Wild and Free

I had an eye opener a few months ago on my 2010 Hemi, pulled oil sample before finding out my tranny burned up a clutch pack and at roughly 5K miles on oil change found my TBN "Standard procedure to test with Oil analyzers UOA" to be at 2.5 which was critically low already and had I not seen that I would have continued to run that oil for another 2500 miles. I have since switched to a different type of Amsoil after seeing that. I was running the cheap 5w20 extended life oil which I think is a syn blend that is supposed to be good to 7500 miles, I switched to the high end 5w30 signature series now and will pull a sample again at 5k miles to see how this is doing.

Duramax has a CP3 same as the 3rd gens have, they actually use the same injector bodies as well, so he can't laugh too loud they have more in common than most think. If he had a 6.5 L diesel they were fairly common for pump failures as well.

Early 3rd gens are about that price right now and a Smarty is about 5oo bucks and you have 500hp. I have a totally stock 05 with a smarty jr and am over 400hp already. :gun:I think the 3rd gens are equally as good looking as the seconds but the cabs are way tighter with 4 doors rather than quad cab and the frame and drivetrain is way stronger to boot.

For what I see you have invested into that rig in the last couple years you could have had a really nice 3rd gen with extras by now.

It's a VP thing, Step up to a CR and leave your worries behind.

Idaho population 1.6 million, 83,570 sq. miles , North Dakota population 800K roughly not knowing what it is exactly with the last couple years oil boom influx but roughly half the population is in the eastern 1/3 of the state, I live in the western 1/3, 70,698 sq. miles, who's quieter now Mike? Time to rip that thing from your chest and start chewing!!!!

Pretty quiet where I live yet too.

Agreed.

UV dyes are ok but one needs to explain and make sure the customer knows it is in there and that it is a slow leak and it will leak down again and should be brought back in from time to time to hit it with a light before they wash it off and it is gone. Then the down side is if it is leaking at the evaporator or in a place you can't get a light in it doesn't do any good, as far as sniffers, if it is leaking enough for a sniffer to detect then soap and water will find it as well. Have had very little luck with sniffers at all no matter the brand or quality.

I guess I was looking at it from a challenging mechanical standpoint and not a customer service stand point, missed that in your post above. That is a different issue all together, usually when we did this on a customers ride we would work with them better than that if it wasn't right or was a challenging job.

Having done ac for 20+ years some times ac systems can be a real pain in the but, can't hold any one person accountable or blame dealers, I have had systems kick my butt many times as well as about everyone else I know who has worked with them with a lot. Slow leaks can evade even the best of us. The last couple places I have worked have nitrogen compressors and that helps a ton in finding leaks, suck down the system and pressurize the system to a few hundred lbs. and then you can find the leak in most cases that way with soap and water or sometimes depending on what side of the system it can really hiss. This is by far the best and fastest way to find slow leaks that would go undetected by even the best of the best. Then throw accumulators into the mix like most ac systems have now and then you add a whole new dimension to the mix along with many other pressure sensors and auto mixing valves for heat and cool functions operated by electronic control modules of some sort, just keeps getting more and more complicated just like the rest of the vehicle systems.

Mike the difference is the fact that his ride saw open road miles every day of its life, take that into consideration and there would be a ton more in the same boat but 99% of folks do not run them over the road like that daily. no different than over the road trucks seeing the same mileage common place. Daily drivers and short trips will always shorten the life of an engine and other components. Can't use caj in any comparisons for that reason alone. When I worked at Inland truck parts and service I worked on a fleet of five 2nd gen Cummins that saw 8k+ miles a week and they too had 450-900K on them when they sold them and were all still in excellent shape with no issues other thaN THE BASICS AND STANDARD CONOCO 15W 40 OILS THEIR ENTIRE LIFE. oops cap lock accidental. I saw one get exactly 10K miles on it in a week serviced it Friday very next Friday came in with exactly 10K on it. Two drivers running round the clock pulling heavy loaded 45 foot enclosed triple axle trailers to furniture stores all over the USA, the company manufactured and delivered fake flowers basically.

Air venture pumps are even cheaper if you have a compressor that would have enough cfm to run one for a bit.

How and where do you pull the sample? This alone can make or break a samples integrity. Make sure your intake tube clamps are tight pull the intake tube off and see if there is a layer of dust inside of it or not. Also with it idling use some ether or brake cleaner and spray around the intercooler boots and especially the intake area on top of the head and around the grid heater gasket area.

Compressor removal on a functioning system doesn't warrant a drier change unless it is open to the elements and high humidity for a while or if the compressor failed. If you tape off the lines as soon as you pull the comp off you would be fine. But yeah not having the correct equipment makes it tough. really only need 3 main things and could get all fairly cheap, Vacuum pump either electric or air venture if you have a good enough air compressor, digital scale for accurate Freon load and a gauge set. Although on the newer systems we only use the gauges as a reference and mainly for troubleshooting and not charging anymore. The newer ac systems are becoming more and more complicated and extremely touchy as much as a couple ounces one way or another on 10lb systems can make or break you which is why an accurate digital scale is so important, charging ac systems using pressures is old school for older systems and may get you going but I guarantee it is not going to be as good as having the exact amount the system is designed to run.

Make sure your tranny mount is good as well if 4wd it is under the t-case.

Other than tire balance or bent wheel it could be Drive shaft out of balance, u-joints bad or bad hanger or carrier bearing on rear drive shaft if a long box, Brake rotors, front axle shaft u-joints.

What I find scary are the possibilities and already hacks going on with the newer cars being able to totally control them wirelessly. There have already been high profile murder or suspicious deaths that have been linked to or suspicions of vehicle hacks being the cause of them by gov agencies. Much like the cashless system we are barreling towards so the watchers can monitor every single thing in your life they are pushing for the same in vehicles.

Even made bigger news sites today. http://www.infowars.com/automakers-want-to-outlaw-gearheads-from-working-on-their-own-cars/

This admin probably wants to up the game from cash for clunkers to jail for owning one we can still work on now. Bring on Jade Helm scenarios. we the people are the enemy of the corporately owned state now.

I have the same issue at the mine, Need equipment specific software for so many different things and all at hefty prices as well. We are primarily Cat and are relying on our vendors more and more now days.

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/04/20/automakers-gearheads-car-repairs/ I am kinda speechless right now!

SHAME ON YOU FOR BEING A DISTRACTED DRIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I see the other gauges. No different than texting and driving.

It most likely will have a different cam along with different plungers and barrels in it and different governor setup all together, but the body should be the same. Need to call some performance diesel shops that deal with them daily like Scheids to see if it is compatible. Personally I would not convert to a P7100 either for the adjustability of electronic versus mechanical

OD unit is simple to rebuild, think I had about 3-4 hours start to finish into replacing the OP shaft on my 02 when it snapped on me years ago " but I have a hoist and tall tranny jack as well which saves time" . Going together make sure the park pawl rod is in the right spot and doesn't get bound up on you, that may have been what was holding on when you came apart.