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cummins2k

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  1. Brake Hydrobooster Rebuild I have seen the question asked a million times on other forums. It usually comes down to someone claiming to be an awesome mechanic stating that hydroboost brake boosters aren't rebuild-able/resealable or that they are so complicated if you took them apart you would never get them back together. Well even though my hydroboost has been doing a great job keeping my undercarriage lubricated the constant top offs with power steering fluid and air in the system got pretty annoying. I decided that I would take a peek inside of it and possibly reseal it. I didn't plan to rebuild the unit as there are a couple specialized tools you either have to purchase or improvise. First off when my power steering system wasn't low and had set for a bit to allow the air to work itself out the brakes worked fine. Once the hydrobooster saw air it was hard to push them and they had a tendency to jerk. So in other words my hydrobooster was functioning. Just leaking fluid and drawing air. I started off by finding a kit. I purchased a MBM #50 kit that cost me $25 through piratejack brakes. Next I flushed the system, not that it needed it because it went through powersteering fluid constantly. Removing the brake hydrobooster is frustrating because of course it requires you to remove 4 nuts and the pedal rod from under the dash. The pedal rod is held on by a washer and clip. The 3 out of the 4 nuts were quickly removed using a 3/8 air ratchet, swivel, extensions, and a 15mm deep socket. The last one was removed using a ratchet, short extension, and a deep 15mm socket. Of course there are 2 15mm holding the master cylinder to the hydrobooster. Two pipe fittings 16mm (power steering), and a hose that is held on by a clamp (also power steering). Afterwards I had to remove two plastic line holders from the brake lines to allow them to move a bit. Then I merely slid the master cylinder off it's studs and moved it to the side being careful not to bend the brake lines. I found this gave me the benefit of not having to bleed the brakes and bench bleed the master. At this point carefully manipulated the hydrobooster out of the truck. Once on the floor I placed it on a rubbermaid container lid to catch any fluid that spilled out once opened. I removed 2 15mm nuts that held on the adapter plate that bolts to the master cylinder. At this point a star retainer, spring, rod, and plastic washer will come out. The star retainer will come off by itself but the spring, rod, and plastic washer assembly should remain as one piece. Next I removed the 5 3/8" bolts that held the casings together. It took very little persuasion to separate the case halves. It is important to note at this point I remembered I had forgot to apply the brakes 10 times with the engine off to de-pressurize the booster. Not such a big deal cause I had no intentions of removing the gas canister on the booster anyway. Once the halves began to come apart the spool valve fell out. Not a big deal as it can only go back in one way. Oddly enough I found the check valve was missing and in the back of the casing. I noticed matching marks on the check valve and housing right behind the fork on the pedal rod. I am still not sure what happened here, cause the booster seemed to work. All parts were accounted for so I moved on to resealing it. I removed the original figure eight seal that sits between the two housings. Comparing the new and the old as well as looking at marks on the housing it would seem this was my problem seal. The old seal was considerably thinner, probably due to shrinking. The new seal can be pushed into place with fingers. Next I used some small hooks that I had to fish the piston seal out of the piston bore without damaging the bore. Pay attention to the orientation of the piston seal when removing it. Once again the new seal can be installed simply by fishing it in there and working it in with your fingers. I now reinstalled the check valve and the spool valve. I connected the pedal rod to the spool valve and reinserted the piston into it's bore. Just as before press the housings back together, this shouldn't take anymore than hand force. Reinstall the 5 3/8" bolts and snug them down. Back on the other side of things reinsert the spring, rod, and washer assembly. Place the star retainer back on the rod making sure to have the curved points toward the inside. Reinstall the master cylinder adapter over this, it will retain the spring assembly. Tighten the 15mm nuts. After that it is pretty much reverse of removal. Place the hydrobooster back in the truck. Tighten the 4 15mm nuts under the dash that retain it to the firewall. Reinstall the pedal rod, washer, and clip. Back under the hood reconnect the power steering lines, and master cylinder. Top off the system with power steering fluid and work the wheel back and forth, lock to lock while pressing the brake pedal. It will feel funny at first but it will tighten up as the fluid gets to it. You may hear strange noises due to the air in the system but don't worry the air will work it's way out after sitting for a bit. I have yet to notice a leak. Took her on a trip around the neighborhood for a bit after degreasing everything and haven't noticed anything new. My brakes even feel stronger. Hopefully this helps someone not spend $200 over a simple leak.
