flagmanruss

What kind? Besides the 01 Dodge, 97 Cirus, Subaru Outback in the stable.Russ

Will the on/off kep work on 97. I don't have a code reader.

I was tight for an appointment. I always start whatever vehicle & let it idle while I set up GPS & fasten seatbelts... The Cirus just shut off. Refused to restart although it turned over fine. I grabbed my stuff, GPS, fired the CTD up & away I go. I was ON IT to make up time, so I'm sure I screwed up mpg. I hit WOT a few times & the low restriction exhaust definately is louder. I made it on time. I "old lady" drove the CTD on the way back to earn back some mpgs... I tried restarting the Cirus. It seemed like it wanted to start but really wasn't firing at all. About the third try, I got one cylinder to kick in & ran the rest of them into operating. I don't get it...Russ

OP said he checked the fuses. Correct me it I'm wrong but I think the headlights are on their own circuit breakers. Could it be as simple as toasted breakers?

Thanks Guys,I've not been home, I need to get a peek under the hood & trace the lines back to the pump & see if they got dislodged somehow. Seems logical since it's just back from the shop.Russ

I don't let any vehicle it since the 1960's. Reports then were that idling was actually bad for engines... I think running rich on the chokes would wash the cylinder walls. What I do do is start the vehicles as soon as I'm in. Actually, with the CTD, I sometimes reach in & start before climbing up. If the truck has not been started in a couple of days, it won't move right away (like this since new). I'm told the torque converters drain down eventually while sitting & need to get oil up. After a minute or 2 it'll move.During this time, I fasten my seatbelts, adjust the mirrors, heater controls, maybe radio or any othe count down to launch. I watch the ammeter to be sure it is charging, I watch the oil pressure until it levels off. Then I start driving gently, on local roads, at least getting some miles from the warm up fuel burned. I have 5 miles of 35 mph local roads before I hit the faster state route.Maybe I'm doing it wrong but I think it works.Russ

I've had the truck back from it's lastest trip to the shop... Before the air vents contols worked. Now, it only blows on the windshield (defrost position)... both hot & cold. I think this is a vacume line. I don't know where this runs but I bet it's damaged or fallen off.I'd really like to have my truck worked on & not have new problems when it comes back.Russ

I'm not sure if you actually have a problem or not. My 01 acts pretty much like that. Light load the auto will up shift earlier which sometimes I intentionally coax it to do for better mpgs. It upshifts later if more throttle is applied. I don't pretend to out-think the 'puter... I'm not sure the why's & where fores.Could it be the engine is colder? Lower temps, like Fall & Winter the CTD runs richer until operating temperature is reached & may affect the shift speed also. Just my thoughts.Russ

I don't think I mentioned... not long ago... gently carressing the steel crash pole protecting the toll booth exiting the New York Thuway... with the driver's mirror. I was going dead slow as I had to stop. The mirror neatly folded back into car wash mode! I was relieved nothing broke. I just reset it forward & paid the toll.(I had to be close because of impairment in MY left arm... just not quite that close!)Russ

I just noticed I haven't edited my signature with the upgrade of oversize SS exhaust... other than that, truck remains pure stock. As such, the overhead computer has always given right on mpg readings compared to hand calculated. The mpg sweet spot has proved to be 1900 rpm on this 4:10 geared truck. At 65 it's turning 2100 & mpgs drop off. The best mpgs I've gotten were 18.4-18.6 range. I cleared the overhead (previous ave 17.5) & been driving around yesterday & today. Admittedly a small sample of secondary roads & around town... mpg is swinging between 19.0-20.1 Yes, I was "Granny Driving" to get mpgs but that's how I usually drive unless there's a reason. The weather is cool and the rich warm up always hurts mpgs some... with the small sample, I can see the average fall off driving gently as CTD warms up. Once warmed up I can see the average climbing back up to a nicer neighborhood.This is the first time I thought to check it but I'm pretty confident that I actually am 1 mpg or better improved. Ya know how many times we see claims "improves mileage" but never see it. I think this one did. WOW!Russ

I no longer trust the work of the first shop... no way to tell what was or was not done. This brake man showed me, thought it was unusual to have numerous marks on the inside of the disc. He usually sees them on the outside. It would not take much of a warp to cause problems. I just hope it stays fixed.Russ

These are the towing package mirrors that rock out & up.

My 01 SLT visor has a mirror on both driver & passenger... as does my 97 Cirrus. Handy place to put parking stubs.Velcro is a good idea. My "Girl-in-the-box" aka "Blondy*" (GPS). I have bent a 1.5" aluminum strip from the scrap bin into mounts for each of my vehicles. Velcro on Blondy's back side & on the aluminum. I forcefully slip it into the air vent rocker & I'm good to go. Russ* Blondy... never shuts up & think's she knows it all. The only time she's quiet is when I drive over Narragansett Bay... where they have relocated bridges carrying I 195. I won't buy the updates until the construction is complete.

