Thread: 2000 GTP: Still Alive! New Trans?

I pulled the front of the radio off, pulled the circuit board off of the front plastic, and sprayed electronic cleaner on everything (except the screen, don't get any cleaner on the screen). On the potentiometers I turned them while spraying, on the switches and buttons I pushed them while spraying, to help clean everything. I think the reason it sounded better after was because I had scratchy volume knob. After I cleaned it the connection inside that potentionmeter was a lot better. If your stereo is working properly I wouldn't bother doing it. Remember this was all on the stock Radio\CD player.

I did a more in depth surgery on my Sony headunit, but thats a different story, lol.

So I broke down and went and installed everything but the Map lights, since I have to rip it all apart to put those in. I still have to rip it apart to reroute the steering control interface anyways, so it'll be a bit of a project, that happens tonight after the kids pass out. I need this:
Naptime! - YouTube

Oh and when you install these bulbs, try them before you put everything back together. Polarity matters on these so if you install them backwards they won't work. Doesn't hurt anything, just doesn't work. FLip them around and they should work fine. Once you know they turn on, put it all back together. Also, do the back doors have lights in them? I see the spots and holes for the lights, but I didn't see any wires run or connector for the bulbs...

All installed, but I have 3 194's left. I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. I'm thinking I'll use one for the glove box, and 2 for the passenger side vanity mirror. I dunno, I'll figure it out, doesn't really matter though since eventually everything will be done. I'm happy with it, happier than I was with the trunk light. It's not blinding bright, but nowhere near dim either, it's right about where I want it. I guess i wouldn't mind a bit brighter, but not much. I have the LEDs in the license plate light, door panel lights, floorboard lights, Map lights, and the back seat lights. For the pics I finally just said screw it and pulled out my tripod so they came out quite a bit better.




Don't mind the tools, I've still got work to do tonight, after the kids pass out:

looks good, i like the white, most people go with blue,red, green and purple i think, whites nice

Done with it for the night, I changed out the glove box light for an LED. It's not supposed to have a 194 bulb in there, but thats what I pulled out of it, lol. It's not the brightest, but at least it matches. I believe it's the same bulb as the 3rd brake light, so I'll just get 3 of those bulbs...whenever I buy bulbs again. I also ran the steering wheel interface through the steering column, and put the emitter at the top left of the Pass-Key III rubber cover. Works great now, and you can't even notice it's there. I also looked it up and the vanity mirrors are 31mm, so I'll be buying those, too.

2 LEDS stopped working, I disassembled them and there's nothing I can do for them. I e-mailed the guy I bought them from, I'm awaiting a response now. My dad came down from Springfield today and we did a little work on our cars. He has a 2001 CR-V and his lights were dimming a bit so he wanted to do the Big 3 upgrade. We did the entire upgrade to his, and a new charge wire\new engine to frame ground. I sanded everything for the best connection of course. His dimming problem is fixed and then some, he says he has better throttle response, faster windows, blower motor blows harder, etc. On my car, I never go below 14 volts, with the sub pounding as hard as it can, all lights on (Highs\Lows\fogs\interior\parking), A\C on, and blower on full. I know the A\C itself doesn't impact the voltage, but the fans that turn on with the A\C use a bit, lol. Previously I'd go into the 12s with that much stuff on. I also had to put a new gas cap in, my old one locked up.

I did a few small things on the car other than the Big 2(?), I retightened the TB bolts and put a spacer on the bolt that that ZZP didn't tap all the way, replaced a suspect vacuum line, and relocated my IAT onto my cone filter. I guess it fixed something because I have more Boost now, before I was around 6 PSI, now I hit 7.1 PSI, according to Torque Pro. Does that sounds right for the mods and setup I have?

Yet another LED died today. Waiting to hear back from the seller, they are all in the rear lights, so I'm wondering if they are overheating or something along those lines. I'll put some thermal epoxy on the next (replacement) set I get and see what happens.

This is getting ridiculous, 6 out of 10 LEDs have died. Seller has responded with "how many don't work" and that's it. I'm seeking a full refund and I'll go with a different style led...

