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Originally Posted by esmith2039
That almost sounds like a waterpump. My alternator is going bad but the alt/battery light is coming on .
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My first thought was that it was the water pump too, but luckely from my automotive experiance I was able to debug it a little farther. Basically I can make it sqeak by turning on or off electrical devices like lights and rear defrost and make it go away by turning them off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by esmith2039
If you want to get mad crazy with weight reduction a few other pieces hiding that can be removed. Would be at your risk though, I won't remove it on mine since my wife drives it. Under the front and rear bumper skins the bumper supports can be removed and just reinstall the skin, I want to say 20+ lbs a piece. But if you choose you design a more aerodynamic front end (shouldn't he hard to do). Could remove both airbags also, around 8+ lbs piece. Any lightweight Mazda steering wheel can be installed in it's place. Their's a debate if the 1st gen airbags are more harmful than good as that's what the Aspire's use (would never remove 2 gen in new cars though). Your risk though, your insurance wouldn't like it either. So there's around 60lbs plus any aerodynamic savings if you go that route.
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I would never remove airbags, I work in the automotive safety area and would never remove these accept for the passenger seat because I am taking the seat out anyways. If I were to replace the steering wheel with the Mazda one, I would make sure the airbag setup would still work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by esmith2039
Just a few random thoughts.. don't know how they'd help with MPG. Could install a Honda battery instead of a regular size battery the Aspire uses. Probably 5-10lbs there (maybe more). Maybe add some heavier ground wires under the hood. They helped my last Aspire run better, I guess in theory you could say it helps the alternator out hence reduces its drag?
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Good idea on the battery, I'm still tempted to take the spare tire out, but I don't wanna take the risk. I might do the wires, good idea at least to make it run better. I want to install an on off switch for stopping, but I do not want to do it until the car is running superb and all tuned up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by esmith2039
Some racing techniques can be applied to saving techniques just have to slow down rather than speed up.
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Done and done, I'm applying my professional driving skills to get better gas mileage. I read the 100+ list and found I was doing a lot of it, but some of it just didn't go that far.