What are you working on today?

[Tomioka]

DRL socket replacement on the 02 Silverado. Old sockets were cooked from regular filament bulbs, replaced with LED's but were too loose in the sockets. Showcasing two new items to help perform better electrical work. Milwaukee M18 cordless heat gun and Kuject's self soldering heatshrink splices.

Solder flowed though the strands sufficiently. Had to practice on some scrap wire before doing it on my truck. Had a few where it pulled out from stripping too much insulation or the solder didn't melt as well/burnt heatshrink by not letting the gun get to full temp before applying heat to the solder.

Key is to strip no more than 3/8-1/2" from both wires and clean wire that will be soldered/spliced. Keeping the stripped wire to a minimum gives the small amount of solder to fully wick through the splice. Let gun get to full temp before applying heat. Being a cordless gun it can't be run continuously so I let it warm up for 10 seconds before applying heat.

Loomed and wrapped with 3M Super 33 electrical tape. Not shown is the heatshrink solder splice being wrapped w/ tape before being loomed for extra weatherproofing.

Verify repair. Loving the LED upgrade.

 

[Kennedy01]

She's a great sport generally. Just a bit crabby today. Very happy with the clean-up I did today that resulted in the dump run! She's cooking a good dinner, so all is well!

Hard to argue with a home cooked dinner after a long days work.

 

[BrianF]

Aside from helping my wife with everything that goes with horses and newborn foals, I got the skid steer and dump trailer greased up. Then began hauling some snow piles away as surprisingly it started to melt a bit today.

 

[D60]

DRL socket replacement on the 02 Silverado. Old sockets were cooked from regular filament bulbs, replaced with LED's but were too loose in the sockets. Showcasing two new items to help perform better electrical work. Milwaukee M18 cordless heat gun and Kuject's self soldering heatshrink splices.

View attachment 149125

Solder flowed though the strands sufficiently. Had to practice on some scrap wire before doing it on my truck. Had a few where it pulled out from stripping too much insulation or the solder didn't melt as well/burnt heatshrink by not letting the gun get to full temp before applying heat to the solder.

Key is to strip no more than 3/8-1/2" from both wires and clean wire that will be soldered/spliced. Keeping the stripped wire to a minimum gives the small amount of solder to fully wick through the splice. Let gun get to full temp before applying heat. Being a cordless gun it can't be run continuously so I let it warm up for 10 seconds before applying heat.
View attachment 149123


Loomed and wrapped with 3M Super 33 electrical tape. Not shown is the heatshrink solder splice being wrapped w/ tape before being loomed for extra weatherproofing.
View attachment 149122

Verify repair. Loving the LED upgrade.
View attachment 149121

I need that baffle for my M18...

 

[Sedin26]

I got the trimmer and mower going and cut the grass. Gas caps on both are leaking…the trimmer cap needs a new gasket but the mower cap is mangled and needs replacing. It’s a cheap Craftsman push mower I bought used for $100 a few years back and I noticed today the deck is starting to rust through. I think this is the last year for it.

Replaced a broken mower wheel and then installed a new gate latch and cable.

 

[Kira]

Happily located a broken sway bar link and am now seeking a purchasing decision. Specifically what brand links to buy.

I have searched here and found differing opinions on brands. Moog may or may not be trash. The same goes for Movetech (or whatever it is). Even Motorcraft is praised and maligned. What's a shade tree mechanic to do?

 

[LDB]

Write the names down on a paper in whatever order you choose. However many names there are, X, ask wife/kid/friend/stranger on the street to choose a number 1-X. There's your pick.

 

[paulo57509]

I have done many water crossings - even in an appropriate vehicle the operative word is SLOW …

I use to live at the end of Santa Rosa St. in San Luis Obispo, across the street from the train station. The house was on top of a small hill. One winter, the drainage creek overran its banks, flooding the street.

We stood on the sidewalk and watched a guy in a white, Mercedes sedan plow through the water. He'd stop on the hill, floor it and bomb down the hill thru the water, turn around and repeat up the hill....must have done it for 5-10 minutes. We were waiting for the engine to suck up some water and explode but it never happened.

 

[michaelluscher]

It's the penultimate oil change for DD Camry, so I went for a long 400S for more media, 1qt HPL EC30, and 4qt of PFS 5w30
I'll run it 3-4k, see how it looks after

Project xB² out here passing NYS inspection for the second time

 

[paulo57509]

All was good until a few days ago. Turning the key to start, all that happens now is click. Tried every morning since and it refuses to crank.

I suspect the solenoid contacts are worn. Rebuilt Denso starter and gaskets arrived yesterday. I started tearing down the engine this afternoon.

I'm having to work on the driveway; hopefully, the weather stays clear. The slight breeze this morning was cold (I waited until this afternoon for the temps to rise a bit). Froze my face off. Some would agree that I look better without a face.

Eight hours later and the starter is exposed.

Because the engine sits so far back and the intake weighs ~41 lbs (yes, I weighed it), it's hard to lift it over the mounting studs (and clear the vacuum tank mounted on the underside of the manifold) while leaning over the radiator support (I'm short and have no arm strength). I removed the engine driven fan and radiator exposing the frame brackets; I climbed into the engine compartment, stood on the brackets and lifted the manifold up and out. Normally, lifting is probably a two-person job. Removing the rear coolant cross over was another adventure - Toyota provides zero slack in the wire harness.

