[Amazon wants to know "base or lsi" and e105 e167 j105 j167]

On 8/8/2016 at 1:20 PM, Moses Ludel said:

Drive safely with enough power steering fluid in the pump...

 

Thanks! Will do!

[Amazon wants to know "base or lsi" and e105 e167 j105 j167]

On 6/15/2016 at 6:55 AM, Moses Ludel said:

jimmyjames...For a steering rack assembly or parts, the casting number on the gear housing is often helpful for finding parts.  This may also be the "part number" for the complete rack.  Doing some networking/research online with this part number can help "reverse engineer" its origins.

Try using the rack assembly's part number as a place to start.  You may be able to break this down to individual parts or a seal kit.  Cardone (https://www.cardone.com/products/steering/steering-products-remanufactured/steering-gears) is one major source for rebuilt parts and could be a good catalog reference source.  Edelmann makes seal kits: http://www.plews-edelmann.com/repair-kits/. Try searching with your vehicle model and drill down to see if the part(s) offered include a reference to the casting/part number on your steering gear rack.

Moses

Not being a mechanic all of this is kinda iffy but I bought some parts for the steering assembly and hopefully if it breaks down further these parts will help fix it... I used links like the ones you gave me and found parts and wifey brought them back from u.s.

But a friend who knows something about cars told me rebuilding this steering assembly is labor intensive and so it's best to put up with the leak until it gets bad enough to pay the $ to fix it, especially since parts could be expensive - and perhaps impossible or very hard to get -  if the ones I bought don't do the trick...

So I am waiting and hoping we can sell this car and get a newer one soon, before it breaks down further...

Thanks for the help!

[Amazon wants to know "base or lsi" and e105 e167 j105 j167]

Thanks for the tip on rockauto. I'll check it out.

The problem is - as near as I can tell - I'm not a mechanic - is that Trackers were made in a bunch of different countries and several different manufacturers... and the Suzuki and the GM and the Vitara and the Tracker and etc make it a bit confusing to find the right parts, especially those of us not living in the USA and parts can be harder to find in a foreign country. Plus things changed from year to year, too, no? I've never had a car before where there seem to be so many different models...

And because parts are not widely available sometimes - over the past years - some owners have thrown a Suzuki part in on a GM car, etc...

[steering fluid leaking]

Will something like this from amazon likely work to fix this leak?

Parts Master 8825 Power Steering Pump Seal Kit by Parts Master

Honestly I have no clue what this picture is of, so I don't know what exact seal to look for. All I know is someone told me this is where the steering fluid is leaking from.

[Amazon wants to know "base or lsi" and e105 e167 j105 j167]

Okay then, but how do I know I'm getting the RIGHT Factory manual for my car? Based on the VIN? Or?

[steering fluid leaking]

Okay so I'm here in Central America where parts are hard to find for my Canadian made Chevy Tracker 4x4, 1999.
So I'm here to ask about repairing my leaking steering fluid. 99 Tracker 4x4, Canadian made, 2 door, 1.6ltr engine

Went to a mechanic, he noted the leak, said "we can't fix this, you'll have to try to find the parts", and so here I am...
I am attaching a photo of where the leak seems to be.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I know very little about cars, some basic stuff but certainly am more of a "layman" than a "mechanic".

What I gather (?) is that I can't just replace the seal itself, I need to replace the whole kit and kaboodle?
I was told I'd have to buy used parts, new ones are impossible to find.

But my wife is in the US right now and so if I can locate for SURE the right parts for this, I can have her bring them back in a couple weeks. The steering works fine, it just leaks fluid and when it leaks enough it starts making noise. It was making noise for a month or so (I don't drive a lot) but I didn't know what it was.

So my questions:
1) Can I just replace a seal or a part or two based on where we see the leak occurring in photo?
Or

2) Do I need to buy a whole "kit" of steering assembly parts (what's this called exactly?)

and
3) is there an online "best  place" for me to order these parts and have them sent to my wife in us so she can bring them down to me?

Thanks a lot! Here is the photo of the leak. You can look up the info on my car in the thread I just posted on "

Amazon wants to know "base or lsi" and e105 e167 j105 j167

Photo of leak attached here. (This is where a friend said it was leaking, not sure I am showing the exact spot or not.)

THANKS FOR ANY HELP OR ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE!

INFO I HAVE IS THIS:

99 CHEVY TRACKER
VIN#   2CNBJ1865X6905626
MODEL DJR37
CANADA (CAMI)/ GM   1998 DICIEMBRE
GVWR   GAWR FRT  GAWR RR
1YL USA (?) (en puerta conductor)
Code
B1A   Port of Entry CAMI (Canadian Automotive Manufacturing Inc) - owned by General Motors (GM)
 "From 1991 on the Geo Tracker sold in Canada was identical to its US counterpart." - Wikipedia
L01   GAS, 16 Valve 4 CYL 1.6 LT, MFI, SOHC
MM5  MANUAL 5 SPD
NG1   NEW YORK??
PG2   Wheel - 15 x 5.5 STEEL

 

 

[Amazon wants to know "base or lsi" and e105 e167 j105 j167]

So: I'm trying to buy parts at amazon because my wife is in the us and I'm in central america where she'll be coming soon. I figure it's easier to check on amazon if the parts are right than it is to trust some guy she talks to at an autoparts store, her not knowing anything about it. Or is there a better place I can get the right parts online and have them sent to her by mail so she can bring them back here to me?

Amazon asks for lots of profile info on my tracker and I have it all except for these:
"Trim: Base or lsi"?
And:
Body Type:e105 e167 j105 j167

And last:
Wheel base 86.6 or 97.6

These questions above I don't know how to find out the answer to. I would guess the shorter wheel base, and Base trim, but how do I know for sure? The body type I have no idea what those numbers mean.

