What are you working on today?

[RAR]

Replaced the heater hoses on a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country minivan that I have here that my niece used to drive. I posted on an earlier thread that the clamps were loose and tightening didn’t help.

New ones (aftermarket) with proper constant tension clamps went in rather quickly and I had no more sweet coolant smell from the leak. Except for what spilled.

Drove it but with the engine caked with oily greasy dirt, it has the odor of burning oil from the engine. Time for some degreaser and a power wash.

Otherwise the van drives just fine. Even idle, and the fuel trims were off the chart on initial start but have settled back down to normal. Long term is high, but short term bounces around 0 to -7… unlike when it would soar to -25. Now that it’s dialed in better I’ll let the long term trend itself down rather than forcing it to clear and risk starting the whole process over again.

One issue was the vapor canister purge solenoid was not working properly and felt like it has fluid in it. I swapped it out with a Mopar OEM solenoid I had on the shelf for another van and ordered a new one for the minivan that I’m working on next (2014 Town & Country). Mopar OEM as well. I stopped taking chances with cheap aftermarket electronics (hoses are ok though).

 

[D60]

Finished the NP231

I had never encountered the "external" slip yoke style employed on XJs, but I think it's far and away the best style because you could drive sans rear d/s with no fluid loss, and no brass bushing to wear in a slip shaft housing.

Anyway, I wasn't sure if the Sonnax split ring upgrade would work, but it seems to. I took some crude measurements and it looks to have around .030" clearance between the Sonnax setup and rear seal once installed, so should be fine.

Sonnax installed here, old ring left

 

[JustN89]

Spark plugs on the Elantra after 93,750 miles. Decided to use the borescope again to help justify the amount I spent on it . Really need to find another use for the thing. Sorry the pictures aren't great-I was having a really hard time controlling the glare.

Cylinder 1:

Cylinder 2:

Cylinder 3:

Cylinder 4:

Bonus piston tops:

 

[BrianF]

Just about to watch my youngest daughter do her jumping lesson.

On a note more appropriate for this thread, the 325G came May 16th for a week demo..... so its what? June 1st?

 

[BrianF]

Edit: yes the shop needs a tidy and a sweep...

 

[SHOZ]

Spent yesterday minding a stump burnout. Had a big old stick pile close of mostly oak. And a 15 year old dead cherry stump. Still not at all rotting. I cut the trunk down a month or so ago and it was solid all the way through except for ants. And they were not happy I cut it down.

Tried a burn then and got a lot of the main stump. Dug out around to get some of the big roots too. It's still hot today and the ashes are sunk in so it's getting it all I think,.

Cherry is very rot resistant wood I've found along with pear.

Today put the new JD Predator mower blades on the Z320m and greased the spindles till they were squirting out at the bottom, they have never been greased but some black grease came out. (22 pumps). 60 hrs on the original JD mulching blades and still in good shape.

 

[74DartSport]

Changed the muffler on my RX400H. Reinstalled the heat shield over it too.
Attempted a transaxle fluid change. Unscrewed the plug I thought would be the top full point and about 12 oz drained out. Decided right there to not try a full drain and fill. Fluid pump I bought was leaking so I pumped in hopefully enough to replace what I dumped and got the plug in. Will take to a real mechanic next week.

 

[cptbarkey]

Installed a factory oil filter housing on the ranch Gator. The FE350 engine has gone 1275 hours without a filter. It runs amazing. In went 1 quart of Delo 15w40, and a half quart of Rotella T4.

 

[Creekside]

Had one of those humbling repairs today. I purchased a Tri-pac Evolution APU to put on one of my OTR trucks a couple weeks ago. I’d been working to test fire it before I go to the trouble of installing it. I had hooked everything up to the controller and threw a 12v battery on it to find that some of the wires were ripped out of the HMI harness. I tried jumping power to the solenoid and could only get a click out of the starter so I ordered a replacement. Today I installed a starter also installed new terminals in my HMI harness so that it could communicate correctly. I was greeted with the same click as before. Come to find out there is a 200 amp mega fuse inline in the positive battery cable that was blown and by jumping the solenoid power I was supplying power to make the solenoid click but no voltage to actually spin the starter. I take pride in my troubleshooting but I failed on this one and it cost me a starter.

This afternoon I worked on laying the APU out on the frame and deciding how to build a mounting bracket for it as a conventional mount won’t work on this truck.

 

[Tomioka]

2010 Honda Civic 1.8L A/T 138,000mi

Replace both front CV axles. Went with the 'destructive' method instead of playing around with prybars. Cut large band on inner CV boot and remove shaft. Clamp vice grip slide hammer to inner CV housing and give it the beans. Then quickly throw drain pan on under car to catch ATF spilling out. I'm glad you can buy brand new CV axles nowadays.

 

[wings&wheels]

Coolant and heater hoses on the TR6, not bad but small car means tight spaces.

 

[skyactiv]

A co-worker friend cant work on vehicles at his apartment and is coming over to install new front brake pads and rotors on his Silverado.

 

[D60]

A co-worker friend cant work on vehicles at his apartment and is coming over to install new front brake pads and rotors on his Silverado.

Even in college I realized I needed a standalone house with a driveway so I could tinker with my vehicles without being hassled And I won't even mention HOAs (whoops)

 

[LDB]

Even in college I realized I needed a standalone house with a driveway so I could tinker with my vehicles without being hassled And I won't even mention HOAs (whoops)

I sold my rental house last year after finally having enough of the HOA malarkey. Got two annuities with the proceeds and now have more monthly income and don't have to use 60% of it for taxes and insurance, all of it stays in my pocket. I'd never own another property anywhere with an HOA.

 

[BrianF]

Taking a break from fencing to watch my kid ride again. Using the 325G with the Talet postpounder. Much better machine as there is less rocking and the tracks still maneuver in the sand, where the wheeled machine dug in.

 

[walterjay]

Installed a window air conditioner in my bedroom. I like to sleep cold. That way I don't have to run the whole house A/C.

 

[SHOZ]

Coolant and heater hoses on the TR6, not bad but small car means tight spaces.

View attachment 222720

Had a friend who had a TR6GT and we changed the rear U joints on the axles out on the street. Got half way done and the neighbors started complaining. It was too late then. That had to be in the late 70's!

 

[mattd]

Very busy shift at work yesterday and last night. No I am not a firefighter but I maintain all the equipment and go to fires to monitor the equipment during operation

 

[clinebarger]

Tremec T-56 rebuild.....Needs a Main Shaft, 5th & 6th Cluster Gear, Secondary Counter Gear assembly, Bearings & Seals.
Has all new Synchro's & updated bronze shift arm pads.

I knew something was up when I had to pull the 5th/6th Cluster Gear off with a puller, They have a light press when new but any kind of mileage will loosen it to a slip fit.

The previous builder welded up the main shaft, Then ground it down by hand & finished it with some Emory....Bet they used 2 rolls

Not the best pics of the damage......Chucked it on the lathe & the runout is horrible & the 2 lands the 5th/6th Cluster rides on are off axis from each other.

 

[BrianF]

My wife and oldest daughter are off to the first horse show of the season this week. Got the 6 horse and truck in the barn to clean them out, adjusted all the tire pressures, brake test, pack tools, clean the glass and a final retorque of the EGR valve. Looks like she is ready for the road.