[JonsGT]

I appreciate the detailed explanation. Peace brother. I'm a lead admin in a hobby group as well..i get it.

 

[jsblanch]

Morning y'all,

As you have seen or noticed, I haven't been on much lately. This isn't the fact that I lost interested in the .org or Aya, it's more of life getting into my time here. Since I've took on the lead position at Harley-Davidson I've been swamped (in a good way) with work. Hell, last week alone I pumped out 60+ hours on top of pulling a double shift a day this week. Exporting freedom worldwide multiply that on top of trying to be the best husband I can be and father to raising three kids (10 year old son & identical twin 4 year old girls) and going to school in the evenings (3 classes (9 credits) this semester, 4 classes (12 credits) next semester) with the hope of graduating at the end of March. As you can see, I barely have time sleep (let alone ride my #freedommachine).

Anyway, the reason I say and post this is because I don't have time to work on the .org like I used to. I don't have the tab up on my Chrome browser because the other umpteen tabs I have open are full of Work/SAP or College Blackboard stuff. I can't keep up with the ROTM, I can't keep up with my build thread (I took off my transmission cooler and have a post with pics waiting) like I have in the past. Hell, even if I did have time to post or clean up the .org, I'd fall into the cranky/crabby moderator role that many fall into. Which I will not to succumb to, as....

Life's too short to be cranky and miserable all the time, and one might think I am with all this added responsibility, but to be honest it's been fun and exhilarating. I love my position at work, I love exporting freedom to our customers worldwide. I was in Milwaukee at the beginning of the month and customers were shaking my hand and thanking me for assisting with the bike they bought. I don't manufacture the bikes, but I lead the technological machine that assists the operators. I love helping out at work and I love learning and going to college. If I can get my degree like I hope to in March, it sets me up to take the majority of the summer off (from college, not work) and start my masters classes in August/September.

I'm getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and getting confident with being uncertain about life. I'm not giving up because this life is hard or that I don't have time. These challenges being placed before me is what is allowing me to grow and be the person I should have always been in the first place. My main goal isn't to be better than you, it's to be better than I used to be as I'm excited with these new opportunities that are being placed before me. No, that doesn't mean I'm leaving .org because of these opportunities. It's just that little four letter word... Time. We never know how much time we have and we should make the most of it while we have it within our grasps. Live the life YOU have chosen as a negative mind will never give you a positive life. Time is too short, keep your head up make the most out of your life as possible.

I'll be sober for 4 years tomorrow and that's the great thing about life... if you feel you have gone off track you can always change your mind and change your life. Live your life to the fullest as everyday is another chance to change your life. I guess I'm not on here that much cause I'm living life as much as I can when I can. Just wanted y'all to know why I haven't seen me in awhile or may not see me on here as much as I used to. If you still come to the build thread, I hope I can not only help you fix your Dart, but also change your mind and realize things aren't that bad. When your car isn't working, it may seem like the worst day ever... but know that you are still alive and have a chance to make a difference. Believe in yourself even when others don't... Keep your head up and never give up. One love.

Much obliged,
YoungSmith53

Wise words of advice, my friend! Like many, I had of course noticed that you weren't really around anymore, and I am extremely happy to hear that it's for good reasons. Life is short and the only meaning it has is the meaning we give it.

And as for your four years sober tomorrow, well sir...

 

[Roidbear]

Something that made a huge difference to remove that much hated pedal lag in my 2.0L was the GOPedal Plus throttle enhancer by Dart MADNESS. Now you can control your pedal's sensitivity with their app on your smartphone. I've had mine and have had no issues at all, and it even helps protect your Dart from thieves because it has a security feature to disable your gas pedal through the app. I hated that pedal lag, but I don't have any pedal lag anymore with this installed. I also have the K&N SRI and side-gapped copper Autolite 5325 spark plugs installed. I felt that neither the SRI nor the copper plugs were enough to take away the notorious pedal lag.

Here is the link so you guys can check it out:

Good luck!

 

[Beitie]

Hey, I just wanted to say thanks for all this info that you have put up here. I got to 30,000 miles on my Dart today, and did my 30k service. Per your spark plug advice, I went to the Champion RE16MC's, and honestly, I wish I had done that change back on day 1. What a HUGE improvement it has made to the throttle peddle. My 2.4 GT used to be really jerkey from idle, and I had to learn to be really steady with my foot when accelerating, and this simple spark plug change seems to have smoothed that out a ton. I look forward to seeing what else I need to change about my Dart, keep being awesome, and glad to hear that you're enjoying life.

