The background of the car is that is a 2006 GP 3.8 NA that was my fathers until he bought a new vehicle. It has been sitting for over a year and he gave it me for my son who will be 16 in Feb. I just moved it from his house to mine and realize it will need a few things. I knew it needed some work and will use this as a teaching opportunity for my son.
When we opened the hood, mice had begun nesting under the engine cover near the front valve cover. It was damp there and I hope it was just urine. After jump starting it, oil smoke was billowing off the manifolds. I can only assume the valve covers did not deal well with sitting. The power steering pump had a slow leak while my dad was still driving it, but the pump now whines so that will need replacing.
The car has 217K miles but does run smoothly other than the above mentioned issues.
My intentions are to do the following-
- Replace PS pump (and hoses if necessary)
- Replace valve cover gaskets
- Replace water pump and coolant elbows as preventive maintenance
- Replace tensioner as preventive maintenance
- Replace EVAP canister (Dad had part on hand and engine light would trip with code for it)
Is there anything else I should consider replacing while I dig into some of these other tasks or other known issues I should be sure to inspect?
Thanks for reading!
