What are you working on today?

Was going to change the struts in the LeSabre today but got a late start at 1500 hours. First time is always a learning experience. Getting the two bolts out at the knuckle took effort. They have splines and one really needs to whack them with a mallet. Of course the KYB strut did not have the hole to fasten the lower rubber absorber so I had to drill one. Getting the spring compressed just takes time. The old strut used a torx hole in the top of the shaft to use when taking the nut off. The KYB uses a hex instead and that doesn't work so well. Torque to 55 lbs. only the 6pt. hex strips out at 45 lbs. All in all I got one done after 3 hours and decided to postpone the other till next week rather than be still out there at 2000 hours. Oh, and like I thought the original strut had nothing left.

Last weekend the air intake hose between the air filter and throttle body on the 626. Was jerking in first and second gear along with an unsteady idle. Thought there was a vacuum leak after replace vacuum lines but no it turned out to be a crack in the bottom of the large hose that was out of sight. Must have been working itself larger over the months. So incredibly smooth once again.
 
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handed off the ball joint this morning to the shop. Not sure when they will get to it. But this ball joint is part of the Paul Mitchel tripod thing I picked up. it's made up of three parts which I'm not able to disassemble with my current tool setup.. Also, over the weekend while resting from crawling under the van, I spent some time sanding the 3D printed snorkel for the van. Although it was painted red (which was more of a burgundy color) I end up repainting the flange or face of the snorkel a bright red color. So far 3 coats have been applied. As for the inlet tube, which is also red, I'll paint that one a flat black just to see who this looks. If it's not that desirable painted, I may opt to have the shop reprint the inlet black. Everything seem to match up and fit correctly on the van, but this will mean having to careful remove the grille in order to access the intake system, make a few alterations and even redesign the front grille itself.

So for the record, yes, 3D printed material can be painted.
 
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Testing and removing the HVAC recirculation motor on a 1997 GMC truck. Motor had been making noise all of the time when the key was in the run position or if the truck was running. Had it unplugged until today when I had time to look at it.

It's a three wire connector to the motor. I knew the power and ground was good to it because it was on all of the time but I didn't know if the problem was the motor itself or the HVAC control module grounding it all of the time through the signal wire. Used a test light and verified that the signal wire was grounded when you turned on the recirculation button.

I took the motor off which was kind of a chore since the back screw was tough to get to. I finally got it off and using a test lead kit, I hooked it up to a spare battery I had and verified that the motor turned on when I gave it power and ground and would not shut off most of the time. Occasionally it would. It should only come on when the signal wire is grounded. I grounded the signal wire and the motor would turn the post that hooks on to the recirculation door and would go back to the resting position when I took the ground away. Ordered a new motor and it should be in later.
 
Thought there was a stone in my tire leaving the dump Saturday. Nope. Went and got some offroad diesel a little bit ago and noticed the LR tire was low checking pressures on the truck infor. Sure enough. Not the kind of screwing I like...

asSSDiY.jpg


$31 for them to dismount, put in a plug/patch, and re balance the tire. Also to all the naysayers on TPMS, I was able to catch this before it got stupid low. Being a rear tire it wasn't that obvious.

Also been fighting uneven cutting on my mower and thought one of the spindles wasn't spinning quite well. So two new spindles later...

plBrQkI.jpg


Took a test swath and same darn thing! Finally found the issue...

ekLXWuB.jpg


Apparently my yard is bumpier than I thought. Put the nut where it belongs, but the rod will still catch a little bit. Will probably need to tear apart and do some more finagling.
 
Thought there was a stone in my tire leaving the dump Saturday. Nope. Went and got some offroad diesel a little bit ago and noticed the LR tire was low checking pressures on the truck infor. Sure enough. Not the kind of screwing I like...

asSSDiY.jpg


$31 for them to dismount, put in a plug/patch, and re balance the tire. Also to all the naysayers on TPMS, I was able to catch this before it got stupid low. Being a rear tire it wasn't that obvious.

Also been fighting uneven cutting on my mower and thought one of the spindles wasn't spinning quite well. So two new spindles later...

plBrQkI.jpg


Took a test swath and same darn thing! Finally found the issue...

ekLXWuB.jpg


Apparently my yard is bumpier than I thought. Put the nut where it belongs, but the rod will still catch a little bit. Will probably need to tear apart and do some more finagling.
You had a busy day!
 
Took care of a few little things today. The power steering return line was replaced and the system was filled with fresh fluid. I drained and filled the cooling system even though it was done less than two years ago. I didn't like the way the previous shop did the work, and now it's been done my way.

One of the windshield squirters stopped working a while back, and that was fixed today as well. There's a check valve in the line that was not working properly, and now the squirter squirts.

The power plugs in the cabin weren't working and I finally traced it to a bad fuse which was replaced, and now I can charge my phone while traveling.

Finally, the front left turn signal bulb got replaced. It worked intermittently, and now it works all the time.

