What are you working on today?

After getting in past midnight Wednesday night working on the semi on the side of the road I had another late night yesterday. My Bassett/Lab mix had started limping slightly on Wednesday and that progressed to not being able to get up or walk at all yesterday. Loaded him up last night and hauled him an hour to the emergency vet clinic. He has some narrowing of the discs in his spine towards the hips and they think he has a pinched nerve causing pain. 3 rounds of medication for two weeks and hopefully he will recover. It’s going to be a waiting game although he did get up and move a little this morning. Thankfully he was extremely easy to handle and really doesn’t show any signs of being in pain. Not much seems to bother him. Got home around 1am.

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My dog has bad hips and we give him Baileys CBD oil and that helps him a lot. Order online from their site, it's somewhere in California. Maybe a long-term option for you and him.
Hopefully, he gets better.
 
2015 F-250 - 6.2 gas, new to me truck purchase. Have been getting a P0420 that came back even after a downstream O2 replacement. Pulled out the stock cats, compared the Walker aftermarket replacements. They look good but noticeably smaller. Waiting on a band clamp then will finish the install. The original cats were Ford OEM units and lasted 175k. I'm fairly certain this truck wasn't abused and well maintained by the previous company.

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Doesnt look too healthy.

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More remedial work on the neighbors '04 Highlander
Upper & lower hose, thermostat, coolant, hatch lift supports
Dorman 1.75" constant tension clamps are the closest local approximation to OE Toyota clamps
I'm gonna experiment with Wurth brand clamps in the near future

He was alerted to the radiators condition, up to him now 🤷‍♂️
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Out with the factory Tama, in with the B/A reboxed Tama
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Holy corrosion Batman!
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This radiator is on borrowed time
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They cleaned up acceptably, and so far have been holding 🤞
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All buttoned up and bled out
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Steady temp, good for fuel economy and winter heat
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My BIL’s truck finally started squealing bad enough for him to get me to do the rear brakes. I’ll be doing the install tomorrow, using Bosch Quietcast coated rotors and pads. I found that one caliper was very sticky…I’ll grab new ones and replace both.

You would think being by the ocean would mean rust but there’s very little here, which is nice.

Here’s a few pics after this evening’s disassembly.

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Do I know how to spend a holiday weekend or what? 😂

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Not fun getting the new ones in. Of course they were a smidge longer than the old ones. Poked a hole in my inner CV boot with a pry bar. I can never get through one of these "money-saving" projects without costing myself money. Local shops want between $700 and $1,000 to replace the axle. Since it's a tiny little hole not on one of the folds, it's received a gob of JB Weld and a prayer.
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Nothing. Went to swap cars with SD so she could go to work and I could flush her PS Fluid, PCV valve, belts, rotate tires. She didn't come to the door. 20 minutes of calling/texting and she didn't respond until I was on the way home. Halfway around DC beltway approaching bridge, I wasn't turning around. I'll just return the parts. You'd think after all these years she would know if you tell me 12, it doesn't mean noon in Botswana. Lesson learned. Not my car, not my problem.
 
Replacing hood and front right hand fender on 2015 Journey. Got pretty beat up in recent hail storm. Took to AmFam approved body shop but surprisingly came back as total loss since repairs exceeded value. After 1000.00 deductible they would give us 4100.00 for them to take car or give us 1900.00 and we keep car. So took the 1900. Found undamaged hood and fender at salvage yard with exact paint match codes for 250.00 total. Four studs on hood and about 8 bolts to pop on fender.
 
My BIL’s truck finally started squealing bad enough for him to get me to do the rear brakes. I’ll be doing the install tomorrow, using Bosch Quietcast coated rotors and pads. I found that one caliper was very sticky…I’ll grab new ones and replace both.

You would think being by the ocean would mean rust but there’s very little here, which is nice.

Here’s a few pics after this evening’s disassembly.

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Semi metallic is so last year. Full metallic is where it's at
 
Worked on resolving the EGR issue in my Grand Marquis. It idled poorly, died intermittently and was very difficult to start. Pulled the codes, but where it is OBD I, all I was getting was "Insufficient flow". Removed the EGR Valve Control solenoid and noticed it rattled when shaken. I replaced it and there is improvement for sure, it is drivable. Idle still is a bit rough, but intermittent. Need to pull codes again and see what else may have been set/stored.
 
