flagmanruss

Codes?

Really the only way to decide is what suits YOUR needs best. It doesn't matter what our needs are. If both came up equal on suitability, I'd go with the low mileage. I inherited my Mom's Cirrus with 5 years & 8,000 miles. The only way to recover the value she bought when she purchased is to run it out. It has been & continues to be a good car.

I don't have your exact issue... but when I made the extension harness for me gooseneck, I installed the plug through the bed wall and cut the external ears off the make plug & dropped it through the hole & ran it back to the plug under the bumper. I unplug it when not in use. (Actually, it was not a new harness... I used the same harness on my old C30 & ran it under the tailgate. If I was starting from scratch I'd have wired the plug after installing the cable, so as to avoided cutting into the plastic ears (handle).)I made up a exension for the 7 pin RV plug. An extension for the flat style plug which I run with an adaptor. No way would I cut into the OEM harness.

I watched that same gritty documentary... brought me to tears more than once. Over the course of the day, I had seen about all the original footage. I remember 9-11-01 sitting n front of the TV in stunned disbelief. It is very hard to understand that kind of hatred of a stranger going simply about their lives. It seems a throw back to Medievial Times or earlier... where all the world's religions attempted to convert the world by force. But those who would preach this must be on some power trip. Sadly our innocence can never be restored.

Love it!

The way to best mpg is to start with the right gear ratio... which my 4.10 is NOT. I am optomistic that my little mods have bumped mpg. Honestly, the best way to wring the mpgs out is to drive with a feather touch of the skinny pedal. Coast, foot off when you can rather than keep power on. Anticipate the crest of hills & gradually back off throttle. Coast into a stop, minimize the brake use. I routinely get 1-1.5 mpg more than when wifee drives the truck (I'm not a happy camper when she does but what are you going to do if you like sleeping indoors?) My overheard display was right on until I installed the xzt+... once I managed 19. Most often in 17-18 range... running light.

I'm running XZT+ and a home made IAT fooler... toggle switches in the knee panel in the cab. I like the ability to turn them off when I want. I normally don't need the +65 hp on the xzt so run in the econo mode which is a slight boost in power. Seems to have a firmer shift also.

Texas in my thoughts & prayers.

I am seeing the Texas wildfires on TV. It is so heartbreaking. There is just nothing to salvage... I sure hope you guys stay safe.Russ

Man the Lifeboats! Women & children first! Follow ME, your Captain!

I'm only 60. MS (Multiple Sclerosis) tends to age you though.

Yes, I got lucky. Worst case, I figured that after I got the hood open, I'd be driving it to the garage on the safety catch. Maybe these pictures will help the next guy too. I scored my wife's old digi-camera... now I can take my own pictures! I added another picture to my last post.

And before that it was SNOW! Life in the sticks!

It's hard to be 'macho' these days... even the little kids dis me!! (Blowin my doors off she was!)

For such a small... and largely urban to suburban... state, we also have several rural towns. It's not the distance which is so great, it's more like living in another century. A lot of actual colonial era houses. One friend owns one colonial, reputed to be the oldest house in our town... used to be on the "main road" now 1/2 mile off the pavement. He still does not have utilities back. Another one off my street, 1000 feet into the woods has a sign on the mailbox, directing the utility company to their downed wires.My uncle owns the family farm (bought by my grandfather in 1899). The farmhouse was burned & rebuilt during the King Philip War (between Mass Bay Colony & Wampanoag Tribe) 1675-1678. The central chimney has 6 working fireplaces and a bake oven... the kitchen hearth takes 6 foot logs. It continues as a dairy farm (Ashires & a few Holstiens)...

I did not go out until the road was made "passable." In our rural area the Volunteer Fire Dept makes the road passable so emergency vehicles can get through. Good they don't wait for the utility company... the trees are still in the road. The Fire Company does not hesitate to pull the fuse on a house or street... then the utility must reset it. Opened one lane.

I've been downstairs in the machine shop (hobby corner... depends what I'm doing any particular moment, LOL!)... Big Boys Toys... My South Bend I grabbed a piece of 1/2"d scrap red bronze, chucked in the SouthBend & made a thick washer with a ball seat for the cable. I used a dremel to cut a slot to the center hole. It ought to just stay there wedged like a valve retainer but I think I'll try to crimp the slot closed. There appears to be enough free play in the cable by my guestimation. If this works, I'll put a picture up. My buddy, the retired mechanic, says "That'll never work, ya gotta buy a new cable!" Then again, I'm not paying myself machinists wages. I also think I got lucky the cable is not broken. For the record, the hood release worked easily... not even jammed. I think this is the parts eatten away, not a effort problem. i suppose some oil might delay the rust some... --- Update to the previous post... I went out early to try out my repair part. This is the thick bronze washer I made... to repair the cable end of the hood release. The loop for the wire lanyard (Emergency Release) that I threaded onto the trip lever is to the right. I can easily hook the ring on the other end of the lanyard if the cable fails again. The repair washer installed. Emergency release lanyard shows also. The hood closes & latches normally... and releases... I'll go out later & oil this up when the mosquitos are not so thick.

