What are you working on today?

[Creekside]

Spent most of Saturday night at the 24hr emergency vet clinic with my bassett who managed to get a large cut on her abdomen. 30+ stitches, a wound drain, and several $$$ later she’s recovering well. Drain will come out Tuesday or Wednesday and stitches in a couple weeks. She freely roams nearly 1000 acres between us and the neighbor so there’s no telling what she got into. It’s one of the hazards with being a farm dog.

Yesterday I pulled the shell off the bed of my Ranger as it was in desperate need of a cleanup and you can’t access the rear window with it installed. Gave it a steam clean and then a good hand wash. Then I started sanding on the bed for a repaint. I’ll be doing the bed myself but the cab will get a Maaco job. It’ll be painted to match my dump truck. Metallic silver on the bed and staying with a red cab. Then it’ll get lettered to match as well. Going to do a new set of headlights, some window seals, cab corner molding, new front valence and a new rear bumper too. I’ve had it 10 years and it’s time to dress it up a little. It was a Coca-Cola work truck before I had it so it’s far from perfect but still has a lot of life left.

 

[14Accent]

The neighbor kid's grandma asked my wife if I had any time to look at his little Kia Soul with an inop blower motor, so last week I crawled under the dash and used my old halogen "test light" to verify that it was indeed a failed blower. It was, so I ordered up an SKP from RA and dug into the replacement this morning:

If you've never had the misfortune of doing a blower motor in a Soul: try not to. Its buried up in the center of the dash, against the firewall, behind the throttle and brake pedals. Its been a while since I'd done one, but it came back to me pretty quick.

This is looking up past the throttle pedal and towards the firewall. You can just see the blower in the center of the photo.

Brake pedal comes out as an assembly after removing the pivot pin, 8 nuts and the wire for the stop lamp switch.

There she is.

OEM Bosch on the left, SKP right. Its your typical Chinese copy, but it wasn't bad for $46.

Again, OEM left SKP right. The fins on the SKP fan were tiny compared to OEM and would have definitely affected airflow volume. A quick swap and the OEM wheel was in place.

This photo is the opposite of the others, OEM right SKP left. Again, a fairly good knock-off.

Installation went fine, but I did run into a problem that seemingly endless numbers of aftermarket blower motors have: it spun backwards as installed Nothing a quick swap of the connertor's pins didn't solve, but still.

Finished it up by throwing a can of R134 in the system and calling it a day. Back to the real job tomorrow.

 

[odie]

" Like a good neighor , 14Accent is there " .

 

[D60]

The neighbor kid's grandma asked my wife if I had any time to look at his little Kia Soul with an inop blower motor

This is where you went wrong. Correct answer: NO

 

[D60]

2009 Pontiac Vibe: oil change

2015 Cherokee: front brakes pulsing after entire new brake kits we installed Jun 17 (two months ago). The owner said he was sure his wife overheated them on a long descent, but still......

These were also the top-of-the-line Pro fully coated rotors from O'Reilly and I'm warrantying them. I've never before warrantied a brake rotor.

Owner reports he has schooled his wife on how to downshift, even with an automatic.

As a stop gap we actually installed inexpensive RA closeout rotors today, verifying this is indeed the problem. So he'll have a spare set of rotors once the warranty pieces arrive later today.

 

[14Accent]

This is where you went wrong. Correct answer: NO

Honestly, it beats sitting in my recliner wasting away!

 

[KrisZ]

Working on something different this time, but it needs to be done as I slacked off lately.

 

[edyvw]

On saturday I did brake flush and gearbox fluid on BMW (I posted here). While I was under the car, I saw that the ground between the chassis and the engine was green (an indication of oxidation) and started to fall apart in one spot. Could not get new on euntil Monday. Auto Zone has them, but the quality is kind of iffy.
So, got a new one on Monday. Hefty cable for its size with a hefty price ($60). However, I really don't want to do this job again. Car spent first 80k in PA, so cable saw northeast salt. It is located close to left front wheel. It was tight job. Upper nut is not accessible easily, and it was mostly doing it by the feeling:

Connection to the chassis. Easily accessible:

Connection close to the starter. Absolute nightmare to reach it:

Changed spark plugs too:

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Adding a REAL Magnefine ATF filter to my Toyota tranny ( gotta watch for the knock offs ). 2 hard parts. First is figuring out direction of fluid without making a mess, Second is routing with the least amount of fuel injection clamps ( you don't wanna use 90 degree elbows). Then you have to wire loom it and strap it down. Oh, and stick it in a spot that's easily accessible to replace down the line. 5/8" Evil Energy Tranny Cooler Hose. Came with a sticker for my tool box. YAY Another sticker !!!!!!! Luv those things !!!

 

[silversport]

recently took on the care of a low mileage 2012 Chevrolet Traverse...checked and topped up several fluids, changed the cabin air filter (not terrible but it needed replacing), will change the engine air filter today...I may clean the throttle body and the MAF if I get my other chores done today

Bill

 

[The Critic]

Headgasket replacement on a 2010 Corolla.

 

[Pablo]

Assembling a planer cart for my jointer

 

[Pablo]

It's actually pretty sturdy so far, a little ADHDDAAAHADH so I just did some assembly this AM, will do more soon.

 

[D60]

2018 4Runner: oil change

2010 Accord Crosstour: replace rear struts. I think I spent more time popping the interior tower caps back in place (PITA) than anything else. I ordered OEM and that was also a minor hassle, but it's done:

2011 Silverado 3500: blowing left signal fuse. I finally got lucky (not as much fun as it sounds) and found if I slapped (not as much fun as it sounds) the headlamp assy while the signal was on, this would blow the fuse.

The headlamp has been pushed back in a previous collision (probably deer) and had pinched its harness. It didn't help that most of the plastic mounting points were broken so I'm sure it vibrated going down the road.

 

[edyvw]

Last Saturday I changed brake fluid on BMW, now it is time for VW Tiguan:

 

[Pablo]

 

[The Critic]

Cyl head reinstalled. Upon further inspection, block surface seems unusually discolored.

 

[50yr Street Mech]

Easy peasy day. Out with the " comparable" coolant-antifreeze in my Toyota, in with OEM Long Life Toyota Coolant-Antifreeze. ( I don't trust those comparable ones as far as I could throw them ) Spill and fill

 

[road_rascal]

Used the MityVac to suck out 5 qts of ATF fluid, replaced with Maxlife, also did the rear diff and transfer case fluid and replaced the front brakes. I hope the Powerstop rotors from RockAuto don't warp like the Raybestos Element 3's I installed 55,000 miles ago. I should have taken photos of the undercarriage but I'm really surprised on how little rust there is on this car, especially being in MN its entire life. Right now it has 212,322 miles on it and I'm hoping to take to 300,000. We'll see....

 

[Wireman1987]

Used the MityVac to suck out 5 qts of ATF fluid, replaced with Maxlife, also did the rear diff and transfer case fluid and replaced the front brakes. I hope the Powerstop rotors from RockAuto don't warp like the Raybestos Element 3's I installed 55,000 miles ago. I should have taken photos of the undercarriage but I'm really surprised on how little rust there is on this car, especially being in MN its entire life. Right now it has 212,322 miles on it and I'm hoping to take to 300,000. We'll see....

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Nice maintenance regime. That’s one of those 0-60 in 5.5sec rav4’s lol