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Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

So whats the big deal on the oil and gunk in the valves? Diesels have never port injected and swallow all that poo poo through their intake valves and do half a million kms no worries?

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kastein
Aug 31, 2011

Moderator at http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/and soon to be mod of AI. MAKE AI GREAT AGAIN. Motronic for VP.
If I had to guess it's related to EGR, AKA pump your intake manifold full of soot and sludge that came out the exhaust. The only diesel I've seen with EGR (that's an admittedly small sample set) is a friend's TDI, and they're known for coking up the EGR cooler instead because all the crap condenses in there first.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Yep, the MZR in the Mazdaspeed3 has EGR - I think that's why cylinders 1 and 2 were so much worse off since the poo poo coming from the EGR is aimed pretty squarely at their runners, whereas 3 and 4 were dirty but not nearly as bad.

It's a problem that BMW/Mini owners are encountering too, and I think some VAG products. There's enough sticky poo poo coming out of the PCV and EGR in a gasser to make the intake valves look like hell (there was a ridiculous amount of poo poo on 1/2, easily as bad as any of the "USE OUR GAS OR ELSE" pics you see at a Chevron) enough to actually impact airflow into the cylinder.

I think the only solution right now is a hybrid setup where the engine runs port-injected part of the time.

FullMetalJacket
Apr 5, 2008
the ranger/b3000 is what got me interested in small trucks in the first place. Much love bro.

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

IOwnCalculus posted:

I think the only solution right now is a hybrid setup where the engine runs port-injected part of the time.

Or do away with EGR entirely. I was pretty surprised to discover that my engine doesn't have it at all.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





FullMetalJacket posted:

the ranger/b3000 is what got me interested in small trucks in the first place. Much love bro.

You like it? Come take it!

So the invisible water leak that I feared might've been a head gasket, finally showed itself as a water pump. All of the guides I could find online seemed simple enough - get the fan, shroud, and belt off, undo the hoses, three bolts and the pump's off. Right?

Wrong.

Apparently sometime between 1993 and 1998, Ford revamped just enough of the front end of the engine and accessory drive that all of the following needed to be removed and/or loosened to get at the pump (and we're not talking about full blockage - it's fractions of an inch of overlap that Ford was too loving lazy to eliminate).

*Fan shroud
*Fan
*Lower radiator hose
*Air conditioning compressor
*Bolt holding A/C line to alternator bracket
*Upper radiator hose, if you feel like having room (or are doing the thermostat too, like me)
*Bolts holding water inlet pipe to alternator bracket
*Timing belt cover (loosened only)
*Yank on the water inlet pipe until it pops out of the pump

As I dug in, it appears that even though this engine is set up to use rubber O-rings instead of felt gaskets...the PO had decided to slather everything in RTV, which ultimately caused the leak. I suspect that he did this to the composite pipe that goes into the waterpump with a press fit (gently caress you Ford, why did you think this was a good idea) and runs through a hole in the alternator bracket (no, really, gently caress YOU FORD).

Pry as I might, all I was able to do was snap one of the mounting ears off of the pipe. So I had to pull the alternator bracket, which means I also had to remove:

*Air inlet tube with MAF
*Alternator
*Vacuum solenoid
*Coil packs
*Disconnect crank position sensor, untangle wiring harness from alternator bracket

Cue more cursing and I finally had the whole mess out. But that plastic tube is loving wedged in there and the only way to get a grip on it with the slightest hope of not destroying it was some pliers.

Which destroyed it.

So now I have to buy a new tube (dealer-only, of course - thankfully it's cheapish at $25 full retail), finish mangling / cutting the old one off so that I can separate the old water pump from the alternator bracket, and then start putting the whole loving mess together.

I want to stab the PO, and stick whoever 'engineered' this cooling system design in Guantanamo Bay to rot for a few years. This poo poo is loving criminal.

some texas redneck posted:

Or do away with EGR entirely. I was pretty surprised to discover that my engine doesn't have it at all.

I think GM has been trying to avoid it whenever possible. The LS1, for example, only had EGR in certain applications. The Corvette avoided it altogether somehow, but the Camaro had a LS1 with EGR from 1998 through 2000. In 2001, GM figured out that they could put in a smaller cam (I think with more overlap), which reduced power and eliminated the need for EGR... but then also figured out that putting the LS6 intake manifold on it offset the losses completely.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





One new tube, two o-rings, a new water pump, a new thermostat, thermostat gasket, and lower radiator hose later... so far, no leaks, though I only ran it for a few minutes because I got it finished so late. The only possible side effect is it seems like the A/C vent selector is being lazy; best I can figure is that I disturbed something in the rat's nest of vacuum lines on the passenger side and caused a small leak. But it's amazing how much better things seal when you don't try to slap RTV all over rubber O-rings!