 

[youngsmith53]

Fall-ing into Young-Smith Garage 2018

into the Young-Smith garage for 2018​

Long time no talk, I'm sure some of you are trying to figure out.... why bother. Or who is this guy, what is he doing back here. To each there own, I have a few minutes here at work and my Master's classes are done for the week. So I actually have some time. However, meh... a few weeks ago I had a few hours in the garage and got some much needed maintenance done. Anyway, on with falling into the garage!

Maintenance

• Fall greasing - Moog Front End-links
• Fall greasing - Moog Rear End-links
• Fall greasing - Energy Suspension Rear Sway-Bar Bushings
• Tire Rotation
• Oil Change
  • 5 quarts of Chevron Supreme 5W-20 Conventional Motor Oil
  • Purolator PBL12222"BOSS Synthetic Filter"
  • Drain/Check Big Bully Catch Can
  • Send Oil Sample to Blackstone Labs for Used Oil Analysis
• Topping Off Coolant

Easy, peasy normal greasing's. I didn't mean to skip last year (2017) greasing, but I did like a horrible car person. Life, Education & Motorcycling got in my way. To be honest, it wasn't too terrible either. I pumped the Moog's full of grease and it was like nothing changed. Did this before I rotated the tires and it was good as new. This is why you always use greasable fittings.Other than that, nothing really to see here other than a boring grease job.

Tire rotation wasn't out of the ordinary either. I was able to do this in less time as I finally setup my air compressor and use my air gun for the first time. In doing this take off was an absolute breeze. Once I took them off I made sure to coat the hubs as well as the lug nut threads with Permatex Anti-Seize Lubricant as I could see they were getting some oxidation. Additionally this provides more protection against the harsh PA winters. Rotation went as normal:

​

Oil change, such a relaxing and personal moment of zen...

So... some are going to cringe, but since I didn't have a moment of free time last year or most of this year I took an opportunity to run a test on Aya. Yes, I used her as a test bed to see how long I could run my beloved NAPA 5w-20 Pure Synthetic Oil. Well that test ended @ 9,007 miles or 23 months of use. Yeah, you might have thought I'd gone mad, but it was a very telling sign from the data I received from Blackstone:

​

With simple synthetics (like NAPA aka Valvoline) it looks like the max you would want to run is 6,500 miles. I ran 2,500 more than that and it started to show some wear. Again, I was just running a normal old PL12222 Yellow Purolator filter so it was just a 'normal' sized filter and nothing fancy at that. Maybe the results would have been better IF I would have used a larger filter or who knows? It was a good test and something I won't do again for the sake of the engine, but now I know the limits and know not to push them.

Currently, I am running Chevron Supreme 5W-20 Motor Oil & a PBL12222 Purolator BOSS Filter. The Chevron is CONVENTIONAL *GASP*.... chill But, Chevron's group II+ conventionals are outstanding oils since they are made with Chevron 5R base stocks. This conventional oil has proven itself to surpass other low grade synthetics. Because of the research I chose to run this as it was very cheap at the time (I believe the deal was 15 quarts for $23) for an outstanding product. Can't beat it with a stick. Combined with one of the best filters out there on the market the BOSS PBL12222, I figured this will be a good test of conventional on Aya. I may only run it for 3k and then swap out the oil to send to blackstone. Either way I'll do some research with the next oil change as this has really opened my eyes and has been fun to experiment.

As far as topping off the coolant, my coolant was really down, about a 1/8" under the 'minimum line' on the coolant tank. I took my trust bottle of Prestone AF2100 and topped her off. No issues and the coolant is still running where it should. I don't see any leaks and I didn't see any coolant in the oil (per Blackstone) So I'm sure I was just using more over the summer since my wife was running Aya while I was running the motorcycles. Either way, you can't go wrong with Prestone AF2100 if you need to top off your coolant.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but like I said I lucked out with having about 2 hours on a random Saturday morning/afternoon (10/06 from 11:00 - 13:00) and was able to get all of this done and then some. I know it's been awhile since I've posted or been on. I know the .org is in rough shape with articles not being where they need be or just overall cleanliness. I'm sorry I've been busy, but life happens. I graduated with my bachelors degree in March and in April I was already a semester into my Masters (Organizational Leadership). July I was in a rough motorcycle accident, then end of July/August I was out in Thailand to help launch the new manufacturing operations for Harley. If I'm not coming, I'm going and still working non-stop and busier than ever. There is never a dull moment... Believe in yourself even when others don't... Keep your head up and never give up. One love. As always

...stay tuned​

 

[Killraven]

Nice to see you are still around sir! As always, your contributions to the .org past/present/future are much appreciated.

