Lights, LEDS, Synthetic additives oh my...

[steverinaz]

Hey all, sorry, been offline awhile. Business trips....

What's your experience with the Sylvania Ultrastars? I just bought a set for low and high beams (ensuring the same wattage!). I also would like to convert the brake, tail and turn signal to LEDS. Has anyone done this and if so, what was the outcome? I saw a site that mentioned installing resistors to compensate for the lack of load and rapid signalling. The brakes are doing well and I did a short test with my KN filter- combined 24mpg!

Local NAPA dealer sells foreign synthetic additives (like 4 ounces to each oil change). Thoughts on that?

One more thing- I saw someguy on cardomain with ECU monitoring software. Where is that to be had and I assume it connects to the OBDII port? Sure wish I could pull some more power out of this engine....

Sorry for the rambling....

[Victor]

Sounds like you just want to throw money at your car. I am just the opposite, want to spend the least on my car that I can get away with and still have it perform satisfactorily.

[yodawill2000]

Silverstars= GoodK&N Filter=Maf Killer

Not sure on the LED setup.Would like to check into it though.

[driverdriver]

Silverstars are very good and last a long time on the J.

K&N air filter, I've had one since 1999, never had a problem. The key is sparingly oiling your filter, instead of immersing.

Oil additives- are essentially snake oils. Simply use a good synthetic. I've run the car on Mobil1 since '99.

Are you talking LED bulbs or LED light setups?

[steverinaz]

LED bulbs...they're cheap on Ebay....In regards to the Silverstars, I had a zoner tell me that light output doesn't degrade over time, a fact that I disagree with. Yup, WATCH the oiling of a K&N, we went through this on my dad;s 95 GT Stang. Prior owner did, CEL light, finally got it all cleaned up and runs great!!!

Oil- I am a fan of Castrol GTX. Might move to a blend. Whatcha think about that???

[alex61089]

I have to agree with Driver I started using the Mobil 1 last oil change and I love it.I tried royal purple before i used the mobil 1 and to be honest.. I think it sucked compared to the mobil 1. Get the mobil 1 (its all synthetic) and get the filter from mobil 1. I believe its m3-208 .

Watch with the oil filters you get I was reading a article on a site about all the oil filters out and how poorly they are made. Among the worst were fram and the best was pure one and mobil.

As for L.E.Ds, I installed them in my tail light and stop light. To be honest... they are a little bit brighter but not that much. But they work fine and i've had them in for about a month now. The only problem i have is that the the light light comes up on my dash i guess telling me i dont have head lights on? hmm not sure...

[yodawill2000]

If the current draw is to low or high it will give you the warning light.LED's have very little Amp draw I would think.

[driverdriver]

I have to agree with Driver I started using the Mobil 1 last oil change and I love it.I tried royal purple before i used the mobil 1 and to be honest.. I think it sucked compared to the mobil 1. Get the mobil 1 (its all synthetic) and get the filter from mobil 1. I believe its m3-208 .

The Mobil1 oil filter is very good and so is the NAPA Gold.

[Victor]

So what is the purpose of putting LED lights in other than to try to impress your friends. You put some LEDs with a potential 50,000 to 100,000 hours operating life in a car that probably only has one or two thousand hours operating life left on it. If you estimated your car had 60,000 miles of useful life left in it, it would take you 1000 hours to use it up at 60 MPH or 2000 hours at 30 mph. BTW, at high temperatures LEDs will fail quickly. Plus your brake lights and tail lights would only be on for a fraction of that time.

[steverinaz]

Ok, I get it. I just think the LEDS are cool, but have decided against it for various reasons. My dealer that services my Hyundai does the oil/filter on the J, Castrol GTX and Napa Golds. So, I'll talk to them about syn oil.