Fender Anarchist
May 20, 2009

Fender Anarchist

What the gently caress is it with American manufacturers and vacuum-operated air distribution boxes? My Blazer's got the same poo poo, and it's so much slower than the mechanical linkages in my Protege. Is it supposed to be a luxury feature or something, a lighter touch on the selector switch?

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Well, it's certainly better than a purely vacuum-operated setup, or the nightmare of a cable operated setup in my GMC (where honestly I've given up on it working without doing a full retrofit - if I want heat, I just pop the hood and open a valve manually).

The strange thing is, it's not a concept that's completely gone away either. My MS3 had electrically actuated HVAC thanks to the automatic climate control, but it still had a vacuum reservoir and solenoid to operate the variable intake manifold valves.

Fo3
Feb 14, 2004

RAAAAARGH!!!! GIFT CARDS ARE FUCKING RETARDED!!!!

(I need a hug)

Fucknag posted:

What the gently caress is it with American manufacturers and vacuum-operated air distribution boxes? My Blazer's got the same poo poo, and it's so much slower than the mechanical linkages in my Protege. Is it supposed to be a luxury feature or something, a lighter touch on the selector switch?

All I know is some German auto did/do it and Australian Ford and Holden do it as well. It might be the light touch thing, as I know all my old cable lever cars get tight and heavy after a while, (if they ever were light in the first place), and there's no way to make a digital control, push button, or a dial like for climate control use a cable lever.
So I guess that's what they are/were all aiming towards for some top line models (as a luxury feature), and then used the vacuum system for lower and simpler model designs as they had it ready to go.

Fo3 fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Jun 14, 2013

Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

Toyota went for electronic servo motors in their 4wd's- I think the 80 series sahara with climate control was the first.

Servo motors in a dust filled environment. Apparently they are a bundle of laughs to replace too

General_Failure
Apr 17, 2005

Fo3 posted:

All I know is some German auto did/do it and Australian Ford and Holden do it as well. It might be the light touch thing, as I know all my old cable lever cars get tight and heavy after a while, (if they ever were light in the first place), and there's no way to make a digital control, push button, or a dial like for climate control use a cable lever.
So I guess that's what they are/were all aiming towards for some top line models (as a luxury feature), and then used the vacuum system for lower and simpler model designs as they had it ready to go.

But... I've had a couple of Fords with climate control and all their poo poo works off a vacuum operated nightmare. No human interface to vacuum valve anywhere. I can tell you that those climate control computers are finicky assholes.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





I figured out where the (primary) vacuum leak is, but I haven't had time to fix it. More obnoxiously, after ~150 miles, the thing started puking coolant everywhere last night. :smithicide:

Sprayed out so much / so fast that most of the engine bay was soaked by the time I got home, so I have no idea what is leaking yet.

General_Failure
Apr 17, 2005

IOwnCalculus posted:

I figured out where the (primary) vacuum leak is, but I haven't had time to fix it. More obnoxiously, after ~150 miles, the thing started puking coolant everywhere last night. :smithicide:

Sprayed out so much / so fast that most of the engine bay was soaked by the time I got home, so I have no idea what is leaking yet.

Do you think it was a result of the lean running from vacuum leaks causing some excess heat or some cooling system part decided to up and fail?

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Never showed any excess heat on the gauge, I only noticed something was up when I noticed my headlights dimming and then saw the voltmeter looking really low. Came up when I revved it, and then looked in the mirror to see coolant all over the road.

My money is on either I managed to get one of the O-rings just close enough that it worked for a little while, but then popped out; or a clamp has failed in a big way and caused a major leak that I haven't been able to find just yet.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





The new pump cracked. :pwn:

Edit: Now, with photographic evidence. I was hearing a low tone at high RPMs but I wrote it off as related to the fact that when I started, the previous owner had never torqued down all of the power steering bracket bolts and figuring that it would vibrate more when bolted down. Nope. :downs:

One of these things is not like the others!


Close up:


Closer up:


Bearing end:


Looks like either it was imbalanced or had a bad bearing from the get-go (it's hard to tell, but that's grease seeping out of the bearing already). That scoring near the impeller wasn't there when I put it in the first time!

IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Aug 20, 2013

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





More rage at the Ranger:



Replaced the battery yesterday as it was inexplicably at about 10.8-11V at rest and dropped to fuckall during cranking, even after charging. Amusingly, it was one year to the day to when I replaced it last year. The finger is because after at least three starts, including 30+ miles of driving, it left my sister-in-law stranded (and I had seen the alt putting out 14V last night).

So I get there and start poking around at it... and the battery is at 12.8V at rest. And yet I hop in and the thing is 100% nonresponsive. I don't mean no-crank, I mean not even so much as a blip of the lights or a bong or anything, key in or out. No horn, no brake lights, no headlights. It's as if the battery isn't even connected. I spent some time pulling up wiring diagrams on my phone to find the main fuses, and they all check out good. Interestingly I was seeing +12V at the fuses as well, but nothing was actually lighting up. Finally on a whim I gently caress around with that positive battery terminal (the bolt-on type) and then it works perfectly.

I've got a nicer gold-plated positive terminal on order from Amazon since these cheap ones just seem to rot away into nothing on this truck.

And tonight's actual patient, the CR-V:

7800 miles and still had 30% left on the oil life monitor, I decided it was time to change it anyway. Easy enough except for the loving phillips head bolts holding the skid pan on. Nearly stripped one before realizing it was a #3, not a #2. Four quarts of Pennzoil Platinum and a tire rotation later and it's back to business as usual.

IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 20:56 on Aug 20, 2013

Jared592
Jan 23, 2003
JARED NUMBERS: BACK IN ACTION
Phillips head bolts holding something exposed to the elements on? What the hell?

Dagen H
Mar 19, 2009

Hogertrafikomlaggningen

IOwnCalculus posted:

Yet more Ranger bullshit

Didn't you have a cool old GMC with an LT-1? :(

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Jared592 posted:

Phillips head bolts holding something exposed to the elements on? What the hell?

If they weren't some special bolts with a bit of a shoulder to them and a big flat / shallow head, I'd already have replaced them. As it is I still want to find either some proper hex-heads or even allen / torx screws to replace them with. It didn't help that they were torqued down pretty drat tight from the factory.

Bucephalus posted:

Didn't you have a cool old GMC with an LT-1? :(

No, it was a really long term troll you see! :downs:

Yes, though with a LS1, but it's been parked for closing in on four years now thanks to a bunch of stupid poo poo and a lack of time / funds to deal with said stupid poo poo. I was actually hoping to get things moving on it a bit again this weekend but an hour of dicking around with the Ranger's electricals, in the heat, while trying to pull up diagrams on Starbucks wifi (plus half an hour drive there and back) blew that plan up pretty quick.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Crossposting from the mechanical failures thread. More reasons I won't have much time to work on the GMC!

Hmm. This seems to be a bad place to be stuck.



Broadway curve eastbound on I10, during rush hour. Why am I stuck here?



Oh, it's the gooniest roadside assistance ever! Why did I call them?



Motherfucker. :smithicide: Blew up while doing about 60 in the HOV lane, but in a remarkably controlled manner. Called for help because there's no loving way I'm changing a passenger side tire, on the inside median of I10, with my back to fast-moving rush hour traffic a foot away. I actually figured they'd call for a tow, not a guy in a Miata with a floor jack, a high visibility safety vest, and a cordless impact... but then it was him with his back to traffic, not me, and he was a lot quicker than I would've been with a hand wrench and a screw jack.

Him: "Oh, by the way, that spare doesn't look too good..."
Me: "Yeah, I'm just going to get off the freeway right now and take surface streets the rest of the way."

30 minutes of puttering down side roads later...



:shepicide:

Lesson learned: Don't trust tires that have to be at least four years old, or the original spare which has to be pushing 15. I get to see if I can fit five tires and wheels in the back of the CR-V tomorrow!

randomidiot
May 12, 2006

by Fluffdaddy

(and can't post for 11 years!)

This made me look at the DOT codes on my tires.

3 1/2 years old. :shepicide: I don't think the previous owner ever rotated them either, the rears look to be about 1/4 worn (fronts are bald with only a hint of a tread pattern).

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





I actually checked the DOT codes after that last post - the ones on the truck were younger than I thought, with a manufacture date of 25th week of 2009. They've been showing significant weather checking for a good long while, though.

Trip report: I could probably have fit five tires in the CRV, but the parking spot the Ranger was stuck in was angled down too far to safely jack both axles. So I hauled both rear tires and the spare to Discount, got new tires on those, and then drove the truck back to Discount to get the fourth tire fixed. They only had four of the tire/size I wanted, so right now I have three alloys and the spare (with good tires) on the truck and one of the old tires on an alloy under the bed. Got an appointment next week to get that tire swapped and put on the truck.

