leathermaneod

Man I have got to get some cleaner burning injectors. I just made my 300 mile trip back to NY today and my average was only 18.45 Of course some of that was going about 70 mph. I dropped down to 65 mph near the end and watched my average creep up from 16.4 to 17.9 on the scanguage. Speed really does make a difference. I also have heavier steel wheels and load range E Mickey Thompson BAJA ATZ tires which are a more aggressive tread than I had before. I would never have bought expensive tires like that but I got them in trade :-). Oddly enough the Scangauge is finally getting pretty close to being accurate. I wonder if it had something to do with the loose ground I found at the PCM while working on my AC?

Doesn't all the freon just escape out when you open the system?

Well I now have 600 highway miles on the new Bluetop steering gear box and I believe I can safely say my steering is now the best it has ever been :-) I really think we should start promoting Bluetop on here. I'm not sure how sponsoring works, but maybe Ryan would like to become one. I am sure there are lots of guys out there that would go with his box if they knew about it.... My only complaints at this point are as follows and I do not believe they are the fault of the Bluetop box. 1) my return to center still isn't quite as strong as I'd like, but I don't think thats the gear box, I think its either my reman PS pump being weak, or just me expecting to much. It was easy to keep the truck on the road with one hand and I did not have to be constantly correcting one way and then the other. 2) I still have a slight dead zone. Smaller then ever before, but still there, and I think I know why. I replaced my intermediate shaft with a Doorman replacement from Rock Auto because mine had a lot of slop at the upper joint, the weird one I think is called the Rag Joint, and it did not slide freely anymore. Anyway, this new Doorman one has been on the truck less then 2000 miles and already has as much slop in the Rag Joint as the old one! Very disappointed. Anyway I'm wondering if I could drill the rivets out of that joint and bolt it together to tighten it up like it should be? Anyone else ever done this? All kinds of play at these stupid rivets. Any reason I can't drill those out and put it together with some bolts and lock nuts? Anyone have any ideas on tightening up that rag joint?

I was just asking hypothetically because Mike mentioned replacing the condenser. I didn't know if it was possible to recharge and open system yourself or if you needed one of the professional grade machines.

Now if you replace the condenser, can you recharge the system yourself with cans from an auto store, or do you need a professional machine? Also, when you say mesh, I assume your talking about like window screen material? or something else? That does sound like a really good idea though, there were and still are quite a lot of little stones in there! @dripley thanks for the compliment! yes it did take a few hours. I also bought the HF fin comb. Having never used one before, I assumed that getting things cleaned up would be a breeze, especially after watching a vid on youtube. Not so at all! Anything that is bent over more than a little bit will not straighten with the comb. Sometimes the comb even damages them. I basically had to get them all stood up by hand, then just used the comb to clean it up. I also found that the comb works better without the handle

Just wanted to throw something else out there that might help others. I didn't even think of this until Mike mention that my condenser might be plugged with bugs. This is what it used to look like Not so many bugs, but there was an awful lot of surface area that was bent over so that no air could pass through. I realized this and that it was likely part of my problem, as well as the fact that it was probably greatly restricting air flow to the intercooler and radiator. This is what it looks like now Not great, I know, but a vast improvement over what it was :-) I used a radiator comb, plastic fork handle (i couldnt find a plastic knife), finger nails, and A LOT of patience lol

Now that you mention it, I think I've seen the shield your talking about before. Never realized how it was attached until you said that though. Yes that would have been easier, though possibly a little bulkier. Oh well, we'll see how this holds up :-) I think this design supports the outer two sides better than the clamps could as that is where it is attached. I can very easily take it off for winter if it doesn't wanna warm up.

Thank you :-)

How can you properly do this test with the apps connector disconnected?? You may have to wiggle your backprobe wire around a bit to get a good cennection....

Thanks guys for all the great info! You've been very helpful and I've learned a ton about AC! I've got to drive home tomorrow so I'll see how it does. If it's still not cool enough, I'll test the actual vent temp as you suggest when I get home.

Hey guys, Just wanted to show you all my little creation. I've been wanting to make one of these ever since I read about @KATOOM using an exhaust blanket to successfully lower his trans temp. I don't tow much at this point, but I figured keeping the heat off the trans and t case can't be a bad thing! My original intention was to take a piece of 6" exhaust and cut it in half. Then weld some anchors on to give it some standoff. Anyway, my father-in-law had some stainless sheet laying around that he said I could have. At first I though it was too light(it's a little thinner than a street sign), but it actually worked out perfectly! I toyed with the idea of attempting to make it round by ratchet straping it to a steel pipe, but decided to go with the three sided shape. Anyway I made a little 3 sided template by bending a small piece of the steel sheet with some angle iron and a shop press. Then I went to a local welder with my template. I asked if he had the capability of making my sheet into a half circle, but he didn't have the equipment to make it round, just one of the huge brakes,so I decided on the three sided shape. I actually think it's better though as the bends add rigidity. This first pic is the front piece cut to fit because of the bend where the downpipe bends upward. This one is notched slightly for part of the clamp and the crossmember. Front looking back Back looking front It's hard to see but this one shows on the standoff leg/bracket. The stainless pieces measure 10" wide the center section is 4" wide and the outsides are 3". The standoff legs were supposed to be approx 1" tall, but I didn't measure afterward to see if that's exactly what they are. My welder just cut a strip about 1" wide and the 3" lengths, then bent them in a vise. I don't know the angles on the bends as it was just done by trial and error, but they are such that there is about 4" between the legs where they touch the exhaust pipe. You can adjust the standoff of the center section by making the angles more or less. The over all length of the two pieces started at about 35", but got trimmed down in the fitting process. You could probably do it with 30" x 10" piece. The bending, cutting and welding cost me $20, and the 4-4" hose clamps cost me $8. So this was a pretty cheap mod. I don't have a trans temp gauge, it's more of just a feel good thing for me lol. Maybe it will be an inspiration to some of you. Enjoy!

