Premiere Toyota service

I never used to use a torque wrench for lug nuts, but in these politically correct days, I've started using one in the past year. ;-)

Toyota uses a fiber gasket which has some give, which is why I said "1/4 to

If you go a half turn on most with the plastic washer, you will strip them. Even a full quarter turn is iffy unless you have a new copper crush washer....

Oil pan drain bolts strip so easily all the parts stores carry oversized self tappers for the 'hopeful' repair vs replacing the oil pan.

Use a torque wrench.

Mike

Comboverfish wrote in news:1194213353.020013.14450 @y42g2000hsy.googlegroups.com:

As part of my bionic rebuilding, they used DNA from a '48 Buick.

Yesterday, I went to an Ace hardware store called Westlake's and bought some high-quality turbine oil called Zoom Spout. Thanks to Scott Dorsey for recommending this oil to lube the nooks and crannies of the Michelin floor jack. This turbine oil was hard to find and I only found it because Scott mentioned Ace hardware.

While at Ace, I also picked up some 220-grit sandpaper and indoor/outdoor enamel paint to fix up the small rust spots on the floor jack. The Sam's Club Michelin floor jack is wonderful, works awesome, and has lots of great features, but I really wasn't expecting a handful of small rust spots. Anyway, I'll take care of that jack because it'll take care of me. I'm trusting that jack with my life, after all.

I went back to Harbor Freight to play with the 5 or 6 floor jacks they have on display. Not even their aluminum jacks work as well and as smoothly as this Michelin jack from Sam's Club. I actually think the Michelin jack is made by Shinn Fu America (must be a Chinese company), because Shinn Fu appears in very small print in the manual. Michelin musta paid an advertising fee to get its name and logo emblazoned on this fine jack. Everybody knows Bibendum, the Michelin Tyre Man! He's the buff version of the Pillsbury dough boy.

The convenience of the jack's Speedy Lift feature really can't be overstated. None of the jacks at Harbor Freight had this. Ray O, I'm wondering if your old but reliable pro-grade floor jack that you bought from a buddy has the Speedy Lift feature, which brings the saddle up to the chassis in one stroke? "They don't make things like they used to" is often true, but I wonder if Speedy Lift was around at the time your jack was made. Your jack is probably built better than mine, but I doubt it has Speedy Lift ;-)

I wasn't able to find the hydraulic jack oil recommended by the manual anywhere. Everybody's got a generic hydraulic oil and the Snap brand, but I couldn't find the Mobil DTE 13M mentioned in the manual anywhere, or the synthetic Pentosin/Pentosyn CHF 11S recommended by Steve W.

I am sure that once Ray realizes that his jack does not have this "Speedy Lift" feature, he will commit suicide. This will be on your conscience.

Last time I said Michelin probably paid Shinn Fu America an advertising fee to advertise on the jack. It's probably the other way around. Michelin probably commissioned Shinn Fu to make the jack. When I visit St. Louis soon, I'll stop in at Costco to see what they have jack-wise.

Yesterday, I happened to see the owner's manual of a '06 V6 Hyundai Sonata with alloy rims. The manual allows both 5w-20 and 5w-30. The oil filler cap, itself, has 5w-20 written on it.

While he was car shopping, the owner of the '06 Hyundai Sonata couldn't make up his mind between the Sonata with 35,000 miles on it or a Camry with 65,000 miles on it. He said the Camry was more expensive even though it had 30-thousand more miles on it, so he went with the Sonata.

Try a shop that deals with older European cars for the Pentosyn. It is good stuff.

For the Mobil DTE 13M, you're probably going to want to go to an industrial lubricants dealer rather than an auto parts dealer. Royal Purple Syndraulic oil is what we use at work for big jacks. Also Castrol Aero 40, which I think gets used because it's a lowest bid item.

--scott

Mobil DTE 24 hydraulic oil (ISO 32 SAE 10W SSU 165 @100F) is available on the Web at McMaster-Carr

Can't find a reference for DTE 13M. Check to see if the weight is right, they supercede old product numbers all the time.

The generic jack oil from Snap should work fine, your jack is just lifting cars, not breaking 10 seconds in the quarter-mile...

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No, my 30 year old jack doesn't have Speedy Lift, but I can make up the 5 extra seconds it takes to contact the vehicle's underbody elsewhere with quality tools and a little bit of experience ;-)

The paint on the steel wheels of the Michelin floor jack is already coming off after just one use on asphalt. In fact, the paint is almost entirely gone on the rear casters, exposing the steel.

Do you think the steel on the front and rear wheels will begin to rust? Should I re-paint them? But I guess I should ask first if it's safe to repaint them. If so, will an enamel paint do? Thanks.

If you mean the paint on the face of the wheel NO paint will last long there. Rust won't hurt it either.

The hydraulics of that jack will be worn out long before any rust on those wheels will have a chance to become an issue. Don't worry about it.

Do you worry because your screwdrivers aren't painted? Didn't think so.

nate

While I agree with your conclusion to not worry about a little rust on a jack, screwdrivers are rarely bare steel. The are usually plated (typically nickel-chrome plated or other rust-resistant coating).

It's nice to hear the exposed steel wheels can handle any rust, but the reason I ask about them is the wheels move the jack forward as the car is being raised, since the lifting arm moves upwards in an arc. So the wheels are important.

I'll only use the jack 2 or 3 times a year, so I'll probably just go ahead and repaint the wheels with an enamel paint to resist rusting during the 6 months when the jack isn't being used.

Do you get anything done with the amount of worrying that you do?

I worry about the jack and jack stands because that is what's going to keep me alive while I'm under the car.

In fact, I need to know my floor jack as well as a soldier knows his rifle ;-)

What's that drill the sergeant makes you do? "This is my gun, this is for fun; this is my rifle, this is..." I've forgotten the rest of it, but it was a scene in "Full Metal Jacket."

An R.O.T.C. soldier friend of mine at MU confirmed for me that the scene is real.