flagmanruss

The IAT fooler is easy, buy the harness. I ran 3 wires to the knee panel & a toggle switch. I find it's worth 1 mpg in cold weather. It can be left stock to start & then switched to the fooler.

97 Cirrus... strange things happening. I believe the heart core is leaking... has been since winter since the Defrost foggs the windshield. With AC ON, set to recirculate, I went to defrost to circulate some fresh air (less antifreeze to breathe)... and got hot air. Today when I turned down the blower on AC, I seemed to get hot air from the left either dash vent or defrost... In both cases I quickly cancelled the action... but I'm wondering if I have a stuck blend door.The Cirrus is due for a trip to the shop... any thoughts before I do???Russ

Yes, have the WD hitch it came with. I think I am exceeding the capabilities of the WD hitch. 2/3 of trailer is ahead of axles. All of living quaters is forward... rear of trailer box is essencially empty. Do you suppose I could sell a 6 pounder (cannon) as necessary weight? Not mine, problem would be solved! My swivels (swivel canons) aren't heavy enough. On the return trip, with water tanks empty & black holding tank full (was able to irrigate with grey water) was very hard work to stay in lane (well mostly in lane). I've also thought about converting it to a skeleton gooseneck. MODERATORS: Feel Free to split into separate threads.

My current billboard front camper tows much harder than my gooseneck horse trailer... much of it is windage but also the hitch load makes a big difference to the truck. To the point where I'm considering adding ballast to the trailer rear.

Isn't the TC lockup electrical?

My details in my signature. The 4.10 gears are NOT the way to go unless you are going to add big rubber. My impression is that those with stock ratio tow just fine. That said, I can milk 18 out of her on RARE occasion when I run empty on the sweet spot... but it's rare. Keeping in high gear at 40-50 mpg, light on the pedal... Towing? All bets are off. The trailer, windage make a huge difference... though even a light trailer like my landscaper's trailer does make a noticeable difference. As a comparison... my old reliable C30/454/tow cam/Edelbrock intake/AFB/headers/automatic/3.73 final ratio/16.5 wheels. It got 11 mpg on Reg Gas. Towing/Empty did not matter. The only thing that mattered was the AC which stripped off 1 mpg. From what I know, the right final drive ratio & more transmission gears help. I see this in new cars. I wonder if retrofit transmissions for our trucks will emerge?

Need a signature with the truck. The OP needs to give us some better information. Is it just bent pushrods on #6 or are all 12 bent? To my way of thinking these are conclusions someone has made... or jumped to... but skipped giving us the full information of why this was suspected. If we try to figure to out to help with partial data, and are later found to be wrong when it's torn down, we look like chumps (chimps). Russ

I've seen hydro locking on Marine engines where water flowed backward up the wet exhaust into the exhaust manifold & through an open valve. (The boats were trying to play submarine at the time.) We (the Marina) saved it from sinking & informed the owner. When the owner turned hit the starter, the cylinder came up on a cylinder full of water. It might even have fired one before doing so. When the cylinder came up on the incompressible fluid, it bent the connecting rods all to crap. In a land vehicle, the only thing I could think of would be a blown head gasket, cracked head, cracked intake (water jacket). Another possiblity, is / was a hung valve at some point. I've had it on a gasser. The piston came up & slapped the hung valve which broke the rocker arm & spit out the push rod.

I must live in cleaner air than you guys. I was getting 20,000 miles on an OEM air filter... and it really wasn't very dirty... but then I was running light most of the time. I guess I'd have to say it's not the mileage, it is the filter condition. I'd have to observe a used filter can't be better than it was new... quality parts...Learning all the time.

I don't think it's lack of a clean Air Filter that made his engine toast. It's the "Run it until it stops!" attitude. If it's not running right, pull the F*** over & give it a look see... I suppose the idiot doesn't know where the hood release is or where to put oil in anyways.I wasn't happy about it but my car, truck & wife's previous Subaru have all been moved on a roll back. Discretion is the better part of Valor.

Hope this doesn't hyjack this thread. I never had wander before. I only have 50K on the truck but 11 years. I always towed googeneck before... really heavy weight on the ball... but no wander. With this tag-along wasn't bad outbound but return with empty water tank & full black water... was horrible. White knuckle trying to stay in lanes. I thought it was just too much tonge weight despite the weight distribute hitch... now I'm not so sure.Just a BTW... my soon to be ex trashed my Jap Challenger many years ago. Drunk Beech probably drove it off the road. When I got it back in the settlement, the steering segment threads were stripped out. Had a half turn of play in it. I should have tried harder to repair it but I could not find parts. At least the dealer claimed not to. Somebody could have repaired it, somehow. Weld it up & retap. Weld a nut on. Find a box or just cover in a junk yard. MODERATORS: If this is too far off topic, move to a new thread.

Gas marine engines are generally automotve / industrial based. Yes, stay away from 2 cycles. Also look for low teck common engines but avoid rare or limited production... let someone else experiment. I recall some neet engines we saw, installed as a subcontrator for a boat builder... but in a few years, the owners were unhappy.Marine engines have water jacketed exhausts... The cooling water exits throught the exhaust after the elbow or risers. Salt water cooled, exhausts last about 10 years, blocks 20. Even though they are industrial based, there is typically right & left hand rotations (and some reverse gears also change rotations). Be aware home mechanics may replace with none spark resistant alternators & starters... but are not considered safe & reduces value. Be cautious of fuel lines & tanks. If a boat floods, even if not sunk, may have subsequent tank failures. I had several of those over the years. We also had customers light their boats on fire (by accident) and blow the hatches off with gasoline fumes.Boats often have battery selector switches. #1, #2, both, off. NEVER switch batteries through off... it will blow the alturnator's diodes instantly.Diesel powered engines usually are standard rotation & the opposite rotation is achieved by an ider gear in the transmission.

