Hi everyone! My name is James from southern tip of Texas. The biggest town down here is Brownsville if you look at it on a map. What an awesome forum! Since I joined this forum earlier this week I can’t stop reading the how-to I’ve seen on here. Way cool! On April 10th I bought a used Aveo LS hatchback. What an awesome little car. I bought this for my teenage daughter to drive to high school and back home. Previous owner said he had just replaced the timing belt and one lower ball joint on the driver side. Most people would be scare off by this but when I was my daughter’s age my very first car was a Geo Metro 3 cylinder. I’ve done the timing belt replacement many times on that car so I have a soft spot for these awesome compact cars. Currently it has 160,000 sum miles on it and of course it has it issues but it runs great. I am planning to replace the brake booster on it and wondered what did you have to remove to take it out? Remove the coolant tank or can I just unbolt it and move it to the side? Can you do it without cracking open the brake lines? I’m hoping to replace it tomorrow.
Reason why I am replacing it is because in the mornings when you first start the car I have no brakes. By that I mean the pedal feels hard and have to use the e-brake to stop the car. After driving it around the block once it’s back to normal and works fine the entire day until the next morning or after maybe 7 hours or just being parked. Checked for vacuum leaks and did fine one at the PCV valve and repaired it. Since then it’s been fine but.. I rather not take chances and just replace it out. Also the engine idles past usually above 1200 to 2000 rpm. Normal if the a/c is engaged but when its off it still idles above 1000 rpm. I have to check the TPS and IAC.
Just to note I do have codes on my car. P0141, P0455 and P0128. I’m hoping to tackle the first two codes this weekend as well. That last one though I think the T-stat is stuck open. It has the original plastic one and replacing it this weekend asap with a metal one as recommend in the forums. Also is it normal for the car to vibrate a lot? When it’s idling I can feel the pedals vibrating under my feet. I’m sure it has to do with the engine idling fast. I have to say I love this car and if one day my daughter doesn’t want it any more I am definitely keeping it for myself lol.. Thanks in advance for the words of wisdom.