• Aftermarket Rims / Spare Tire - Have you tried using your spare since installing aftermarket rims? - Aftermarket rims, especially those for the 1G, almost always come with a new set of wheel nuts. These new nuts often are not shaped the same way as the stock nuts. This could cause you some problems when trying to use your spare. Be certain that you can actually uses these new nuts with your spare. Make sure that the contact points conform properly to the indentations in the rim of the spare. If the new nuts do not work with the spare, take five of your stock nuts, wrap them in a plastic bag, and place them on top of the spare in the trunk.

• Air Filter - Checked your air filter lately? - From Chris Otto, turboed4@yahoo.com: High performance forced induction engines eat more air than your average 4 banger so, as a result your air filter needs to be replaced in a significantly shorter interval. You should pop open the canister and check the condition of the filter periodically and examine the filter element. Usually, with a paper filter, you can stick a light source (flashlights work fine) inside the cone and check to see how covered the filter is. A new filter should be 100% opaque, a dead filter, totally dark. You might consider purchasing a stock K&N replacement filter, these require less frequent service intervals and you can purchase a cleaning kit! I have read that the K&N filter could have a .250 of dirt on the surface of the filter and air flow would not be compromised, but I prefer to be able to see the red.

• Battery - Keep your battery posts clean - The slight acid leaks that occur on a typical battery guarentee that the battery terminal connections will be under constant corrosion attack. As these connections corrode, they become highly resistive, limiting the current that can be drawn from them. This can lead to all sorts of problems from a no-start condition to flaky lights and radio to occasional engine cutout. To prevent any short while you are doing the cleaning, you should first remove both terminal connections, the black one (ground) first. Clean the posts and the mating connectors. You might have to use fine grit sandpaper or one of those plastic scouring sponges. Be sure to clean the top of the battery afterwards. When you reconnect the terminals, connect the red one (+12V) first. Do not overtighten these connectors as they are made out of lead and will stretch forever. This procedure should be done once a year.

• Boost Leaks - Has your turbo car lost its edge? - From Andre:
  
  If you have a chance, PRESSURIZE your intake system now.
  I just wanted to re-iterate how important this is to do. It's simple to do, but I noticed every damn week I get some idiotic boost leak that likes to sneak up behind me. And its one of those things you don't really notice, until your car just feels slow and you can't explain it. I bet fixing boost leaks can fix many problems out there, but just as an example...
  Saturday, before racing at ATCO, I did a pressure test with a compressor on my intake system. How?
  
  ~ Buy a 2 rubber cap from the Home Depot Plumbing section ($4.99)
  ~ Buy an Upright Bike Pump
  ~ Buy a straight fitting (to put 2 silicone hoses together)
  ~ Buy a T fitting
  
  I just cap off the turbo, put a pipe between the turbo and the side wall of the car so the cap doesn't pop off (it tends to pop off at 22psi no matter how tight I make the cap). Cut the bike pump hose and put a long silicone hose on the end of it, and T that hose to your BOV line. Then put a screwdriver in yoru TB to keep the plate open.
  It takes me about 25 pumps to reach 15psi. If I pump 25 times and I see 0 psi? That means I have a huge boost leak. Usually, at 20psi pressure,your psi should bleed down very slowly, meaning you can run from the engine bay to your boost gauge and still see psi. That's ok...
  So what was leaking on my car? I had a slit on the bov line that would only leak at 18psi, and I mean leak! So I fixed that. I go to ATCO to race, all good. I come home and just notice the car lost its edge. So what's next? Another intake pressure test. This time, I couldn't get any pressure. I went looking and could hear air rushing out the back of the intake manifold. What was it? My EGR side vacuum hose just was dangling there! Things that I had no idea or didnt expect, just happened out of nowhere. Well, got it back on tighter, and my idle fixed itself, and my gas mileage went up.
  So if you have some time I really suggest, from my experiences, you test your system out. It might be worthwhile :)
  
  Andre - dre99gsx

• Clutch Pedal Engagement - Having troubles with clutch pedal engagement? - Do you have a 1G manual tranny and are having troubles with clutch pedal engagement? These two posts from A. J. might help.
  
