IBMobile

I lucky here. It hardly ever rains, the weather is warm, yesterday it got down to a chilly 53°, and I refuse to work in the mud. When it does rain I stay in my home office and do paper work and filing.

Yesterday I had to order a radiator from a supplier. He didn't have the brand (Cryomax) that I like in San Diego and tried pushing on me something other brand. The last time he sold me 'some other brand' the fittings for the engine oil cooler would not snap in fully and leaked. I told him I'd wait for a Cryomax. He order it out of the Oakland warehouse and I got it this morning. There are different grades of after market parts. The low cheap grade is good for fixing a vehicle getting sold and maximize your profit margin. The middle grade is used by shops and DIY'ers and some times is as good as OEM. OEM is made to the vehicle manufacture's specifications and should last as long as the original part. You have to be careful buying parts on line. There are a lot of Chines knock offs out there. They look almost identical to an OEM part but are made with inferior materials and probably fail in 6mo to a year. Know who the seller is other wise you'll be doing the job twice.

If the manufacturer has a good reputation and the part has a good no fail history then save some bucks and go aftermarket. Ask around and see what others have used.

I 3ed the Fuel Boss. After going through 3 electric fuel pumps ( 1 stock and 2 'campaign' pumps ) and reading about one brand or another of electric pump being good and then not good I went with the mechanical Fuel Boss. I have no more low fuel pressure at WOT just 20psi. One thing though, you will have a code of p0230 fuel pump primary control circuit malfunction due to not having an electric fuel pump running. If you live in a state like I do that does emission tests on diesels having a code in the ECM will fail you. There is a work around for this problem. Mopar1973Man said on another forum to "Hook up a AirDog/FASS relay and the code will vanish." I'm trying to figure out where to hook up the relay.

Being a mobile mechanic I work out side on the ground all year long. I just jack up the vehicle, put some cardboard down and slide under. I do this at peoples' homes in their driveway, parking lots where they work or on the side of the road. I've been doing this for over 21 years with almost no problems.

I was at the recycle yard on Thursday. They're paying 2½¢ a pound for steel. It's not worth hauling it in right now.

That's what photo shop is for.

Try dealing with the Swedish/Ford/Chines Volvo car engineers. The car line use to be fun and E-Z to work on. Now its a $70k rolling peace of processed food waste.

Thanks for the report back. Sounds like you did a great job cleaning the threads up with out a tap. good info about bolt length.

Check out this YOU TUBE video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O557x8hbdW8 If you have the driveshaft down do all the u-joints

I have the same 'E-Z lube' axles with the zerk fitting at the end don't trust them for lubing. I repacked my bearings and checked the brakes after 4 years. Now I just adjust the shoes every year and pull a drum for inspection every other year. Bearing grease still looks good and no wear on the shoes or magnets.

The back side of Yosemite National Park

I not to sure about that. I was told that if you soak it in diesel fuel you could fix just about anything.

I too a look at your list and came up with this: dash pad --------------------------------------------- $260 a/c recharge 2 cans 134A ----------------------- $18 seat switch ------------------------------------------ $80 4 shocks @ $35 each ----------------------------- $140 track bar bushings-----------------------------------$11 control arm bushings 4 sets @ $20 each ----$80 sway bar bushings 4 @ $8 each--------------- $32 2 batteries group 34 @ $100-230 each------$200-460 4 battery hold downs @ 8.50 each------------ $34 2 headlight assemblies @ $71-138 each---- $142-276 2 fog lights------------------------------------------- $30-57 transmission pan and gasket------------------- $45 transmission selector shaft seal ----------------$3 4" exhaust---------------------------------------------$270 BH Air Filter-------------------------------------------$50 front grill------------------------------------------------$62 front bumper cover----------------------------------$36 rear bumper-------------------------------------------$175 2 tow mirrors w/power @ $160 each-----------$320 TOTAL------$2409 That's only $200 a month for a year if you do the work yourself. I found most of the part at Rockauto and Amazon. As for the speakers I'd put in a new sound system.

1: The temp at the starter shouldn't get over 200° so any good epoxy should work. The area has to be clean for it to bond and have it harden for the full cure time. When tightening nut on the stud just snug should do it or you run the risk of breaking the stud loose again. 2: A bolt with a rubber vacuum hose over it would work as a stud with insulator epoxied in to place. 3: AS for the short wire problem see above.

I'd take a short piece of solid 16-18 awg wire and solder that to the broken wire end, then slip a section of heat shrink tubing over it. next clean the area around the hole so the epoxy has a nice surface to bound to. Epoxy the post to the starter housing, let harden, use an epoxy that is for both plastic and metal, 'J B WELD'. Now solder the wire to the bottom of the post. Done, and what do you have to lose but a little time and may save some money. Take a close look at the starter contacts. Do they look a little worn out?

That's great ! I'll be there with may boat. The best time to go there is the first 3 weeks of May or the first 2 weeks of October. Any time between end of May and mid September and the place is not so secret.

JAG1 Get out of the cold and come on down. Lots of food for all! Are you going camping at the secret spot this year?

Try epoxying the terminal to the housing and solder the wire to the terminal.

Right now it's 67° and not a cloud in the sky. I have all my grandkids with me for the week. It's always fun with them but the food bill just doubled.

The last connection to the engine block, intake/exhaust manifold, bracket of the vehicle with the dead battery with the negative cable is two fold. Most vehicles have their battery under the hood and batteries produce the flammable/explosive hydrogen gas. There is less of a chance of an explosion if the spark produced when attaching the negative cable to the block than the battery. I've seen a battery blow up only once when a fellow worker jumped it. I made sure I did it right from then on. The starter motor is grounded to the engine block by its mating surface and mounting bolts. When attaching the negative cable to the engine block the dead battery grounding cable and any resistance it may have is eliminated. Now I use a jumper box with an on/off switch and I still attach the negative cable to the engine block.

One thing I've always done is to solder the jumper cables to the jumper clamps, there's no resistance and good AMP flow. Use rosin core solder.

Every year is a chapter in the book of your life. It's up to you to write the story. I like romance and comedy. Health, success, and happiness to all in the New Year.

The burn jobs I see are from leaking fuel lines under the hood, or a transmission cooling line spraying ATF on the head pipe, or an unfused hot wire shorted to ground. Had one customer who had a short in the wire for the tail light. The circuit was rated for 8 amps. He burned his car down when he installed a 25amp fuse.

Where in the above post does TRAILHEAD mention that the tech who worked on the truck was ASE certified. I've worked for dealers who would hire a 'tech' with no experience, no qualifications, only a tool box and let him wrench on customer's cars until his comeback rate was more than the profit. As for getting money back: i'd be talking to the general manager or owner of the dealership to get back any money paid to them for diagnostics or what ever. They know they messed up by installing the PCM no charge.