2002 Chevrolet Impala 3.4 Cabin Air Filter Installation

Just a quick post for this month (I may post another one dealing with this same vehicle). This 2002 Chevy Impala 3.4 came into the shop for repairs. One of the things we checked for the customer was the fluids and filters. This is a pretty standard procedure (along with checking other basics as well).

We noticed that this vehicle was supposed to have a Cabin Air Cleaner in the HVAC system. The one for this vehicle was missing. Below is information showing how to know if the car should have one and where it is located.

First, the glove box must be opened.

If the vehicle comes from the factory equipped with a Cabin Air Cleaner, there should be a sticker (see below) in the glove box giving this information. In the case of this vehicle, the sticker was present. We proceeded to check to see if the filter was actually there; and, if so, if it needed to be replaced.

To gain access to the filter, simply push in on both sides of the glove box, until the tabs release (see below). There will be one on either side. Once these are pushed in the glove box will be able to drop down out of the way toward the floorboard.

Below is a picture of the glove box dropped down out of the way. This allows access to where the Cabin Air Cleaner "lives".

Next, the cover must be removed. It is simply a plastic cover with tabs holding it in place. The tabs, as seen in the picture below, are on the bottom of the cover.

Once the cover is remove, the area where the filter "lives" can be seen. As evidenced from the picture below, it is obvious there was no cabin air installed.

Below is a picture of the cabin air filter that was purchased to install.

Below is a picture of the filter installed.

From here, it is just an issue of reversing the steps and putting everything back together.

2003 VW GTI 1.8 Turbo Thermostat Replacement

This 2003 Volkswagen GTI 1.8 Turbo came into the shop with a customer request of replacing the Thermostat. The CEL had illuminated and the customer had taken the vehicle by an auto parts store and had the codes checked. The code was a Tstat code and he was advised to replace the thermostat.

Below is a picture of where the thermostat "lives" on these vehicles. Basically, if you notice the alternator to the left; the thermostat "lives" to the right of the alternator (as you look at the picture). It is between the oil dip stick and the alternator. As you can see, it would be very difficult to "fish" out as is. Many manuals and data services will tell you to remove the alternator assembly to replace the thermostat. But we have found an easier, less time consuming method for doing this job.

First, of course, we drained the coolant. Next we removed the plate. There are two Allen head fasteners that need to be removed. In the picture below, I am removing the one on the left (again, with the orientation of looking down) and have already backed out the one on the right.

The picture below shows both bolts removed and now the plate can be moved out of the way. The plate must also be removed from the oil dipstick (simply by pulling up, gently on the plate) and the electrical connector needs to be detached.

Below is a picture of the disconnected wiring harness.

Once that is done, the plate can be moved over to the driver's side and positioned out of the way. It is still connected to the car, so it cannot be removed from the vehicle completely; though you could go through the trouble of doing that. But it will position out of the way just fine to do the job. (You may have to keep it held by a bungee cord or the like: be careful not to break anything though!)

Now, the thermostat neck and radiator hose can be clearly seen, with the plate moved out of the way.

Below is a closer look at the tstat housing and hose.

We then remove the hose from the tstat housing. Below is a picture of that.

Now there are two bolts that hold the tstat housing in place. We used a 3/8 rachet, an extension and a flex socket to remove these two bolts. Sorry, we did not take pictures of this, but it is pretty easy to do. You may need a magnet to remove the bottom of the two bolts (and to put it make when reassembling the housing).

In the picture below, the bolts have both been removed from the housing.

In the picture below, the tstat is visible as the housing has been removed. 

Below is a picture of the tstat.

Below is a picture of the tstat housing/neck.

 To reassemble, we simply reversed the steps. We refilled the vehicle with coolant. We then cleared the codes and made sure the new thermostat worked properly; that the temperature hand read normally; and that the cooling fans operated normally.

When everything checked good, we shipped the vehicle to the customer.