Next hot topic- BG transmission conditioner???? (wearing flak jacket)

[alex61089]

You know I agree and disagree with Victor at the same time. Yes, these cars do have a limited lifespan on them because they are old but that can be easily taken care of if you well.. Take care of your car. A lot of people complain this car is costly to fix and maintain, hell even i do sometimes but when i think about this. Besides from the odd little problems i have with it. This car has not failed on me. I come out every morning and it starts, it's never died on me and this bad boy drives like it came out the factory.If you try to keep this car and spend as little as possible on it eventually your car will fail you; you have to take care of them. I Remember Yoda telling me he wants to run his to 300k and I think thats possible as long as we maintain our cars. Are LEDS needed? No But they look damn good. Besides They give that extra brightness for me so when i Black out my taillights they look like normal

Steve, if you really plan to keep your car and you like it I would suggest doing whatever it is to it. I can say i've thrown thousands of dollars into my car and I also joke to my friends that if i had a honda i would have butterfly doors on it lol. Yet I would take this car over a honda any day

[steverinaz]

Here's the dealio; the missus and I have decided to get off the grid and from underneath the system. No more car payments, bk, etc. I bought the J knowing Nissan's quality (92 Sentra had 247k when I sold her, dumb move, different story). I too want this to last 300k and I am naturally obsessed with maintenance, knowing that it will payback 10 fold. There's a passage like that in the Bible ya know...

Anyway, I like the LEDs, but going back to my opening statement, is it a want or a need? A want. The lights it has are fine, but the ultrastars were $18/pair and I'd like brighter lights.

I absolutely love this car, my wife makes jokes about me and it, even saying that I'd probably upload a pic of it to my new bank's debit card and hell yeah I will. I love the ride, the leather, the comfort and the styling. I've wanted one ever since I saw one and now I do!

In closing, will I throw 1000's at her? Maybe over time, but I'd like to resolve the few cosmetic issues it has, but then again, those can wait. I plan on driving her for a long time and once the bank wants the Sonata back, I got another car for the wife- 77 Granada with a 302, grandpa's car, immaculate!!!

One more thing, Driver mentioned that the mud/snow guards came on the units in CA and Japan. Anyone know a source here in the US?

Thanks all for letting me ramble, off to work....

Steve

[yodawill2000]

Good for you man.I too enjoy no car payments and the maintenance to keep my 3 vehicles running is probably less than a car payment and full coverage.I'm not really a stickler for cosmetics but I do whatever it takes to keep mine safe and reliable.

That being said , On the Safety side, much brighter tail and stop lights sound really good to me.

[driverdriver]

One more thing, Driver mentioned that the mud/snow guards came on the units in CA and Japan. Anyone know a source here in the US?

Thanks all for letting me ramble, off to work....

Steve

If anyone has used ones, it's these guys.

http://www.standardautowreckers.com/

I would give the Toronto location a call on their toll free number. They don't list all the J30 parts online.

[Victor]

That's my whole point if you plan to make your lights dimmer by blackening them out and are going to try to counteract this by making them brighter with LEDs. Why not just leave good enough alone? Have you ever heard of any J30 driver being rear ended because his OEM lights weren't bright enough?

[yodawill2000]

Have you seen how sexah the smoked tails look on a dark green J?

Everybody has there own taste man.To each his own or sumptin' hehe

[steverinaz]

DD/Yoda,

In reference to the additives, it wasn't a synthetic. I checked it out and it's called Lubro Molly. 50 ml per oil change, 300 ml can cost me $5. So I got it, put some in the J, the motorhome (460 Ford) and my 7kw Onan generator.

Here's the link:

http://www.liqui-moly.de/liqui....html

AFter doing some research, looks good and safe, but I will be going over to Castrol Syntec next change...

[driverdriver]

DD/Yoda,

In reference to the additives, it wasn't a synthetic. I checked it out and it's called Lubro Molly. 50 ml per oil change, 300 ml can cost me $5. So I got it, put some in the J, the motorhome (460 Ford) and my 7kw Onan generator.

Here's the link:

http://www.liqui-moly.de/liqui....html

AFter doing some research, looks good and safe, but I will be going over to Castrol Syntec next change...

We have a similiar additive to that(it might be the same thing), its marketed up here as 'Moly Slip Anti-Friction Engine Treatment' . I've used it, didn't detect any difference(other than $5 missing from my wallet). A couple of the consumer advocate shows up here had it tested in a lab and field tested in regular cars. There conclusion was it didn't make a difference.

[steverinaz]

Ok, it seems that the only REAL solution is synthetic. However, I have a question; does all 5 qts. have to be synthetic? Or does big oil put in only enough per quart to force us to use 5 qts?

[J30TPI]

well if your going to mix synthetic with regular oil then you might as well get synthetic blend