Thanks man, no fires here, yet lol.

I drove her up to Springfield today for a doctor appointment, and for the most part it drove fine. I did turn the A\C on and about 10 minutes later my engine temperature was at 226*. I find it ironic because the A\C triggers the cooling fans so you'd think it'd run a bit cooler. I'm going to clean, test, and replace (as needed) all connections in the cooling fan circuit, and see how that goes. I ended up getting a complete refund on my 194 LEDs, and bought some up in Springfield from a local shop. They seem to be a lot better construction, and they're 1.5 watt so they're quite a bit brighter. I still have a few of the old ones from ebay that still work (3), so I'm gonna put some thermal epoxy on them and see how longer they last.

I still am fighting this chugging feeling when I'm in a low rpm high load situation, like going up a hill while still in O\D. No misfires detected, and no KR during this happening, I didn't look at my LTFT's though. Anyone have any input on what it could be? Keep in mind i have new plugs, wires, every connection has been cleaned, and damn near every sensor has been tested. Except my 02 sensor, it might be the original one that was on the car when I got it, the replacement I bought and the one that was on the car originally got mixed up and I can't tell one from the other.

I've been back at work lately so not as much has gotten done lately. I did run some wire from the rear handle lights down into the rear doors and hooked up the spare LED's I had in the door panel. They work and look okay, but I don't like the red. I have some other door panels lined up (mine are in bad shape), so I'll be putting the front light housings from those in the rear door panels, so I have white all around.

Stupid IR steering wheel interface still doesn't work right, so I get to try and find somewhere else to mount the emitter. Yay.

I did quite a bit today, installed a transmission cooler, installed new fog lights, restored the headlights, and did a lot of cleaning. I've been doing some reading online and the optimal temperature for transmission fluid is 175*F, and for every 20*F increase you cut the fluid's life in half. This is directly from ASE manuals. Over the last 1000 or so miles, the temperature has been around 200*F, so I decided to install an Explorer transmission cooler I had from my truck long ago. While I was pulling the bumper I noticed my foglights had begun to melt, so I went ahead and upgraded. They looked so good new, my headlights weren't good enough anymore.

Install of the transmission cooler was easy enough, other than the 143 pieces of plastic ducting you have to take off, which are held on by the world's 2nd most annoying plastic clips (Ford's take the candle in that category). All the parts store had for 3\8" hose was 315 PSI rated red hose. I figure the red hose gains me about 35 horsepower, it'd be 50 horsepower, but the hose is on the transmission and not the engine. I used 2 hose clamps where I could, and no leaks yet. I drove it pretty hard, running up and down hills and around curves for about half an hour and the hottest she got was 170*, which was after I got home and let it idle in the driveway while I cleaned up. All in all, I love the transmission cooler so far, I had to add nearly 2 quarts of fluid to the transmission.

Fog lights are WAY brighter, too the point where they are useful, who would have thought? Headlights look quite a bit better too, I might try and get it a little bit better when I do a retrofit down the road. Here's pics of everything, I had just finished scrubbing and washing everything down, so stuff was still wet.
Cooler:



Pile-o-plastic parts, I had to clean one more thing:

Headlights and fog lights:

Did you custom fit your headlights when you bolted them in? They are sitting low, or are they not bolted in....

They're bolted in, and all three mounts are in...I wonder why they sit so low, lemme go grab some pics of the mounting points...

Here's some pics, They do look low now that you mention it, not sure what I did wrong...

I can only get pictures of the driver side, the passenger side is the same thing though:

I have trouble making mine fit perfect, but I kinda like the way they look sitting low like that actually

I know that for a long time I had a shaking problem, but the middle (outside?) mount wasn't latched in. Now that I latched those in the headlights don't shake at all, so that was a plus. They seem to be aligned right, but someday when I'm in a mood to frustrate myself, yell cuss words at the car, etc. I'll check the alignment. The bumper is also showing some wear marks where the sit, so I'm thinking they were like that from the get-go. I can't say for sure, but everything looks to be original, so no accidents.