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swapped out both upper control arms (probably original, they weren't totally toast, but probably 2/3 of the way there) with detroit axle ones. can't believe i got it done in under 3 hours. the passenger side was hard to get the bolts aligned, the driver side was smooth.
i was able to get the bolts out without doing anything else by putting the oem jack under the knuckle and jacking it up a bit to compress/push the spring just enough to get out of the way.
got the driver side done just as it was getting dark and hard to see. steering feels a lot more floaty compared to friday when i replaced the driver side inner tie rod end which was completely gone, and the outer as well.
also corrected whatever it was that toed out the driver side front tire to the left. after i did that the steering felt firm but planted. now it feels super firm and highly sensitive. my calibration is probably off from driving so long with ****ty suspension.
the ride does seem a lot quieter, and that's pretty nice. now just gotta find my big ****in' breaker bar so i can do both lower control arms and maybe then i can get an alignment and start working on the rear.
i feel really good about this, i had been putting this off for quite a long while.
Turns out the screws had backed out of the FIGS front sway bar end links. My own installation error. I didn't notice the issue the first time around because when I lifted the car, the droop of the suspension put pressure on the end links and made them feel tight. With the car just sitting on ramps, the pressure was off the end links and they were clearly loose. So I added a dab of blue Loctite to each screw and torqued them to spec with the suspension loaded; that solved that clunking problem.
I love how til this day, the GS still looks good and not like it’s from the 90s. Most cars from the 90s look like they’re from the 90s lol
Well, it kind of does, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I consider the 2000s in many ways to be a lost decade for automotive design with a lot of cars looking like slab-sided polygons rendered on a Nintendo 64.
Put led bulbs in fogs and highbeams. Is there a members ride thread anywhere i can post pics? Also put a new agm battery in since i keep getting dead battery's 2 in almost a year and half. I think my security light wont stop blinking. I need help with that
Welded exhaust leaks
sanded and polish headlights
put on snowtires w caps
Touch up paint dings
repaint 1 side mirror
replaced 2 HID bulbs
disabled 2 back trunk running lights due to color faded to white
Did you guys paint your grill black? Mines chipping from Grey to Silver.
Also what aftermarket mags are a good replacement for OEM Mags - mine are too beat up and chipped etc to refinish now.
Added some more windshield washer fluid to the reservoir.
Also got an offer from my stepdad to buy the car from me but I haven’t found a decent black GS locally yet. It’s my daily driver so I can’t go too long without a replacement.
Added some more windshield washer fluid to the reservoir.
Thank you for reminding me. Mine has just enough in it that the warning light only comes on when it sloshes away from the level sensor, so I always forget by the time I get home.
Added some more windshield washer fluid to the reservoir.
Also got an offer from my stepdad to buy the car from me but I haven’t found a decent black GS locally yet. It’s my daily driver so I can’t go too long without a replacement.
what you need to do is sell that GS3 and get a GS4. You’ll be so happy. It’s so much more fun to drive and it’s basically the same mpg. I’ll never forget the day I sold my GS3 for a GS430 and my first time driving it. Coming from the 300 it felt like a beast
saturday noticed the gs400 lacking a bit of oomph, checked code and found P0330 knock sensor bank two
drove all day sunday, got parts monday but too late to install
so today was the day. carefully pulled off everything to raise up the intake manifold.
had to phone a friend to bring me a piece of pipe to get some leverage on the sensors since i only had a 6" crescent wrench and not a lot of space.
installing the new ones, not even applying a lot of force, one of them started to rip in half. that's annoying.
so figured out which the bank one knock sensor was and put that in the bank two location, with the good new sensor in bank one. ok fine.
put it all together and i have a stumbly idle. no bueno. code P1345. i thought that was the OCV but it was connected. tried disconnecting the bank one OCV and got code P1676 (which is the actual ocv code turns out) tried looking around and it was getting dark so put it all away and drove home. the car didn't drive bad, just a touch of hesitation and a rough idle.
searching this site and the factory service manual i discovered P1345 is actually for the VVT camshaft position sensor. ok great, that means i did actually forget to plug something in, and sure enough, that was it.
this cleared the way for a pending P0171 code, lean condition bank one. whew. i'll have to check the air box and for vacuum leaks again when it's light. half the clips broke off so it is probably open a bit. also there was a lot of sand maybe i need to crank down the intake manifold a bit more as well.
all the plastic and wires in there are brittle AF and falling apart. guess i'll have to try and extract a wiring harness from the junk yard one of these days.
saturday noticed the gs400 lacking a bit of oomph, checked code and found P0330 knock sensor bank two
drove all day sunday, got parts monday but too late to install
so today was the day. carefully pulled off everything to raise up the intake manifold.
had to phone a friend to bring me a piece of pipe to get some leverage on the sensors since i only had a 6" crescent wrench and not a lot of space.
installing the new ones, not even applying a lot of force, one of them started to rip in half. that's annoying.
so figured out which the bank one knock sensor was and put that in the bank two location, with the good new sensor in bank one. ok fine.
put it all together and i have a stumbly idle. no bueno. code P1345. i thought that was the OCV but it was connected. tried disconnecting the bank one OCV and got code P1676 (which is the actual ocv code turns out) tried looking around and it was getting dark so put it all away and drove home. the car didn't drive bad, just a touch of hesitation and a rough idle.
searching this site and the factory service manual i discovered P1345 is actually for the VVT camshaft position sensor. ok great, that means i did actually forget to plug something in, and sure enough, that was it.
this cleared the way for a pending P0171 code, lean condition bank one. whew. i'll have to check the air box and for vacuum leaks again when it's light. half the clips broke off so it is probably open a bit. also there was a lot of sand maybe i need to crank down the intake manifold a bit more as well.
all the plastic and wires in there are brittle AF and falling apart. guess i'll have to try and extract a wiring harness from the junk yard one of these days.
if you didn’t use a genuine oem knock sensor be prepared to replace within the next 6 months.
07-24-23, 09:17 PM
