Marvin is ALIVE again :D :D :D :D

[KatWoman]

Well after a hair over 2 weeks, I am pleased to announce Marvin is on the streets once again Last night, Nick Riley, a local Neon enthusiast and respected member of the Neon community came over to fix the timing. While tinkering around with my motor he also found a few other problems that could have cost me a motor The torque wrench Alex used to tighten the cam gears and the tensioner was not working properly and did not torque the bolts down correctly. Alex felt bad but I told him "at least we are finding this out now and not after a disaster." So yeah, we are gonna be taking a nice little trip to Sears today to tell them what their quality tool could have cost us

So the camgears and timing belt tensioner had come loose (probably worked their way loose when we ran the motor last week) and Nick tightened those up real nice. Then after that was said and done we fired up the motor.....before throwing on the power steering/alternator belts. Marvin started right up and was humming away nicely. So the rest of the belts got thrown on and then we went for the post motorwork inaugural drive. Marvin never felt so good

Nick said even at the factory the timing may not be as good as he set it....and I know he is correct cuz even when this motor went into my car, it just never felt like the old Marvin I knew from before. The only thing that scared us as we were coming home was the belts started to squeal, and Nick said we may need to tighten the belts a bit....but then it started billowing smoke....turned out the radiator cap wasn't seated properly :o Fortunately we were just 200 feet from my driveway when the smoke started...but you shoulda seen the look on Alex's face hehe. The cap was loose from before Nick came probably from last week when we filled it or last night when Alex was trying to get to the powersteering pump bolts. Either way everything turned out fine

This jobbie wasn't as bad money wise either:

Parts and misc tools: $969
Refund after returning loaner tools, 2 defective tools, and 2 parts we ended up not needing: $270
Labor (both weekends): Pizza and beer
Having Nick over to help us out: priceless
Total $ actually spent: $699

I cannot imagine how much I would have shelled out if I let the dealer do this, or what other problems they would have "created" forcing me to bring it back in. The 2 weeks downtime was a small price to pay to keep my car away from there. I was blessed to have a loaner car so that I didn't have to rely on others to drag me around

[Rich]

Good to hear that everything turned out ok in the end

[ac427cpe]

yay! fixage is always good

[esp]

so you gonna keep the nissan instead?








j/k

[KatWoman]

LOL esp, I'd love to have that little Nissan for a daily driver to work, but unfortunately it goes back to its own home tomorrow. I really missed my own car and it's nice to have it back. Only thing that sucks right now is the power steering and alternator belts got wet when the radiator fluid spilled on it (from the cap not being on securely) so they are a bit noisy right now. I think it will work itself out....otherwise people are gonna look at me like this when I drive:

If it doesn't work itself out by the end of the week I just may get new belts.

[esp]

Originally posted by KatWoman
LOL esp, I'd love to have that little Nissan for a daily driver to work, but unfortunately it goes back to its own home tomorrow. I really missed my own car and it's nice to have it back. Only thing that sucks right now is the power steering and alternator belts got wet when the radiator fluid spilled on it (from the cap not being on securely) so they are a bit noisy right now. I think it will work itself out....otherwise people are gonna look at me like this when I drive:

If it doesn't work itself out by the end of the week I just may get new belts.

yeah i am glad to hear you have the neon um i mean Marvin running again. yeah too bad you can't keep that nissan did you ever take pics of it?

[KatWoman]

LOL, hey be nice now. My Neon's come 151,000+ miles and still has plenty o life in him.....not to mention being a Neon it prob still keep me on my toes hehe. But someone's gotta love it Yes, I got pics of the little red Nissan. It's going home today. It's a pretty basic 200SX with no options, the only "power" thing it really has is electric mirrors. No cruise, power windows or any of the fun luxury stuff...but I aint complaining...renting a car in the same class would have run me $40 a day if not more. And I've had it for 17 days now

Oh! And I also gave my motor it's first REALLY good cleaning in ages. I sprayed it down with Simple Green, then rinsed, and another spray over with Meguiars Vinyl n Rubber Cleaner. So the belts got cleaned off and now there is no more squealage!!! WOOOOT!!! So now Marvin is now OFFICIALLY his old self again

And now that we FINALLY have some nice weather again (its been rainy on n off the last 2 weeks) I got the car cleaned up nicely and shot a few pics inside and out Enjoy!

[grimmy]

katwoman the interior on that is almost exactly like my sentra, tell me something, was the cigarette lighter real. because when i bought my car the lighter was just a little plastic cap that looked like a cigarette lighter(what kind of crap is that?)

[taranaki]

Marvin is fixed?Excellent,come visit sometime~!

that name just cracks me up,can't help thinking of this guy.

[Oz]

:ylsuper

Congrats

[KatWoman]

Originally posted by grimmy
katwoman the interior on that is almost exactly like my sentra, tell me something, was the cigarette lighter real. because when i bought my car the lighter was just a little plastic cap that looked like a cigarette lighter(what kind of crap is that?)

The 200SX had the little cap too. My car came with a real cigarette lighter when I bought it in '97. I think after 1998 and newer models they replaced the lighter w/ a little cap that says "12v power outlet" or something to that effect. I think with so many mobile gadgets now....cell phones, laptops, PDA's, etc etc, my guess is that manufacturers are marketing it as a power outlet for your toys. My guess also is that more people have "toys" than smoke. I dunno just taking a stab at it. In Alex's Jetta (and other nicer vehicles) they put these "power outlets" in the trunk even. Kinda a cool feature in my opinion. However, if you really want the "lighter" feature you can go pick one up for $2 at the autoparts store. It's universal. There's not a special one for Nissan or for Dodge or Honda etc.

[tazdev]

yay for marvin

[1985_BMW318i]

Congrats Kat, As soon as I get some replacement parts I'll have my trusty bimmer back on the road. 180lb Buck did more damage then first accessed.

[S Brake]

Don't houses usually have grass in the front yard?:finger:

[YogsVR4]

Congratulations on bringing him back to life. Looks like you saved a lot of bank too.