My wifey and I went for a ride for a cruise and coffee at the local Starbucks this morning. Somewhere during the ride Josie developed this squeaking sound from the front right of the car.
I jacked up the car and removed the front right tire and hub. I was able to duplicate the squeaking sound by pushing the front end up and down. I was not able to repeat the sound by shifting the car side to side. I applied some grease onto the stabilizer shaft as shown below. This stopped the squeak for now but I expect it will return once the grease has come off or dried. I’ll need to replace that piece later on.
One good note is the brake pads are still good and have a ways to go. I’ll need to check out the rear brakes to see if they are the cause for the humming noise when the brakes get warm. It sounds as if it is coming from the right side of the car braking system but I’m not certain.
Well… took some time off going out for my lunch walks. It started out as it was too cold, too much rain, yada yada. I decided to go for a walk after I ate and did the normal path and speed as before. I’m feeling it now.
I jacked up the BMW this afternoon trying to find the source of an oil leak. It seems to be coming from the driver side of the car but the leaks I’ve seen on the garage and driveway indicate a passenger side motor leak. It may be such that the path of flow down to the ground is being channeled towards that direction.
After further research there seems to be a common leakage on the left side valve covers that will eventually make its way down to the floor. I will see if I can get into it this weekend, start looking at BMW valve gasket kits.
The last few years weve been under a drought condition. The latest in storms has probably gotten us out of the restriction. So much rain and flooding going on.
I ordered from eBay Cadillac key blanks that have the necessary VATS resistance pellet. I didn’t realize most professional locksmiths will not make you a copy if you don’t mind the blank from them.
I went over to the local ACE hardware store and asked the workers if they would. After a couple of turn downs an employee was found that had the skill set to cut the key. It worked out great as this person was able to make copy of both the ignition and trunk keys. I had 2 sets made, the cost was $6. You can’t beat that deal!
I took apart my power antenna assembly this morning so I could replace the mast and cable. As it turns out the the cable was still in one piece and usable.
This is an easy fix, you may need two people so you can turn on the ignition and let the radio signal trigger the power antenna to extend. Once the antenna begins to extend you can turn off the ignition and hold the antenna in place. You’ll also have to remove the power harness (black) from the receptacle to prevent the antenna from going back down.
I used a pair vice-grips to hold the top section of the antenna while turning the end tip clockwise. This will allow removal of the lower two sections. The top section of the mast is the portion that connects to the cable. Luckily for me the lower sections of the antenna was part bent.
Since owning the Caddy 99′ the antenna mast would not extend fully when turning on the radio. It turns out the mast itself was bent and could only reach 1/4 height extension. I purchased a kit online and will be replacing the mast and cable.
