Hi Everyone,
New member here…Though I’ve been using this forum heavily as a reference while I bring my 95 Formula back to life. I stopped driving it about 4 years ago with only 56k miles on it because it was leaking oil, coolant, and tranny fluid like crazy, idling roughly, overheating, no A/C, clunking, rattling, squeaking, windows not going up, and smelling of coolant when the heat was turned on. The final straw was when I noticed oil and sludge in the coolant (at that point I assumed head gasket failure). Instead of fixing these problems, I just bought a new car and stopped driving the Formula with the intent of donating it to one of those charities that just comes and takes your car away. Four years passed and I never got around to donating the car. In the meantime, my kids have gotten older (14) and think the car’s awesome. So, I started doing some research online, found this forum, and have been using all of the info and advice to bring the car back to life.
Jump ahead 2 months and I’m using the car as a daily driver, though there are still a number of things to repair. I took things one step at a time to see if this was really something I wanted to get into. Here’s what I’ve done so far:
- New Battery
- Started Car (fired right up after 4 years!)
- Drove carefully to smog test station (Passed! – California)
- Changed Oil
- Flushed Cooling System (just water for now)
- Diff Lube Change + Additive (got rid or the squealing and chatter in turns!)
- Re-filled the A/C (works fine, seems to be holding the refrigerant)
- New Water Pump and Thermostat
That was just the first week and got it into drivable condition. Of course, I discovered after the fact that should have done the Opti and front seals while I was doing the pump, but at least I know the engine a little better now and it should go faster when I do them. Since replacing the water pump, I haven’t seen any more oil in the radiator (this used to be an obvious slick when you took off the radiator cap + some in the recovery tank). My theory on this is that oil leaked from the front of the intake manifold on to the junction of the water pump to the block (this is where my pump was leaking from, not the weep hole). When the engine would cool after running and create a vacuum drawing coolant from the recovery tank, I think that some of leaking oil would be drawn into the cooling system. I’ll keep an eye on it for now. Continuing with what I’ve done so far:
- Replaced 3 Plugs (1,3,7) on the Passenger Side – Missing got worse.
- Went Back and Removed Metal Heat Shields – Missing got better
- Intake Manifold Leak Fix (this fixed most of the leaking oil at the back of the engine and some of the leaking oil at the front of the engine)
- Replaced Oil Filler Neck (this fixed the remainder of the leaking oil at the back of the engine.
- Transmission Service (fluid, filter, the pan was leaking, had the tranny mount replaced because I didn’t want to do it myself and it had cracks).
All the leaks at the back of the engine/front of the transmission are gone at this point! Still to do:
- Rest of the Plugs (Purchased NGK iridium)
- Plug Wires – Purchased MSD 8.5’s (This weekend’s project. I’ll see what affect this has on the missing)
- Opti + Seals – I already have the Opti & seals. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed and not do the timing cover/oil pan combo. Hope that does it for the leaks.
- Heater Core
- Window Motor
- Brakes (…at some point. New rotors and pads)
- Brake Master Cylinder (…at some point. Some minor leaking at the junction to the booster)
- Figure Out What That Noise is (driver’s side rear brake/axle/suspension clatter when rolling, stops with application of brake, clunks if I grab the top of the tire and vigorously rack the car side-to-side)
- Figure Out What That Vibration is (45-50mph – related to the rear wheel?, Tire balance? Tires sat in one position too long?...80mph – probably the driveshaft)
- Creaks & Squeaks (especially when cold: rear bushings & other rubber do-dads? T-Top rattles, dash rattles, rattles with rattles…)
- Paint R&R + TLC
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks to the forum members at this point. This is really an invaluable resource for project like this and I probably wouldn't have done otherwise.
Matt
New member here…Though I’ve been using this forum heavily as a reference while I bring my 95 Formula back to life. I stopped driving it about 4 years ago with only 56k miles on it because it was leaking oil, coolant, and tranny fluid like crazy, idling roughly, overheating, no A/C, clunking, rattling, squeaking, windows not going up, and smelling of coolant when the heat was turned on. The final straw was when I noticed oil and sludge in the coolant (at that point I assumed head gasket failure). Instead of fixing these problems, I just bought a new car and stopped driving the Formula with the intent of donating it to one of those charities that just comes and takes your car away. Four years passed and I never got around to donating the car. In the meantime, my kids have gotten older (14) and think the car’s awesome. So, I started doing some research online, found this forum, and have been using all of the info and advice to bring the car back to life.
Jump ahead 2 months and I’m using the car as a daily driver, though there are still a number of things to repair. I took things one step at a time to see if this was really something I wanted to get into. Here’s what I’ve done so far:
- New Battery
- Started Car (fired right up after 4 years!)
- Drove carefully to smog test station (Passed! – California)
- Changed Oil
- Flushed Cooling System (just water for now)
- Diff Lube Change + Additive (got rid or the squealing and chatter in turns!)
- Re-filled the A/C (works fine, seems to be holding the refrigerant)
- New Water Pump and Thermostat
That was just the first week and got it into drivable condition. Of course, I discovered after the fact that should have done the Opti and front seals while I was doing the pump, but at least I know the engine a little better now and it should go faster when I do them. Since replacing the water pump, I haven’t seen any more oil in the radiator (this used to be an obvious slick when you took off the radiator cap + some in the recovery tank). My theory on this is that oil leaked from the front of the intake manifold on to the junction of the water pump to the block (this is where my pump was leaking from, not the weep hole). When the engine would cool after running and create a vacuum drawing coolant from the recovery tank, I think that some of leaking oil would be drawn into the cooling system. I’ll keep an eye on it for now. Continuing with what I’ve done so far:
- Replaced 3 Plugs (1,3,7) on the Passenger Side – Missing got worse.
- Went Back and Removed Metal Heat Shields – Missing got better
- Intake Manifold Leak Fix (this fixed most of the leaking oil at the back of the engine and some of the leaking oil at the front of the engine)
- Replaced Oil Filler Neck (this fixed the remainder of the leaking oil at the back of the engine.
- Transmission Service (fluid, filter, the pan was leaking, had the tranny mount replaced because I didn’t want to do it myself and it had cracks).
All the leaks at the back of the engine/front of the transmission are gone at this point! Still to do:
- Rest of the Plugs (Purchased NGK iridium)
- Plug Wires – Purchased MSD 8.5’s (This weekend’s project. I’ll see what affect this has on the missing)
- Opti + Seals – I already have the Opti & seals. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed and not do the timing cover/oil pan combo. Hope that does it for the leaks.
- Heater Core
- Window Motor
- Brakes (…at some point. New rotors and pads)
- Brake Master Cylinder (…at some point. Some minor leaking at the junction to the booster)
- Figure Out What That Noise is (driver’s side rear brake/axle/suspension clatter when rolling, stops with application of brake, clunks if I grab the top of the tire and vigorously rack the car side-to-side)
- Figure Out What That Vibration is (45-50mph – related to the rear wheel?, Tire balance? Tires sat in one position too long?...80mph – probably the driveshaft)
- Creaks & Squeaks (especially when cold: rear bushings & other rubber do-dads? T-Top rattles, dash rattles, rattles with rattles…)
- Paint R&R + TLC
Anyway, I wanted to say thanks to the forum members at this point. This is really an invaluable resource for project like this and I probably wouldn't have done otherwise.
Matt
Got any pics?
Comment