In other news, I now have the garage cleaned up enough and have moved the GMC from stuck against the side wall to in the middle, so I can start working on it soon. :getin:

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





So, where was I?



Ah, yes, my hellishly messy garage, now somewhat less messy, and with the GMC at least cleared out enough to do things. Step one, jack up both ends, get it on jackstands, and get the wheels off.



Stock-type 1971-1980 C10 brakes, except for the custom rotors with 6x5.5" lug pattern instead of 5x5". But this thing has only been shoved over to this spot in the garage for a couple weeks and there's a puddle underneath just ahead of this wheel...hmm.



Coolant. That's odd...



Above that. Hose is dry, radiator looks dry, but when I got down to it... PETCOCK! :argh:

At least it sure looks like it's leaking there. If it's not that, it's the end tank, in which case gently caress this radiator because it really has very few miles on it.



And across to the other side of the engine bay, I have no idea why I thought this hose arrangement was a good idea. I'll probably end up buying new, considerably longer heater hose and putting that valve away from the compressor.

So, the laundry list of things to be done to get it back to at least driving:
  • Inspect brakes all the way around - it had a habit of pulling to one side under braking
  • Replace all four tires - I have two new (ordered them a couple years ago at least) Radial T/As for the front, the rears have hardly any miles but have sat on low air for too long to trust so I'll be getting two more Radial T/As there
  • Replace the battery - completely toast. Technically this is the 9th or 10th Firestone Forever battery that this truck has had over the years, but if they give me any grief about replacing it without having the truck running enough to get there, I'll let that 40-year-old purchase my parents made go and get one from Costco.
  • Drain the fuel tank. Gas in there is at least five years old. I think I might need the battery to do this so that I can just hotwire the fuel pump to clear it out.
  • Bolt the shifter down, properly. I do eventually want to go back to a column shift (as part of a new steering column) but the money and time for that will have to wait.
  • Give the crank a spin to make sure nothing has managed to get into the cylinders. Shouldn't have, but hey, I figure it's not a bad idea to make sure.
  • Drain coolant, redo heater hoses, fix the petcock
  • Change engine oil, replace coolant, put fresh gas in, and fire it up.

Honestly, not the biggest project in the world. Going to try and get a little bit done every weekend, probably with more getting done once it isn't hotter than all hell outside.

Edit: One of the reasons this thing got parked.

IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Aug 24, 2013

Jared592
Jan 23, 2003
JARED NUMBERS: BACK IN ACTION
Find a parking lot near where you're getting those replaced and smoke'em off since, really, how often can you do that without financial repercussion?

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





The truck is still not running and nothing else I have takes six lug wheels. Old tires are gone now anyway :v:

No progress on the truck last weekend thanks to spending entirely too much time trying to paint-match an interior door to a wall in our house that apparently neither us nor a previous owner ever painted. I do think I'm ready to start draining the gas tank, though. I don't remember how full it was... definitely not massively full since if you top it off, the fuel level is in the neck!

Trying to decide what pump to use, so if anyone has any suggestions from Harbor Freight in terms of moving somewhere between 5 and 20 gallons of gasoline, I'm all ears.

Unrelated to that but still thread-relevant, my Ranger has developed a gnarly pull when under hard braking - it wants to jump right really hard if you have to stomp the brakes. Under normal driving it has a very light pull to the right since I think it's due for an alignment. Has anyone ever seen an alignment be the sole cause of this, or am I looking at a caliper or drum that's not doing it's job?

Seat Safety Switch
May 27, 2008

MY RELIGION IS THE SMALL BLOCK V8 AND COMMANDMENTS ONE THROUGH TEN ARE NEVER LIFT.

Pillbug
Eh, could be a worn alignment component making it do that under braking, but it's probably a stuck/dragging piston or drum equivalent. My Cavalier had a sticky left rear drum that would make it dive to the left under braking sometimes.

Is there any vibration through the steering or the brake pedal when you stomp on it? Do the rotors look ok?

Seat Safety Switch fucked around with this message at 00:02 on Sep 7, 2013

General_Failure
Apr 17, 2005

IOwnCalculus posted:


Trying to decide what pump to use, so if anyone has any suggestions from Harbor Freight in terms of moving somewhere between 5 and 20 gallons of gasoline, I'm all ears.


Is there any reason you can't siphon? What are you putting the fuel in to?

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

IOwnCalculus posted:

Unrelated to that but still thread-relevant, my Ranger has developed a gnarly pull when under hard braking - it wants to jump right really hard if you have to stomp the brakes. Under normal driving it has a very light pull to the right since I think it's due for an alignment. Has anyone ever seen an alignment be the sole cause of this, or am I looking at a caliper or drum that's not doing it's job?