The new starter is now mounted. I'll pull the fuel pump relay and give the starter a test before starting re-assembly. I'm pretty the sure worn solenoid contacts are to blame. The contacts should be flat across their faces; there's circular grooves cut into them by the plunger.

I'm seriously thinking of replacing the knock sensors while they're exposed.

 

[michaelluscher]

Eight hours later and the starter is exposed.

I"m seriously thinking of replacing the knock sensors while they're exposed.

If you can get quality parts, I would
Carefully inspect the harness as well

 

[4WD]

I use to live at the end of Santa Rosa St. in San Luis Obispo, across the street from the train station. The house was on top of a small hill. One winter, the drainage creek overran its banks, flooding the street.

View attachment 149357

We stood on the sidewalk and watched a guy in a white, Mercedes sedan plow through the water. He'd stop on the hill, floor it and bomb down the hill thru the water, turn around and repeat up the hill....must have done it for 5-10 minutes. We were waiting for the engine to suck up some water and explode but it never happened.

Maybe he was displacing water for others

 

[CleanSump]

Eight hours later and the starter is exposed.

View attachment 149365

Because the engine sits so far back and the intake weighs ~41 lbs (yes, I weighed it), it's hard to lift it over the mounting studs (and clear the vacuum tank mounted on the underside of the manifold) while leaning over the radiator support (I'm short and have no arm strength). I removed the engine driven fan and radiator exposing the frame brackets; I climbed into the engine compartment, stood on the brackets and lifted the manifold up and out. Normally, lifting is probably a two-person job. Removing the rear coolant cross over was another adventure - Toyota provides zero slack in the wire harness.

The new starter is now mounted. I'll pull the fuel pump relay and give the starter a test before starting re-assembly. I'm pretty the sure worn solenoid contacts are to blame. The contacts should be flat across their faces; there's circular grooves cut into them by the plunger.

View attachment 149374View attachment 149373

I'm seriously thinking of replacing the knock sensors while they're exposed.

Man o Man, I do not envy you. That's worst starter position I've ever seen.
Yeah, replace everything you can afford to while it's apart.

 

[clinebarger]

Man o Man, I do not envy you. That's worst starter position I've ever seen.
Yeah, replace everything you can afford to while it's apart.

The Lexus LS is one of the worst for a valley mounted starter, The UZ 4.7L trucks are a little easier IMO.

The GM Northstar & Nissan 5.6L valley mounted starters are GRAVY.

Toyota/Lexus UR V8's are the worst & the starter is mounted in the traditional location.....At least it's a bear on the truck platform as I haven't done a UR powered LS.

 

[clinebarger]

If you can get quality parts, I would
Carefully inspect the harness as well

In a dry climate....Assuming no rodent damage, The knock harness is usually okay (Use a heat gun when unplugging the knock sensor connectors)

Not sure I would replace the knock sensors!

 

[Tomioka]

Eight hours later and the starter is exposed.

View attachment 149365

Because the engine sits so far back and the intake weighs ~41 lbs (yes, I weighed it), it's hard to lift it over the mounting studs (and clear the vacuum tank mounted on the underside of the manifold) while leaning over the radiator support (I'm short and have no arm strength). I removed the engine driven fan and radiator exposing the frame brackets; I climbed into the engine compartment, stood on the brackets and lifted the manifold up and out. Normally, lifting is probably a two-person job. Removing the rear coolant cross over was another adventure - Toyota provides zero slack in the wire harness.

The new starter is now mounted. I'll pull the fuel pump relay and give the starter a test before starting re-assembly. I'm pretty the sure worn solenoid contacts are to blame. The contacts should be flat across their faces; there's circular grooves cut into them by the plunger.

View attachment 149374View attachment 149373

I'm seriously thinking of replacing the knock sensors while they're exposed.

I've never had to replace the knock sensors in the handful of UZ engines I've worked on. Despite being exposed they don't suffer from trapped water and debris like the GenIII LS engines. Some of the connectors like the IG wire tend to be brittle so I always pick up some along with the OEM gaskets for the manifolds and coolant crossovers.

 

[atikovi]

Eight hours later and the starter is exposed.

View attachment 149365

Because the engine sits so far back and the intake weighs ~41 lbs (yes, I weighed it), it's hard to lift it over the mounting studs

What engine is that? Reminds me of a Cadillac Northstar but the intake is plastic and weighs much less.

 

[Creekside]

Headed to Easter service at church, yesterday we added three more registered Herefords to our herd. Everyone settled in overnight and they were all at the feed trough this morning.

 

[fisher83]

Worked on my mother in law's 05 Caravan today. We sold it to her 7 years ago. It has 175,000 miles on it now and is rusted beyond recognition, the exhaust is basically non-existent, and it leaks oil. It was sputtering and kept dying so they had it towed home a few days ago. As poorly as she has maintained it I thought it was probably going to be some sort of catastrophic failure. I was prepared to tell her it was toast. I found a broken plug wire and it was also extremely low on gas. Installed a new set of plug wires and put in enough gas for them to be able to drive it to a gas station. Fired right up. Looks like hell but runs great now! Told her to keep an eye on all her fluid levels and start stacking cash for a replacement vehicle. She won't do it....but I did my good deed for the day.

 

[wings&wheels]