What are you working on today?

2001 Ford F-150
R&I rear differential cover, axle retainer c clips and axles to replace axle seals. Also replaced parking brake shoes and hardware (rear disc brakes, shoes captive inside brake rotors), rotated tires and changed differential and engine oil.

The 95 Sierra is ready to go back together tomorrow. One of the guys from the big truck shop removed the broken intake bolt, I've got the head surfaces cleaned up, the bolt holes are blown out, and the lifter valley has been vacuumed free of debris.
 
Roughing in aux lamps. Using Diode Dynamics mounts to get something elegant and sturdy out in front of the grill. Then aluminum L stock as a crosspiece. Here it’s mocked up prior to drilling and painting for the crosspiece. Generic motorcycle lamp buckets will mount to the crosspiece, and hella E-code 5 3/4 halogen reflector housings with the appropriate halogen H4 will be added. Great beam, kind to other drivers. Will likely tint fog yellow, debating on just using the dip beam filament or going through the effort to tie in the main beam with the vehicle brights. Doing this for the fun and the art, taking my time.

Several tests involved to assess interactions with adaptive cruise, etc.

76307751049__A36F9AD8-458C-4B53-B86D-23FF4E5C7CA3.webp
 
2000 Taco with a deteriorating exhaust
20250310_133832.webp

^if you look close my repair from years ago on the opposing hanger is visible at bottom of pipe ;)

I once again stumbled out the back door into white trash land and found a piece of pipe I could section. The repair was on a bend and I found a bend that was close. I cheated it by only using a short bit of the bend because the angles were not exact. The left piece was used:
20250310_133853.webp

If you do much fab work these swivel pad adapters from Strong Hand can be useful.
20250310_134058.webp

I've never done this before but the lead kept dragging my gun down, so I zip tied it to the driveshaft. This helped quite a bit
20250310_143703.webp

The top of this pipe was brutal and I'm simply not good out of position. I could get excellent visibility with my inspection mirror but needed longer arms with a second elbow in each, and maybe a few extra fingers to grip the gun weird and still pull the trigger. I'm not putting this forth as examples of good welds, but it works.
20250310_143135.webp

Hey, the truck's 25 years old and has 264k miles, so good enough ;) Finally I attached the hanger:
20250310_144134.webp


Also a new parking brake cable. These Toyota cables are wild as they're quite involved for as inexpensive as they are. All I could find was Raybestos (thru RA as the brick and mortars no longer carry it) and I only had to elongate ONE mounting hole, which is an A+ in the world of aftermarket parking brake cable fitment
20250310_164635.webp


The parking brake actually works really well after I adjusted the cable tension and moved the shoes out with their star wheels.
 
replaced the Sub-harness for the backup Camera and License plate Lights on Dad's '15 Escape. ... one of the lights went out last fall, replaced bulbs, no difference. still no light.
same thing happened on my C-max a few years ago, the socket itself burned out.. found the appropriate sub harness, replaced it, and no problems with the lights since. had a bit of a struggle finding the part for dads escape last fall, ( discontinued/backordered according to a few ford parts websites, confirmed with BDCardinal) found one on Ebay, and gave it to dad for Christmas.
Today was finally a good weather day that I'm off work. got 'er done.
 
Got the 95 Sierra done today, in addition to the intake gaskets, also replaced thermostat and seal, oil pressure sensor, distributor cap and rotor button, PCV valve, and both heater pipe couplings. Oil change as part of the gasket replacement

2015 Chevrolet Trax 1.4 Ecotec
Replaced evap purge solenoid
 
earlyre said:
replaced the Sub-harness for the backup Camera and License plate Lights on Dad's '15 Escape. ... one of the lights went out last fall, replaced bulbs, no difference. still no light.
same thing happened on my C-max a few years ago, the socket itself burned out.. found the appropriate sub harness, replaced it, and no problems with the lights since. had a bit of a struggle finding the part for dads escape last fall, ( discontinued/backordered according to a few ford parts websites, confirmed with BDCardinal) found one on Ebay, and gave it to dad for Christmas.
Today was finally a good weather day that I'm off work. got 'er done.
Click to expand...
I've been able to fit tail light sockets and plugs from '90s Rangers into an '09 Focus. It was weird because they were SOOOO close and I just had to modify one ear of the twist socket tabs

Anyway the point is a lot of this Ford stuff may interchange with minor mods.
 
This evening I got called to diagnose a crank, no start condition on my son's Buick. Turns out it was a bad connection in the plug for the ignition control module.

No spark on any cylinders, and I had ruled out a bad crankshaft position sensor with an led test light, so we were about to pull the trigger on a new module when my son noticed that, "Hey, this plug looks bad."

The connector for the main 12v wire for the module was corroded at the plug and also the pin on the module. Using a lemon and a q-tip we cleaned the corroded connection and he was back on the road. We'll probably order a replacement pigtail at some point.
 
