What are you working on today?

Replaced the rear brakes on my mom’s 2015 Mini Cooper.

I’d ridden with her and could hear grinding from the rear brakes. She assumed rust on the rotors since it’s driven infrequently. And, the brake pad indicator hadn’t lit up so she didn’t think they were worn.

Fortunately the rear brakes on this car are small so they were $100 from RockAuto shipped. Geomet coated rotors and pads with hardware.

Getting the parts off was relatively easy; even the rotor retention screw came out without issue. But - the caliper bracket bolts are E-torx (E16 to be exact) and are situated in such a way as to be obscured by the shock and the caliper (which is still attached to the parking brake cable and can’t be hung out of the way without more disassembly; better to leave that alone). And, they were tighter than my breaker bars, if they could get in there, could break loose.

My E16, on an adapter from 3/8 to 1/2, on a swivel adapter attached to a long extension run by my Hercules 1/2” impact managed to get all 4 bolts out without damage. Not a great design. 🤨

Why no worn pad alert? The right side caliper has the brake pad wear sensor and it hung up on that side. The outer pad (and also the pads over on the left side) wore down to the backing plate. The inner right with the sensor did not, so no light.

Greased and checked the slide pins to be sure they would work, new wear sensor, and resetting the computer to put the pads at 100% again. Test drive went perfectly. I love it when it works out, even with the little challenges. 😎

Then I changed oil and filter on my nieces 2008 Ford Escape. Not much to relate there, other than the place she bought it from recently didn’t have an air filter in it. 😮😑. We put a new one in, but I’ll be monitoring it and doing another oil change very soon.
 
Put some miles on the 3500 and no p2281..... put over 500km towing this past week. No issues.

I was only able to trip the code on deceleration. Nothing on acceleration, which to me would be the most logical scenario. Flogging the engine, running near 30psi boost should expose boost leaks, plugged filters or any other obstruction. Regardless, likely a buggy sensor or throttle valve.

Then worked on my Polaris Magnum 500. Worked great one day (after gapping the pulse coil again) and dead to the world the next. Battery at 10.5v and unable to take a charge. Still pull starts but no power to the winch, pod or lights. Clean some connections, key switch and left handlebar controls. Lots of corrosion and eventually got power to the lights and pod.

Then find the taillight burnt out, which points me to the voltage regulator not working again. Traced some more poor connections causing intermittent voltage spikes.

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BrianF said:
Put some miles on the 3500 and no p2281..... put over 500km towing this past week. No issues.

I was only able to trip the code on deceleration. Nothing on acceleration, which to me would be the most logical scenario. Flogging the engine, running near 30psi boost should expose boost leaks, plugged filters or any other obstruction. Regardless, likely a buggy sensor or throttle valve.

Then worked on my Polaris Magnum 500. Worked great one day (after gapping the pulse coil again) and dead to the world the next. Battery at 10.5v and unable to take a charge. Still pull starts but no power to the winch, pod or lights. Clean some connections, key switch and left handlebar controls. Lots of corrosion and eventually got power to the lights and pod.

Then find the taillight burnt out, which points me to the voltage regulator not working again. Traced some more poor connections causing intermittent voltage spikes.

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I find powersports stuff to be a steep learning curve. Overall, they're simple but I feel I always spend hours researching a fix that finally takes 15 minutes

I think it could be cool to do it full-time because you'd learn and remember all the quirks and gotchas. But on the side, it's just a giant time suck.
 
2005 Corolla - LOF, tire rotation, wiper blades, clean cabin air filter. Sublet for windshield replacement.
2010 Altima - Brake Fluid Exchange and oil cooler o-ring
2021 4Runner - Brake Fluid Exchange
 
Continuation of this thread updates on my project ram https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/its-time-for-a-new-to-me-truck.382852/

Installed a new cheapo Boss stereo, Carplay screen on top, dash and dash cover, center dash area, wireless charging unit. All my necessary creature comforts done and its not so embarrassing on the inside.

