There are just some days I wish I didn't turn wrenches

[Tahoe14]

She will be like brand new when you get done with her.

 

[Fless]

She will be like brand new when you get done with her.

It's never done....

 

[OR VietVet]

It's never done....

Exactly. I recently had a chance to buy a 2004 K2500HD crew cab short bed with 117k miles on it. The interior and exterior were perfect. I mean, showroom condition.

The truck needed several leak repairs under it though. It was not worth, to me, the $16k he said he would sell it to me for because his son is the shop owner I help at periodically. It also needed a complete set of tires. I am so used to my Tahoe wheelbase that I just did not see a need to buy the truck "because of a want" instead of "a need". It was to pricey for what it would still need. I offered him $13k and he said no. All good and shook hands.

My girls 1990 K2500 does all that we ask of it for a truck. At 130k miles on the rock solid 5.7 and everything working, it is worth putting some money in it and it has great tires.

I was already going to do the valve stem seals because of the puff of blue smoke at start up. All those 5.7 engines need the seals eventually. The a/c blows cold but the clutch is noisy. I have the special tools for the work, so gonna do it and parts are here. During the inspection of the a/c noise, I found the oil seepage at the front and rear of the intake. So, me being me, I am gonna do it all and she has all paperwork of the truck history since she has owned it before I got my hands on it. The tune parts are only 5k old. The TBI does not have to come off and neither does the egr but they will be removed and new gaskets installed during a clean up. That right rear heater hose connector is a PITA, so it gets done.
The belt and hoses and tensioner and idler are all relatively new, I know because I did them. The thermostat is done just because. Of course add in an oil change.

The truck has absolutely no dents and the paint is decent. That is why it got all new lights, front and rear, new headliner and visor fabric. New side moldings. New grill and BowTie. New fan shroud. It will continue to get taken care of. She loves the truck and calls it "The Beast", affectionately of course. She has a 74k miles 2002 TrailBlazer and loves it but really likes driving that truck. By the way, withing the last 8k miles, the 700R4 transmission had a Wa. stae GM dealer put a GM crate 700R4 in the truck.

 

[OR VietVet]

I just installed 2 headlights for my neighbor 2 days ago. On a 1986 Nissan 720 pickup. Rusted/frozen screws on trim ring. had to drill out. Next day he does not have turn signals. hazard flashers work. I swap the flashers and the turn signals work. I told him to get a turn signal flasher, #552, and showed him where to install. Today he called me and said the turn signals still do not work. I asked if he checked with the key in the run position. He said yes. I walked down and the turn signals worked. he did not have the key turned far enough. I then explained that there was absolutely nothing I could have touched or done replacing 2 headlights to stop the turn signals. Even the screw drilling. I did not charge him to diagnose the turn signal problem to begin with. I should have as an "aggravation fee".

 

[OR VietVet]

This morning my next customer should at 8 and he "helped" me put front struts on his, new to the growing family, 2015 Chrysler Town & Country mini van. He was helping me to try and cut the time down and save. It was pretty straight forward and we had two new complete struts and a new upper cowling piece. The old cowling seal, that lays against the bottom of windshield, was cracking badly and missing big chunks. The cowling comes off to gain access to the 3 nuts holding the top strut plate in place. It was all very easy access. The two large spindle to bottom of strut bolts came right out. I scribed the top of each knuckle to mark the spot where the struts tightened. There was one small bolt holding the tab for the ABS sensor wire. Also, one large nut holding stud at top of the front sway bar link. Easy off and easy install. Then reinstall new upper cowling and reinstall both wiper assemblies. Total time was 2 hours and 15 minutes. That includes setting and pulling back out the jack stands and removing and replacing both front tires. He was my gopher. He saved himself about 15 minutes time. Sorry, was a very straight forward job and I sailed thru it with no pics.

 

[tom3]

I just installed 2 headlights . I then explained that there was absolutely nothing I could have touched or done replacing 2 headlights to stop the turn signals. ".

But then there's the old "you musta done somethin" to cause it. Change a water pump and the radio quits, etc.

 

[OR VietVet]

Right in front of the customers, I will work different switches and components on the dash. I showed this guy, but when I switched the hazard flasher with the t/s flasher and the t/s worked, he had to shut up. Then he went and got a flasher I had called about and set up. He plugged in to the t/s connector, I had already moved the hazard flasher back to it's own connector and showed him. Gotta lead this guy by the hand. He plugs in the new t/s flasher and he did not turn the key on to "RUN". He went to the first click and no t/s flasher, blinkety blink. He calls me and I have to go back down the street and asked if he turned the key far enough and he said "yes" with hesitation. I turned it to RUN and the t/s works. I had also already showed him that the emergency/hazard flasher switch was intermittent. Sometimes just the left side flashed. Sometimes just the right side flashed. Had to forcefully push the switch farther than the detent spot to get them all 4 to flash. I cautioned him to get it fixed. Needs a new switch assembly. I located it for up to $75 and as low as $54. Using my wholesale or military discounts. I told him, one of these days he may need the flashers and if they do not work, the truck could get hit. It is the whole reason for them to work. He is thinking about it. He even asked me if he can replace it. The two halves of the clamshell covers have about 10 screws holding them together. Plus, likely has some things to remove to access the switch assembly to allow remove and replace. I told him I have no knowledge of your abilities. I am thinking about the t/s dilemma when I am saying this.

This is the same 86 Nissan 720 series pickup that I recently did complete rear brakes and wheel cylinders, clutch slave cylinder, valve cover gasket, pcv valve, plugs, front wheel bearings and idler arm.