My daughter recently purchased a 08 Civic from a local guy off Craig's List. Turned out to be a neighbor to a good friend of mine. My friend said he took really good care of it, garage kept, etc., which was reassuring.
The thermostat spring must have been weak, it would open early. Threw a code for low coolant temp.
I changed the oil and filter, thermostat, coolant temp sensor, coolant, PCV valve, and air filter. All OEM parts.
There was no lining on the rear shoes, so I took it to a local mom and pop shop to have the drums turned and new shoes installed. They flushed the fluid out for me too. Also, one TPMS was bad, so they replaced it. Four new tires. The others had good tread but were dry rotted bad. Delinte DH2 tires, extra load rated and Z speed rating.
Then I drain and filled the trans (2.5 Qt), drove it 8 miles on a hilly road with a lot of curves (lots of shifting); then drained the trans again and changed the filter. OEM also. 2.75 Qt to fill.
I want to change the spark plugs yet and flush the power steering fluid. Later this summer or fall it will probably need front brakes.
BTW, what is up with the OM recommendation for checking the fluid level? It says to get it up to temp, then turn it off, wait 60 seconds but not more than 90 seconds, and check the level. What is their reasoning for that?
 
2002 Silverado 4.3L with about 260,000 miles....4L60E build, All these years & I still enjoy building them!

Complaint of slipping in drive & reverse, Pulled the pan & the filter was laying in the bottom, Someone installed a shallow pan filter at one point or another & it eventually fell out of the pump.

Forward Clutch completely smoked & The Reverse Input Clutch got quite hot. The 3-4 Clutch looked pretty good but had over .150" of clearance.
2-4 Band also looked good but had a ton of clearance.
Reaction Sun Shell drive splines almost stripped...So the unit was coming out soon regardless.

Every 4L60E I build gets the full treatment, No shortcuts just because it's behind a low power engine. Just have to calibrate it differently to avoid a harsh 1-2 shift.

*Durabond coated bushings throughout.....Wide Front Stator & Rear Sun Gear.
*Seven .080" Borg Warner 3-4 Clutches instead of the stock six count, Set at .025" clearance.
*Stock Borg Warner 2-4 Band set at .040" clearance using a extra long Sonnax Apply Pin.
*Delco "Corvette" 2nd Servo with TransGo cushion springs.
*Had good used OE Forward Steels & Backing Plate, Late production "waffle" Borg Warner frictions.
*Delco Bonded Pistons in the Input Drum.
*Borg Warner 29 Element HD Forward Sprag, The OE SKF Sprag is a decent piece but cost more than a stronger BW.
*New Delco Sun Shell with hardened splines.
*Blueprinted Pump.....TransGo Pump Rings, Sonnax .490" Boost Valve & 10% over PR Spring.
*Stock 2nd Accumulator Housing Springs with a Aluminum TransGo Piston.
*Blocked & gutted 4th Accumulator.
*TransGo SK-4L60E kit installed in the Valve Body using the lightest spring on the Accumulator Valve (To calm the 1-2 shift)
*TransGo spacer plate, .063" 2nd Clutch orifice, Stock is .076"......3rd Clutch at .093", Band Release at .086", 4th Clutch at .101", AFL Feeds at .055".

ZYdPxOU.jpg

qXify1n.jpg

5gjTNIh.jpg

W429zgc.jpg

o4A52uT.jpg

TpIn8b6.jpeg

idclAyT.jpeg

AT8mR1Y.jpeg

1UPwlky.jpeg

mnalXgY.jpeg

dAreXHI.jpeg

w38TnXw.jpeg

duo2KKf.jpeg

NARZuPN.jpeg

utvs7M3.jpeg

Lm9T1mH.jpeg

dbwWD97.jpeg

kL8653A.jpeg

9IWnxRm.jpeg

fhe4C1I.jpeg
 
As is my custom this is stupid long but maybe it'll help someone with a 3rd Gen 4Runner:

'96 4Runner kept blowing the wiper fuse. This is not unheard of on this gen and it's usually traced to the tailgate as that fuse also feeds rear wiper (and washer pumps)

Nonetheless I started with the easy stuff: front motor plug, washer pump plugs, switch plug.

I did first pull the flex boot at the tailgate/body transition and there were already (poor) butt connector repairs to several wires. Still, all wires were accounted for and none were obviously shorting to ground.

I finally pulled the headliner a bit and unplugged the gray plug in the ceiling. Voila!, my PowerProbe "ground tone" at the fuse box went silent! It's amazing what ya gotta tear apart to chase wires sometimes.... I look like I'm preparing to stuff the body full of drugs for a border run.
20250312_180634.webp

Now I knew the problem was in the tailgate harness somewhere (I had already unplugged EVERY plug in the tailgate itself)

I checked every wire in the tailgate harness for continuity to ground, but none of them were grounded. This told me the harness was being fed ground and the fused wiper power was shorting to a ground wire, not to the body.

I checked for continuity between the wires in the harness itself and found that gray (wiper hot) had near zero ohms with white/blk (a known ground). NOW at least I knew which two wires I was chasing, and it had to be between the body plug in the ceiling and the plug(s) in the tailgate.

Finally after way too much hunting I found the culprit, located between two harness anchors. It had chafed on the tailgate but was not grounding to the tailgate. Instead it chafed the wiper power and an adjacent ground and those two wires were unhappy neighbors at that point.
20250312_180010.webp

Note the arcing on the gray power wire (arrow indicates)
20250312_180743.webp

Looking in the tailgate to left side, it had obviously arced here at some point
20250312_180359.webp

The owners (older couple) say they bought the vehicle used with 10k. It's now at 526k miles and they say the engine is original -- I failed to ask about the automatic
20250312_181136.webp

This was the first job I used my new power supply and what a joy to play with electrical and leave the key on with abandon:
20250312_184225.webp
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
  • Locked
New Tire Time again (Final Review AltiRT43)
Replies
8
Views
5K
RitcheyRch
Back
Top Bottom