  2. WPA2-AES is a bit more secure.Aircrack-ng has been around for years. It does work but takes some skill with the harder algorithms. I am sure just not any neighbor can crack your wireless unless you choose a weak algorithm to protect it.It is very difficult to avoid wireless today. Most mobile devices such as smart phone and tablets take advantage of wireless technology and have no provision for ethernet.
  3. Honestly I grew up with sports cars. Junk ones at that. I have never had issues with winter driving with even those cars unless the snow was deep. With the trucks I usually lower my tire pressures all around and throw a little weight in the bed right over the axle. The only major change in driving style is giving more room and driving as weather permits. I really don't drive fast even on a sunny day anyway.However all the good advice in the world is not going to convince a woman that knows it all lol. Not trying to be sexist but I really cannot tell my wife something and have her follow it. She just wont. It always takes her experiencing exactly what I told her was going to happen and me standing there saying I told you so for her to get the point.Sure it would help if she listened the first time but I know by now it is not going to happen. :banghead:
  4. Ouch! Certainly looks like whatever you hit brought that to a dead stop. It is amazing the things some of us survive through. I guess our numbers were not up those days.
  5. Honestly I blame myself. I have had trouble "clicking it" since I was a teenager. When I purchased my first car, my mother being a nurse always enforced seat belts. I did use it too. One night I went to a party and drank to much and took a ride home from a family member. I was in a 80's Mustang on a gravel road, not wearing a seat belt. The car flipped end over end. Some how I was ejected from the car. I don't remember it. The police told me I went through the windshield. I was scrapped up from the gravel but fine other than that. The female police officer said I was lucky I wasn't wearing my seat belt. Later seeing the car at the lot I realized why. The entire passenger side was crushed. If I hadn't have slipped out I most likely wouldn't be writing this. I have always felt claustrophobic while wearing one since. When she purchased her Focus in 09, the car would not shut up unless you clicked the belt. Somehow it was more annoying than not wearing it and I started clicking it again without even thinking about it. She didn't however. She knew my previous disgust for seat belts and me being the guy that kept her cars together probably took my every word as gospel.I am just thankful that the truck held together. The glass didn't even break. I know this is a one in a million accident but honestly the truck did good by me. I have my wife home with little more than a story to tell.Certainly the next time we are in the car I am going to click it and ask her to do the same. Chances are for casino's. Not for driving. I don't mind being the good example.
  6. Honestly looking at the truck sitting on the side of the house the only thing I could think to say was, thank you. I can't even begin to think how I would live without my wife. She is the kind of woman I can't stay mad at for more than five minutes. Dodge has a devoted customer, not because they build a good truck, but because their truck saved my wife.
