What are you working on today?

Helped my friend - rebuild 2 pot caliper on his 1965, replaced master cylinder and bled it in-car, wrestled with the new brake line needed to mate with the new master cylinder. This car could move (and brake) tomorrow under its own power.

pulled an m1 oil filter carrridge out of the Lexus after being convinced it was wrong, since it was about 5mm shorter than the STP which had been in before it. Put an STP in there. Drove around town and confirmed that both were listed as proper for the car. Took pictures and posted it in the oil filter section.

used a sewing machine to make curtains my wife wanted. They might say it’s woman’s work, but to me it’s just using tools. I learned to sew for making equipment bags, climbing and camping gear. The machine is mine; my wife won’t touch it. I think it looks sloppy, it’s so bad. She’s happy with it.

my in laws made me dinner for my birthday. They sang happy birthday and gave me a cupcake. What’s happening to me? My wife caught that I was struggling to keep my eyes dry.
 
Installed a Hellwig 7700 rear swaybar the other day to find out I've installed it the wrong way. Went down again and flipped to its correct orientation today. Now the center part is supposed to sit level with the arms raised towards the end. A huge improvement to this truck since it squashes excessive sway in turns and keeps the body roll in control, something that's inherent to this truck with the weak front swaybar and soft rear leafsprings.

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I’ve been very happy with the hellwig on my f150, using the same, outer-most holes. It’s probably the single-most transformative mod to the truck. Watch out - it absolutely increases over-steer. Does your tundra have an LSD?
 
I’ve been very happy with the hellwig on my f150, using the same, outer-most holes. It’s probably the single-most transformative mod to the truck. Watch out - it absolutely increases over-steer. Does your tundra have an LSD?

None, hoping for a quick swap if I can find a third member ready to drop in.
 
None, hoping for a quick swap if I can find a third member ready to drop in.
Mine had the LSD, which was rather useful BUT made it much more willing to step out and play on wet pavement. The sway bar will add to that nature - be ready for it!
 
Hey we can all admit some of there stuff is ok like the Dodge Challenger but some of their designs make me angry lol like their lug bolt things or whatever they are called. I just don’t want to work on them lol 😂. And those Jeep Renegades that take 0W-30 oil that have the dipstick made onto the fill cap and have a very heavy metal plate underneath you have to take off for service. I’ll stick to working on Subaru lol.
Hey, AutoMechanic, you have a Yellow Jeep on your property still correct? 🤣🤣

Sounds like you and your family like MOPARS🤣🤣🤣🤣
 
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Rare GM W
Don't need to remove a skid plate, plastic drain plug is a 3/8 drive, out came AmazonBasics 0w20, in went PP 0w20 SP
Because it takes 5.3qts, it might get a splash of that 5w20, because that's all I have to spare
At 11,000 miles, this should see it through to next June, and it's lease return
2020 XT4, 2.0T LSY
 
Greasing the disc mower today waiting on storms to blow through so I can start mowing hay. Checked the cutter bar oil(Schaeffer 75W90). Yesterday I greased the rake and got it hooked up to our Allis Chalmers 5045. Saturday I spent the day reviving a 1991 Volvo WIA road tractor that will be coming home with me soon. Friday I canned the rusty/grooved front rotors on my 1994 Toyota Tercel and replaced with a set of Raybestos Element 3 pads and coated rotors. Also put in new guide pins and boots. Been a busy few days.
 
Kept it easy for a Monday:

Front brakes on a '17 Pacifica

Lower control arms, driveshaft, plugs and coils on an '06 Vue with the J35

Alternator and high side AC hose on a '13 Sorento 3.5. What a pain. You've got to remove the compressor and lower the subframe a couple inches to allow removal of the alternator. Not a huge deal, but tight quarters for sure

Finished the day attempting to replace the intermediate steering shaft on a Chevy express van... only to find the steering gear end of the Dorman replacement shaft was clocked almost 45 degrees from the OE part. Had I installed it, I'd have had a steering wheel clocked way off, with no way to correct. GM discontinued the part in 2016... of course. I'm hoping I can find a used part
 