 

[OR VietVet]

My shop owner friend, here in Junction City, Or., specializes in the Toyota 4.0 engines for timing cover leak repair and timing chain with the VVT set ups. I help when those are in his shop and there is a member at the FJ Cruiser Forum that is coming from Orange County and dropping the truck for work and does not want to travel on roads that use salt for snow/ice clearance. I am up against a wall trying to find definitive info for counties where I-5 travels thru Ca. and Or. Any members that live close or know, please share if you know. Thanks in advance. What you see below is a post at the FJ Cruiser Forum.

Hopefully I can get some help here. I am trying to look up best route for @greengoose to travel from Orange County area to Junction City, Oregon. The problem can be traveling here in February/March and whether there is salt on the roads as you travel up I-5 in the winter time. It is almost impossible to find a list of Ca. counties that use salt on their roads, along I-5, or even a mixture of salt brine and sand or whatever mixture there is that includes salt of some sort. I searched for 45 minutes this morning with no luck. There is a definite list for the Northeastern states but not Ca. and I will be looking here in Oregon. Hopefully there are some members here that can share what they know. thanks in advance. I will also be posting this on 2 other forums I am a member of.

 

[OR VietVet]

In the next few days I will be doing rotors and pads, front and rear, on a 2014 Duramax crew cab. She is metal to metal on the inner pads on the L/F and R/R. All parts ordered at RA. Due in Friday morning and she can drop truck asap.

Then I have oil cooler lines on my landlord's 2018 Suburban.

Then I have a/c clutch assembly, intake gaskets, valve stems seals and new heater hose connector at P/S rear, on my girls 1990 K2500 5.7.

 

[OR VietVet]

Today was one of those days I did not turn wrenches. Got the 2014 2500HD Duramax up on stands and removed all 4 wheels/tires. Custom wheel crap. Anyway, started at the right rear and the caliper slide pins, both of them, would not break loose. 10mm female heads and I had my 3/8 impact and also tried a 3 foot breaker bar and would not budge. I called her and told her the pads and rotors replacement just changed to semi loaded calipers, meaning reman calipers and brackets with new caliper slide pins and hardware and now I can use her pads. Means bleeding the fluid but I am going to just do one caliper/wheel at a time and should be no biggee. I am also doing both intake air temp sensors and doing battery service on the second battery at p/s firewall.

 

[OR VietVet]

Well, I did not think the day would come but I cannot even get the caliper mounting bracket bolts loose. I had a 3+ foot breaker bar on a 21mm 6 point shallow impact socket and all it did was flex about 8" to 10". I am not set up to apply heat and here in Oregon, this is the first time I have ran in to frozen bolts like this. I told the customer no charge for the work yesterday and today and I am calling a trusted shop I know that will allow customer parts and they will take on the job.

This really pisses me off that I could not break the bolts/pins loose. If I had heat, I figure, no problem.

Plus, my 3 ton hydraulic floor jack lifted at the rear diff to set on 3 ton stands on the axle, on each side of the big diff. Then when I went to take them down, the floor jack gave up the ghost and was bypassing and could not lift the rear off the stands. Thankfully is a 4x4 truck. I put it in 4x4 and idled in gear forward and very slowly rolled forward and laid the stands down on their sides. No damage at all, except to the floor jack.

 

[OR VietVet]

I went ahead and ordered a 3 ton ARCAN floor jack at Amazon and is supposed to be delivered tomorrow but I have been wanting a second floor jack anyway. I decided to remove the ram out of the 1.5 year old Pittsburgh 3 ton Racing Rapid pump aluminum floor jack and as soon as I started to tear it down, I found the problem immediately. One of the pistons is collapsed. Likely have an o-ring let go inside the ram housing and now will not let the piston return. The return spring, inside the collar, is completely collapsed. I tried to pry it up but would not budge and did not want to damage the outer collar. Taking to a hydraulic repair shop tomorrow. The bungee cord is to help keep the scissor lift collapsed and balance the body on the blocks. It wants to tip at times, with no bungy cord.

 

[Tahoe14]

That would be great if you can get it repaired instead of just having to throw it away. You are lucky you have a hydraulic repair shop. I’m sure a lot of cities don’t have one. You will have to keep us updated on the repair and the cost.

 

[OR VietVet]

Turns out that I decided to fight with it and I got the stuck "pump piston" pryed up and out and cleaned the cylinder of both of them and cleaned the pistons and inspected the o-rings. They looked good and I cleaned all of it. Read up on how to fill and bleed the fluid. The left over fluid looked real good. Lost a lot of it during disassembly. Shined light down bores and look great. I am gonna reassemble and fill/bleed it and see what happens.

 

[OR VietVet]

Sorry about no update on the floor jack. It went great and bled out as designed and now works like new. I had bought another ARCAN 3 ton floor jack and now have 2 floor jacks.

 

[OR VietVet]

MSN

With all the crap Stellantis vehicles I work on and all of them having electrical gremlins galore, I see that they are in financial problems as expected.

 

[TollKeeper]

The reports I am reading from the back side is that its planned financial trouble from Stellantis, as they bought Dodge/Chrysler as part of a greater plan.

 

[OR VietVet]

The reports I am reading from the back side is that its planned financial trouble from Stellantis, as they bought Dodge/Chrysler as part of a greater plan.

All I know is, the ones I worked on all had gremlins and that is the "norm" that I hear about from my shop owner friend and other techs I know and talk to.

 

[homesick]

The reports I am reading from the back side is that its planned financial trouble from Stellantis, as they bought Dodge/Chrysler as part of a greater plan.

Doesn't that usually mean "bleed the pension fund dry"?

joe

 

[Tahoe14]

Maybe they are looking for another government bailout at the taxpayers expense.