  7. No this isn't a divorce story. Friday was my day completely off from everything. No work, no college, and even my kids didn't have to go to school. My wife had to work though. I had recently sold her 09 Ford Focus because the number of issues the car had. She had mentioned multiple times that she didn't feel safe driving it anyway. So she began driving my old 94 Dodge Dakota Sport. I had kept the truck around just because. I liked the truck. It was under powered with a Magnum V6, didn't have any power options, didn't even have a/c. However it was a 4x4 with 31" tires and did great in the deeper snow and mud. Every time my wife would get on me for keeping it around I would always tell her it had been through many things that would have put most vehicles in the junk yard and yet it keeps going.Friday morning would be no exception. It was about 5 am and my phone rang. She had already left for work and it was her on the caller i.d. I answered and she was screaming, "I rolled the truck, I can't get out" she said. I heard someone yelling to her to put up the phone. The phone went dead. I know her route to work. It is a 30 mile trip. With no time to waste I threw the kids in the Ram and took off. About 15 miles out I saw the truck. The cable guard rail was thrashed and the truck was laying on its drivers side.She was in a police car across the highway. I pulled into the center median and walked across to the cop car. She was sitting the back. Shaken, but only one bruise to show for it. I was told a sheet metal contractor and a soldier stopped to pull her out of the truck. Never did get their names, wish I did so I could thank them. The contractor had told the police that she hit ice and veered through 3 lanes of traffic, missing every car, colliding sideways with the guard rail, before flipping several feet in the air while crashing down on the drivers side.The craziest part is she wasn't wearing a seat belt, the nearly 20 year old air bag failed to deploy, and yet she walked away.The story gets even weirder though.State law mandates all accidents be removed from the interstate. The police had already called a tow service. When the driver arrived I helped him with the extraction, explaining I could only afford the minimal. He managed to winch it back on it's wheels. He told me he highly doubted it would run after that kind of hit. You should have saw his face. I got in the truck, placed the key in the ignition and it started up as though nothing happened. There was a flat tire though. We got it back on pavement and I swapped the flat for the spare. I paid the tow driver and he drove away. It was apparent that something was broke in the suspension so I had my wife follow me slowly in the Ram. However it sits in my drive way on its own four wheels and starts with the first turn of the key.Mind you every panel on this truck was straight at 5:40 this morning, at 5:41 every panel was bent. But the old truck made it home. My wife even remarked to the tow truck driver when it started "now he will never get rid of this thing." Chances are I probably won't.
  8. The fuel pressure reading is provided by the Edge Attitude monitor and as of now I have no reason to not believe it is accurate. As for the contacts it wasn't long ago I cleaned them all out with electronics cleaner. I have one of the original AirDog 150's. It was purchased quite a while ago. I did trim the straw per the instructions. Honestly cant remember much of it. The truck will continue to run to the fuel light. However stopping quickly will cause it to draw air. The truck continues to run but you can audibly hear the pump noise change and the pressure will momentarily drop. I did replace the filter today. No change in fuel pressure. Was sitting at 13psi when I started it with the new filter. Nothing I hadn't seen with the old filter.
  9. My truck ultimately runs great. It has good power. I recently replaced a crankshaft position sensor and noticed the plug will need to be replaced also. However replacing the sensor only, the check engine light has not illuminated again.However recently I have started to get a miss at idle after coming to a stop. Very slight, but noticeable. You can feel it in the truck. Not similar to the hard miss the crank shaft position sensor caused. The weird thing is my AirDog 150 has also started dropping pressure pretty bad. When new it was putting out 17psi nearly constantly, about a year later it was at 15psi. Then it kept dropping, much quicker after that. Now it is at 11-12psi idle. Though it still holds over 10psi WOT. I do have the typical draw straw issues at 1/4 tank.I purchased a new filter tonight (NAPA) and plan to install it tomorrow. If the pressure does not increase a significant amount I will add some washers to increase the pressure like I have seen done on here.It seems as though the AirDog is drawing air more often than it used to. At a 1/2 tank I can draw air. I did replace the sending unit recently so I am fairly sure it is not that. Besides I can run the truck to nearly empty and as long as I don't make a quick stop it is fine.You can hear the difference in the pump noise when it draws air. It is fairly significant. I am planning on installing a draw straw in the basket to remedy the 1/4 tank issue.It is just odd to me that this miss only occurs at stop lights regardless of the tank level. Once it has idled for a bit at the light it clears out. It never happens when the engine is cold it seems. Only when warmed up and after a stop. No elevated smoke levels at all.The truck is slightly harder to start in the cold lately. I plan to replace the battery cables and probably start looking at replacement batteries...these Walmart batteries didn't last nearly as long as the Duralast I had before. The truck also on occasion cranks for a long time when parked facing down hill.Any ideas?
  10. Not very high tech but drive it around a bit to warm it up and get it to low idle. Then take a spray bottle filled with water and mist each coil one at a time, listening for the miss. Hopefully this will allow you to pin-point the bad one.If this doesn't get you any results start looking at other things around the back of the hood, repeat the same thing with the water bottle trying to replicate your issue. Eventually you are bound to find something causing the miss. Though I think it is likely a coil.
