeder and get one of those instead. It's basically a pressure bleeding system. Best under $50 tool that I ever purchased - makes brake bleeding & fluid flushing so easy you'll want to do it just for fun.

Originally Posted by JustJeff

For the blown fuse. It turned on fine with a flip of the manual override. It stayed running till I turned it off. When the temps started to rise I checked to make sure the fan would turn on with the thermoswitch. I flipped the manual override to make sure it was operational....and got nothing. Temps weren't high enough yet for it to have turned on with the thermoswitch, I was just testing it. That was my cutoff point for cleaning up and heading to dinner. The only thing I did from that point was check the fuse and saw it was blown and bleed some of the air out of the cooling system.

I believe my ground wire for the fan is smallish and that might be causing my problems. The gauge on it is smaller than 10, maybe 12. I'm going to go through the wiring and make sure it's all 10 gauge. Well I probably won't do the thermoswitch wire that big. My understanding is that thermoswitch doesn't need that large.

With that fuse blowing you have a short. Going back to your schematic, I assume that 40A fuse is between the battery + and the fan + terminals as shown. Somewhere, that current flow is being shunted to ground. Is that wire that says "optiional idle up" currently connected to anything? Maybe it's shorting somewhere in the harness? I don't have the FSM handy at the moment, so I don't know what that ECU pin 1O is supposed to be doing.

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

I'm hoping to get the bleeders tomorrow on my lunch break and bleed the brakes tomorrow night after work. BUT that bleeder does look pretty nifty, I'll check the shop for one.

I don't have the idle up wired into the ECU yet. I'll eventually do it, but it's not very high on my priority list ATM. The relay is just about new and I believe 40amp. I've got ignition power tapped from one of the green harnesses by the battery. It's either a 4 or 6 pin harness, IIRC.

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

With that fuse blowing you have a short. Going back to your schematic, I assume that 40A fuse is between the battery + and the fan + terminals as shown. Somewhere, that current flow is being shunted to ground. Is that wire that says "optiional idle up" currently connected to anything? Maybe it's shorting somewhere in the harness? I don't have the FSM handy at the moment, so I don't know what that ECU pin 1O is supposed to be doing.

I worked out the fan issue. It was too small of a fuse I put in there. I had a 30 amp fuse. I put in a 40 amp fuse and haven't had any issues.

[Pete_89T2]

Originally Posted by JustJeff

I worked out the fan issue. It was too small of a fuse I put in there. I had a 30 amp fuse. I put in a 40 amp fuse and haven't had any issues.

Good deal, I assumed you had a 40A fuse in there. 30A sounds about right for a fan circuit. Normally you'll want your fuse rated about 10~15% higher than the worst-case current draw your circuit will see in normal operations.

[JustJeff]

Originally Posted by Pete_89T2

Good deal, I assumed you had a 40A fuse in there. 30A sounds about right for a fan circuit. Normally you'll want your fuse rated about 10~15% higher than the worst-case current draw your circuit will see in normal operations.

I thought I had put a 40 amp in, guess I grabbed the wrong one and hadn't noticed.