Stupid stuff lol. Hate when they don’t give me Subaru to work on. Everything I did was a Subaru except an Enterprise Rental Vehicle oil change on a Ford Expedition. Ford tech was too good to do it he said and only done the recalls. I ended up tearing the antenna fin off with my lift 😂. I have an old lift like from the 80s that has the wire at the top that hangs low and the fin got caught on it coming down. It made a heck of a pop and flew off after it drug the wire down with it lol. We just glued it back on and sent it. The car was a 2021 with 49,000 miles in rough shape was leaking oil like a sieve. The radio and everything still worked we literally just glued it back on and made sure everything was right and tight. I didn’t necessarily want to do that but it wasn’t me that did lol my manager did. They were coming to pick it up anyway, I don’t understand why one of their techs could not have done it. I’m just glad they know it’s not my fault. My lift is the only one like that. Other than that nothing bad happened lol 😂 except one of my training boys having a Tahoe towed back for only putting 6 quarts in. I wrote him up for that cause he was supposed to check the level before it left just like every car. 2 more and he is gone. I’ve given him a lot of leeway already so I decided I needed to take corrective action I have the ability too even though I’m not technically a manager. People were on vacation so tow truck driver had to travel a good distance to get them. The light didn’t come on till they got going down the road.
 
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Finished the day attempting to replace the intermediate steering shaft on a Chevy express van... only to find the steering gear end of the Dorman replacement shaft was clocked almost 45 degrees from the OE part. Had I installed it, I'd have had a steering wheel clocked way off, with no way to correct. GM discontinued the part in 2016... of course. I'm hoping I can find a used part
Poor build quality from Dorman? Never!! [sarcastic gasp]
 
The body shop called
Project Milan is totaled
Apparently 2010-2011 Milan hoods/headlights are hard to come by, and discontinued by Ford
It needs $6500-$7500 worth of work, and NYS 75% threshold is $5800, assuming an ideal $7700 valuation
State Farm adjuster will come out Friday, and I'm gonna push for a higher valuation, considering the money I've put into it in the 14 months of ownership
If parts should turn up, possibly if I give them $2500 they can fix it and return it to us, we'll see what the story is
I'm quite upset 😭
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The body shop called
Project Milan is totaled
Apparently 2010-2011 Milan hoods/headlights are hard to come by, and discontinued by Ford
It needs $6500-$7500 worth of work, and NYS 75% threshold is $5800, assuming an ideal $7700 valuation
State Farm adjuster will come out Friday, and I'm gonna push for a higher valuation, considering the money I've put into it in the 14 months of ownership
If parts should turn up, possibly if I give them $2500 they can fix it and return it to us, we'll see what the story is
I'm quite upset 😭
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I was recently in a similar situation with a Vibe -- they just weren't that common and body parts were difficult to find.

However with an '09 Focus we bought it back from the insurance and I bolted on a new hood, fender, grille and RF door. Found a local indy body guy who painted the hood and fender for $375 "used car style," ie I told him not to bother painting the underside of the hood.
 
2001 Buick LeSabre, 3800/4T65E with 111.xxx miles. P0300 DTC, Engine heavily misfiring, I can hear a "huffing" noise in the Intake. #2 & #5 misfiring with #5 counting up faster.
Confirmed valve sealing issue with a vacuum gauge (heavy bounce), Pulled the front valve cover & found #5 Intake Valve spring broken. Valve Guide seal was also beat-up.

Of coarse the parts cannon got shot at it first....New MAF, Injectors, Plug Wires, Spark plugs, Coils, ICM, Balancer, Cam & Crank Sensors. This customer was referred to me for an engine replacement, Guess that would've fixed it too?????
 
Monday

2001 Ford Crown Victoria got new spark plugs, coil boots, one new coil, air filter, fuel filter and oil change.

2014 Ford fiesta right rear wheel hub assembly

Tuesday

1997 Ford Expedition radiator and hose replacement

Wednesday

2004 Toyota Sienna rear brake shoes, wheel cylinders and new drums. Also an oil change
 
Yesterday.. dropped the RV's middle driveshaft to grease the ujoint. Guess I'll start doing that every couple years. Wasn't sure how to remove the zerk to change it, probably should just knock out the joint and flip it. Messing with that you can really tell the driveshafts are not in line. Not sure if I want to go through and knock out the welded in bolts and notch the supports so I can move the two center supports. It's been that way for 90k and besides the moan at 65-70mph I haven't noticed anything.

Also removed the spaghetti mess of the step controller. Having a debate if I want to go through and clean up wiring or just leave it. It'll only be issue if we ever sell it.
 
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