What a difference.

hotnissanbabe2003 · Jul 19th, 2004, 11:27 PM

Wow,
alright, all 3 of my belts were changed yesterday in my truck...and WOW....what a difference it made in my driving..there was nothing wrong w/ the previous belts, but we put some better ones in..can't remember the brand name of them..but i think they came to about $50 for all 3 of them..anyways.
have a question though, do u think that since my truck doesn't seem like it's working as hard to get up and go now, do you think i will get better gas mileage now?
just wanted to tell everyone how things went with the belts. now all that's left is my back brakes and try to find out why the hell my check engine light goes on!!!

nissanjunkie · Jul 19th, 2004, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotnissanbabe2003

have a question though, do u think that since my truck doesn't seem like it's working as hard to get up and go now, do you think i will get better gas mileage now?
just wanted to tell everyone how things went with the belts. now all that's left is my back brakes and try to find out why the hell my check engine light goes on!!!

Less strain on the engine = more power and better milage in theory but your engine is MPFI so any increase would be minimal if not noticable at all for milage but you will get a better responding engine with a good set of belts properly tightened. The rear brakes are a bastard and should be banned to the darkest realms of the earth! They will eat up a good bit of a paycheck if you need a new spring kit ($25, I reccomned getting one for any rear brake job though it may take a day to be sent to your local NAPA its all new parts to insure you have the right tension on the shoes) , new wheel cylinders($40 each) and drums ($80 each) and you need to make sure the ones you buy have the places for your parking brake cable to go on as it was before(my cheapo albany shoes didn't have the hardware thus no parking brake but I don't need it). Be sure to work on one side at a time and have the other drum off as a reference to where springs and hardware go and in what order position. As for you computer its under neath your passenger seat and you use a screw driver to turn a litle bolt with a slit(its inside a hole on the ecu labeled mode selector) fully clockwise and read the number of red flashes and the number of green and thats your code( 5 red and 5 greenis code 55 aka normal sysem operation. Read the codes tomorrow and if its another one i'll let you now what your ecu ain't happy about.

hotnissanbabe2003 · Jul 20th, 2004, 12:07 AM

alright thanks.
about the ECU...do i need to take out the passenger seat to get to it???

nissanjunkie · Jul 20th, 2004, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hotnissanbabe2003

alright thanks.
about the ECU...do i need to take out the passenger seat to get to it???

No problemo! I'd remove the seat (four bolts hold it on ) so you can get easy access to the computer and you'll be able to see the lights blinking better. BTW You'll have to have the key in the on position to read they codes.

aaronford · Jul 22nd, 2004, 01:44 AM

Give ya an opportunity to get all the car wash change and moldy french fries out of there. I know I ain't the only one who finds scary stuff down there. Look under the moderators sticky and you will find Tolleyy's post. It breaks down the code retrieval step by step. He also included all the code definitions.

hotnissanbabe2003 · Jul 22nd, 2004, 01:55 AM

cool..well i pretty much found all the nasty scary stuff a few weeks after i bought the truck...the guy who owned it before me liked chocolate milk and toothpicks! (found a lot of those single bottle lids and the things that seal the lids that you pull off) and a lot of toothpicks all over the damn place in there. kind of nasty..maybe i'll find some change..
anyways, just finished my brakes a couple of hours agoand they're better, no squealing. no i just need to do the adjustment to them and it's good to go but i probably won't do that til maybe tomorow night or something..oh well thanks guys. one of these days i'll get that seat out and figure out whats going on..but it is right to say that you can only check it while the light is on..do u have to have the car running while you do it..i don't know. thanks for all the help guys..

nissanjunkie · Jul 22nd, 2004, 01:18 PM

You don't check it while it running but you do turn the key to the on position (the guage lights will come on) to check the codes. And the check engine light doesn't have to be on to see what the code is, the computer stores it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronford

Look under the moderators sticky and you will find Tolleyy's post. It breaks down the code retrieval step by step. He also included all the code definitions.

Now you ruined my plan....I was about to make my move on her!!

hotnissanbabe2003 · Jul 22nd, 2004, 11:40 PM

and what move would that have been?
anyways..
i was driving my truck today (we haven't done the brake adjustment yet) and all of a sudden it sounded like something dropped out of my truck..hard. then when i got to where i was going, i was backing out of the parking space, there was this grinding sound coming from the left brake, then i put it in drive and i felt like i went over a pothole and then it sounded like something dropped again, what could it have been? note: we were having problems getting that side on to begin with, so i don't know. we're going to take a look at it tomorow to see what happened!!
thanks for all help so far,.
btw. i probably won't have many more questions..unless there's something the Haynes manual won't answer....it also has all of the codes too . i just bought it tonight..should help a lot.

nissanjunkie · Jul 22nd, 2004, 11:56 PM

Move??.... Who said anything about a move???...AAHHHHHHH you caught me!!! I was gonna save this for later but this is my move----------->

Pretty impressive moves huh?

I think you might have not put the retainer on properly (page 10-12 in your new haynes manual) and now the shoe has come undone and is just going wherever it wants inside the drum when you try to stop. Theres a lot of things the manual won't answer (mainly computer related) but its good for a quick reference book.

wish.i.had.a.nissan · Jul 24th, 2004, 06:30 AM

When we got into the brake what had happened was the brake adjustment peice decided to fall out and shear in two ... SO we had to drive to tulsa and buy a new one of those and a new set of brake pads and springs...Oops forgot to introduce myself , Im hotnissanbabes boyfriend.Thanks for all the help guys and good advice too..It started raining so we didnt get the parts on yesterday but hopefully we will get a chance to today.

Is there anything special i should know about adjusting the brakes?

nissanjunkie · Jul 24th, 2004, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wish.i.had.a.nissan

Oops forgot to introduce myself , Im hotnissanbabes boyfriend.

Is there anything special i should know about adjusting the brakes?

I guess all them PMs she sent me were a lie then! Nah J/K

But in all seriousness to adjust the brakes after you have the durm put back on you need a screwdriver. There is a slot in the back of the backing plate and you move the little ratcheting mechanism on the adjuster upwards I believe (it only move one way though you can't screw it up) until you can feel the shoes barely start to rub against the side of the drum. Don't forget to use anti-seize on the six spots where the shoe touches the backing plate. Also take the adjuster and put some on the treads lightly.

And as I stated before THE REAR BRAKES ARE THE DEVIL!!!!!!! So don't get too frustrated or get in a hurry cause you will mess up and end up costing yourself big $$$$$.

Edit: After you have the brakes adjusted and the wheels back on you will want to drive in reverse about 50 ft and stop slightly hard to help the shoes seat themselves. Repaet that procedure three - four times to ensure they are properly adjsuted.