Recent content by frankpc

Sorry, forgot the cut and paste from the Gates site with info about their water pumps (and the basis for my sealed bearing comments): Here are the quality features built into every new, OE-equivalent water pump from Gates: The shaft and hub are precisely ground to exactly fit original...

I understand about coolant having water pump lube, but have you looked at a water pump lately? The bearings sure look sealed to me. I've always *assumed* the lube is more of a seal conditioner and always doubted that running even pure water for 60 miles during the flush would dry out the seals...

The car: '96 Nissan Maxima 92,xxx miles. Original owner (me) maintained. Time for third coolant flush. Bought the Prestone "All Makes" as the owners manual says "ethylene glycol" only. Bought ten gallons of Walmart distilled water. Drain rad, refill, repeat, repeat, repeat, ... By Wednesday...

Green filter, see here: http://www.greenfilterusa.com/ Bought one for the Miata. Frank

VW/Audi has recently been bit by this too. They have a sludge issue that is discussed here: http://autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=100717 Frank

I've got to agree that this is a track only type issue. Boyle's Law (PV=nRT) certainly applies for all gases so the pressure does rise with increasing temps for nitrogen as well. The advantage in a race scenario is the lack of moisture in nitrogen as opposed to air. The water in air can boil at...

I've owned the Alex Peper tri product for almost four years. Works well, good support from Alex when required. I've not compared it to many others but I'm certainly satisfied with it. Alex also offers (or did) significant discounts for group buys. IIRC it was something like 2% per person up to...

The OBD-I codes could be helpful, I'd guess you could find the test process at an Internet 626 site. Not sure how they work on a 626 but on a Miata you do the following: - Run car until warm - Open the little black diagnostic box under the hood and jumper (with a paper clip) the "TEN" and "GND"...

I wonder why the tech jumped to the cat? I assume your car has a single three way cat? No pre-cat in the exhaust manifold? I have seen folks replace three way cats with less expensive "high performance" two way cats and flunk emissions testing. So if you have a three way, make sure you replace...

Most manufacturers recommend fresh fluid as part of regular maintenance. ABS pumps can be especially sensitive to dirty fluid. I have to admit here that this is a big "it depends". I'm sure that the vast majority of cars on the road have never had a flush and you don't see a lot of failures due...

I put a set of ceramic Akebono pads on our '96 Maxima a couple of weeks ago. I used the new shims and anti-squeal compound. When I removed the original OEM pads they had "Akebono" written on the backing plates (although I'm not sure which pad compound). They only seem to squeak when stone cold...