I hate this car....Z34 Lumina, one thing leads to..

Hi guys,

Other day my car died on me. 92' Z34.
Its been a great for 2 years, I'm thankfull for that.

Problem was the alternator.
So I had the alternator replaced along with the belt.
Cost me 600 bucks.
All of it labour.

The guy said he checked all the electrical, said it was fine.
So i go pick it up today.
I noticed on the way home, my speedometer wasn't working, the tranny would not go past 2nd, I also noticed a few electrical problems as well.
Such as my parking brake light was on, and I could not turn off my rear view mirror lights.

So, I'm thinking its the VCC, and there are some electrical problems in the Instrument Cluster.

My question is,
Is the VCC easily replaceable? Is it accesible without tearing apart the rear end of the tranny?

I can't afford 600 more bucks.

any help or info would be appreciated.


Chris,

Hi guys,

Update.

The alternator was bad. However, the problem was that they forgot to re-connect the Speed Sensor plug when they gave it back.

Fast Forward 2 weeks.

Power Steering High Pressure Hose developed a leak.
Spraying fluid all over hot engine. You can see where I'm going with this.

I noticed that the Alternator was very close to the High Pressure hose.
I wonder if its possible that these guys messed up my hose while trying to remove and install alternator.

Wish I could prove it somehow.

Ah well.

Going to get rid of this beast.
To expensive to upkeep.

I can't remember exactly the older 3.1s layout, but I noticed on my 1999 3.1 the PS lines are connected to a bracket thats mounted to the alternator. Very possible that they bent/weakened a hose/line but it'd be far too hard to prove one way or another.

I can't remember exactly the older 3.1s layout, but I noticed on my 1999 3.1 the PS lines are connected to a bracket thats mounted to the alternator. Very possible that they bent/weakened a hose/line but it'd be far too hard to prove one way or another.

Thanks for responding,

I have a 3.4, I had it up on the hoist at school where I work, thats when I noticed how close the High Pressure line was to the alternator they just replaced.

I saw where the leak was, (was to hard to get at it though) and it was just a pin sized hole. Almost like it was poked with a large baby pin or something.

I also noticed the guy wasn't all that surprised to see me when I brought it in today.

This is so frustrating, to think I'm being had with no real way to defend myself.


Maybe I should take a mechanics course.

That's what I'm doing in college this fall, taking an automotive course. So far, I've done all the routine maintanence myself (oil, air, fuel, trans filters, belt check/replace, etc) When the intake gasket blows I may take it to someone, because of the time required, but I'm pretty much set out to take care of my own car now.

Oh, but fyi, the 3.4 DOHC is a BEAST to work on. I wouldn't want to own one of those at all. No matter what kinda gain I'd get from 24 valves, I'd prefer something a little less headache prone :P

Hey. Well I have a 1999 V6 - 3.1. When you said that you had the mechanic change your belt do you mean your accessory belt? (Also commonly known as the serpentine belt) To tell you the truth, you wasted quite a bit of money to have him replace that. I just recently had my water pump blow and when I bought the new pump and replaced it, I also came across my accessory belt because they are so close to eachother. So I ended paying a total of approximately $65 on both the new belt and the new water pump and I installed it myself with another friend. It took all of 3 hours total! I know this is a little irelevant but my point is, try learning and doing some of this stuff on your own because you will save big bucks!! And do fix this stuff when it is needed! Don't wait till it gets so bad that you end up having to spend the big bucks.

So I get word back from the mechanic, and he says, he needs to replace my rack and the Hight pressure line.

The damn thing was fine until they put that alternator in.
I could see the hole in the Hihg pressure line.
Why in the hell would the rack be bad?
I can't help but feel I'm getting ripped off here.

He told me 750+ for a re-built rack and new hose.

Bullcrap.
He hasn't done anything to it YET, I'm thinking of just getting it towed out of there and get a second opinion somewhere else.

Any advice?

I do believe you've got a bad mechanic. Take it elsewhere. You can drive w/out PS, but it'll be much harder to steer. But definitely find someone else. I've never heard of a guy this bad, even dealers are better than this.

I asked him why he needed to replace the rack, and he said It was because, if he did Fix the Hose, (a 20 dollar part) and the car still leaked, I would bring it back and blame him for doing a bad job.
What A friggin Joke!!

So in other words, he wanted fix every single thing related to the Steering to make sure it didn't leak anymore.....haha.

I'd really like to try and fix the leak myself. I don't think theres anything wrong with the rack or the boots.

So,

Has anyone replaced the Power steering hoses on thier car?
3.4L prefered.
I have the haynes manual, but it says nothing about removal or installation of the High pressure line.

I can see the leak in the Rubber hose portion, just don't know how to get at it.

Any help would greatly appreciated.

How can I disable the Power steeing Pump?
I don't want to burn the pump out, and I can't keep adding Fluid to it because the leak is in such a place that it is spraying Fluid at high pressure all over my engine and alterantor.

As far as know, Power Steering Fluid is flammable so I don't think it a good idea to drive the car with fluid all over a hot engine.

Is it just a fuse to pull for the pump or something else?

POWER STEERING FLUID IS FLAMMABLE!

My father in law drove his Taurus home from Michigan with a PS leak and the car caught on fire.

If the rack does not have a leak, and it is the power steering hose, leave the rack alone. You cannot drive without power steering, you will not be able to turn the wheel if you want to try, just take the belt of and try to drive around the block, you wont be able too!

Thank you for your advice!

One more thing,

Do i have to remove anything to get at the Line where it connects to the Rack?
I know what tools to use now, just not sure if I HAVE to remove anthing to get at it.

test,