Finally got the extension necessary for the rear mount nuts. Found the other side of the boot had slipped off. So the left side was leaking. Guess the boot clamps weren't tight so after a while the boost pressure pushed the manifold sections apart. All done now but it's super tight back there even with the engine as low as possible. Thankfully no coolant leaks from the right lower hose. Heck I didn't have to disconnect anything except for the air filter box.

 

I definitely prefer driving in the twisties to doing service work, but I still prefer to do it myself rather than sending it to a shop...

Water pump had a slight weep. $200 for an OEM water pump, and about 200 different fasteners that need to be removed to get to it?

 

drove it to work today, even left early to avoid traffic, but alas i got bit with 1.5 hrs of bumper to bumper traffic... so i made sure to stay later so i would miss traffic going home... was a cool night with a 60*F wind chill... moving along on the highway at a decent clip and look down and notice the temp gauge is lower than where it normally is...

no error lights and car drove normally... guessing it's a stuck open t-stat??? maybe from this morning when i was just crawling in traffic for 35 miles... i already found a few threads to start some diagnosis with an IR reader and checking the temp from the OBD port... any help or links would be helpful...

 

Need tires, 8 year old S02a’s are at the wear bars. Going to GT2 size 235/315 against most peoples recommendation?

 

drove it to work today, even left early to avoid traffic

Which is the primary reason I get up at 0400 every morning so I get at least one way to work (or home) without traffic.

 

Falkens 615 or 660s seem to be good at the moment.

8 years is impressive.

 

Gotta love Maine. Driving season is not very long ( winters suck), but slow traffic means I had to come off the cruise control for a second to get around a car. I park in a lot that holds 500 cars with usually less that 50 any given day ( Covid work from home , thank you). I feel rather fortunate to be able to take the TT to work once and a while and never worry about the ride in, the ride home or a parking space that's safe and sound. Really feel for folks that suffer through the daily commute.

 

I have two spots, just hate the traffic.

 

That's not terribly low, I'd watch it for now, or go drive some more and see what happens. Traffic is only coincidental, not the cause. But if it's bad, yes it usually (should?) fails open to prevent damage.

 

i did some searching and saw some of your responses where you helped others with cooling issues. also kept in mind your comment about that bad factory t-stat out of the box, so i will def test any replacement i get before it goes into the car...

did some testing this morning... let the car idle for about 10 mins to get up to temp... also by just standing back there taking the temp readings for a few mins at a time, i stunk from the race pipes... i think i'm going to put the cats back on...

just to rule out the temp sensor and sender, i checked the temp on the dash, via the ECU and at the coolant hose... all increased consistently and were close to each other... so i'm slowly confirming my suspicion of the t-stat stuck open...

 

IR guns are awesome.

 

lol i only bought one when i had to deal with hot water pipes for baseboard heat... would get complaints there was no heat, so i would just take a temp reading off the pipe and be able to diagnose where the water wasn't flowing... also learned that IR laser doesn't work directly on copper (so you have to put a mark with a sharpie) then read off the mark...

this was the first time i used it for the car...

 

^ I mainly use mine in the kitchen, but I'm sure it will have its use in the garage sooner or later.

 

Got my tickets for Rennsport Reunion next September. Now I have a year to get the car ready for the road trip.

 

That sounds like me with my fire extinguisher....