What are you working on today?

Since the shop has been slow, I swapped vehicles with the SO and brought her 2008 base-base model Aveo in to fix a coolant leak I discovered during last week's oil change. 163k miles on the car. It received:

New Cloyes Timing belt component kit ($49.89)
New SKP water pump ($12.65)
New throttle body ($18.52) I bought this "used" on Amazon, listed as "Damaged Packaging". I got what looked like a brand new unit in an Amazon Warehouse box, although it did have marks around the bolt holes like it had been installed once. It works fine, so I'm guessing someone bought it and it didn't fix whatever problem they were having so they returned it.
New OEM camshaft position sensor ($44.17)

Throw in the $10 for the special tool needed to tension the timing belt and I was all in for less than $150. Obviously, it got fresh coolant with the job. While it was on the hoist I did a tire rotate, general check, and I finished off by cleaning the inside of her absolutely disgusting windshield.
 
Staining more window trim.
 

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Playing with my new lab power supply. I'm doing an equalization charge on a 2 year old EverStart Plus battery (rated 600 CCA) that mostly sat unused in a car at a low state of charge. Before starting, it holds 12.4 volts after a full charge and the surface charge was allowed to dissipate for a few days. Measured cranking volts (at 300 amps with a carbon pile tester) was about ~9.2 volts at 40f so getting a bit on the weak side.
 
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Took apart the cylinder head of a small block Chevy. My friend bought this engine from a junkyard too put in his truck but as you can see it needed some major work. That is not the only thing that has had to be done. The valves were so seized they had to be sprayed and hit out with a brass hammer.
 
Over the weekend I changed out all the power steering lines, the pump and the reservoir on my old Sienna. The lines have been leaking for a while now and the pump was starting to make a noise after 22 years and almost 450,000 miles. It was one of the more difficult jobs I’ve ever done but everything is dry and quiet now.

I thought about taking some pictures but I doubt anyone else is going to do that job. I used Sunsong lines (OEM NLA) and a new pump and reservoir from Rock Auto.
 
Since the parts came in for the APU unit I have to go install them today. Just took it apart last time. The customer is super excited about using RTV on the water pump instead of a gasket though lol.
 
kschachn said:
Over the weekend I changed out all the power steering lines, the pump and the reservoir on my old Sienna. The lines have been leaking for a while now and the pump was starting to make a noise after 22 years and almost 450,000 miles. It was one of the more difficult jobs I’ve ever done but everything is dry and quiet now.

I thought about taking some pictures but I doubt anyone else is going to do that job. I used Sunsong lines (OEM NLA) and a new pump and reservoir from Rock Auto.
Click to expand...
I had 98 Sienna and had to change the power steering pump more than once. The rebuilt one was crap and had to get another one from the scrap yard. When I went to zip that one bolt faster to the Bango bolt I used the impact (I was stupid and tired at the time) and I ended up breaking that part of the power steering line. Had to order one from Rockauto at the time. Was one of the most PITA jobs I've ever done. No space to access anything and you have to know how to fish stuff from the top in order to get stuff removed and tightened.
I'm sure you had a few choice cuss words, I know I did.🤣
 
Recently

Left front wheel bearing on a 99 dodge ram 4wd
Alternator, belt, belt tensioner and idler pulley on a 95 F350 460 V8
Front brake pads on an 06 Chevrolet Silverado 2wd
Valley pan/intake gasket on an 85 Jeep Grand Wagoneer 360 V8
Set of glow plugs on an 84 GMC 3/4 ton with a 6.2 diesel
Front brake pads and rotors on an 02 Buick Lesabre


Yet to come

Knock sensors on an 03 Silverado 5.3
Belts on an 85 Chevrolet C10 305 V8
Replace a left rear window on a 99 Taurus
 
I just got a road call. I’ll be doing brakes tomorrow on a 2007 Mercury Mountaineer man I hate the design of those things. That is provided it doesn’t snow we are supposed to get 4-6 inches. They have the Allen screws in them so you need a 9mm Allen hex socket and they have the screwed up caliper design so you have to pry the bracket off to remove the pads. Removing the caliper itself isn’t hard just need an 18mm socket to do that.
 
Helped a buddy get the old generator he inherited from his dad running today - 8hp Briggs, 4000 watts. He's fully capable of the wrenching, but it's nice to have someone to hang out with in the garage. It had fuel leaks at the carb and no spark. A new fiber washer for the main jet fitting and cleaning the needle and seat fixed the carb issues. The spark issue turned out to be a too tight air gap between the magneto and and the flywheel.
 
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Got the mudflap on the trailer fully today. Had to modify it as you can see that one of the bolts and fender washers is closer together than the rest of them because it was too long so I just drilled a new hole. Put the bolts on has a regular washer and fender washer and anti seize as recommended. I bought some bolts but it came with bolts so I just used the ones it came with. The ones it came with was grade 8 and the ones I bought were grade 5 but either one was ok to use I asked some trailer people.
 
Well, been a busy week in my personal fleet. Let’s see...did a brake fluid flush on my 2016 Avalon. Also did a fluid level temperature re-check on the transmission...it was full but the fluid still looks a little dirty, so I’ll be doing a flush soon.

Did a rear diff fluid change, coolant service and transfer case service on my wife’s Mercedes GL350. And boy is that coolant level “touchy” on a Mercedes. First thought I overfilled it, then it burped and it was underfilled. Then I filled it and ice again thought I filled it too much. So I took a little out. Then doing 75 on the highway, the “top coolant” light comes on. Get home and now it’s a few inches too low. So I filled it up again. So this thing burped twice. Never mind all the time I spent getting air out of that top hose.

Did an oil change on our Honda CRV, replaced the tires and drain and filled the transmission. 150,000 miles. It’s going to need rear brakes and a front strut in a couple months.

Next week I’ll be doing a throttle body cleaning on the Avalon, didn’t want to get started on that because I ran out of time...the car was heading to the body shop to fix a little ding that someone left me in a parking lot. They ended up painting the entire rear quarter and rear passenger side door. Came out looking great.
 
Probably going to work on the Beetle I’ve got to get the front part open so I can finish installing the ignition wires and install the new glovebox. Also have to replace the handle and striker piece on it as well.
 
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