Well here are the results from testing with the manifold gauge. What do you think? Add more freon or no? Compressor stayed locked at all speeds. Outside temp is 86° and very humid. Air at the vents is pretty cool, just not ice cold yet. Even at highway speeds I don't feel like I can take it off max AC for a good while. Idle: Comp locked: High-230psi Low-39psi Comp unlocked: High- Low- 1500rpm: Comp locked: High-283psi Low-30psi Comp unlocked: High- Low- 2000rpm: Comp locked: High-285psi Low-27psi Comp unlocked: High- Low-

Well I'm at my inlaws right now and my father in law has a gauge manifold so maybe I'll hook it up tomorrow and see what it looks like. What do I need to know/look for when doing that?

What if the compressor isn't staying locked at higher rpms above 1500 though?

Thanks a lot guys! Mike, I followed your advice with the warm water and heating the can up in between charging. Got about 35 psi now but that was at 89° so it should be more like 50 psi per the fsm, but I've already added about 32ozs of refrigerant. I did get it to where the compressor stays locked at 1500rpms now, but on my way home I had max AC on for a while before it got cool enough to turn it down. I'm wondering if it's still not enough psi to keep the comp locked at 2000 rpms which is where I spent most of my 5hr drive.... don't get me wrong it was cold, just not that cold. I'm going to check tomorrow and see if the comp stays locked at 2000 rpms. If not should I add more refrigerant?

The place I talked to about doing mine told me "we have a machine, but we don't do it, and if we did it would be between $50 and $70.

Ah now I understand. It would be nice if the instructions had told me that lol I'll try at higher rpms and a warm can when I get home and see if I can get it charged up a little more

Ok that makes more sense now. Unfortunately I don't have the equipment to see all that. I guess what I'm asking is, why was I not able to charge above 25 psi? And if I set high idle and the compressor unlocks too much Would I be able to add more freon with the rpms up?

I'm a little confused Mike, are you saying I should set high idle or have someone hold it at 1500 and then attemp to charge it again? My compressor was staying locked at this point, but I couldn't get the pressure above 25 psi....

This all reminds me of my experience a little over a year ago now when I had a local Cummins service center do some work on my truck right after I bought it. They couldn't get the injector lines to stop leaking at the head. They tried telling me the head was cracked, then they tried thread sealant, which worked but was the wrong answer in my opinion. I finally told them to forget it and id fix it myself. A couple hours, carefully tightening and some scotch brite had the leaks stopped. I went back to show them and have them redo the new tapper cover gasket that had popped out of place a day after they installed it. I showed the service manager how I fixed the leaks and he asked if I was interested in a job lol anyway, overall a very bad experience with them. Now no one else touches my truck unless it's really necessary. As far as rotors go, I recently had to add new ones to my truck. It had some nice grooved ones on it when I got it, but they were badly pitted. I wanted to get them turned, but it was looking like it would have been more expensive than new ones, if I could evenfind someone to do it. Nice thing about autozone, they have lifetime warranties on everything including pads and rotors as well as many other things.

Well I followed your advice @IBMobile and so far I am very pleased with the results, though slightly confused. Heres what happened. First off, found the ground at the PCM to be doing nothing, it was very loose. So I cleaned and tightened that. Anyway, on the ac stuff. Unplugged the low pressure switch and jumped it, compressor stayed locked. Checked the pressure and it was only at 10 psi! Not sure how that works since before with the comp cycling it would go up to 45 psi....anyway added AC PRO in 10-20 sec increments checking each time. It took almost all of my 20 oz can and wouldn't go above 25 psi so that seems odd to me, not sure if that indicates I have a leak? I think it should have made it to at least 40 psi...anyway I stopped when it didn't go above 25 psi after a couple more tries and checked the air coming out the vents. It was VERY cold lol. My Harbor Freight temp gun, which I've always thought was fairly accurate, registered down to -30* when aimed in the vents! Really strange since before we charged the ac it was reading about 60* in the vents. Obviously it wasn't that cold, but I know it was very cold lol Thanks for all the help guys!

Yes the AC Pro gauge will read as long as the compressor is cycled on and the can valve is not open. I'll try jumping that connector and see what the compressor charges up to. How long is too long to run the compressor with the low side switch jumped?

Hey all, well I tried adding some AC Pro today. It's 90° here so pressure was allowed to be 60psi max per fsm. When I first started the gauge would build up to about 45° in the ten seconds the compressor would run before shutting off. The air out the vents was a little over 60° at this point. I added a little freon (two times about 5 seconds each) and it would shoot up to a little past 55 psi on the gauge, then comp would shut off and go back down and only build to 45psi again. The air did get a little cooler, about 50° now, but I'm afraid I'll be over charging this thing if I add and more freon....my next move is to try the AC low pressure switch because the fsm says it can be the other cause for the compressor to cycle rapidly. Any thoughts guys? Anyone know how hard it is to replace that switch?

I am still of the opinion that we haven't seen anywhere near enough testing or miles on this fluid in identical trucks with identical or even similar mods and usage to be able to compare. So there is no point arguing for either side at the moment.

Edge Comp Box. Edge also makes others you may have heard of such as the Juice with Attitude and EZ