Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

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Originally Posted by MontuckyFried

Starting out with an engine flush ain't a bad idea. Liqui-Moly Engine Flush is what I've used and it pulled a LOT of gunk. Buy some cheap oil (I used Kirkland Signature I found on sale) and a handful of filters. Run the flush following the instructions, drain and swap filter, then flush the flush with yet another oil change. Then do a final fill and filter change, using the oil you really want to use. That first drain I did and that oil was BLAAAAAACK! After doing my head job, I was also getting VVT solenoid codes and had to do a series of solenoid flushes, where a bunch of metal came out of those filter screens, and ultimately had to change one or both of them altogether (I forget). Took another oil change or two and the codes totally went away, never to return. Probably a matter of cleaning up the internals and shaking out the cobwebs in the VVT units.

As for the rattly noise, it can be any number of things. Do you have a mechanic's stethoscope? They have them cheap at ye ole Harbor Freight if you don't. Might help to pinpoint the noise. Could be a simple belt tensioner, maybe something with the VVT. There's no telling without further investigation. I've had bad rattling resolved with simple upper motor mount changes. Tough to say over the interwebz without being there.

https://www.liqui-moly.com/en/us/pro...h-p000065.html

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I have a stethoscope but couldn't isolate the noise. It actually sounds just like when I recently bought a Saturn with a bad TB tensioner(Honda V6). I had that thing fixed in just a few hours and gave it to my youngest kid.The noise has only happened twice so hoping a couple oil changes might do the trick. I don't have records of a timing belt but I'm calling the shop that worked on it for the last few years to double check. My Indy quoted me $350 labor so I'll be paying him rather than waste at least half a day. My guess is he can knock it out in 2-3 hours vs me taking 5-6 hours and making 2 attempts after f'ing it up. He said the next logical step is a pan drop/clean at about $400. Again, I'm not crawling in the ground and taking a oil shower for that. I think I bought at a cheap enough price to throw a bit of money at it to get 4-5 years of life out of this car.
Lot of records until about 90k miles with decent tires/struts/shocks.

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Originally Posted by fatnslow

I have a stethoscope but couldn't isolate the noise. It actually sounds just like when I recently bought a Saturn with a bad TB tensioner(Honda V6). I had that thing fixed in just a few hours and gave it to my youngest kid.The noise has only happened twice so hoping a couple oil changes might do the trick. I don't have records of a timing belt but I'm calling the shop that worked on it for the last few years to double check. My Indy quoted me $350 labor so I'll be paying him rather than waste at least half a day. My guess is he can knock it out in 2-3 hours vs me taking 5-6 hours and making 2 attempts after f'ing it up. He said the next logical step is a pan drop/clean at about $400. Again, I'm not crawling in the ground and taking a oil shower for that. I think I bought at a cheap enough price to throw a bit of money at it to get 4-5 years of life out of this car.
Lot of records until about 90k miles with decent tires/struts/shocks.

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Hold up. Your guy's only going to charge $350 labor for a timing belt job on that? That's a steal!!!

FWIW, if the timing belt's due, then when you do that, it's also recommended to knock out all other belts and tensioners. Since you have to take out a ton to do the job, I like also doing the various mounts that come out anyway and they'll be about shot at this point. Also good time to do spark plugs/coils. I also went ahead and did the PCV diaphragm. Super easy job WHILE everything's ripped out of there. Doing the timing belt very much becomes a "while you're in there" sort of endeavor since it's so much easier to tackle these maintenance items while it's torn apart. Would kind of suck to have to spend the same amount of labor for what are otherwise pretty cheap parts. Your mechanic might agree. You're exactly at the mileage for many little things. Again, NOT a big deal to tackle them all while the timing belt's getting done.

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Originally Posted by MontuckyFried

Hold up. Your guy's only going to charge $350 labor for a timing belt job on that? That's a steal!!!

FWIW, if the timing belt's due, then when you do that, it's also recommended to knock out all other belts and tensioners. Since you have to take out a ton to do the job, I like also doing the various mounts that come out anyway and they'll be about shot at this point. Also good time to do spark plugs/coils. I also went ahead and did the PCV diaphragm. Super easy job WHILE everything's ripped out of there. Doing the timing belt very much becomes a "while you're in there" sort of endeavor since it's so much easier to tackle these maintenance items while it's torn apart. Would kind of suck to have to spend the same amount of labor for what are otherwise pretty cheap parts. Your mechanic might agree. You're exactly at the mileage for many little things. Again, NOT a big deal to tackle them all while the timing belt's getting done.