  11. Being that you start to show signs of life on restart I would assume that it is in fact not the monitor and rather the video adapter in the computer. If at all possible try connecting the monitor to another computer and see if it functions.This could be caused by either a video card hardware failure or something could be wrong / conflicting with the device driver.
  12. That sounds like oxidation of the actual gasoline rather than the ethanol. When gasoline (not the ethanol in the gasoline) oxidizes it will turn the gasoline to a rum like color with black particulate fallout (gums.) :banghead:If this is happening there are a couple routes you can go. First it to use a product that stabilizes gasoline. I have had limited success with these in the past though. Mind you I am not a big fan of ethanol either and here is why.Ethyl alcohol does attract water with is not good for shelf life. It attracts water like crazy. However when the alcohol itself oxides it turns into acetaldehyde then again into acetic acid. So with the amount of water pulled in by the hydrophyilic alcohol and oxidation eventually breaking it all down into acetic acid, you have successfully created vinegar in your gas tank. :smart:Personally I just drain anything that will not be used. I pour the gas into the tank of my Dakota and when the time comes I want to use the equipment again I go purchase more in smaller quantities.
  13. I recently received a 120k mile 1996 Stratus 2.4l from my parents that they were done repairing and ready to donate. I stepped up and took the donation as I could use a vehicle that gets nearly double the fuel mileage of my trucks. The car recently had the head gasket, timing belt, timing belt tensioner, and water pump replaced. Although there were little issues remaining I believe I have all those fixed except for the transmission. Recently just before my father gave up on the car the transmission started to leak. It appeared to be dripping from the oil pan. So he pulled the pan, replacing the filter and gasket. Sure enough it started to leak again in the same area so he replaced the gasket again. Still leaking. Upon getting the car back to my home I realized there were a few flaws with the transmission. One was that it had been filled with Dexron fluid. The other was despite imo installing the gasket improperly the largest part of the leak did not appear to be coming from the transmission pan. It appeared to be coming from a higher point. The transmission is very greasy and despite attempting to clean what I could access off, my attempts failed mostly due to the cold weather. It does appear the leak is coming from around the base of the transmission control solenoid. The transmission does not slip. In fact it shifts perfect when it is working. However randomly it will go into a fail safe state where only reverse and one forward gear (I believe 2nd) is accessible. There is no CEL set on the car, nor do I have a scan tool at the present time to access the Chrysler specific transmission data. After reading up this is probably caused by the output sensor or transmission control solenoid. To be safe I ordered the updated style solenoid (the old one was factory circa 1996), an input speed sensor, an output speed sensor, and both the transmission cooler lines. I plan to "flush" the transmission with ATF+4. Whereas I will remove the line that sends fluid from the transmission to the cooler and keep adding fluid while running till the fluid coming out is no longer dark. Hopefully removing most all of the Dexron and any contaminants. I also plan to back and forward flush the cooler separately to clean it out. What alarms me is the state of the current fluid. While there was no metal present on the magnet, the transmission fluid does appear rather dark with the presence of a faint silver metallic emulsion which is non-magnetic. I assume it is aluminum. It isn't apparent with the fluid in a container but was quite obvious while draining the transmission in daylight. I really know little about modern automatics, I have always elected for manual transmissions on vehicles I have purchased. So I am not sure how this will affect the transmissions lifespan. Is this silvery emulsion normal? Possibly a by product of using Dexron? Is it is show stopper, or sign of a major failure to come? Any idea what component this material would have come from?
  14. To answer your question here, not typically. When your cv shafts go bad they will usually start making a clicking noise around corners. As the wear increases vibration will occur. Another wear area here is the front drive shaft double cardan joint assembly. In between the two u-joints by the transfer case is a ball inside a yoke, its a constant velocity setup. It is not visible from the outside of the drive shaft. When these go bad though usually it results in squeaking and or screeching. Roaring is almost always wheel bearings and / or hub assembly.
  15. That is awesome but the cost is extreme. Brings back memories of the old Lionel train sets (not the cheap Chinese crap sold under that name today.)