Hello, my name is Jorge and I own a Silver 2012 xB manual, has around 95k. I’ve owned it since Nov 2016 (to replace my previous car that got totaled), just started modding it since 2021 started. It’s been a great vehicle, so far no repair or work needed aside from new tires, brakes, oil changes (full syn every time) and spark plugs(maintenance), I also installed a Curt hitch so we could use our cargo basket for our camping supplies(coolers, chairs, other large things....also works great for large/wet/dirty things I can’t or don’t wanna put in the cabin/trunk). It does have an occasional stumble when I stop at a light, rpms drop down and it stumbles for about 5-10 secs then evens out and idles normally, doesn’t do it every time tho.

Originally bought as a shared daily/road trip car for my wife and I, then it went to just the wife because I bought myself a new project car. Long story short after 3 failed attempts at project cars(not enough money with 2, and 1 totaled), got the wife a shiny newer ride(18 Honda HR-V) and I “inherited” the xB, so it BECAME a project car because I can’t leave anything alone - I know I’m not alone.

So far it’s received a good wash, claybar and ceramic wax then put on some AVS vent shades. Also put on drilled/slotted front rotors and carbon ceramic pads front and rear, a HPS Short Ram Intake, DC Sports Axle Back Exhaust, and Torque Solutions shift cable bushings. Intake and exhaust are more for sound than performance, te intake sounds great - the exhaust is only mildly louder than stock IMO (and I was afraid it would be too loud). I’m not trying to make a race car, it’s a driving brick after all. Hoping to get some TRD shocks/struts soon and new front mounts, possibly TRD springs. Debating if just throwing a clutch at it even tho it’s not slipping - but close to 100k and on the OEM clutch. Also debating if a rear swaybar and/or front strut bar are worth it - just want a bit sharper ride, and have read they’re also good to help stop wind sway. I don’t drive much at all but if I do lower it, just want a little bit lower maybe 2in or so don’t want it slammed, but also thought a 2in lift and some knobby tires (very unlikely tho) will help when camping - which we do every few weeks in summer. Also at some point I’d like to get some nice looking wheels - maybe 17” or 18”, it has 16” steelies and hubcaps now.

And now pictures, nothing really special:

 

Outside has been detailed and looks good...I think I might spend a little time cleaning up the engine bay also since you seem to have a pretty good grasp of detailing.

 

It’s on the list, actually just noticed today valve cover seems to be leaking a bit. Gotta look into replacing it an cleaning up the engine while at it.

 

Not a bad time at all to do the valve cover gasket...

 

At work...


.....Compact hatch from the other. Lol.

 

First real “problems” from the box showed up about 2 weeks ago…

The A/C Control **** Light stopped working. A few days after it started I forget exactly what I was doing but I accidentally bumped the dash around the shifter arena and it came back on.
For the next few days whenever it’s night and I turn on the lights it doesn’t work- I tap the **** a few times and it comes back on. And as of about 2 days ago, it just works no tapping needed. Yay…”fixed”.

Also another problem came up….the Radio CD Eject is going crazy, I had a CD in it and it just spit it out randomly when I was driving, and for about a week it’s been just
running the motor foreject randomly while driving…only really noticeable when the radio is off or the volume is low I can hear the motor buzzing on and off every little bit.

And the last one is an actual problem. The other 2, no big deal. The 3rd problem is the left rear brakes are sticking. Was driving the other night, and when I got home I noticed a burning brakes smell, instantly I was like “uh oh…” walked around noticed the rear left was super hot just holding my hand at the wheel,
the others were cool. I wasn’t driving crazy so figured it was weird. Anyway have to find some time til I can peel it apart and figure it out. Hoping it’s not too bad, unfortunately need to keep driving it to/from work and around town and make some moneys and by then hope it’s not needing new caliper, pads and rotor….blah…

Probably will cause I keep driving it lol…

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The light in there is losing contact with the circuit board or the filament is dying. Tedious but easy to replace. The bulbs are twist lock and directly behind the ***** so you have to remove the whole AC control panel to get to them. Best bet is to replace all three at the same time with T4 LED bulbs as the others will eventually go and you don't want to keep having to take it all apart.

Just replace the head unit. You can get it fixed but it'll cost almost as much as a new one. And you can get a lot more features with an aftermarket radio than the stock one.

The caliper pins are sticking. You'll need to either have them lubed up or replaced depending on how worn they are. The more you drive on it the more it'll lean to replacement, obviously.

 

I looked into the leds for the dash/ac ***** a while back just cause I was bored and happened to find a thread about doing an led conversion…if any other light stop working I may actually look into doing it, for now the one is working again and no problems

figured as much about the radio…I don’t really need any more op to one from my radio than the ones I have, but that’s what we all say till we get more options…I’ll look into it later. For now it’s really only noticeable if I have the radio off or super whisper low…so it’s easy to ignore if I just turn the radio up a bit.

For the brakes, I already line the daylight out of the slides and guides when I replaced the brakes earlier this year…but again I need some time to look into what’s going on. And hopefully by then it doesn’t need a whole setup back there…(if it doesn’t already)…just from experience iim only assuming I’ll end up needing a set of pads and rotor at least on the one side because of overheating from being stuck, and a set of caliper slides at least - if not a whole caliper bracket and slides from being too rusted up and seized.

blah…I don’t wanna spend any extra money where I don’t need to…$ is low rt now and I have too much other junk to worry about and too little time(…don’t we all)

 

Yep. If the write up is on this site then either Jason or I wrote it, can 't remember which of us posted it. 12 PLCC-2 LEDs for the dash conversion, but it doesn't help much unless you swap the gauge panel to get rid of the orange on the dials. Thankfully the HVAC ones don't require soldering so it's an easy swap once everything is out.

 

I actually prefer the Orange/Red Lights on the dash and *****…guess I’m in the minority.

I don’t remember if I saw the LED write up on here or Club xB…but I saw it in like
February or so, it’s been a while (when I actually had money, because better paying job..)

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Got around to checking into the brakes a few weeks ago. The caliper and guide pins were fine, but the pads on the rear driver side were sticking and the pad slides were broken where it goes over the rotor. The inboard pad was worn at an angle and pretty wasted, the outboard pad looked normal. The rotor looked clearly overheated but I didn’t see any hot spotting or checking. I left the rotor and threw new pads and pad hardware on both sides and lubed the crap out of it again - caliper pins included. Also used some stop squeal spray(as if it matters, but better safe than sorry).

So far so good. Well see what happens from
here.

I had a hard enough time finding a local store that had pads in stock for this thing - tried 4 stores and only one had one set in stock, ceramic instead of the metallic I had, o well. They didn’t have rotors or guide pins in stock at all. Since I was working on a gravel driveway I didn’t really feel like stretching out the work time any longer. I also live where I’m not supposed to do vehicle work so….the quickness of an afternoon works better than letting sit for days on stands.