Can anyone help me out so I can be more sure I am ordering the right parts on amazon?
Here's all the info I've gathered so far: not 100% sure every bit of it is true but I think so:

VIN#   2CNBJ1865X6905626
MODEL DJR37
CANADA (CAMI)/ GM   1998 DICIEMBRE
GVWR   GAWR FRT  GAWR RR
1YL  on driver door as you see in jpg below
Code
B1A   Port of Entry CAMI (Canadian Automotive Manufacturing Inc) - owned by General Motors (GM)
 "From 1991 on the Geo Tracker sold in Canada was identical to its US counterpart." - Wikipedia
L01   GAS, 16 Valve 4 CYL 1.6 LT, MFI, OHC
MM5  MANUAL 5 SPD
NG1   NEW YORK??
PG2   Wheel - 15 x 5.5 STEEL

Next step: try to get parts for leaking steering box. See other thread.

p.s. In trying to gather info, I found several VIN sites but some give differing info. One showed that I have a bigger engine which I know is wrong. So is there a "most trustworthy" source of info from VIN?

By the way, here they seem to find parts by searching for Vitara. Is that the exact same as my car or does it vary depending on the parts? Recent brake package I bought was for GEO Tracker and it worked even though mine is Chevy but the mechanic said "Vitara" was what I wanted to search for.

[Oil Dipstick Won't Go Into the Engine All the Way!]

Moses, thanks a million for this idea.

Yes according to pictures online someone put a longer stick with a twisted end into our 1.5 liter engine and somehow got it to fit in there and who knows whether the car is running low on oil or not because it's the wrong stick! Gas station attendants and others had trouble getting it to go in but eventually it would.

Then I couldn't get it to go back in and so started checking online about it and found that it is the wrong stick (2.0 litre stick in a 1.6 liter engine).

Now I've gotta get a yearly check for the government of Costa Rica and it won't pass with the wrong stick that won't go in all the way. And I can't find the right one anywhere as of yet.

So 1st I have to somehow find one (trying junkyards now) and then I have to get it to fit. I found a new parts store that said they had the right one made by the manufacturer BUT it would not go in either even though it's shorter and flat on the end (as it should be according to google photos). So there must be a blockage in there, so will try to get my mechanic to fix it as you describe.

Thanks.

[1999 Chevrolet Geo Tracker - Need Differential Details]

Thanks for the info. I lucked out before receiving this reply and ran into a mechanic who happened to have a used differential laying around and he was able to install it and it seems to work fine.

However I'm still hearing a click-click-clicking noise coming from the right rear or center rear of the car. Someone said it may be the "cross" that is loose, not sure what that means. Hopefully it's simple and cheap as I'm already down $320 on this, replacing brakes and seals etc. due to leakage.

Good to know about them being built to the same standards but it's been my experience that parts are hard to find for this here in Costa Rica. That is SOME parts. Apparently the differential and other things are not hard to find. But we ordered 2 different brake master cylinders both of which didn't fit when we got them, and the parts places (4-5 of them) gave up  on finding one. Luckily another mechanic swore we don't need it so we went with that. Seems like the brakes are okay but a little soft.

[Oil Dipstick Won't Go Into the Engine All the Way!]

The dip stick on my 99 Chevy Tracker is very VERY difficult to get to go all the way in. It goes about ¾ the way in and then gets stuck on something.

Someone told me replacing the dipstick won't help, that it's stuck on something inside.  If so how can I fix it?

Also can I drive it without getting it all the way in? Right now I went to check the oil and a half hour of trying to get it back in has ended with nothing but frustration and failure.

I figured out that the dipstick in my car is the one for the 2 liter engine so that's why it doesn't work. However, I went to the parts store, found the factory replacement for it without the twisted end, and shorter - but it doesn't go all the way in, either!

[1999 Chevrolet Geo Tracker - Need Differential Details]

I have a 1999 Geo Tracker. I live in Costa Rica Central America and the challenge is to find parts for this, specifically a Rear Differential (used).

I am told that what I need to know in order to get the right part - IF I can find one - is the gear ratio or the number of teeth in the gears (I'm not a mechanic and know very little about this, so assume I'm a dummy). But I can't find this info anywhere. Can anyone help me?

Also when checking the VIN # on various sites on the net, one site says my car has a 2 liter engine and the other says it's 1.6. How can I tell which it is?

Apparently there are many types of Trackers here in Costa Rica and it's very hard finding parts for THIS one which was built at CAMI in Ontario Canada and it may have been built for the NY Market. I have the codes that are in the glove compartment and it says the following based on the code decoder I found at this site:

VIN#   2CNBJ1865X6905626
MODEL DJR37
CANADA (CAMI)/ GM   December 1998
GVWR   GAWR FRT  GAWR RR
1YL USA (?) What does this mean?
Code:
B1A   Port of Entry CAMI (Canadian Automotive Manufacturing Inc) - owned by General Motors (GM)
 "From 1991 on the Geo Tracker sold in Canada was identical to its US counterpart." - Wikipedia - ANYONE KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE ?? If so then any American made 1999 rear differential will work in my Canadaian made Chevrolet Tracker??
L01   GAS, 16 Valve 4 CYL 1.6 LT, MFI, OHC
MM5  MANUAL 5 SPD

--------------------

So, does anyone know how I find find the gear ratio or pinpoint the right used differential without taking it apart and carrying it in hand to a parts place to compare?
NG1   NEW YORK?? (This entry had question marks after it. Has it been confirmed that this does mean it was made for the NY market?)
PG2   Wheel - 15 x 5.5 STEEL
QCE   TIRE    P205/75R15/N BL R/PE ST TL  ALS