And yesterday I took a long-overdue long drive. The Camry's been doing too many short trips the past couple of months, so a 120-mile drive fit the bill. It was good for both the car and the driver!

Just a bunch of little things that were more annoying than anything else, and I'm glad they're done and that the Camry is functioning at 100% again. As Kitty Kallen sang in the early 1950s, Little Things Mean a Lot ...
 
Gravy Monday, as much as Monday can be:

Spent most of the day on a 100K service on a Honda Pilot. TB/WP kit (Aisin), drive belt (Mitsuboshi), plugs (NGK), and front pads/rotors.

Tomorrow's menu consists of front strut assemblies and a rack on a '10 Altima coupe.
 
2019 Ford F-150
Changed oil, replaced air filter, rotated tires and checked brakes

2016 Ford F-150
Changed oil, replaced air filter, rotated tires and checked brakes

2010 Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Replaced front rotors and pads, replaced front sway bar bushings and links
 
Gravy Monday, as much as Monday can be:

Spent most of the day on a 100K service on a Honda Pilot. TB/WP kit (Aisin), drive belt (Mitsuboshi), plugs (NGK), and front pads/rotors.

Tomorrow's menu consists of front strut assemblies and a rack on a '10 Altima coupe.

Some mechanics hate doing J35 Timing Belts, I find them gravy as well, Don't mind Toyota MZ or UZ Timing Belts either even though you have to pull the cam gears & inner cover on MZ's to replace the water pump.


Had a fairly gravy Monday myself...
2002 GMC Yukon, Left front wheel hub/bearing.
2013 Cadillac CTS, Right front wheel hub/bearing, Left interior door switch/button, Oil change.
2012 Fiat 500, Both front wheel bearings.....The OTC Hub Grappler instructions are completely wrong! I usually try to knock the hubs out/off before pulling the spindle but none of my slide hammer adaptors where small enough to fit this go-cart sized Hub. Not that I would've EVER been able to slide hammer them off as these Hubs are really in there & the bearing race didn't stay on the Hub which I found odd. Press got up to 10 tons before the Hubs snapped & started moving.
Customer supplied the bearings & the included retaining snap ring was .030" too thick, Reused the originals.
 
Same as @Delta we picked u a nail on the highway yesterday and I attempted to plug the hole but the tools I had are outdated. so we called AAA and all they could do is install the spare tire. They don't plug holes. I'm like Hell I could have mounted the spare on the van so he never arrived at our location. ended up using the newly power coated 2005 thunderbird spare tire on the van fit and worked like a charm. Keeping an eye on the newly plugged tire.. But at least we know now that by lowering the rear of the van, the 2 ton floor jack (with our home made barbell jig) was able to lift the van completely off the ground.
 
Tough for an old man to get down on the ground, slide under the lowered van and wash the new coil springs.. but with simple green, it came out very well.
View attachment 152303
While posting this on other sites, users are saying or asking does these coils look like they are compressed too much etc.. We don't hear any crunching or metal to metal type contact or bottoming out while driving and the coils have settled a bit more.
 
While posting this on other sites, users are saying or asking does these coils look like they are compressed too much etc.. We don't hear any crunching or metal to metal type contact or bottoming out while driving and the coils have settled a bit more.
That's why I made a face on your other post. No load, that isn't right. Center coils do nothing . What vehicle? A van???
 
@Pablo I don't know what you problem is, but according to Cobra Suspension, this is how they designed their coil springs for the European market. This is or may have been either the first or second time anyone from North America has installed a set of their coil springs on a north American Transit Connect. So if you have an issue with my topics, then please avoid them in the future after all this is the "what did you do today" thread.. well thats what we did and we've not heard the end of it.
 
@Pablo I don't know what you problem is, but according to Cobra Suspension, this is how they designed their coil springs for the European market. This is or may have been either the first or second time anyone from North America has installed a set of their coil springs on a north American Transit Connect. So if you have an issue with my topics, then please avoid them in the future after all this is the "what did you do today" thread.. well thats what we did and we've not heard the end of it.
Slightly touchy. Sorry man, nothing personal. Just does not look OK to ME. My opinion. Sorry.
 
Installed the new recirculation motor on the 1997 GMC truck. Took a while to get the back screw in. I ended up removing the glove box which made it a little easier. Motor works like it should.
 
Helped the ex regain high beams on her XJ. She had previously installed a headlight relay kit. I'm not opposed to such in general principle because voltage drop can be significant.

In this aftermarket kit the two wires intended to connect directly to the battery had very thick, rubbery insulation but were a surprisingly small gauge. The high beam supply had completely failed, providing voltage to my test light but falling on its face under load.
 
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Completed the move to our new home today! Yay! It’s 1/3 smaller so we are jammed in. Still spent time at the old place, repairing walls and painting. Working 2/3 of a day tomorrow, then should be painting the last room.

driving the wheels off the truck, trip after trip of moving, or taking things to goodwill, or giving furniture to friends, coworkers and charities. Busy season.
 
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