 

[ig2mdThwifsDart]

Nice that you took the time to do the oil test, as this seems to be a topic of hot debate and is a Very important maintenance item for people to get Right!

I'm curious, since this is a documented test, how much oil did you need to add at what intervals as it was breaking down? My own tests, observing customers Darts, has shown anywhere from 7000kms (cheap oil) to 10,000kms (high quality synth oil) before any significant oil loss. (1/2 quart or less)

Since 6500 miles is very close to 10,000kms I'm going to guess that it was right around 6000-6500 miles that you would first notice oil slightly down?

 

[youngsmith53]

Nice that you took the time to do the oil test, as this seems to be a topic of hot debate and is a Very important maintenance item for people to get Right!

I'm curious, since this is a documented test, how much oil did you need to add at what intervals as it was breaking down? My own tests, observing customers Darts, has shown anywhere from 7000kms (cheap oil) to 10,000kms (high quality synth oil) before any significant oil loss. (1/2 quart or less)

Since 6500 miles is very close to 10,000kms I'm going to guess that it was right around 6000-6500 miles that you would first notice oil slightly down?

To be honest, I didn't check my dipstick... so I couldn't tell you if I was low or needed to add any before I did my oil change. During my last few 'normal' changes I wasn't adding any oil during the OCI. Loss of oil hasn't been an issue on Aya since I took her off the lot 5 years ago. So I guess the round about answer your question... I don't know.

 

[mopar22]

As far as topping off the coolant, my coolant was really down, about a 1/8" under the 'minimum line' on the coolant tank. I took my trust bottle of Prestone AF2100 and topped her off. No issues and the coolant is still running where it should. I don't see any leaks and I didn't see any coolant in the oil (per Blackstone) So I'm sure I was just using more over the summer since my wife was running Aya while I was running the motorcycles. Either way, you can't go wrong with Prestone AF2100 if you need to top off your coolant.

Do you happen to know if the 2.4 uses the same coolant and where the hell does our coolant just disappear to? I noticed mine was below the "low" mark too at the end of the summer

 

[jsblanch]

Do you happen to know if the 2.4 uses the same coolant and where the hell does our coolant just disappear to? I noticed mine was below the "low" mark too at the end of the summer

Yeah, they all use the same coolant. It must get vented from somewhere (to regulate pressure, maybe), because many Dart owners (including myself) have reported the distinctively sweet smell of coolant around the front end of the car occasionally. There do not appear to be any coolant leaks in my car and it's done this since it was new. It's a bit low now and needs to be topped up, but this will be the first time in over 5 years of owning it.

 

[Bullfrog]

Yeah, they all use the same coolant. It must get vented from somewhere (to regulate pressure, maybe), because many Dart owners (including myself) have reported the distinctively sweet smell of coolant around the front end of the car occasionally. There do not appear to be any coolant leaks in my car and it's done this since it was new. It's a bit low now and needs to be topped up, but this will be the first time in over 5 years of owning it.

If you think about it though, yes its a closed system but the place where you fill it acts a a pressurizer because it is the highest point in the system. As we seen though in previous data logging the engine gets damn near up to boiling. now as a fluid though while most of the heat is circulated around the engine the fill tank is vented. so the heat from the system will travel and equalize the temp of the fluid in the system. Because the fill tank is vented and running close to boiling i wouldn't be surprised if the water in the coolant is slowly steaming away bit by bit being off gased from the fill tank vent. Most people use their cars every day so this cycle at least twice a day over and over and over in the course of a year or two could see how it may get low, not i have a leak low but hey where is this going because i DONT see a leak. just a theory.

 

[alpinegreenneon]

The coolant reservoir is pressurized and the pressure would have to exceed the rated pressure of the cap for coolant to escape there. The most likely place for coolant loss in my opinion is the water pump shaft seal. The average life for a water pump is about 100k miles on other cars I have owned and they slowly leak at that seal before they seize up or wobble. They can weep long before they fail. With the engine bay temps as high as they are, any coolant would evaporate fairly quickly if it's a tiny amount. A radiator cap can also lose it's pressure rating with age.