97 Cirrus in my signature. It's too late to look now but will look at the truck in the morning & see what I can learn. edit I looked at the latch in the truck... very different, at least in outward orientation of the parts. I'm thinking the part I thought should move is not. So I'm thinking to try to fish a wire with a hook into the assembly from the driver's side to try to snag the lever the cable used to go to. --- Update to the previous post... I got the hood open!! It's hard to even see into this area... need dim outside light & flashlight. Also need to get down on the ground (easy for me) and then get back up (not so much). I brought out a big hunk of cardboard to work on. Much better. I decided to try for the hole the hood release cable goes through. It took some doing as I had to go in over the headlight then coax the wire down in front of the grill to the latch. I worked a wire with a hook on the end into the hole, used a vise grip to grab the wire & after a few tries, got the lever & POP!! The hood was unlatched! The rectangular hole is the safety catch so that was a waste of time & energy. The hole under the cable... easy to see now! There does not appear to be anything wrong with the latch... The steel ball on the cable seems to have rusted so that it slipped through the rusty slot in the lever. I'm going to find some way to build this ball up & I'll be back in business. I'll be darned if I'm going to replace a cable, solely because of a tiny ball on the end! At least not without a fight. Oh, yes, while I have this out... maybe a cable with a ring that could be fished through the grill to release if this happens again.

Resuming Mouse Combat after the hurricane! In the hurricane preparations, Sheila noted fresh mouse sign in the electrical compartment under the kitchen... then a few mouse poo next to a heater duct outlet in the bathroom (furness adjacent to the electrical). Since I was confident in the work we'd done... as far as we could see... I focused on where I could not see. Behind the furnace & under the stove. I can not really get to them from inside. My ex-ray vision is on the blink so I measured to the edge of the rear windows & then forward again on the outside. I was surprized! The oven is actually over the front axle of the tandem axles. Reaching into the wheel well I found the plastic inner liner patched with duct tape & reinforced tarp... but the remaining plastic liner pulls away by hand to show shinny furnace duct. As a stop gap, I stuffed behind the edge of the inner fender with steel wool. I remember the seller telling me they'd had a blow out on the highway which is why the tires are mis-matched... yup, same on both sides but passender's side, does not connect to the interior.My trip to the RV dealership was unproductive on this score. They said there are no generic parts for this. Have to know make model ect, order from manufacturer. On a 10 year old unit? Not likely. I'll figure out how to adapt or form my own from fiberglass. Other projects ahead of this.

45/70 right between the headlights!!Does anybody have a latch like this to actually look at with the hood up? Am I prying in the right directon?

On the inside, I can see the cable move so the core must be broken. No chance to vise grip the cable end.No visible screws to remove grill.I can see the hood release assembly through the (fragile) grill... it's not as far back as I had feared. Most of the assembly is concealed. There is on tab (probably end of a lever) in a slot... seems to be toward the driver's side. I was unable to budge it & grill was not strong enough to use for a fulcrum.Plan A: Snake a wire in from the passenger's side, catch a skinny screw driver in that slot... pullPlan B: Hook the shield of the broken cable through the grill. Pull until it breaks. (It's broke anyway) Fish end out. (Hopefully cable not broke at the mechanism.)Plan C: Gently flex grill bars (spread), get a socket in there. Unbolt hook latch assembly. Lift hood.

I worked 9 1/2 years as a Reserve Officer. I never busted anyone's @ss. Everyone on the unit had a day job. If you bad@ss somebody today, tomorrow he will be your customer at the hardware store. We were required to either live or work in the town. That does not mean we were ineffective... often we could change behavior with humor & our knowledge of the individuals involved. "Sam, you KNOW you can't do that!" The "Staties" are not my idea of community Policing. Their take no prisoners attitude makes the public not support them... someday a cop will get into a jam & want the community to support him. There was an incident where a St Trooper confronted a guy... nut case shot ST in the gut with a 45. Members of the public kept the cop alive... touch & go. I was a lot younger & thinner then (Supervising a Cub Scout Soapbox Derby... road legally closed to traffic.)

Thanks. I'll look into it.

Auto Parts guy popped the hood to show me where the part (to turn out the CEL) installs. Now the hood release is flopping around at my left ankle & the hood is stuck down. Anybody know how to reach it?

Power is back ON!! We're done hunkering down! Hot showers & flushing toilets! Yeah!! We have almost no damage to our property. We had no power since before 6 AM Sunday. No power, means no water. We are bucketing water to flush toilets (or using the camper). We are cooking on propane in the camper or gas grill. Also have an old 2 burner hot cooking unit as a back up. I had trouble getting the fridge in the camper running but finally got it to stay up on propane. We have used coolers to try to keep food cold. We used a freezer box I built for primitive camp (a 18" cube medical shipping box with 2" thick foam walls... I built a thin plywood box to house it & added 1" more of board foam). We weren't able to get dry ice like we do camping. We moved the freezer contents into it with wet ice. We did not loose any food from there... it did thaw eventually but we still had ice & cold. We have just finished cooking the last of it. Some food from the refridge... moved to an igloo boat cooler... didn't make it but most did.My new Honda 1000 would not run even the camper refridge... but it kept the batteries up. Propane fridge is digital... needs batteries.My old Honda EU6500 has not been run in a while... I couldn't get it to run more than 30 seconds. My buddy came over & worked on it for 3 hours, after which it would run for 3 minutes. We found brown **** in the in tank strainer... In the process, we disgarded the fuel & put in fresh laced with gum out. Going on the ****, I spent time yesterday getting the tank free. (They sure don't make it easy!) I pulled the filters (remained clean) & drained the fuel through a "funnel with a fine mesh strainer" Cleaned the strainer & poured through it back into the tank. Repeated until the strainer didn't catch anything. Looking into the tank with a light, I see brown on the tank bottom. Not sure if rust or gum. 2 Trees down just on our street, one hanging over the road, the other took all lines & wires all the way to the ground. In TINY Rhode Island 50% of people lost power, some 340,000. Ct is just as bad with over 500,000 initially. RI still has 35,000 without power. My rural town had 83 % of power still out. The El Co promised power back by Midnight Sunday. Higher density areas came back up first of course. Daughter got power back 6 PM Tuesday. She gave away a lot of food before it spoiled. I was able to get online on Tuesday at McDonalds with my old laptop while I was out for supplies we needed... I tried to log in but could not. Russ