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

[Cisco Kid]

Learned that from a Swiss mountain guide when I asked for his opinion on how/why my buddy died in an avalanche and it stuck with me.

[gravitylover]

First time I did all 4 with whatever Rock Auto showed as the preferred set. The second and third time I had the tranny shop do it. I think he used Moog and Mopar (because Moog doesn't make all 4 pieces) but I think he only did front and rear last time and now I know it's the driver's side one that went bad.

[Todd Zander]

Fill em with poly aka construction adhesive

[sb]

Gotta replace the fan motor in the GFs Dodge mini van Sat. Need to buy a foot long flex screwdriver to get to the one screw. Not too bad otherwise.

[gravitylover]

Fill em with poly aka construction adhesive

I think that's the plan. 46a durometer sounds like it ought to solve it.

[sb]

Took about an hour.

3 out 5 cuss wrenches due to a couple of hard to get at bolts.

Trex arms would have come in handy. Pun intended.

Fan now works and at all speeds.

[claymond]

Learned that from a Swiss mountain guide when I asked for his opinion on how/why my buddy died in an avalanche and it stuck with me.

It took a Swiss mountain guide to teach you the most-used snarky disclaimer ever?

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[The Reverend Floater]

It took a Swiss mountain guide to teach you the most-used snarky disclaimer ever?

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You make Swiss mountain guides sound like PHDs.

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[Cisco Kid]

Pretty sure after a few decades of guiding around the world that he knew a lot more about avy's than you learn in school. IMHO, PHD's are over rated when it comes to wisdom.

My whole point was that reading about the mag complaining about not being able to feel secure when the road is snow then bare then ice then snow then bare my opinion was he was just going too fast for conditions in that car. But, I wasn't there.

[stealurface831]

why the fuck do the running lights (and clearance lights) on my trailer not work? marker lights, signals, brakes, and hazards all work fine but running and clearance lights refuse to work regardless of what i have my truck lights on. i re-grounded all the grounds that looked shitty and greased them all. all connections look good as far as i can tell but i greased them anyway. 4-pin was just replaced and i'm using a brand new 4-7 adapter for my 7pin socket. don't have an issue with my other trailer so i don't think its anything with fuses on my truck. help me out here, collective. don't tell me i have to rewire that fucker.

[Buzzworthy]

Who can tell me more info on rust touch ups on a 14yo truck?

Couple of spots where the top of the windshield meets the front roof line. A few on the hood and sides of the truck. It’s only got 80k miles so I want to keep it from falling completely apart.

[El Chupacabra]

Who can tell me more info on rust touch ups on a 14yo truck?

Couple of spots where the top of the windshield meets the front roof line. A few on the hood and sides of the truck. It’s only got 80k miles so I want to keep it from falling completely apart.

I have a 19 year old truck that I'm trying to keep rust free-ish.

I started a thread on bedliner on the hood and roof of the current old truck, and a couple of years ago on doing rocker panel repair and bedliner on the older old truck. So if redneck paint jobs are your style, check them out.

[The Reverend Floater]

Who can tell me more info on rust touch ups on a 14yo truck?

Couple of spots where the top of the windshield meets the front roof line. A few on the hood and sides of the truck. It’s only got 80k miles so I want to keep it from falling completely apart.

The windshield one can be bad news. I'd tackle that first. Pros will cut it out and replace it with sheet metal, then repaint...but that's spendy. Other options include POR15/paint or bed liner combo, etc.

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[teleee]

why the fuck do the running lights (and clearance lights) on my trailer not work? marker lights, signals, brakes, and hazards all work fine but running and clearance lights refuse to work regardless of what i have my truck lights on. i re-grounded all the grounds that looked shitty and greased them all. all connections look good as far as i can tell but i greased them anyway. 4-pin was just replaced and i'm using a brand new 4-7 adapter for my 7pin socket. don't have an issue with my other trailer so i don't think its anything with fuses on my truck. help me out here, collective. don't tell me i have to rewire that fucker.

The short answer is because they are a trailer lights, God’s test to humanities patience. Do you have a tester? First step is to see if you are getting juice to the light. ( times out of 10 it is a ground issue somewhere. Any chance you go tot moisture in the lights? Checked the bulbs?


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[The Reverend Floater]

The short answer is because they are a trailer lights, God’s test to humanities patience. Do you have a tester? First step is to see if you are getting juice to the light. ( times out of 10 it is a ground issue somewhere. Any chance you go tot moisture in the lights? Checked the bulbs?


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I can attest to this. My turn signal just want out on my flatbed trailer yesterday and terror coursed through my veins.

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[anotherVTskibum]

The short answer is because they are a trailer lights, God’s test to humanities patience. Do you have a tester? First step is to see if you are getting juice to the light. ( times out of 10 it is a ground issue somewhere. Any chance you go tot moisture in the lights? Checked the bulbs?


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I'll third that sentiment.

Newer vehicles can make things more complicated, too; my sled trailer worked okay with my 2000 Xterra, but my 2017 F-150 would throw dash errors and the lights worked intermittently at best until I replaced the seven-pin plug on the trailer with a 4-pin (er, I think; it may have been the other way around). There was a grounding issue involved but also the truck was outsmarting itself about whether or not a trailer was connected and doing weird things to the trailer light circuits as a result.

All that said, if you can try another vehicle for comparison, I'd do so.

I think you also mentioned a 4-to-7 converter; if it's possible to remove that from the equation, at least for testing, I'd want to do so.