 

[Underground]

Hey buuuudddy??✌?. I’ve been gone a few years. We used to talk a lot way back before they upgraded you to being a mod. So how are ya? and are you still thinking about getting that Skyed Ecu from Kevin?

 

[youngsmith53]

Afternoon y'all...

it's been awhile. How's everyone doing? Not sure if the regulars are still on here or not, but I figured I would check in since it's been about two years or so. Let's just say a lot can change in two years.... I still have Aya and she still sits with less than 50k on her odometer. She's still running well and last month I got her commonwealth of PA inspections and emissions. As far as my personal life, it's been a roller coaster of emotions. You know I've always been here to talk about cars, but life always interweaves itself into my thread. Anyway, don't want to bore you with anything, but wanted to let you know that I'm doing well and miss the camaraderie of the old days on the forum. If you want to reach out just reply back here or if you want to stay private, just PM me and we'll take it offline. Either way, I'm not saying I'll be back here 100% of the time more, but I'll make more of an effort to throw my two cents here and there if anyone wants to hear from an old member. Hope all is well and remember to keep your head up no matter what, you never know when a smile will come your way.

Much obliged,
YS-53

 

[Killraven]

Afternoon y'all...

it's been awhile. How's everyone doing? Not sure if the regulars are still on here or not, but I figured I would check in since it's been about two years or so. Let's just say a lot can change in two years.... I still have Aya and she still sits with less than 50k on her odometer. She's still running well and last month I got her commonwealth of PA inspections and emissions. As far as my personal life, it's been a roller coaster of emotions. You know I've always been here to talk about cars, but you know life always interweaves itself into my thread. Anyway I don't want to bore you with anything, but I wanted to let you know that I'm doing well and just miss the camaraderie of the old days on the forum. If you want to reach out just reply back here or if you want to stay private, just PM me and we'll take it offline. Either way, I'm not saying I'll be back here 100% of the time more, but I'll make more of an effort to throw my two cents here and there if anyone wants to hear from an old member. Hope all is well and remember to keep your head up no matter what, you never know when a smile will come your way.

Much obliged,
YS-53

He's alive! Glad to see you are still around! I just hit 70k miles, having a 2 mile roundtrip commute to work has really kept her low.

In other news, Tork is back in the game creating a 2.4 tune for both N/A and turbo 2.4 engines!

 

[youngsmith53]

He's alive! Glad to see you are still around! I just hit 70k miles, having a 2 mile roundtrip commute to work has really kept her low.

Since September 2019, I've been using Aya a lot more with the kids and making sure they are taken care of and getting to the places they need to go. Hence, part of my rollercoaster of emotions. Other than that, I have been riding my motorcycles which have kept the mileage down on Aya. I try to ride as much as possible, but some weeks are difficult since it is just me and the kids.

In other news, Tork is back in the game creating a 2.4 tune for both N/A and turbo 2.4 engines!

Huh, interesting. About the only thing I have been thinking about with Aya is finally pulling the trigger on the Automatic Transmission Tuner from Madness. Still need to do some research on it as it would be nice to just use the "D" for Automatic, instead of always having to 'slap-stick' due to the motor mounts I have installed. I still hate the shift points of the stock TCU powertech, so that is the only real tune I've been looking at. I might pull the trigger on it before the end of summer. Other than that I'll be changing the spark plugs out here in the next month as well as needing new tires for her before Fall/Winter sets in on the commonwealth. She's been running well. But without a garage for the time being my modding time has been very limited. (shrugs)

 

[youngsmith53]

​

Winter Solstice is the great stillness before the Sun's strength builds, and days grow longer. It can be a time to rest and reflect....

Rest and reflect, that's what this post is going to be about be taking the time to rest and reflect on 2629 days or months, 7 years, 2 months, 11 days of my life. Wow.... 7 years. I was a different person 7 years ago. I didn't know a lug-nut from a socket, the only thing I ever did before Aya was change my oil in the old 2005 Colorado ZQ5. Yet, as I would come to find out as grow over the last seven years Dart ownership as taught me a lot about life and how the only thing you can count on in life is continuous change. If you aren't a different person in seven years you either aren't living right or you are just 'going through the motions'. I can tell you I wasn't living the best life over the last 7 years, but I wasn't just going through the motions either. It was somewhere in the middle of continuously pushing myself in other aspects of my life while other parts were neglected. I engulfed myself in research not only with the Dart, but my career paths, my continuous education, sobriety, motorcycles, and most importantly as I write this, on this forum.... and this build thread.