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Focusing on steering, driver tie rod didn't even have a grease zerk installed. I installed one. Greased the ball joints, center steering arm. The passenger tie rod boot is peeing out grease. For now I'll keep everything greased like i grease tractors (every 8 engine hours).

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thats better.

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Installed a 1 inch puke hose on the crankcase vent. I think this upper part of the engine is mostly finished.

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Some decent deals the last few days. Pulled the trigger on high quality aftermarket Borgeson steering shaft, steering gearbox, and ZF style power steering pump.
 
Took off the wheels and checked over the front brakes and struts on my 2008 Mercury Grand Marquis. I have a set of Bendix Fleet Metlok rotors and pads on the shelf if I needed them.

I didn’t. The brake pads were still about halfway and didn’t appear to be wearing incorrectly. But I did pull the calipers, and regrease the sliding pins and clean and grease the pad clips.

Struts look old, since they are OEM with 206k miles on them. But they aren’t leaking and the ride is still acceptable. I also decided not to swap them yet, as I’d need new upper control arms, sway bar links, and possibly lower control arms given the crust and miles. I don’t feel ball joints are loose and the tire shake doesn’t show much. But when I do decide to install the front struts, it’s a wholesale replacement of the other old, high mileage parts as a matter of course.

Then looked at our parts car inventory and marked a few for disposal. Some are getting listed in the next day or so as whole cars for parts (99 Dodge Ram 1500 with a 360 V8, for example). Others will be disassembled and individual pieces listed.

Time to turn these old parts into cash.
 
New CVs both front sides of '09 Rogue. All the boots looked like this. At 225k I'm sure the shafts were already aftermarket so I used Trakmotive (the least expensive) from RA.

No vibes on my test drive, surprisingly. I hate to use cheap aftermarket, but realistically on an older vehicle with high miles that already has aftermarket, you don't have many choices.

I've mentioned before this is the first car for a 16-yr-old kid. It's difficult to expect a high schooler to afford OEM or pay labor to replace boots with TPE.
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1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 turbo fuel level sender cleaning, 154,520 miles

Fuel level was stuck at Full. Removed the level sender from the fuel tank which is situated vertically behind the rear seat back. Incredibly easy access.

Opened up the sender to find enormous amounts of black crud. Spent 1 1/2 hours cleaning it with no odor mineral spirits, scotch brite, fine sandpaper and brass wire brushes. The mineral spirits did an excellent job of loosening the gunk.

Returned to car after cleaning and lubing the flange and spraying the contacts with contact cleaner oil.

Most satisfying!

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Finally reinstalled the hood support and cobbled on the plastic hood. This vintage BX2350 was well known for brittle plastics. I broke the exhaust manifold a few weeks ago when the FEL ripped a chunk off along with my amateur welded muffler setup. It was fun running it full tilt for awhile, my earbuds with noise cancellation kept things to a minimum but probably not for the neighbors. I have a replacement exhaust manifold now, but need to further cobble together an after market muffler.

Also installed a beautiful leftover Vevor metal panel as a flywheel/brush guard that I didnt use from a welding table. The paint matches exactly. Now there is much less risk of something hamburger'ing face first into the 2-3k RPM flywheel. I'm not bothering with side bonnets or headlights. She will look great as she is.

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Getting the 83 cv80 tuned and pretty close. Stock carb had the vacuum choke and had issues. Used a carb for a Polaris 90.. Mikuni vm11/22 equivalent. Have a 110 main jet in there now but doesn’t quite have the full top end. Have a 115 but might need more.

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I took apart the big turn table lazy Susan in our corner kitchen cabinet to trim the bottom disk down as it's been dragging on the side for a long time. I cut about a quarter inch off with my dad's 1970s saber saw and sanded it with a similar vintage vibrating sander. It felt good to use his old tools.
 
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