lionkingcmsl | Trip and Megaplex Update: Wed & Thurs

Time for an update for the past week and a half.

Wed 3/9/05 - Travel Day: I left for Georgia at about 9:20a. This is normally bad as the traffic in the D. C. area can be horrible during the day. However, when I got to D. C., at lunchtime, the traffic was free flowing, except south of D. C. there was a 7 mile back up due to VADOT having the right lane blocked as they put up a new sign at Lorton, VA.

I can normally make it to Exit 90 of I-95 in NC before I need gas again. For reference the length of I-95 in NC, SC and GA are 181+, 199+ and 112+ miles respectively, with mile post 0 (zero) at the southern border. This trip, however, with the car running poorly, i.e. missing, and the exhaust leak, I could only make it to Exit 180, one mile inside the VA-NC border, before I had to fill up. That's a difference of 320+ miles versus the 410+ miles normally. Not looking too good. I had hoped to get into GA before refueling again, but it was not to be, and I had to refill in SC, at 320+ miles after fill-up.

I arrived at my bro's at ~9:50p, 12.5 hours after I started. Note that I did not fly down I-95. Starting in NC, and going south, I-95's speed limit is mostly 70 mph and I had my cruise control set at ~76mph. Even in the northern states you can normally do that speed and not be pulled over, if you are driving sanely (i.e. staying in one lane and behaving yourself). Most of the time the police are looking for those doing 80mph and over.

When I arrived at my bro's I noticed that both his car and my sis-in law's cars were missing. His car I knew would be missing, because he was working the 3-11 shift. However, Ginny's car missing was a surprise, as she was supposed to get home at ~8p. I figured she got delayed and called their house to see if my nephew was still up. Unfortunately I got no answer. Surmising that he was asleep. I looked around for the key for the guest cottage I would be staying in. I know they hide it, but I forgot where. I called my parents, but they were out of the house. I decided that my next action was to go into the car, put the seat back and try to catch a nap. Not more than 5 minutes after I did that Ginny and my nephew, Alex, pulled in. They were surprised to see me, as they expected that I would get in at ~11p and decided to go shopping. After waiting up for my bro, I decided that this lion needed his sleep.

Thursday, 3/10/05 - Rest Day: While I could've left on Thursday, spent the night at my bro's and then headed out on Friday, like I normally do, I figured I needed to spend time with my bro, and this day was the day. ;=3

I wanted to take a look at the exhaust system, which I knew was leaking around the manifold area. This has been going on for about 6 months. We ran around and got some parts for one of his cycles (he and Alex were leaving for "Bike Week" on Saturday morning) and muffler patch for my manifold. I had talked to

makovette on the way down and he agreed with my assumption that it might be a hole in the manifold due to the misfiring of #4 cylinder and the gasoline igniting, and burning one, in the manifold. After wrestling with the front heat shield bolts and getting it off I was in for a rude surprise. There was not a simple hole, but the entire pipe from #1 cylinder had broken totally free from the collector fitting with the pipe from #4 cylinder. 8=0

The exhaust manifold on the Elantra is tubular steel and is a header in design. Numbers 1 and 4 cylinders join together and so do numbers 2 and 3. Both collectors then join in the under engine pipe. Pretty free flowing design, and, as it turns out, pretty easy to fix.

I was perplexed on what to do. Do I try to wrap the break with the "bandage" I had with the manifold in place or do I take the manifold off and do it off the car? One of the deciding factors was there was a rear heat shield on the manifold. I called an auto parts store to see if they had an exhaust manifold gasket for my car. They said if I could get there by 12:30p, then they could have it by 7p at ~$9. Not good as I didn't want to work on the car in the dark. I called the local Hyundai dealer. They had one in stock, but it would cost $35. 8=0

I bit the bullet and pulled the exhaust manifold off. Note that this is not easy, as you have to swing the alternator out of the way and remove the power steering pump. :=/ Fortunately the nuts on the studs were fairly easy to remove, as were the under engine pipe bolts. :=3 I carefully removed the manifold, minding the exhaust manifold gasket. I lucked out in that this gasket is a copper based one and could be reused with no problem.

As I was doing this my bro called a friend to see if we could get the manifold welded to make the repair permanent and done right. He was told to take it to a certain muffler shop and we headed over there. There was some concern on how long it would take as he had to get ready for work, and he still wanted to work on one of his cycles.

We get to the shop and they said it would be no problem to fix. I asked, for the sake of my bro, how long it would take and was told no more than 5 minutes. As I watched the guy doing the welding, my bro struck up a conversation with the owner. After about 5 minutes the manifold was done, and I asked, "How much do I owe you?" The answer was a shock. The price for a repair that would normally cost $50 - $75, cost me … nothing. Yes, you read that right, he waved the cost. As I was putting the manifold back into my bro's car, I told him I would be right back as I wanted to give them something for their trouble. He grabbed my arm and said not to. I trust him and his knowledge of local "customs", though I did still feel guilty at not giving them something.

We got back to the house and I started putting the car back together. It went together without a problem, though I did leave off the front heat shield. I did this so I could check the manifold and tighten up the studs if need be. If I forget that the manifold is hot, then I deserve to burn my hands. :=/

A side note here. I was experiencing coolant loss, but there was no fluid on the ground, nor was there water in the oil, or oil in the water. It had been theorized that I might have a blown head gasket and enough water was being "burned", at a slow enough rate, to show up as a leak, but not to give me engine problems. I needed to check the compression to check this out though. When I took off the manifold I noticed something that may explain the coolant loss. Right behind the manifold, and rear heat shield, is a water line, level with the exhaust leak. I'm surmising that the leak was hot enough to boil the coolant at that point, even through the heat shield. Time will tell though.

As pointed out above I needed to check the compression, and I wanted to check the plugs anyway. Here is where I hit a snag. The sparkplugs on my engine are recessed about 6 inches in between the DOHC's. My bro only has a "standard" compression tester. That was not going to work. However I noticed that #2 spark plug was oil fouled, not a good thing. I cleaned and re-gapped all the plugs, the other 3 looking normal, with no sign of water intrusion. With everything back in place and buttoned up I started the car and the sweet sound of a quiet exhaust system met my ears. :=3 It no longer sounded like it was "riced out".

Next up: Friday and Saturday