The 18 and 14 year old fence post drivers coming in handy. Planted the two apples and two more blueberries. Put new fencing up around most of them. Good thing the boys helped I’d be pooped out. Shoved all the brush into a pile and brush hogged this morning. Rain tomorrow so will rest.

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BIL showed up with his new whip, a 2012 Focus bought from a dealer in New Hampshire, where they just stopped doing state inspections.

Thing must have hit a telegraph pole and gotten rebuilt, as the radiator and condenser were both shoved inwards right on center. Bodywork was done, very poorly. Bumper and above were ok but splash shields were flopping around or missing underneath.

Why did it show up? The radiator started leaking. He topped it off from a 5 gallon spring water container in the backseat. :LOL: My refractometer reports his coolant mix was good to -3'C.

This generation Focus radiator is interesting to access, especially when the condenser, rad, and fan are smooshed into one unit. Pulled the bumper cover, headlights, and a plastic upper core support that just bolts in. All came out and went back together like Legos. Some bolts were missing or finger tight. Wiring was labelled in masking tape, and stupidly: The headlight 12-pin connector was labelled "headlight" even though it was obviously the only thing it could plug into. In spite of the prezelled, leaking radiator the pretzelled condenser still held freon. I straightened it in place. The active grill shutters were half smashed so I removed the rest of them and zip tied the still-plugged-in actuator out-of-the-way so it wouldn't throw codes.

Got the thing back together but forgot to hook up the hood latch cable. :rolleyes: Turns out the cure is to put it up on ramps, crawl underneath, reach between the rad fan and intake, and manually release it. Good thing I have long, skinny arms. Just kidding, they're fat, so I scraped one up. Refilled with 100% AM/AM and will test concentration after he drives it around so it can mix together. Made good use of my HF 691 piece pushpin kit and a number of zip ties to control all the floppy plastic. Test drove, AC still works, temp held steady, coolant promptly automatically burped through its clever system.

Oh, I have to give a shout-out to Advance Auto for having a COMPLETELY WRONG radiator in a box with the right part number. Don't know if it was a warehouse switcheroo, relabeling fiasco after a merger, but the thing would have been more at home in a F150. The PICTURE on the website and store terminal was correct, though the clerk dismissed it as a stock photo. Went across the street to Autozone where they let me open the box and verify the correct product.
 
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2010 Yukon Denali, 6.2L/6L80, Story goes....Shop had installed a engine, Engine ran great for a couple months.
Customer goes to start the vehicle one morning & smoke came billowing out from the left side of the hood. Gets towed back to the shop that swapped the engine, They call back a couple days later saying it needs a underhood fuse box, A engine harness & one of the body sub harnesses for $7,800.

Knowing I wouldn't have time next week to deal with it, I dragged my butt to work this morning:(

Pulled the fuse box & found it definitely had a "Thermal Event", The main ground for the fuse box was melted at the connector. And the trailer turn signal relay control circuit terminal was also melted into it's connector.

I disassembled the fuse box to try to fine the "WHY", It's such a mess I couldn't really discern anything. So my plan went to just swapping the fuse box, Replacing the 2 connector shells, And breaking out the 2 suspect circuits & temporarily fusing them just in case.

The problem must of originated in the fuse box on the circuit board, The main "HOT" is a 6 gauge 175 amp fused circuit & the main ground is a 12 gauge wire....A direct short to that ground circuit will burn/melt things until the circuit gets broken.

After some thorough testing of all components including the trailer light circuits, I removed the temporary fuse & soldered heat shruck the 2 circuits.

Will call the owner on Monday.....$680 out the door.

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The 18 and 14 year old fence post drivers coming in handy. Planted the two apples and two more blueberries. Put new fencing up around most of them. Good thing the boys helped I’d be pooped out. Shoved all the brush into a pile and brush hogged this morning. Rain tomorrow so will rest.

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Child labor is illegal and immoral... At least that's what my kids assured me.
 
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