I've got the truck back. The NEW disc on the Left Rear has fixed the thunk, thunk, thunk. Now, I will try to drive it more often & keep the brakes from getting so rusty. I still should have kept the disc & tried to mic it to understand just what was going on. Anyway, I'm happy to have my baby back in the yard. Russ

Sorry guys, I forgot about this thread,The e-bay SS system had taken more work to install than I'd hoped. The section of pipe off the turbo was fine. The straight sections took some mount tweeking & trimming to get them to come out right. The over the axle section needed the mounts heated & tweeked to get it off the spare & off the spring. Still what counts is that it's done & it isn't going to rust out any time soon.It's definately louder than the stock system even sans tailpipe & hole in the back of the muffler where the tailpipe nipple went. It sounds good running empty but has a bark when under any load, even running empty. I have not run it with the trailer on yet but I'm sure it'll be loud. {This is not a quiet truck anyway... a lot of engine noise from the front. Removing the mouse habitat (hood insulation) could not have helped. My built 454 with headers, straight through glass packs & etc sounded good also but would drive you out of the cab with a trailer on! I ended up putting oversized truck mufflers back on that one. Russ

Pretty wild... very creative.Russ

CTD is in on the lift now... Front brakes were perfect. The inside of the Left Rear disc had numerous slightly dark spots on the otherwise bright disc. I don't know if I would have spotted it under field conditions. Brake mechanic & I did show & tell in the service bay. Pads are perfect, sliders clean & free. He does not see anything wrong with caliper... though I don't see how there can not be. We've just replaced that disc... I'm nervious that the caliper "has to" be contributing to it. The rusted out part on the E brake is the link between L & R rear cables. He has one off a junker, so that's an easy fix. Hope to have my baby home soon. Russ

The justly famous LA series of Chrysler small block V8 engines... were made from 1964-2003. Cid 273, 318, 340, 360... wedge head engines. LA is 50# lighter & while sharing the same 4.46 bore spacing of the earlier A series.5.2 L, 5.9 are based on the parent engines (318, 360) but only the cranks & rod interchange.

I knew that big block wedge engines came in a high deck & low deck (including 361, 383 I'm familiar with) but have just been reading up on the 354 hemi (low deck) vs 426 hemi (high deck). There's more to earlier low deck Hemis which were made in brand specific, non-interchangeable series of different hemi blocks, not just being made in 2 deck heights! High & Low deck engines within the same brand use different cams to keep the valve train angles correct.The Hemi was introduced in 1951 in Chrysler branded cars (LD:331, 354, HD: 392). In 1952 DeSoto brought out their own Hemi (276, 291, 330, 341) And in 1953 Dodge brought out it's own Hemi (241, 270, 259, 315, 325, 331, 354). For the most part, these were separate, non-interchangeable products & parts. (DeSoto & Dodge were smaller displacement... with the cylinders closer together. No Plymouth got a Hemi until 1964. While the hemi head design was revived, the 426 Hemi is a distincly different design with the distributor in front. The famous "Street Hemi" version came out in 1966 in order to qualify for NASCAR racing as a production engine. Wedge head engines began to replace Hemis in 1958. The "high deck" A block (383 {1958-1960}, 413, "426 wedge", 440). The B "low deck" block appeared concurrently beginning the same year (350, 361, 383 {1962-1971}, 400) all sharing the 3.375" stroke.So the 361 ('64 Chrysler) & 383 (68 Roadrunner, 69 Chrysler) were both B block (big block, low deck) engines.

So right! ULSD "Recommended for all diesels" (label on the pumps)... by a stroke of the pen, not by any engine maker! The lawmakers do NOT repair our trucks damaged by ULSD. They do not care about us, they are busy looking out for the "greater good!" These are the same folks who did cash for clunkers... in which perfectly serviceable cars, trucks had their motors destroyed, prohibitted reusing any of the drive line. WTF!?

Nice try... I'm more careful who I tell these days. Diesel owners fine but no one near a fuel station... oh, those bottles? "They're my measured doses of fuel additive... I just reuse the quart bottles." We'll see who's VP44 is still standing!!Russ

This site has interesting exchanges of tire & rim sizes as well as reviews of tires by actual drivers. I'm still poking around there. http://www.tirerack.com Russ

Adding a LED strip or a series of individual lights along the body flange, bottom of the cab / bed would be the easiest to be sure. "converting" 2 wire to 3 doesn't sound feasible. If bulb set up you could convert to 2 element bulb / socket... even in this case better to just buy the correct assembly. If you had the componemts, LEDs could be wired with some on as running lights & some flashing with turn signals... but I think it would be a lot of work. Not sure the result would be visible.Adding additional 2 wire lamps... wired to turns... would at least work / be visible. I might even try this myself. OK, now some rocket scientist will tell us how to do it!Russ

USMCcowboy, Just for comparison, your 440 is the high deck version of the same big block. From the archive: A photo of my 68. Russ

Paint it Lemon Yellow & park it in front of the dealership! Sell Lemonaide!Russ