SRT-4 ME

The car had been getting harder to start and I thought there was a parasitic drain on the battery. After some testing, it turned out to be a bad starter. I swapped in a new one with a friend and all is well on that front. 

I had an epiphany yesterday, regarding the wheel bearing noise that's been bothering me for months. I was certain it was coming from the driver's side front, but when I jack the car up and spin the front wheel, it's silent and there's no resistance at all. So I jacked up the rear this time and spun the rear driver's side wheel. Bingo. Intermittent rubbing noise and rolling resistance. It almost sounds like the parking brake came apart or something. I'm going to pull the disc off and check out the brake setup before I write it off as a wheel bearing. The parking brake still works fine, but it's worth a look. There's no side to side play in the wheel at all, so this may not be a bearing after all.

I got fed up with the stereo that was in the car. It wouldn't connect to bluetooth and it had a bunch of attachments that I didn't want to use. Here's what I removed (and I didn't get all of it):

The cables for the disc changer and satellite radio are still buried under the carpet. I'll get to them eventually. I installed the Pioneer head unit that I had in the R/T. I ran the bluetooth mic inside the upper left vent, instead of sticking it on the steering column. It looks cleaner, but I don't know how well it'll work until I take some calls. 

I got the buttons to match the LED dash pretty well. This is always hard to photograph, so it doesn't look as good in the pictures as it does in person. I also swapped out the red LED in the boost gauge to a white one. 

The numbers on the boost gauge are slightly more green than the rest of the dash, which is going to drive me nuts.

So I threw in the towel and had the dealership check out the wheel bearings. They said both were fine and that the noise was from a loose brake caliper bolt. But when I got the car back, it was still making the noise, just quieter. I brought it back to them and told them the issue was not fixed. They then told me that the noise was coming from the transmission and that it likely needs a rebuild, which is absolute bullE36 M3. The sound oscillates with wheel speed, with the car in gear or in neutral. The sound is external and has nothing to do with the transmission. 

Long story short, I took the car to the dealership and they weren't helpful. Back to square one. Creaky noise coming from the right front. No clue what it is. Tightening the brake hardware made it better, but didn't solve it. I think I'm going to replace the brake rotors and pads to see if that helps anything. They need replacing anyway, so I might as well give it a shot. 

In reply to JeremyJ :

check wheel bearings while its apart, check axle, and also see if control arms are still good, i have heard some odd noises from failing control arms. 

I can't feel any play in the bearings. I know that's not the only sign of bearing failure, but I've checked multiple times and they feel solid. I'll check the rest when I do the brakes. 

Someone said previously to make sure you use a quality bearing if you replace it. If it has been previously replaced and was not a quality part, that could be your issue. I've had wheel bearings go bad on an SRT4 in a matter of months because I cheaped out. No play, and no way to tell it was bad until the part was out. The cheap ones have plastic in them that goes bad really easily. 

In reply to DennisMotorsports :

This, I played this game a few years ago. The national brand bearings seem to be the best bang for the buck. 

I know the original owner. These are the OEM bearings. If I replace them, they'll be replaced with more OEM bearings. 

On my way to work this morning, the car popped into limp mode and threw a P0340. Time for a new cam position sensor. Always an adventure with this car. 

In reply to JeremyJ :

all my Neons have a cam and crank sensor in the trunk with tools to change them. 

New cam sensor and magnet fixed the car right up. Back on the road. 

Over the weekend, I pulled off the Plastidip from two of the wheels. I think it looks pretty good. I'm going to pull it off the other two soon. I dipped these wheels originally because they were on a silver car and I wanted some contrast. Now that they're on a black car, the silver looks fine. 

Before:

After:

One million percent improvement. 

I think it looks pretty good. I usually shy away from plain, silver wheels, but they look pretty good on black. The Enkei silver has a nice metallic flake to it, which helps. Right now, half the wheels are still red. I need to peel them some time this week. 

I finally got around to boost leak testing the car. It had been maxing out at 12 psi since I bought it, but was supposed to be hitting 19-20 psi. I found a vacuum line that had come undone and reattached it with a zip tie. After warming it up, I took it out for a spin and the car immediately spiked 20 psi and took off like a rocket. It felt really good to have the power up where it's supposed to be. 

Fast forward to later that night, I was driving the car around and decided to do a 1-3 full throttle pull on a vacant highway. I heard a pop and then steam everywhere. I pulled into a gas station and popped the hood. It looks like I blew a coolant line behind the turbo, of all places. It's going to be a nightmare to get to. So the car sits in the driveway with a bunch of parts removed for the time being. I have a mechanic friend coming to look at it with me today. Hopefully he can help me out with it. 

Well, we managed to replace the split hose without major surgery and the car is back on the road for now. Major crisis averted...this time. 

Glad its fixed and back on the road. 

I installed some new brakes this past weekend. I got a screamin' deal on a set of Stoptech rotors and street pads, so I hopped on them. Install went pretty smoothly. I even repainted the faded calipers. 

Unfortunately, the front left brake decided to seize up on me. I'm going to replace that caliper and hopefully that solves it. 

JeremyJ said:

I installed some new brakes this past weekend. I got a screamin' deal on a set of Stoptech rotors and street pads, so I hopped on them. Install went pretty smoothly. I even repainted the faded calipers. 

Unfortunately, the front left brake decided to seize up on me. I'm going to replace that caliper and hopefully that solves it. 

Might as well do the caliper hose while your at it. It seems a little young to have failed due to internal collapse, but why not replace it while that corner is open and needs to be bled?

The thought crossed my mind. I'll see if this new caliper fixes the issue. If it doesn't, I'll replace the lines. 

I replaced the stuck caliper and took it for a drive, only to find out the other caliper is also stuck. When it rains, it pours, I guess. Another trip to the parts store and I now have two new calipers in the front. I drove it to work today and so far, so good. 

That tiny spacer is there to keep the tire from rubbing the coilover. I'm not a huge fan of spacers, but it's necessary in this case. 

After a whole lot of searching, I finally found my unicorn...a wingless black trunk lid. So I swapped it over for a more subdued look. Looking into the rear view mirror is so much better now. Plus, less attention = fewer cops and street racers.

I really dig the look. 

Silver wheels and no wing look much better to me!  Major improvement.  

I've been struggling with my forward-facing lights. The fog lights don't work due to a factory defective plug on the multifunction switch. I don't want to tear into the steering column, so I just removed the yellowing fog light housings and left them open for now. Future plans involve carbon fiber block off panels. 

For the headlights, I've had a really hard time securing lights that will stay together and not fill with water. I favor the black housing look and there are a bunch of brands to choose from. So far, counting the faded OEM lights that came with it, I've had five pairs of headlights on the car. Five. They all either come apart or leak. Here's the latest set. They look alright for now, but who knows for how long. I refuse to try the halo/projector/LED eBay garbage style lights. I just want a clean set of reflectors with a black surround, that work. 

Nothing exciting has happened in a while. I've just been driving it. I just got new floor mats, though. Check out how worn out the driver's mat was, from years of heel-toe abuse (please ignore the pine needles):

I upgraded to these mats from Lloyd's:

Huge improvement. They cover more of the floor pan than the stock mats did, so the carpet stays safer from abuse and debris. I also picked up some replacement plugs for the trans and the oil pan. The factory drain plug on the pan had been rounded nicely by the previous owner and the tranny fill plug is cracking pretty badly. In goes a fancy magnetic oil plug and a new factory rubber plug for the transmission. 

Wow you guys with your mega mileage = very inspiring. Now I'm not afraid of 139k in the slightest. Any generalized words of wisdom for 300K wannabees?