  Clutch pedal (long, archival, for 1G as far as I know)
  Clutch Pedal (Revisited), 1G IC's, Gear Oil

• Coolant Hoses - Ever replace your old coolant hoses? - From Gerry Drane: Recently, the upper coolant hose (from the thermo housing to throttle body area) split. Fortunately my wife was real close to home, no damage done. She thought she blew my car up. There was one nervous woman in town that day.Needless to say, I replaced the hose. And in so doing decided to do the lower one as well. Common sense? Maybe so. The lower one was about to pop. They may have been original hoses, I do not know. A good visual on them is tuff due to their location. But the upper hose was ballooned real bad.My point is, if you know these hoses are old, replace them. A couple hours and a couple of bucks later, you may be very glad you did.
  Addendum from Tom Stangl: replace ALLLLLLLLLL hoses. Radiator upper and lower, TB coolant, oil cooler, turbo, heater hoses. ALL of them. I just did so on my wife's car after 2 splits last year, and all the rest of the hoses were bulging and worn out inside.

• Door Light Switch - Lights don't turn on when you open the door? - From Travis Sawyer, tsawyer@northc.com: My fiancee's '92 Laser AWD Turbo door light switches stopped working about 2-3 months ago. I popped the rubber boot off them and unscrewed the switch from the body. Unplug the assembly and unscrew the plastic plunger (don't lose the spring). Clean the contacts with baking soda and water and some steel wool. The corrosion on the contacts was preventing the switch from grounding when the door was open.

• HVAC Fan Assembly - Is your A/C fan not blowing as well as it used to? - From Shawn Jewett: Is your fan not blowing as well as it used to? Do you park outside and not under a carport/garage? Do you have funny smells coming from your vents? You should pull your fan out and check it for debris. It's VERY simple to remove, I can't stress how simple it really is! All you need is a cross-tip screwdriver.
  
  This is on a 1G so 2G's will be slightly different.
  1) Remove the three plastic fasteners holding the ducting below the glovebox and remove the ducting.
  2) Unplug the fan's electrical connector and pull the upper end of the rubber hose going to the motor.
  3) Unscrew the three mounting screws holding the fan up and remove the fan assembly.
  
  It's a squirrel cage type fan and can trap and hold leaves or other debris that gets down into the vents. I pulled out a hand full of grassy moss type gunk that was stuck in there! It's real simple and worth checking it out. Here's a link to a picture of what I pulled out of my fan. I put a soda can there for size reference. YUCK!
  ftp://bis.bc.ca/nwdsm/Shawn/fan%20gunk.jpg

• Jack - Check jack for signs of rusting - Sometimes, the scissors jack that comes with the car can become wet for various reasons. Or you might leave your car outside in a salty environment. Or you might have used your jack on a rainy or snowy day. You should check your jack for signs of rusting and repair or replace it. Greasing the screw might be a good idea, especially if you use the jack a lot. Check that jack today. Don't wait until you are stuck on the side of the road at night with a flat tire and no means to remove it...

• Spare Tire - Check spare tire for proper inflation - Imagine this. You are on a long trip through the desert. You are driving along, enjoying the scenery, when you suddenly notice you have a flat. You pull over to check it out, and indeed, you have picked up a roofing nail in your right rear tire. You curse the developers for building houses in the desert, then proceed to pull all of your luggage that you so carefully packed out of the rear of the car. You pull out your cookie-cutter spare, only to find... that it is flat too. And your cell phone doesn't seem to have coverage out here... Don't let this happen to you. Check the inflation pressure of your spare today and make sure it is at the level stated on the side of the spare (should be about 60 PSI).

• Timing Belts - Replacing belts on a high mileage DSM? - From Brian: If your engine has high mileage, it is a GOOD idea to replace the waterpump, timing belt tensioner, tensioner pulley, idler pulley, and balancer belt tensioner pulley while doing the belts.

• Turbo Bolts - Ever crack the factory seal on your turbo? - From A.J.: I found my turbo bolts, yes all 4, had come loose to the point that there was almost an 1/8 gap between the exhaust manifold and turbo. It has only been 7-8 months since I changed my exhaust manifold gasket. And yes I torqued them to the right specs. So everyone who has cracked the factory seal on your turbo might want to check it every now and then. I'm not the only person who had this happen to them recently, and a guy I know had his 16G back one of its bolts out about an inch!

• Two-For-One Socket suggestion - Need a socket for torquing your wheel nuts? - From Aaron Tak: Our spark plug socket fits perfectly for our stock wheel lug nuts. It's 21mm socket to be exact. You might as well use it to torque wrench.

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