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The plot thickens a bit. The car came with a few invoices from a well known V shop so I called them and they sent me a complete history, 19 pages. It has a following replaced in the last few years: turbo, Tb, WP, VVT hubs/cam seals, front/rear shocks,thermostat,pvc port clean(not the whole kit but they noted good vacuum after cleaning and newer tires , at least $10K in receipts. I found the previous owner's name so i texted him and he told me he sold the car to a guy for $1000 just to move it and he wasn't aware of anything crazy it needed. It has been treated really well until 2020 about 10K miles ago. Obviously I bought from a flipper but Im hoping its a good car after I shake out a few things. I think the one black eye is that it's been in multiple accidents but a clean title. It really does drive smooth so I was willing to overlook the accidents at that price. After finding out TB/WP has been done my repair budget just increased so I feel pretty good about it. There is a 07 XC70 at a junkyard close to me I might grab the VVT solenoids from to have as a backup. The screens were clean and I cleaned the current solenoids pretty well. Quick oil change and pray.

My guy is cheap cause I pay him cash and don't ask questions. Most of his work is flipping cars(lots of subarus now) and doing mechanical for other eastern euro car rebuilders. He's an old school guy from Ukraine that knows Saabs and Volvos but has moved into lot of Subaru work. I bet he can flip the TB/WP in under 3 hours. My last mechanic who was 15 years back charged me $180 for timing belt only for a 850 which is about the same job. He said how stupid easy the job was back then so a guy that's Volvo familiar can crank it out.

Good luck. Sounds like you and Vladimir are about to embark on a Gravitylover style adventure.

In other news. Boy have tires gotten expensive. Just ordered some new Toyo's for the Toyo, 40,000 miles ago used to be $1000ish now $1300.

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Originally Posted by Timberridge

Good luck. Sounds like you and Vladimir are about to embark on a Gravitylover style adventure.

In other news. Boy have tires gotten expensive. Just ordered some new Toyo's for the Toyo, 40,000 miles ago used to be $1000ish now $1300.

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Uhm, no. I don't have gravity like need for punishment and can actually repair alot of my own crap with a limit to know when to walk away but I did sell a car to a meth head that soon crashed it and received a letter for a lien at the towing company.

Ironically my mechanic's name is actually Vlad.

Any of you ever have to cut out U joints in order to remove them from a driveshaft? I never did, before today...

That sucked. The center of the U joint cross was too big to press the joint far enough across to remove the bearing cap. Had to press it over to one side, cut through the cross with a angle grinder (cutting disc), push it back, cut again. Turned a one hour job into a half day.

Attachment 492404
Solidly in lead for cabin filter of the year. Speechless when this came out of the case.

Was that in your own car?

Nope a customers

Any roaches?

Sent from my SM-S928U1 using Tapatalk

Nah the mice probably ate them all.

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Originally Posted by Aldo

Attachment 492404
Solidly in lead for cabin filter of the year. Speechless when this came out of the case.

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You live in a humid part of the country, right? How the fuck does that car not stink to high hell?

I finally fixed my oscillating power issue. If anyone has a om642 jeep or sprinter Oregonfuelinjection.com has a very comprehensive troubleshooting guide. Jeep link, there's one for sprinters too.

https://oregonfuelinjection.com/serv...l-diagnostics/

I'd just shake it out and put it back in. That customer won't care.

Did my first scheduled maintenance job last week on the E wagon aside from the couple oil changes I've done already. Air filter was a piece of cake and actually a pretty bomber design. SPARK PLUGS however were a bit of a job. Learned how to deal with removing the intake manifold setup which covers the whole top of the motor. Got everything done, buttoned back up JUST in the nick of time to pick up my kids from school (no stress, right?!), and of course upon starting the car I got the ol' CEL. Thought I screwed something up so was really sweating it since it's fairly involved to get back in there. Ran the codes and it told me it wasn't getting a signal from the intake temp sensor. I had simply forgotten to plug some little wire back in that was toward the back. CEL cleared. PHEW!!! Already put about 1000 miles on her going to DFW metro and back. Silky smoove.

Those magnetic cam sensors are next on the docket and I SHOULD have done them while I was in there, but ran out of time. Got 'em on the bench taunting me. They're not faulty. Just a pre-emptive item per this forum's advice due to the common oil wicking issue. Screw you. time!!! Always getting in the way. All in all though, this thing really is nice to work on. WAY freaking easier than my Audi was and overall better than my Volvos.