The vacume line looks like a "wire". The Cruise Control uses vacume (located under the driver's side battery) so you might trace it from there. Depending on your year, you might have the vacume controled CAD (Center Axle Disconnect) with 1/2" lines from the front axle to the transfer case, back to the source. The "wire" sized line on Cummins powerd trucks, go into the wire bundle crossing over the engine & then entering on the passenger's side.

The blend door is controled by a electro-servo motor in the passenger's foot well. It's a PITA to get out but it can be done by pulling back the rug, carving a chunk out of the rubber insulation on the hump & using short right angle tools. Be very careful. The likely culpret is the flimsy plastic coupler between the servo & the shaft. They are expensive from Dodge, less so from HeaterTreater, or you can make your own, or you can repair the old one by glueing & then turning a reinforcing band & pressing it over the coupler in a vise (nice to own a lathe). You must reorient the gear drive & it will "relearn the new limits. (If it failed it went out of limit & shut down). MARK the motor as soon as you open the case as there is no mark to ID which way it goes. Wipe off the grease & find the raised mold mark on the bottom gear & set it to the edge of the top gear. Reassemble.

The paper companies are keeping the same number of "sheets" (can I say that here) per roll... just cheating you on the amount of paper. Same as the cereal boxes & soap. My last bar of soap had an attractive design carved into the side, effectively disguising the hole they carved into the product.

Sorry rogan... guess we all can learn from this.

I never had any luck with belt dressing... check the tensioner to see if it's working, not wore out, misaligned. Like Mike said check the AC itself... water pump, fan are on the belt too.

I have been driven half insane by a little green (nursery) wagon. Very handy around the yard. (Most recently to haul my cannons & powder magazine to the backyard on the 4th... til the wheel fell off again.) Let me start at the beginning: Wagon is a few years old... 2 front tires went flat. I patched the tubes... let them sit for a few days, seemed fixed. I found it takes 4 hands to hold the 2 piece rims, tube & tires, get the bolts, lock washers & nuts installed. (Note, I only have one hand that works decent, my frustration level gets pretty high.) The tires stayed up 2 days counting the day I put it together. FAIL! I took them apart, Sheila cleaned the tube & patched it (gonna show me how)... they didn't stay up 24 hours. FAIL!! I bought new patches, patched the tube again, seemed like that's what it took... 3 days later... flat again. FAIL!! I was at Harbor Freight, bought 4 solid tires, wheels, bearings. They fit on, needed big washers to shim. Much heavier than tire/wheel combo. Took way too much effort to pull. FAIL! On another trip to Harbor Freight, they had china wheels with tubes & tires. I bought them, they slid right on. Could not get the lock washers under the cap nut but otherwise, seemed a fix. FAIL!! (All the things tried to get rubber under a little wagon) Over the 4th, towed the wagon behind my scooter... I made several trips, setting up & again packing up... til... the wheel came off. FAIL!! 11mm cap nut is AWOL in the yard somewhere. We walked the track a couple of times, didn't recover it, of course. I even used my big 16" magnet (screw picker-upper) with no success. I asked the Home & Auto store where it had come from & they did get tubes in for me... 5.99ea seemed pretty reasonable at this point but I was not looking forward to struggling with the assembly. But I'd been thinking all this time... I needed a clamp, a fixture to hold it all together. So here it is. I used a big dowel to make a guide that slides into the bearing on the back piece... with a flange that catches the outside wheel half while still allowing access to the bolts holes. I used a 1/4' threaded rod, wing nut, flat washer & plain nut. Sorry about the focus... so this is the guide. Held in a vise on the corner of the bench. Here the guide is holding the wheels halves together & I've gotten 2 bolts started. I really like that I can go around the tire & squeeze it enough to see the rim halves meet to be sure the tube isn't pinched... before tightening the nuts. I think I may have started to pinch the second tube but by the time I'd inspected all the way around, it was free again. Snug the bolts down & over to the compressor to air them up. I couldn't get meteric cap nuts locally. I picked up a couple of 11mm nuts at Home Depot, supposed to be self locking but not Ny-lock. Hope they go on far enough to lock or allow a lock washer. To Be Continued...

I don't give a r@s arse once they are out if my way... you gotta be in fron to smoke 'em!

I think that would be a useful upgrade. Better if it had the rear discs but still worthwhile. I have the 4.10 ratio & it does nothing for me except cost me mpg. IMHO, 4.10 is only useful if you are going to run big wheels to cut the ratio back down. 3.54 is a good ratio.

Thanks! I have the 2 OEM & never noticed that, besides the cig lighter is key-on while the power port is always hot.

I'm wanting to load 007's rockets under the front bumper to "move them" out of the way!

Took a little jaunt today. Just over an hour each way... should have been at least. Traffic was pretty heavy BOTH toward the beaches & surprizingly away too. All lanes had vehicles... almost going the speed limit... but all lanes were backed up too. And at the front of each backed up lane... some *** **** who is afraid to freakin drive. It's amazing how a couple of slow pokes can back up the interstate. I know, I should be more patient. It's bad for my blood pressure, I'm sure. The IDIOTS are oblivious to all the other drivers on the road. If it was just one, you could maneuver around them... the roads are full of them... AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

I have always mounted pressure tanks vertically. Do they have to be?

That was our first run with the Toy Hauler. When we looked at the picts, we realized we hadn't gotten any before we unhooked. I was stretching the rules by setting up next to the fence & my bro's MotorHome. After an all day drive, we used the truck to go out for dinner. I'll have to get into wife's pictures & see if there's any with us hooked up. I recognize that I must have the bed & bathroom on the same level which is why we got the Tag-A-Long but I sure miss the way the gooseneck tows.