You see the forum wasn't just a forum to me it was my outlet. If I was having a bad day at work you guys in the old chat box would pic me up. If I needed an outlet for my emotions and feelings during a time, it was only a few keystrokes away to give me some sense of normalcy. Yes, to some this could just be another car forum on the great and vast internet. However, this thread became more than that. You guys and gals became my online family. A sounding board for issues not only car related, but life in general.

The Dart came into my life at a unique time. I was married for just over 18 months, new father of 10 month old twins and sober for just over a month. Aya became my sobriety outlet (an expensive one I would soon find out)… but she allowed me to take all of the energy I would use for alcohol and provide me a canvas to work and learn. For that I am forever grateful and will be in debt to her. I don't know if I would be where I am today without the Dart coming into my life. I know that's cliché to some, for the place and time I was in my life 2629 days ago, if I didn't purchase the Dart, my life would be on a different trajectory. Which leads me to this next quote... "Evolution is the secret for the next step." - Karl Lagerfeld

If you're still reading this far.. life is full of chapters. When the chapter started with Aya, the rest of the pages were unwritten. We could grow and evolve together through this thing called life and get each other through. However, all chapters must come to an eventual end. The picture above was one of the last I took of Aya. She was picked up on Monday December 21, 2020 around 14:00 EST. It needed to happen and while I wasn't prepared for it, I did what I could to console her and let her know it wasn't her fault. As many relationships through out life, Aya and I needed to go our separate ways for us both to both evolve and write a new chapter in our ever changing lives.

The day was quite bittersweet, but I'm happy too. New chapter, new me, new beginning. If this was 7 years ago, I would have handled this and looked back completely different. However, I'm not the same person I was 7 years ago and I hope when my future self reads this that I am still evolving and changing. Yes, change is scary. Change is frightening, but it's the only way things evolve. The Dart and the automotive community taught me more about life than it did about oil weights and scrub radius'. For that I will be forever grateful and in debt. To some I might just be the grumpy old moderator always yelling, 'post in the right forum, or get off my lawn.' To others, I hope I have provided you an outlet from this thing we call life.

I hope as you read back on this thread, I can not only help you fix your Dart, but also change your mind and realize things aren't that bad. When your car isn't working, it may seem like the worst day ever... but know that you are still alive and have a chance to make a difference. Believe in yourself even when others don't... Keep your head up and never give up. One love.

Much obliged,
YoungSmith53

 

[Killraven]

Thank you for all the write-ups you have done in this build thread. It's a huge source of information for the Dart community! I hope wherever life takes you that you find yourself in good spirits.

I cannot say the same for myself at the moment. I am looking into getting a divorce next month. Like you said change is frightening, but it's the only way to go forward from here. Is it what I wanted? No, but it's the best path forward for me and my daughter.

Lets look forward to 2021!

 

[Silverdrip]

@youngsmith53 I'm currently in the process of my first build so I am a little shaky on my knowledge of tuning. I read the old thread about the spectrum tuner and just wanted to ask and confirm a few things. but first I'll list what I am running:
-2015 dodge dart gt automatic
-eurocompulsion air intake
-muffler delete
-resonator swapped with vibrant
-modern performance headers
will the tuner adjust to the mods I have put onto my dart to give me a proper fuel/air ratio as well as some other improvements? I ask this because she appears to be running a little fuel rich and I cannot find anybody able to or willing to dyno and tune her.
being that I have a 2.4L, I have read that I am supposed to run regular 87 gasoline. is this true or should I be running a higher octane? either with or without tune?

 

[Hufman]

Better late than never; I wanted to share some insight about sparkplugs. Short and simple with an image. The argument that, "copper plugs conduct and burn better" is simply wrong. All sparkplugs (99%) are copper spark plugs, when you choose something like iridium you are paying for the center electrode tip material (just the tip). Iridium plugs have a copper electrode with an iridium tip and what you call copper plugs have a nickel tip. Low and behold, iridium has double the thermal conductivity, melting point, and hardness with half the electrical resistance of its nickel counterpart.