2005 Ford Focus ZX4 SES 2.0 with a Loose Steering Wheel

This 2005 Ford Focus, 2.0 ZX4 SES, came into the shop with a customer concern of a severely loose steering wheel. We confirmed the customer's concern. It was apparent the issue was the steering wheel bolt itself and not an issue in the column.

First, we had to remove the Driver's Air Bag from the steering wheel. We always remove power to the Air Bag when we do this, to avoid the air bag deploying.

First, here is a look at the steering wheel with the air bag still in place. Again, it is vitally important that we always remove power from the air bag circuit, before we attempt to remove it, so as not to have a deployment of the air bag. After we removed power and made sure the circuit had no power, we removed the air bag.

There are two small bolts on the back of the steering wheel that hold the air bag in place. We removed these two bolts with a ratchet and socket. We had to position the steering wheel, so that we were able to remove these two bolts.

Below is a look at the heads of the two bolts (they remained in the steering wheel assembly).

And another:

And one more:

Next, we gently removed the air bag assembly from the steering wheel. We also unclipped the electrical connector for the air bag (again, making sure there was no power on the air bag circuit beforehand!).

Below is a look at the clip.

Below we used a pocket screwdriver to detach the connector.

Below, is a picture of the connector disconnected.

With the air bag assembly disconnected (mechanically and electrically) from the steering wheel, we laid it out of the way.

Next, it was time to check the bolt itself to see how loose it was.

Below is a picture of the bolt and steering wheel with the air bag assembly safely removed.

Below, we placed a pocket screwdriver behind the bolt head to show it was loose. It was actually loose by several turns and was barely holding it on at this point.

We used a 1/2 inch ratchet and socket and tightened the bolt back down to spec.

Once the bolt was tightened, we affirmed the steering wheel was tight with no more play in it. Once we did that, it was simply a matter of reversing the steps and reinstalling everything.

Once reassmebled, we tested it one more time and it was good and tight. All the play in the steering wheel was now completely gone.

We shipped the vehicle back to the customer!

2004 Cadillac Deville 4.6, Fuel Door and Trunk Switch Inoperative

This 2004 Cadillac Deville came into the shop with a customer complaint that neither the fuel door or the trunk would open with the switch on the dash. The customer had checked and switched fuses, but was still having the same issue.

I confirmed the concern and started investigating the possible causes.

Below is a picture of where the two buttons are located on this Cadillac.

Below, the fuel door remained closed when the button on the dash (the headlamp switch) was pressed.

Below, the trunk also remained closed with the button pressed for it.

I connected my Scan tool and while looking at the Pids for both the fuel door and trunk, I pressed each button separately. When I did, the Pid for each one registered, showing that the switch was good, along with the fuses.

Below, you can see it showing "On" and "Off" for both functions. (Sorry for the glare in the pics.)

Fuel Door switch "On" (finger pressing button):

Fuel Door switch "Off" (finger off of button):

Trunk Release switch "On" (finger pressing button):

Trunk Release switch "Off" (finger off of button):

Again, the above screen shots proved that the system was operating normally, as far as the switch and command was concerned. Now the only question was, why were the components not working?

As I investigated more, I discovered the problem. It was inside the glove box. This model has a "Valet Lock" in the glove box. This allows the owner to turn the button to the "On" position, which means a valet would be unable to access the fuel filler neck or the trunk, if the owner gave the valet the valet key and locked the glove box with the regular key (i.e. the valet key will not unlock the glove box).

Below is the "Valet Lock." As you can see, the button is pressed "On", thus not allowing the fuel door or trunk to be opened with the switch on the dash.

I simply switched the "Valet Lock" to "Off" and when I did everything was back to working properly.
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Sometimes it is the little or simple things that are causing the problem. Probably, the "Valet Lock" was accidentally switched to the "On" position by the customer when cleaning the vehicle or reaching in to grab something from the glove box.

I confirmed everything worked properly a couple of times and shipped the vehicle!