What are you working on today?

Got around to picking up the tools I had in buckets. These are the tools I used when I did the starter on the LS400, and more recently the odds and ends on the LS430. They're all back in the roll-away and there's no vacant spots. There was a lot of, "There's that xxxxx!" (enter tool name).

I need to find a storage solution for the Christmas tree. Off the floor would be ideal but the dang thing weighs a ton. Even if I put the individual sections in separate bin boxes, they don't make bins large enough for each section. I'm thinking of just putting the whole sha-bang-a-bang on a cable lift. Just thinking ahead. Probably won't happen until after the holidays.

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One on right - weight capacity?
 
My parents woke up the whole neighborhood with the Panic button on their KL Cherokee fob. My mom asked I disable the Panic feature, which I've done on my Wrangler but the KL fob is a bit different.

Working with limited tools at their house I found my dad's M12 rotary tool on the bench loaded up with a sanding drum. I just sanded the switch down until it was no more. I verified no amount of pressing the Panic would cause it to work, but all other features (lock, unlock, remote start and liftgate) remained completely functional.
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Then in the world of simple minds, simple pleasures I managed to catch my '11 SuperDuty at exactly 180k miles. Not remarkable as that's low for the 6.2, but I'm easily amused. BRB, I saw a shiny object over there.......
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The 11’ Focus SE daily driver

The lady took it to work yesterday; got halfway up our hill heading out of town; felt the misfire in cyl #1


Turned right around and coasted it back home. I got all new MC coils, MC valve cover gasket and MC plugs. Plug wells all filled top with oil. Me and my conworker are finishing it up. Stumpy is right; it’s bound to happen. Hit mine at 97.8k miles.

Oh well, car is still reliable and great on gas.
 
Ended up doing my Saturday work today so I could do something else Saturday.

2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer
Replaced blower motor resistor and repair plug, changed oil

2001 GMC Sierra 1500
Replaced heater hose connectors, topped off coolant, changed oil
 
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Getting my posterior kicked by the water outlet (plastic manifold) on a '12 Kia Optima 2.0T. Leak at engine mating, arrow is soapy water bubbles when pressurized with shop air.
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It's actually not that bad of a job, but the design is a bit maddening with six hose connections on the front and five on the rear.

I didn't realize there's a hard line that runs to the water pump, and it's conveniently invisible from the topside ‐‐ thanks Kia for the fantastic visibility! It's just a matter of shoving the o-ring'd pipe back into the pump, but you can only see it from underneath. I also (fortunately) stumbled on a great vid that lets you in on the secret part # for the water pipe o-rings:


RA lists a Victor-Reinz number of 15-11186-01 that crosses to the FelPro in the vid if you dig through interchange numbers. But most corporate parts stores don't have an application here.

Also an oil change on the same vehicle. I'm irrationally paranoid about using the right filter on H/K engines since all the hub-bub about incorrect bypass pressures destroying engines, and my O'Reilly actually stocked the real deal, so I'm just putting that on. If the engine blows up I'm like Shaggy: It wasn't me.
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Used Forscan to program a proximity key for a 2018 Ford Escape Titanium. Used an OEM key, and a paid version of Forscan. It will not work with the free or trial version of Forscan. You use the RFA section, not PATS section to do this key. There are no YouTube videos on how to do this.
 
I never seen a fail-safe thermostat. Is this one of them?

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Apparently so. It got clipped under the tabs you circled.

All I could get on short notice was a Murray, which is also Motorad. Fortunately it's not a fail-safe.

I will say: when I removed the t-stat housing it "sprung" open because the crappy fail-safe was able to extend more than the available space in there. It's all a plastic housing/water outlet. I have to wonder if these ever place undue pressure on today's plastic components??
 
Finally got the Kia buttoned up. Laying under the vehicle this is where you get to eyeball the water pipe into the back of the wp.

On this vehicle fortunately a big piece of the splash shield was missing. Otherwise I believe you'd have to remove it to see this.
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I was surprised to see the vehicle has 248k miles. Are these 2.0T's relatively durable?

The vehicle also got a new outer tie rod and hood strut.
 
Been trying to chase down a random misfire in my 2005 Nissan Xterra. Code is P0300. I’ve replaced the coils and plugs again…because I figured I bought faulty parts. Did a vacuum test and replaced two PVC hoses. No more leaks. Thinking may be fuel related? I don’t know.
 
~18 hours later, removing the B12 Chemtool from the cylinders
Little shot of oil in the cylinders, drained the contaminated old oil and put in 5qts Edge 10w30/cheap filter to flush out residual solvent
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Eww
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It started fairly readily, I let it warm up, drove it around a few blocks at low speed, checked the level again
Tipped a can of BG 109/EPR into it, let idle for ~20 minutes
Oh dear 😲
That oil was new ~30 minutes and 5 miles prior
This engines probably on borrowed time
I'm eager to see if this 18 hour piston soak and BG idle flush will improve oil consumption 🤔
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Took over an hour looking for the ozone generator. I looked everywhere in the garage; every cabinet, under every bench. I went outside to look in the shed. There is way too much holiday crap in there. Back to the garage. I found it under a pile of storage bins the wife stacked up on top of it. 😑

Started up the Lexus and set the HVAC to 68F, recirculating. Put the generator on the passenger foot well and set it for 60 minutes. Shut the doors/windows and let it run for 50 minutes.

While the ozone generator was doing its thing, I vacuumed the interior of the Highlander. Ugh....black. The carpet and carpet mats are some kind of debris magnet. I had to scrape to loosen some of the debris that was hooked into the pile.

Went back to the Lexus, took a deep breath, opened the passenger door and shut off the generator. Set the HVAC to outside air, opened all the windows and let it run for another 10 minutes. There was a butt load of ozone in there. I was down wind on the other side of the driveway, on the other side of the Highlander and I could smell it. My own climate change catastrophe in the making?

Took the Lexus for a 10 minute drive, with the windows opened and the HVAC running. I occasionally got a whiff of of the smell. I really need to pin point the exact source. It dawned on me that it smells like a crayon. I wonder if some kid rolled a crayon down the defroster register. 🤔
 
Sold the Focus this morning.. kinda hard to do since it was my sisters car before she passed. That thing was a pain but I kept it going. Got a fluid extractor from HF. Pulled out the coolant out of both reservoirs on the BMW and refilled, about 1/2 gallon worth. Popped off one of the return lines and maybe another 1/4 gallon. Didn’t want to mess with bleeding the system. Pretty dark for on 43k. Going to wash it and call it a day.
 
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