2003 Impala - Update (Sound Detection and other BS)

After 2 months and about 5k miles it's all good, except for one thing. A whining noise has developed, most noticeable at idle.. Wife "complained" about it, and my son told her it wasn't serious. He drives her around almost every Saturday in the car, shopping rummage stores. They have music playing, which I don't do. Yesterday I took the car to run an errand. It's an effing irritating whine to me, maybe mostly because it was almost dead quiet before. Had the same type experience when I bought my '88 Celebrity 2.8 with

31k miles on it. Dead quiet, then the PS pump started whining. Since it was under warranty I got that replaced. This Impala whine sounds louder by the rear wheel wells, so I'm suspecting it's the fuel pump, but the stethoscope should tell when I get around to it. Found out the Impala has a pump access panel.
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Youtube and the internet really come through for Chevy DIY'ers, and probably other common cars. Sometimes people just jump in without looking first. This guy posted a couple pages of instructions for fuel pump replacement, a lot of it involving how to drop the tank. Same car as mine.
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The first response was "Do you realize there is an access panel in the trunk?" He didn't, but took it all in good nature. Good tutorial anyway, but the Youtube vid makes it easier. It's always good to look hard before starting work. The guy above said he was "just following the repair manual." Didn't say what repair manual. But even factory shop manuals don't always set you on the "best" path. I've had GM shop manuals for my last 5-6 cars, but I got them for 20-60 bucks on eBay. The Impala manuals are way high priced so I don't have them yet. Anyway, a few years before my Lumina shot its engine, I was ready to junk it because of a bad motor mount. Rubber almost completely gone, engine sagging to one side. Car was rusting and paint peeling too. The shop manual procedure for replacing the mount involved strut removal, sealed bolts into the crankcase, etc, etc. A big load of work I didn't want to do on that old car. Then I found a short back-yard mechanic tutorial with pics on the net, where with a single jack and removal of the wheel well sheet metal, it was about an hour job replacing that mount. So for a 50 buck mount and about 10 cans of 2 buck white spray paint I got another 3 years out of the Lumina. Used POR-15 once where the rockers were holed, so that was about 20 bucks. Then every year before our Florida vacation I'd pull some peeling paint, hit it with white spray and we'd be on our way. Didn't even bother sanding. You can even spray over rust and it's good for a few months. Just don't look close.
Reply to
Vic Smith
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Vic Smith wrote:

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> The first response was "Do you realize there is an access panel in the > trunk?" He didn't, but took it all in good nature. > Good tutorial anyway, but the Youtube vid makes it easier. > It's always good to look hard before starting work. The guy above > said he was "just following the repair manual." Didn't say what > repair manual. But even factory shop manuals don't always set you on > the "best" path. I've had GM shop manuals for my last 5-6 cars, but I > got them for 20-60 bucks on eBay. The Impala manuals are way high > priced so I don't have them yet. > Anyway, a few years before my Lumina shot its engine, I was ready to > junk it because of a bad motor mount. Rubber almost completely gone, > engine sagging to one side. Car was rusting and paint peeling too. > The shop manual procedure for replacing the mount involved strut > removal, sealed bolts into the crankcase, etc, etc. A big load of > work I didn't want to do on that old car. Then I found a short > back-yard mechanic tutorial with pics on the net, where with a single > jack and removal of the wheel well sheet metal, it was about an hour > job replacing that mount. So for a 50 buck mount and about 10 cans of > 2 buck white spray paint I got another 3 years out of the Lumina. > Used POR-15 once where the rockers were holed, so that was about 20 > bucks.

Good write up! :)

Reply to
Paul in Houston TX

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