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Thread: May be letting her go soon...

  1. #1
    Senior Member Ares's Avatar
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    May be letting her go soon...

    A friend of mine lost their vehicle. I don't know how they are surviving without a car here in Houston where public transportation is stupid. I'll also see about pre-paying half-year's worth of insurance (depending on cost).

    This week, I'll be attempting to put in new the rear shocks again and swapping back in the OEM wheels. I'll probably be doing an oil change and replacing the wiper blades while I'm at it.

    I need your help:
    1. The water pressure on the driver side windshield washer is low. Any idea what to do for troubleshooting? I poked the holes with a clothespin so it does not seem to be clogged on that end. I was going to pull the hood-temperature cover to check on the hoses but the material cracked so I stopped.
    2. The serpentine belt has been squeaking. It was replaced as recently as less than 5k miles ago. At first I assumed it was the AC compressor, but now that it's cold out, I have reason to believe it may also be the water pump. I had the heat on full blast, AC off, and would turn off the HVAC when the squeaking starts and it goes away. Turn it back on a second or two later and it's fine. Should I just go ahead and replace the water pump?
    3. Brake pads and rotors should be decent. I have not done brake fluid change in a while, may do that as well.
    4. I haven't replaced the MT fluid since the transmission was replaced about 40k miles ago. Time to change?
    5. I'll be looking for tires as well since those are also the OEM tires. Does anyone know if 185s will fit in these stupidly narrow OEM wheels? 185/60 ($47ea) seems to be closer in diameter to the stock 165/65 ($54ea) tires but 175/65 ($41) seem to be cheaper than both.



    I'd take the mirage from TX to NY to CA and back without worry, but I also know she probably wont get serviced when I let her go so I'm trying to do these things now to hopefully last a few years.


    Last edited by Ares; 03-20-2023 at 03:25 PM.

  2. #2
    I'd remove the washer nozzle and try blowing air in it from both ends. You can remove it from the top, it's kinda like the signal lights on the fenders. Just grab it and slide it forward or rearwards and one end will lift up(I can't remember off hand which way). Then take a blow gun and try to blow it out. Sometimes that works, others you have to replace the nozzle. Could always just swap right to left so at least the drivers side gets cleared... If you do try this don't let the hose go, clamp it above the hood with a paper clip or something otherwise you'll have to tear the hood insulation off to reach it and hook it back up. Maybe I'll try to make a clip of what I mean.

    Sounds like the belt is just loose. They often need to be retightened after replacement. When it's running and ac is on(the ac compressor kicked it),turn on all the electrical stuff to load up the alternator(rear defrost, headlights, blower motor) and watch the top of the belt where it goes from the alternator pulley towards the rear/down towards the crank pulley. If it flops up and down a lot then it's too loose. Snug it up until it stops flapping. That's the way I do it. If it still squeals then pull the belt off and start spinning all the pulleys to see if one is sticking. There have been a few guys with the ac compressor clutches screw up. I wouldn't blindly start throwing parts at it for no reason though. It could even be the belt is hooped if it's been slipping for a while and glazed.

    We run 185/60r14's on the fleet cars, they work. Some are wider than others. That varies by mfg slightly. I've ran 175/65r14's on mine for years. They're a little narrower than the 185's and a hair taller. Either would work. Nice thing about the wider 185's is they seem to track nicer on the highway. At least that's what I noticed. They all fit the stock 4.5" wheel.

    As for the fluid changes, probably wouldn't hurt.
    Mirage videos:

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Ares (03-20-2023)

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    Senior Member Ares's Avatar
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    Awesome info. Will get to it.

    As far as tightening the belt is concerned, what's the "official" way of confirming how tight it is? I ask because my previous adjustment rod / alternator bracket cracked so I thought I may have been tightening it too much.

  5. #4
    You mean the bracket that bolts to the cylinder head? I have seen one of those break in a weird spot once. Didn't know until I replaced the belt. The official way is to strum it and listen to it with some tool that has a microphone. Or something like that. I'm sure there's a post around here with a pic of the service manual showing that procedure. I snug it up until it shuts up and stops bouncing around. If it's still noisy then I throw another belt on.
    Mirage videos:

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Ares (03-20-2023)

  7. #5
    Mirage videos:

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage SE wussie cvt edition. 1.2 automatic: 37.7 mpg (US) ... 16.0 km/L ... 6.2 L/100 km ... 45.3 mpg (Imp)


  8. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Fummins For This Useful Post:

    Ares (03-20-2023),Mark (03-20-2023)

  9. #6
    Senior Member Ares's Avatar
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    I would have never ever figured that's how to remove those things! As already mentioned, I tried getting in from the bottom which stopped me on my tracks when I found it difficult to remove the heat shield.

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    So Ares - Do you mean you are giving your car, or selling your car to your friend?

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2020 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.4 mpg (US) ... 18.0 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.9 mpg (Imp)


  11. #8
    Senior Member Ares's Avatar
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    I definitely wont ask them for $ to use the car.

    I feel like, for liability reasons, it may be better to just give it to them. However, taxes here in Texas is stupid so if they attempt to transfer title they'll be hit with cost.

    TBH, not sure how to best tackle this.

  12. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ares View Post
    TBH, not sure how to best tackle this.
    Unfortunately, it would be best to let them tackle it themselves...

    You're putting yourself in, "a situation." One where no good deed goes unpunished.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2020 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.4 mpg (US) ... 18.0 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Senior Member klroger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ares View Post
    Awesome info. Will get to it.

    As far as tightening the belt is concerned, what's the "official" way of confirming how tight it is?
    Foama posted this a while ago. It'll give you an idea of the tone from the belt. He has an audio file on the first post... Hope this helps !!! https://mirageforum.com/forum/showth...-Tension-Howto


    Last edited by klroger; 03-21-2023 at 10:01 AM. Reason: Added link
    I didn't know what to do, so I didn't do anything

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2018 Mirage GT 1.2 automatic: 37.3 mpg (US) ... 15.9 km/L ... 6.3 L/100 km ... 44.8 mpg (Imp)


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