Peakster's Geo Thread

[Peakster]

I got the regular all-season tires installed on the Geo today. 45 psi for each tire.
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The person working at Canadian Tire also said that my passenger-side lower-front ball joint is getting loose and gave me some big horror story of my wheel flying off on the highway (before quoting it a $230+ fix). I've driven some pretty sketchy cars in my past and never once had a wheel fly off on me. I told him that I'd get my personal mechanic to look into it.

The all-season tires stick to the dry pavement like bubblegum now, I love the handling.

[rh77]

Originally Posted by Peakster

The person working at Canadian Tire also said that my passenger-side lower-front ball joint is getting loose and gave me some big horror story of my wheel flying off on the highway (before quoting it a $230+ fix). I've driven some pretty sketchy cars in my past and never once had a wheel fly off on me. I told him that I'd get my personal mechanic to look into it.

The CT guy may have made it more dramatic than he should have...

...but I'd have your personal mechanic look at it. If the Ball Joint busts loose at speed, the wheel generally doesn't fly off the car (depending on the design), but rather rips away from the tie rod and embeds itself upward. I've seen this on a RWD car (a Merc. Grand Marquis with 160K miles) -- it happened while backing up and it just popped and turned that wheel wherever it wanted to go (independent of the other). It's no picnic if you're moving faster than 5mph.

RH77

[MetroMPG]

I'd imagine it would have to be pretty severely worn (ie you'd be hearing clunks & rattles over bumps) before it would break. That said, have someone check it.

The bad thing about these cars is you have to replace the entire lower control arm - the ball joint is integral to it.


Something to consider is your alignment will get further off as the joint wears out with implications for rolling resistance and tire wear.

[Peakster]

Ever since Canadian Tire put my all-season treads back on my car, the rear axle has been making a weird grinding noise at speeds above 25mph. Also my acceleration and coasting seems held back. So I jacked up the Geo tonight and found that 2 of my wheels don't really roll freely in neutral.

I took my dad out for a drive and he says that my car simply is getting worn and old (253,000km on it now). Usually wheel bearings squeak when they're worn so who knows what's wrong. I'll eventually take my car into the mechanic again to get him to look at it.

By the way, my dad told me that I was shifting too soon while we went for a drive . He said that I should be shifting at around 4000 RPM ! I demonstrated that the engine was screaming at 2500 RPM in 3rd gear @ 30 mph and he said "Oh that's nothing". Talk about a FE buster!

Edit: My personal mechanic has rediculous waiting times so I made an appointment for the morning of the 21st at the Chevy dealership here in town. It will probably be a little more expensive and I just know they'll have a huge list of other things 'wrong' with my car, but at least it will be quicker. I'll make sure I don't get suckered into anything more than fixing the grinding noise (hey, the car runs and drives. What more do you expect for something with 157K miles on it).

[Peakster]

With the car going into the shop tomorrow, I want to see if the fix will have an effect on my FE. So I slapped together a highway test today (with the grinding noise coming from the back axle):

Temperature: 7*C
Winds: SE @ 11km/h
Direction: Driving West to Moose Jaw SK.
Cruise control for 2 miles at each speed.

35mph: 71.0 mpg
40mph: 64.6 mpg
45mph: 65.3 mpg
50mph: 60.7 mpg
55mph: 53.6 mpg
60mph: 43.9 mpg

Hopefully those numbers rise after the problem is remedied. Only 43.9 mpg @ 60 mph is pretty sad.

[Peakster]

Wheel bearings are replaced. Here's the FE outcome:

Temperature: 2*C
Winds: SE @ 13km/h
Direction: Driving West to Moose Jaw SK.
Cruise control for 2 miles at each speed.

35mph: 77.4 mpg
40mph: 64.9 mpg
45mph: 63.0 mpg
50mph: 59.4 mpg
55mph: 54.6 mpg
60mph: 51.3 mpg

Some numbers went down a bit (maybe due to cooler temperatures?) but the 35mph and the 60mph speeds had a good increase in FE after the repair.

[Peakster]

I had some fun today teaching my friend how to drive my car (she had never driven a manual transmission car before). I like passing the Geo vibe to other people .

Here's the video of her learning in the the cemetery and in city traffic.

[red91sit]

Ooh i remember trying to teach my ex-gf how to drive our 5 speed Nissan Sentra. She killed it about 5 times, when she finally got it going i told her to try second, so she rammed the gear shifter down with out the clutch :S :S :S

[Peakster]

Finally did a quasi-permanent exterior mirror removal on my car:
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I did what Basjoos did and velcro'ed a driverging mirror to the door. To remedy the blind spots I have a huge diverging rear-view mirror too:
Attachment 325Attachment 326
Mirrorless!
Attachment 327
I did this once before but this arrangement is scary in winter when the windows are frosty/snowy. It shall stay this way all through summer now. I double checked to make sure this was legal in my province and it appears that it shouldn't be a problem.

Edit: After driving the Geo back to school, I'm amazed of how well this new mirror setup works. Virtually no blind spots. As soon as a vehicle exits view from my rear-view mirror, it pops in sight in the mirror on the door. Also when the vehicle leaves sight on the door mirror, I can already see the front of it in the corner of my eye out my side window. There's virtually no downside to the change.

[UfoTofU]

I'm liking the mirror deletes. I plan to do the same on my CRX but State law requires me to keep my driver's side mirror.