Q for the shade tree mechanics, especially those with GM truck experience: would you replace a front wheel bearing if it feels at all less-than-smooth in your hands? These are unit bearing assemblies (hub and bearing in one unit, can't regrease them, can't do anything yourself other than change them out).

I'm mid way through my front end refresh on my 2005 GMC Sierra 2500HD, and I have both sides' front wheel bearing/hub assemblies out. (Pic below of everything disassembled.) One side has a little bit of intermittent resistance - - very slight, but I notice it in my hands. Other side is smoother and looks like it was replaced more recently, but neither side is particularly fresh looking.

I preemptively ordered two new front hub assemblies from Amazon - - they were on sale briefly for $98 each. Moog, made in Taiwan. The new ones are noticeably smoother turning by hand vs the old ones.

I'm kinda leaning toward replacing both hub assemblies while it's all apart, and never having to touch this again on this truck. What sayeth the maggots?

When I'm done, everything up front is going to be new other than the lower control arms and LCA bushings. New upper control arms (Mevotech Supreme) - so new upper ball joints and bushings there. New lower ball joints (Mevotech Supreme). New pitman arm (Moog HD). New inner and outer tie rods (Rough Country) - these have good reviews on the forums, and are really burly - were about $100 more than the full set of inners and outers from Moog. Pic for comparison.

Last year, I installed a new idler arm bracket and idler (Moog), steering stabilizer, and shocks all around (Bilstein 4600). https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9bc73cc0de.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...afc7c36347.jpg

Reply with quote doesn't seem to be working at the moment. Re the brake convo a ways back. Does anyone get their rotors turned at Napa anymore? Been a while since I've needed to.

@Chup Might as well. Didn't you sell a GM HD to get away from rebuilding their front ends?

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Originally Posted by Mazderati

@Chup Might as well. Didn't you sell a GM HD to get away from rebuilding their front ends?

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Sold my old GMC to go to a new Ford, which was disappointing and then overkill when we switched from a slide in camper to a travel trailer. So, back to another GMC. The first GMC was starting to get pretty rusty too.

I didn't have too much trouble with the first GMC and front end stuff - replaced a handful of parts up front, early on, and then that part of the truck was solid for 10 years.

Yes replace both.

I think I'm going to go ahead and replace both sides hub bearing assemblies. It's apart, and hopefully it'll mean I'll never have to tear into the front end again on this truck.

One of the CV axles is a little notchy feeling by hand, but not too bad. Those are easy to remove/ replace, so I'm going to let that one ride for now.

@Chup Lots of time between your current GM and the new Ford you sold, but do you think the build quality on the GM is objectively better than the Ford? I have a Ford and Dodge from the early 00s and a good friend has a GM from the same era. Build quality on all seems about the same to me.

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Originally Posted by Mazderati

@Chup Lots of time between your current GM and the new Ford you sold, but do you think the build quality on the GM is objectively better than the Ford? I have a Ford and Dodge from the early 00s and a good friend has a GM from the same era. Build quality on all seems about the same to me.

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Hard to make that comparison, as I bought the Ford new (special order) and the GMC used, 19 years old, and nearly 200K miles on it. My expectations of a brand new truck are much higher, and by now, a lot of parts on the GMC have been replaced or worked on in some way.

The Ford build quality was hot garbage. It was the most expensive vehicle I've ever bought, and the sloppiest built. It turned me off from ever buying another Ford product. Off the top of my head: misaligned doors, misaligned bed, bad paint, bad decal attachment, trim out of place inside in several places, taillight attached wrong to the body, front bumper misaligned, random bits of tape left scattered in engine compartment... The two local dealers didn't care, even the one I bought it from - - scheduling appointments 6 months out, and requiring different appointments for body work vs a drivetrain recall.

Is it me or has Moog gone to shit now that they're making most of their parts in China. OEM Toyota ball joints last forever, Moog you're lucky to get 40K out of.

I recently changed ball joints on my Grand Cherokee. Moog Problem Solvers have complaints. Reluctantly, I went for Mevotech TTX, despite hearing complaints about it too. Years ago, before Mevotech had TTX, I was interested because of their local factory-like building. A mechanic strongly advised against them. Let's hope TTX delivers. Seriously, what's with trucks and ball joints? My three Audis went over 400,000km with original ball joints, no problem.