[stealurface831]

The short answer is because they are a trailer lights, God’s test to humanities patience. Do you have a tester? First step is to see if you are getting juice to the light. ( times out of 10 it is a ground issue somewhere. Any chance you go tot moisture in the lights? Checked the bulbs?

juice and bulbs both good. i went ahead and upgraded to new LEDs but no success re: running lights.

I'll third that sentiment.

Newer vehicles can make things more complicated, too; my sled trailer worked okay with my 2000 Xterra, but my 2017 F-150 would throw dash errors and the lights worked intermittently at best until I replaced the seven-pin plug on the trailer with a 4-pin (er, I think; it may have been the other way around). There was a grounding issue involved but also the truck was outsmarting itself about whether or not a trailer was connected and doing weird things to the trailer light circuits as a result.

All that said, if you can try another vehicle for comparison, I'd do so.

I think you also mentioned a 4-to-7 converter; if it's possible to remove that from the equation, at least for testing, I'd want to do so.

interesting that you mention a 2017 f-150. thats what i've got. i'm gonna check the fuses tomorrow. hope thats the issue.
thanks.

[The Reverend Floater]

juice and bulbs both good. i went ahead and upgraded to new LEDs but no success re: running lights.


interesting that you mention a 2017 f-150. thats what i've got. i'm gonna check the fuses tomorrow. hope thats the issue.
thanks.

There is likely a connection under the bed, right around the spare tire that leads to your hitch. Disconnect it and inspect the terminals. Wouldn't hurt to put some dielectric grease in there while you're at it.

Those terminals are notorious for water sepage and resulting glitches if all kinds.

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[anotherVTskibum]

juice and bulbs both good. i went ahead and upgraded to new LEDs but no success re: running lights.


interesting that you mention a 2017 f-150. thats what i've got. i'm gonna check the fuses tomorrow. hope thats the issue.
thanks.

Do you have both 4 and seven pin hookups on the truck?

If so, try the other one if you haven't already.

[stealurface831]

Do you have both 4 and seven pin hookups on the truck?

If so, try the other one if you haven't already.

yep, got both. tried the 7 pin to see if that did anything. it didn't.

[Wapow]

If you're driving in winter conditions your trailer is likely exposed to liquid de-icer, which basically eats trailer wires. I've had a sled trailer for almost 20 years and it's a rare year where I don't have some kind of fault in the system. This tester is pretty handy for identifying where the fault is occurring: https://www.etrailer.com/Automotive-...etails=.videos

[Buzzworthy]

The windshield one can be bad news. I'd tackle that first. Pros will cut it out and replace it with sheet metal, then repaint...but that's spendy. Other options include POR15/paint or bed liner combo, etc.

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Yep, that’s the worrisome spot for sure.
I’d like another decade out of this truck if it can and then I’ll jump into the future with something new. I’ll be old by then anyway and want new comfort.

[Buzzworthy]

Who am I kidding, 6 years out I’ll be 55 and it’ll be time for a new to me vehicle at minimum.

[tuco]

Yep, that’s the worrisome spot for sure.
I’d like another decade out of this truck if it can and then I’ll jump into the future with something new. I’ll be old by then anyway and want new comfort.

The worrisome part is the part you can't see! Under the lip of the windshield. If the pillars are rusting that can render the vehicle unsafe! Windshield replacement often yields scratched paint, which can lead to rust under the windshield. My brother had to remove his windshield, mask off the cab, sandblast the whole lip and reprime/paint the whole lip because of rust.
KSL even did an investigative report on ut

[warthog]

Been having a bit of fun lately.
My neighbor is my physical therapist. He pretty much isn't charging me to treat me for my recent bulging disk/ pinched nerve fun.

He has a junky Nissan Titan that had a bad starter, so I told him we could trade.
Wow, Nissan engineers are a special kind of evil.

Starter is under the intake manifold. What I thought would be a 2-3 hour job at an easy pace has become a months long adventure and patience test.


When I removed the old bolts, the starter wouldn't budge. I first had to break the old starter apart. Then I had to wedge a chisel in there and work both sides. Once it broke free, this is what I saw:

The internal ring bonded with the outer ring and it wasn't budging. Dissimilar metals suck.

After hitting it with the heat gun for a while, some PB Blaster, and a BFH with the chisel, it came loose, but slipped to the inside of the ring and a piece fell inside the flywheel housing.

I had to use a metal saw to cut the bottom out so it would slip back out the opening.

Once that was done, I rigged up my phone endoscope to a grabber tool and tried to fish the piece out.






Here is the first video of me trying to get it. It is long, and I don't get it right away, but this shows how deep down it was, and what a PITA it was.
https://videos.smugmug.com/Auto/Bron...il/master.m3u8

After a bit, it just fell down into the inspection hole and I found it on the ground.
https://videos.smugmug.com/Auto/Bron...il/master.m3u8
The offender:


Here is what the piece that was stuck looked like. I had to piece it back together to make sure no other pieces were stuck in there.


I almost just left it in there, since it is AL. It probably would have just been chewed up, but not worth the risk, and I would feel horrible grenading his bell housing.


Here is what it looks like now:


Got the new gaskets on the intake manifold, and started buttoning it back up:


Then, I , of course, over torqued one of the bolts and broke it.
Back at it tomorrow to take the manifold back off, plug up the holes, and remove the bolt.

I am oddly at peace with this. It had to happen. It has been one of those projects, and getting practice removing broken bolts is valuable experience.
I plan on drilling a very small pilot hole, hitting the block with the heat gun at max, PB Blaster or Kroil, and then reverse bit. Going for success on the first try.
Wish me luck.