What are you working on today?

I used my freshly acquired chain pliers to modify my front tractor chains from 4-link to 2-link. Donor chains are crazy cheap in the secondary market and many are new (mine were still in the sealed bag)
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I've had my 2011 TSX Wagon since new with 113k mi. mostly stop & go driving. My wife was driving when the CEL came on and car went into limp mode. Engine was running perfectly beforehand. I came to pick her up and scanned code P304, misfire cylinder 4. Engine was clearly running on three cylinders. I did not have a 10mm socket to take the cover off the coil packs, but left it and came back the next morning to swap 1 & 4 and misfire moved to cylinder 1. Acura dealer wanted $195 for a replacement coil pack and would only have it by the next day. No NGK or Denso at any stores near me, so I went to Auto Zone where I said no to Duralast, but went for Delphi @ $75. Car started and ran perfectly so I erased the codes and decided to order 3 more Delphi injectors from Amazon at $47 each. Arrived today and I'll just keep one of the three good originals in the car along with a 6mm socket and bluetooth scanner just in case. This car has been very reliable. The dealer replaced an axle seal and VTEC actuator under warranty. I replaced the other axle seal a few years back. Everything else has been just maintenance and now this.
 
Got a little more work done on the 3.7. Most time consuming is setting up valve clearance (cam over bucket). Had to get some different size buckets to get this within specifications. Secondary cam chain tensioners on back order…maybe have to settle for a dorman 😳 that is what is holding me up at this point and seems the be the only brand semi available .
 

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2017 Chevy Volt w/ 67k miles came in with a complaint of a CEL and poor fuel economy. Pulled a P0401 - EGR insufficient flow detected. I found a TSB from GM regarding the issue, turns out the EGR cooler tends to get clogged. Sure enough, this one was packed solid with carbon.

It's a fairly simple repair: pull the exhaust manifold, 3 coolant hoses, one temp sensor, and 6 bolts. The new cooler wasn't cheap, something like $250 my cost. 3 hours labor plus a coolant flush and she runs better than ever.
 
Wednesday
2008 Dodge Caliber 2.0 4 cylinder
Replaced valve cover gasket

1998 Chevrolet S10 4.3 V6
Replaced alternator, belt tensioner, engine cooling fan
 
Hasn’t been a lot going on here recently. January and February are always our slowest months. I did have a 2006 Camry come in for a detailed multipoint and I felt horrible because the customer bought it and got ripped off badly on it. She is a single mom who was struggling to get a car and she found what appeared to be a very nice as far as interior goes Camry got a loan for the $8,000 that the seller was asking and paid it. I wish she would have brought it in before she purchased it because it was absolutely a problematic car and that’s way too much for that anyway. It has 230,000 on it. We asked her if she had it checked before purchasing and she said I didn’t know you could do that. And I said yeah just bring it in like you did today and if they try to charge you see me I won’t charge you anything. She was all upset when I was showing her everything and I really felt bad. It had a misfire on 2 cylinders which was the coils, needed brakes all around, backing plates, a complete suspension rebuild the CV boots and tie rod boots were busted and leaking everywhere the struts and shocks were worn and leaking, needed an alignment as the tires are wearing odd, major oil leaks, several other things. Just everything imaginable and most of the parts look original. If I was in a position to help more I would have. I done what I could and fixed some of the minor problems and she needed wipers and a tag light so I went ahead and bought those for her and done them for free they are cheap with employee discount anyway so it wasn’t a big deal. I know it wasn’t much but it’s enough to get her by for now till she finds a good car or is able to fix this one and you could tell she was grateful. The car is just really worn out. I won’t blame the seller because maybe they truly didn’t know but I wish there was more education out there about cars especially for women. She said she felt it was a fair price as she knew the car market was crazy and that Toyota held value. She gave me a big hug for helping her and giving her the wipers and light. And she tried to give me money which I wouldn’t take I told her to buy her kids something they wanted instead so they could be happy. She was like I know I don’t know you but can I give you a hug i could really use it right now and I said yeah absolutely. We also asked if she had checked the KBB value or NADA or anything and she said she had never heard of any of those. I just truly enjoy helping people out when I can. You never know what someone might be going thru and plus her kids were being good too her oldest boy loved my toolboxes because they were orange and he just kept talking about them which I thought was great little things like that don’t bother me. It may cost time but you can’t be mean to someone. There are some techs that wouldn’t take time to explain anything to the customer and just want the money I’m not like that and plus I’m paid by the hour so I’m still making money regardless but even if not I’d still take the time to go over everything with them. I take a lot of pride in my job and doing things right the first time and not ripping people off. If it doesn’t need something I won’t try and sell it. I wish she would of paid a whole lot less for it though. And she showed me the bill of sale she wasn’t kidding.
 
Came back from visiting friends in Portland just to do this:
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I’m going to reboot the axle instead of a new Chinesium one. @The Critic’s suggestion of an air hammer helped prevent the common DIY trick of cutting the axle and slapping in an aftermarket one. I also need to replace the driver’s side wheel bearing and a brake job.
 
This morning I turned front/rear brake rotors and replaced front/rear brake pads on a 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe. I've spent the rest of the day in the house not being cold and wet.
 
Installed the S-VCM controller on my Pilot to disable the VCM. Had an unexpected benefit, when I lifted the cover on the battery cable to attach the wire to the S-VCM, apparently the clamp was coming loose and I was able to wiggle it off. Glad it didn't come off and leave me stuck somewhere.
 
Finally got around to troubleshooting a misfire on the WS6. Hard to do with the setup I have. Turned out number 7 injector was stuck open. New injector good to go. That is the first thing that has gone wrong on it not related to racing or me doing something stupid with it. :) :D
 
FINALLY finished the stair portion of the handrail I posted in this thread earlier, post #3496:

The stairs are 50* which kinda makes miter joints tricky. Anyway, it's done and I work for free so my non-profit doesn't complain that it took forever. Cheap, fast, high quality: pick two ;)
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Since the XT4 and the Milan are the most aesthetically pleasing vehicles in the fleet, I prepped them for tomorrow's funeral
Which was really just airing up the tires, filling the ⛽, and running them through a wash and vacuum
It's so cold, the 5 minute drive home had them frozen 😳
 
Did a rear brake job on the 2005 CR-V today. Nothing fancy…Raybestos calipers and cheap Wagner Quickstop pads. I hit over 100k with these on the Tercel. They don’t last that long in the CR-V but should be decent and keep me going for a while.
 
Today I took the seat out, one of its power motors went out; it is the one that adjust the hight of seat. It died right after I got the car back from a mechanic for another set of problem; It is located right on the joint corner between back and bottom support. Very narrow spot and it died at the lowest support point pretty much, adding to the difficulty

Finally I took it out and I went to the dealership where they informed me, they do not sell the individual power motor but as a whole seat :(
I went on ebay and order an used one for $30, while setting the seat back partially

So as a result, I need to wait perhaps next weekend to fully assemble the seat

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Went for routine blood work this morning at 8am. Came home, had breakfast. Friend of mine stopped over with his 2018 F-150 4WD truck for oil change. He’s the one that gave me the Modelo Negra beer. Lives about 1.5 hour north of me. Changed out the Mobil 1 5w30 and Evogard X-2500 filter. Put more M1 5w30 and Fram ultra 10575 in and on
 
Among other things, finished up the 3.7 today. Ready for its new home.
 

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Decided to "hardwire" an upgraded Cobra detector and install it on bottom of mirror.

My main reasoning behind having a radar detector is for the volt readout of the charging system for the aftermarket amp's install..

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