What are you working on today?

[clinebarger]

The last day and a half has sucked for me lol. I hate interior work but it is nice to do something different for a change. Losing my tail on this one 3.8 hours plus one hour diagnostic so 4.8 hours total and I’ve probably spent every bit of 15 to 20 lol. 2018 Highlander with 68,000 miles needed a steering column it had a click somewhere internally and was jerking too. It made me remember why I hate modern cars lol. I diagnosed it last Wednesday and the customer left it for repairs. Doing this job sucks. Hopefully won’t have to do one of these for a long time haha. I have never seen bolts where the heads are supposed to come off when you tighten them. They were a pain to get out of the old one. A coworker showed me instead of doing how the manual says where you drill a hole in it and use a screw extractor he said hand me a chisel and a hammer I’ll show you how to get them out. He had them out in 5 seconds. He said you’d be here all day trying to drill those out and use a stupid screw extractor that doesn’t work. I appreciate that helpful tip so I know next time. Good thing we had exactly two of them in stock because I didn’t know these even existed so I didn’t tell parts to order them with the column. Usually we don’t have anything in stock so I was truly surprised lol. I have done steering columns before but never on a modern car so it’s way different and way more annoying haha.

Under dash work is one of the many separate skillsets of being a automotive mechanic. Shortcuts likely exist outside of the factory service manual.

For example....Some GM cars (Camaro & Cadillac ATS) calls to pull the windshield to get the dash out only because some ridiculously long bolts that you can cut shorter.

 

[D60]

The last day and a half has sucked for me lol. I hate interior work but it is nice to do something different for a change. Losing my tail on this one 3.8 hours plus one hour diagnostic so 4.8 hours total and I’ve probably spent every bit of 15 to 20 lol. 2018 Highlander with 68,000 miles needed a steering column it had a click somewhere internally and was jerking too. It made me remember why I hate modern cars lol. I diagnosed it last Wednesday and the customer left it for repairs. Doing this job sucks. Hopefully won’t have to do one of these for a long time haha. I have never seen bolts where the heads are supposed to come off when you tighten them. They were a pain to get out of the old one. A coworker showed me instead of doing how the manual says where you drill a hole in it and use a screw extractor he said hand me a chisel and a hammer I’ll show you how to get them out. He had them out in 5 seconds. He said you’d be here all day trying to drill those out and use a stupid screw extractor that doesn’t work. I appreciate that helpful tip so I know next time. Good thing we had exactly two of them in stock because I didn’t know these even existed so I didn’t tell parts to order them with the column. Usually we don’t have anything in stock so I was truly surprised lol. I have done steering columns before but never on a modern car so it’s way different and way more annoying haha.
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When I did a '98 CRV I deliberately used regular hex head bolts. No one's clambering under the dash of that to steal it.

 

[AutoMechanic]

When I did a '98 CRV I deliberately used regular hex head bolts. No one's clambering under the dash of that to steal it.

That’s what I wanted to do but they were insistent at work that I reinstall with these. That’s exactly what I said too was like who is going go thru all that effort to steal that piece.

 

[bdc101]

Under dash work is one of the many separate skillsets of being a automotive mechanic. Shortcuts likely exist outside of the factory service manual.

For example....Some GM cars (Camaro & Cadillac ATS) calls to pull the windshield to get the dash out only because some ridiculously long bolts that you can cut shorter.

I'm a firm believer in removing everything you need to remove to do the job you came to do .... but .... god help me if I ever have to take a WINDSHIELD OUT to get to something under the dash!!!

Curses upon General Motors

 

[clinebarger]

I'm a firm believer in removing everything you need to remove to do the job you came to do .... but .... god help me if I ever have to take a WINDSHIELD OUT to get to something under the dash!!!

Curses upon General Motors

Vehicles are made to assemble....Not disassemble. These bolts were installed before the windshield was installed on the assembly line

 

[meep]

Friend dropped off his wife's 2023 Outlander for a broken off piece of door trim

That's it, remember this

I get in it, and catch my boat anchors for feet on something hanging from under the dash
Interesting
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I look up under the dash, can't see where this goes, but I see my old friend, a tracker
Who's IMEI number aligns with the sticker on the door post
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It was bought CPO from the local Mitsubishi dealer, but we suspect it began life as an Enterprise rental car
I don't know if they did this, or there was another intermediary owner
None of the paperwork from the dealer mentioned this, and there would be no reason
They bought it cash outright, no LoJack or equivalent add ons
So out it came
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Looks like it simply picked up power/ground at the DLC
Dressed it back as stock as possible
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As for that other (OBD2 Y adapter), that became clear after I pulled the lower dash apart
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$300 worth of Start-X Amazon DIY 3x lock remote start kit, already installed and programmed
Just disconnected from the DLC
The salesman swore blind this car didn't have it, and it couldn't be added
He's right, only SEL and up comes with factory remote start
This might be another remnant of that intermediate owner

It tees in at the 40 PIN BCM connector, because this thing is a reskinned Nissan Rogue
Since I already had it apart, might as well program a spare key (they already lost 1 of 2)
Nissan hasn't made that any easier lately
You gotta pull the fuse box, and get to the BCM behind it
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T harness into it
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The Lonsdor K518 Pro was used, with the Nissan 40 PIN bypass cable
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PIN calculations performed

Dang dude you have really developed quite a talent with plugging R2D2 in and talking to the death star

 

[D60]

2007 Ram 1500 5.7 had the code for no oil pressure (0528 maybe??). Per freeze frame it had happened 500 miles ago, and all was well now. I tried messing with the wiring while running but it remained stable. Oil level good.

Owner wanted the sensor replaced, which probably was the best step -- I just hate replacing a part that's working at the moment. Apparently not uncommon for these sensors to fail.

The biggest problem is the OH SO STUPID red safety clip fell out of the connector. Oops. How will we ever survive without a red safety clip on every single connector??

Also, a dedicated deep OP sensor socket is worth its weight in gold here.

 

[D60]

Replaced the RMS in my parents' 2005 LJ with 26k miles. Yep, that's 26,555 on a 2005 MY:

In the course of the job I was lowering the exhaust a bit more and managed to drop the oil pan onto to shop floor. This, of course is because I'm incredibly smart and competent a complete idiot

I didn't think it looked quite right any longer, and this is exactly where it hit ^

I got a new Spectra pan from O'Reilly and I'm glad I did as it looks more square to me:

The Spectra pan was made in Canaduh and seemed surprisingly nice with good weight to it:

During reassembly my M12 3/8" impact seemed to somehow spin a captive nut in the boxed frame for the skidplate/trans xmember combo. Is this common on the TJ/LJ? @Chris142. I mean the 2nd gen M12 is zesty but c'mon -- it's a 3/8" impact running on 12V batteries

When my extreme stupidity wasn't causing delays, the job was complicated because I decided to try an Apex oil pan gasket from RA. At the rear bearing cap it had the consistency of a thin slice of a silicone breast implant, and I fought it forever to get it to stay in the groove because the oil pan will NOT locate it.

I don't know if the gasket was to blame or they're all like this?

I'm off to eat a paint chip sandwich for lunch....