The dreaded "Green Drops" on the floor

After finding the telltale green coolant drops a few weeks back (when turning the VX around to do Bearings and brake pads) I turned it right back around and parked it. Today I bit the bullet and called Merlin. I printed Bart's timing belt download, and just ran down his parts list for Merlin. While he agreed I should go ahead and do the timing belt, he talked me out of the tensioner pulley, Idler pulley and serpentine tensioner. This amounted to a 500.00 difference in what I expected to spend and what I did spend. He said that with only 45,000 miles, the only thing I'd need was the "push tensioner". I gotta believe he knows what he's talking about...he'd have no reason to talk me out of 500 bucks worth of sales....He said that these parts simply are NOT known to fail in the 3.5 engine, even after over 100,000 miles, and that I would be excessive to change them out at 45k....Everything is on the way..except the items he sugested I skip. Thoughts anyone....before I crack this thing open next week? I'll do the front wheel bearings, brake pads, and that new front cladding that has been sitting in the guest room for 6 months now....HAHAHAHA 10 years on a fan belt ain't bad either! Maybe I'll squirt the window washers (they've NEVER been squirted...not even once) I may even take the original wiper blades off HAHAHAHA...doesn't matter. The VX never has gone out in the rain....except for baths, it's only been wet twice in ten years hehehehe spoiled little bastard

Yeah, even with low miles, after ten years ya still gotta replace a bunch of stuff.

But I thought you traded your VX for another vehicle and trailer or something. I'm not sure if you had two Vehicri or what? Did the trade not happen?

Mark

There have always been two VXs, but one now belongs to a friend who has continued to simply store it. It has about 4000 miles on it and, I think he put about a hundred of them on. 0177 is the other.... It's been used very lightly over most of the years. I've been using it for long trips for a few years now, and just passed the 40k mark a few months ago. They were never intended to be used as DDs by me. I was going to rally one and store one...but the mods necessary for any real racing made it unpractical,so I gave my bud one, and stored the other (0177) in the corner at the bodyshop, and bought an STI....(which I turned into tunafish cans in less than 6 months) hahahaha....I have a "Funco" buggy that I wear out now hahahaha. I don't wreck it as much, and it's easier to fix...not cheaper....but easier :bgwo:

No....no trade. We couldn't come to an agreement. The 1954 Travelall is still there for sale. I don't think I really wanted to sell the VX either...but it just sits around for the most part..taking up shop space

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Originally Posted by Chopper

After finding the telltale green coolant drops a few weeks back (when turning the VX around to do Bearings and brake pads) I turned it right back around and parked it. Today I bit the bullet and called Merlin. I printed Bart's timing belt download, and just ran down his parts list for Merlin. While he agreed I should go ahead and do the timing belt, he talked me out of the tensioner pulley, Idler pulley and serpentine tensioner. This amounted to a 500.00 difference in what I expected to spend and what I did spend. He said that with only 45,000 miles, the only thing I'd need was the "push tensioner". I gotta believe he knows what he's talking about...he'd have no reason to talk me out of 500 bucks worth of sales....He said that these parts simply are NOT known to fail in the 3.5 engine, even after over 100,000 miles, and that I would be excessive to change them out at 45k....Everything is on the way..except the items he sugested I skip. Thoughts anyone....before I crack this thing open next week? I'll do the front wheel bearings, brake pads, and that new front cladding that has been sitting in the guest room for 6 months now....HAHAHAHA 10 years on a fan belt ain't bad either! Maybe I'll squirt the window washers (they've NEVER been squirted...not even once) I may even take the original wiper blades off HAHAHAHA...doesn't matter. The VX never has gone out in the rain....except for baths, it's only been wet twice in ten years hehehehe spoiled little bastard

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Can you post the link to Bart's thread on the timing belt download? Which items did you end up ordering? My mechanic was adamant that we also needed to change the idler pulley when it comes time to replace the timing belt.

I think that there is a pdf of Bart's timing belt write up here on the site, but th one on his site will get updated if he makes any changes.

http://www.nofuture.com/myvx/how-tos/tb/tbelt.htm