'03 High Mileage EV Red Refurb

[SambaBurnsRed]

Here is the LED actually pretty good for drop in. Bulbs do a bit of a side kick on Hi Beam. I popped the power steering tank (that was stuck in there) for P-side and got to the d-side adjuster as well. So now I am able to aim things to optimize.

Unfortunately we drive Range Rover/Audi HID, Audi A8 LED, BMW X5 LED so c'mon, who we kiddin'? Meaning it's not going to be OEM engineered performance. But the bulbs that were in there are a brown-out of the first order.

LED lighting so piercingly bright & low current draw - unbelieveable tech!

PS: Nice work as well Bigfoot. I am going to take a closer look at your electrical, we have an Airstream with Solar, Inv/covnerter, Lithium, etc

[SambaBurnsRed]

Speaking of electrical, I was finishing off the audio and inverter install. The subwoof is powered off the aux sounding fuzzy, and the inverter was beeping low voltage. Power plus SLA1180 hulk battery in there wasn't holding 12V or a good charge.

After looking around at AGM's (nothing fits!) decided it's best to go sideways and drop in an LiTime Slim 100aH Li, pulled from our Airstream. Power wiring looks like it was all redone, nice cabling, fuse holders & the bridging solenoid, which is great.

Have to put in a reverse cam to the BOSS Audio head, prob a good time to do shore power and rig up a charger as well for the LiTime. Saw a new Sprinter and they have their plugs, not hacked in the body but lower down on the rear 1/4 bumper cover.

[SambaBurnsRed]

Had a trans fluid drip up front, and uh oh what's this? I did see a TON of old oil on the engine pan and fluid around the rad bottom. It was small fissure in the German Transaxle cooler at one of the hose fittings, which was slightly bent. That explains why the trans was low-fluid when I got it. AND it looks like it's been leaking for years, which might explain why the transmission failed - cooked on chronic low fluid. In the service record there is fills and fluid changes as well.

I pulled the cooler, cleaned and roughened the area, and blocked the leak are out with a pad of JB weld.

I reset the transmission adaptations using the Key ON floor it method. Shifts pretty nice now, very wheezy compared to the more abrupt shifting it did before. My guess is the pressures were near max on some routes.

The back-up camera install... ah man...no fun that. The driver's door well has power/audio, so I ran the wires from the hatch, down and under the van coming up into the door well. I did not want to pull apart those interior panels. I traced sw/bl everywhere but could not locate the actual reverse light wire @ front, so ran that from the tailight.

The cable was way too short so janky spliced using some RCA cable I had.
The camera is mounted under the license plate light cover, drilled a hole in the hatch frame to duplicate the OEM path out of the hatch, but I am on driver side. I just ran the wires down along the rubber seal through the bumper gap enroute to upfront. Still took more than a day to complete that work

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[SambaBurnsRed]

OMG two solid days of a punch list & putting it all back together for the first surf-camping weekend. My hands are toast! And an N95 Airbag fault popped up as I handed it off (to my daughter). I went up for a surf today at Cox Bay stopped by to check things out, and yeah it's cool.

I wrote this video on the way back. Obviously invoking the "beet" counter culture of the 60's frame into today's time. It's too bad the ID buzz isn't as cool,

https://youtu.be/foE0fSDZm7U?si=QWbfEzF1cnYN5yOU

PS: I seemed to struggle with everything, wrap, paint etc working against the clock. Dirty beast this was. But it's running well. The exhaust is a bit stinky on start-up, might be the injectors are dirty/leaky. Need to find some head rests for the rear seat too. Do people replace their suspension bushings? Ride is pretty firm, has Bilsteins too.

[SambaBurnsRed]

Cupholders are complicated. But whoever molded the stock console was bonkers. Most useless thing ever.

Daughter has a big YETI thing at just under 3.5", max size. I like a dbl shot xtra dry short cap, so need to fit that on the small end. Hacked in a configurable double cup system, cut out the old mini cup mold, dropped in a leather over an insulated wood box, then cup inserts (walmart tumblers) and foam blocks. Whew!

Fixed the airbag light. It was the slider plug connection into the steering column. That connection looks like it's designed to allow some movement, hence the contacts over rails. The airbag ECU was clean overall but the one power lead pin was a little greenish.

And have not had any running issues since replacing the engine speed sensor.
Catalytic pipes are arriving today and should have new exhaust in next couple of weeks.
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[SambaBurnsRed]

The JB Weld on the trans cooler started to leak again. They say "engine block repair" on the package but I have had two hot oil faiures using epoxy. I had a really clean and well prepped area on this one too.

In any case, the cooler from GTA is a rough looking fused thing. So Amazon to the rescue got a robust and slim 4 pipe cooler for $35/sale price. There are larger ones out there but this one is suitable for an XC90. Our climate around here PACNW isn't very hot. Fits in there nicely too.

And while I had the grill out I changed the front end look from something that looked like a puffer fish to a wider, lower and more whimsical style, that will augment the daisies (?) being sketched in for the sides

[SambaBurnsRed]

Transmission temp is just under 90DegC after a good drive.

Based on another forum member's post, I ordered the full Powerflex USA bushing kit F&R. It was around $900. Super nice to deal with.

The ride is harsh in a way that feels like the chassis contact points are toast to me.

[SambaBurnsRed]

Got the PowerFLEX bushings installed but the shop only did 1/2 of the kit I ordered.

They said the rest of the bushings where good and didn't need to be replaced.
Price for labor was $400, very reasonable.

The parts they replaced were in really bad shape for sure.

Drives great now. Still a firm ride but feels like a normal SUV vs the harshness that was there before.

[Abscate]

Watch those trans oil hoses where the go around that rad corner for chafe. , and replace those clamps with oetikers.


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[SambaBurnsRed]

N

ew catalytic converter arrived and installed with new O2 sensors, and custom exhaust.

The O2 sensor was an issue before as there is no more grumbling on post start-up. Idling and driving it is way smoother. Also doesn't stink!!. Yahoo

And more powerful the new CAT is clearly flowing better. Two muffler custom exhaust is a bit deeper like a Porsche 928 sound, but not too bad.

Got some daisies to slap on the side and call the project done.

Also will monitor trans temps. The other day it was hot out and I never got past 70 DegC. The trans line routing is protected by foam. And I should get those superior clamps, as the gear clamps do chew into the hose too much

[VanGeek]

Looks good! Was your original converter & o2 sensors throwing error codes or did you replace it due to the smell and rough running conditions?

[SambaBurnsRed]

Stunk to high heaven warming up from the day we got it. Not unlike the cat-less, bag-less 50-60's classic shiny death traps old guys wearing ball caps drive around here.

But I did get O2 sensor insufficient heating time, intermittent code pop up recently. Cleared and it came back.

Rusty exhaust so do the whole thing fresh install.

[shirk]

What cat did you get? Our 01 is in need of a new one. I had not thought about the cat affecting the smell, but our van also smells strongly at startup and I have a tiny leak somewhere near the cat.

[gesoffen]