Basic Maintenance

I decided to do some basic maintenance today. I changed the fuel filter, supercharger oil, and thermostat. I changed the supercharger oil a couple years ago so I decided might as well change it while I was doing the other things. After a couple years the fluid had turned brown and I only got around 7 oz of fluid back out. I am sure it was still in there because I had a little extra of the new oil. Now my hands smell like old supercharger oil. It is a great smell.

I think the old thermostat was sticking once and while causing the engine to over heat a little. I just put in a 195 degree thermostat because I am pretty much stock and with the way gas prices are, I decided to stay with the stock temperature. I don't want to change it again any time soon because of the mess.

I was expecting a lot of trouble with the fuel filter because it had never been changed before. I had no problems with it. I used vice grips on the nut because of all the stories I have read about stripping the nut. It was very easy. I was going to change the pcv valve, but the dealership wanted $8.00 for it. Should it be changed or is it fine? Hopefully my gas mileage will improve a little bit.

PCV should be fine, but you can take it out and inspect/clean. Be careful, it's spring loaded, and the gasket will probably tear. I've opened mine, but never replaced it.

Take out the old PCV valve, and shake it up and down. If it rattles freely, it should be just fine. If your old gasket is shot (mine was crap) you can just use some RTV sealant instead.

I used RTV on mine, too.

RTV x3 ....FTW!
i plan on changin my fuel filter tomorrow
they went up in price btw. 3 years ago i paid $16 for it, now i went to the dealer and paid $24 i dont know if it will offset the difference saved in mileage now.
so what did you do to get the fuel out of the lines? schrader? fuse? drink it?

Mr.Riviera wrote:

RTV x3 ....FTW!
i plan on changin my fuel filter tomorrow
they went up in price btw. 3 years ago i paid $16 for it, now i went to the dealer and paid $24 .....

WHAT???? I picked up a pair a few weeks ago for about $12/ea.

Dug out my receipt from the dealer, paid $ 12.78 each. Keeping in mind they are giving me trade discounting because I mentioned the price I could get them for at gmpartsdirect.com. Use this as leverage when you go in to buy at the dealer. Unless they are total a$$holes about it, they should give you a much better price. I would assume you got stuck paying full GM List price.

Mr.Riviera wrote:

RTV x3 ....FTW!
i plan on changin my fuel filter tomorrow
they went up in price btw. 3 years ago i paid $16 for it, now i went to the dealer and paid $24 i dont know if it will offset the difference saved in mileage now.
so what did you do to get the fuel out of the lines? schrader? fuse? drink it?

i got one at the autostore for $7 today. gonna put it on next week. i dont go to the dealer unless its my only option.

quote: "so what did you do to get the fuel out of the lines? schrader? fuse? drink it?"

Rag.

dreww wrote:

Mr.Riviera wrote:

RTV x3 ....FTW!
i plan on changin my fuel filter tomorrow
they went up in price btw. 3 years ago i paid $16 for it, now i went to the dealer and paid $24 i dont know if it will offset the difference saved in mileage now.
so what did you do to get the fuel out of the lines? schrader? fuse? drink it?

i got one at the autostore for $7 today. gonna put it on next week. i dont go to the dealer unless its my only option.

same here but i wanted a delco filter and its the only place the had one. i could have saved by getting one at discount, but the delco one works well.
i guess i had it coming b/c i am always getting stuff at discount prices at that dealer. i am wondering if they may have changed the part b/c the bag says ; was part # xxx now # xxxx... can anyone find out the part of the delco filter from a few years back?

To get the fuel out of the lines, I pulled the fuel pump fuse and tried to start the car. That emptied the fuel from the lines. Gas will still come out, so have a container ready.