Get the wheels off the ground and push/pull at 3:00 and 9:00 before you even bother taking it in for an alignment.....so they don't just end up refusing to do it because you need tire rod ends or something like that. Sounds plausible from your description.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Seat Safety Switch posted:

Eh, could be a worn alignment component making it do that under braking, but it's probably a stuck/dragging piston or drum equivalent. My Cavalier had a sticky left rear drum that would make it dive to the left under braking sometimes.

Is there any vibration through the steering or the brake pedal when you stomp on it? Do the rotors look ok?

No vibration from the pedal, rotors looked fine last time I had the wheels off. Previous owner must've done pads not long before I bought it (two+ years ago) because they still have plenty of meat and look remarkably clean, you can still read the branding on them.

General_Failure posted:

Is there any reason you can't siphon? What are you putting the fuel in to?

I don't have a suitable hose and for <$10 I can enjoy not having gas in my mouth. It'll be going into a couple little red cans and some gallon jugs; I'll burn it by dumping in a gallon at a time when I fill up the Ranger.

Motronic posted:

Get the wheels off the ground and push/pull at 3:00 and 9:00 before you even bother taking it in for an alignment.....so they don't just end up refusing to do it because you need tire rod ends or something like that. Sounds plausible from your description.

Did this not too long ago - no movement other than a very slight audible / tactile 'clack' from the wheel bearings on both sides. It's been forever since I've dicked around with wheel bearings like the Ranger has; some movement is normal, right? You can't even really see it while watching, it's just enough to make a noise. Banged on the tie rod ends plenty and didn't see any movement out of them.

I'm still hoping to replace the Ranger sooner than later but even if I do, my sister-in-law will end up borrowing it for an indeterminate period of time so I'll need to keep it in decent shape anyway.

General_Failure
Apr 17, 2005
Those squeezy bulb siphon things work okay enough if you can get the suck end into something or jam another hose on it. I've used mine for pulling bad fuel out of things.

wallaka
Jun 8, 2010

Least it wasn't a fucking red shell

IOwnCalculus posted:

Did this not too long ago - no movement other than a very slight audible / tactile 'clack' from the wheel bearings on both sides. It's been forever since I've dicked around with wheel bearings like the Ranger has; some movement is normal, right? You can't even really see it while watching, it's just enough to make a noise. Banged on the tie rod ends plenty and didn't see any movement out of them.

There shouldn't be any sound in those bearings. You run the nut up, then loosen enough to get most of the drag out when you spin the hub, but there shouldn't really be enough excessive play that you can feel.

Sticky caliper guide pins, calipers needing a rebuild, excessive water in the brake system, or bad brake hoses can all cause a brake pull. Issues with the rear brakes can as well: Leaking slave cylinders, worn out shoes, misadjusted shoes.

Jared592
Jan 23, 2003
JARED NUMBERS: BACK IN ACTION
Easiest/cleanest way to empty tank: Run a hose from the fuel filter or fuel pressure test port into a bucket, then jump the pins at the fuel pump relay so it gets power and starts pumping out the tank. I think pins 87 and 30 are what you're looking for.

Start watching at 16:20 in this video for a visual:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McnXLcJNVfI

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Battery in the truck is 100% dead, and I'd rather avoid running all of that poo poo through my fuel filter if I can. I picked up a little red pump at HF, we'll see how it goes.

Galler
Jan 28, 2008


IOwnCalculus posted:

I don't have a suitable hose and for <$10 I can enjoy not having gas in my mouth.

That's some amateur level siphoning right there. Partially fill your tubing with water first and let gravity do the work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhGAjUG1Zhs

BrokenKnucklez
Apr 22, 2008

by zen death robot

IOwnCalculus posted:

Battery in the truck is 100% dead, and I'd rather avoid running all of that poo poo through my fuel filter if I can. I picked up a little red pump at HF, we'll see how it goes.

I use the pump that you stick on the end of a drill. I used it to change the oil in my boat and to drain the tank in the winter. Works really well.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





BrokenKnucklez posted:

I use the pump that you stick on the end of a drill. I used it to change the oil in my boat and to drain the tank in the winter. Works really well.

I thought about that one but ended up getting the red hand pump - this one:


Today was light on images, mostly because I was dodging rain and trying to keep my phone somewhat clean. (Note to self for later - grab my banged-up Evo3D and use that as a camera I don't care about).

Task one: Change the oil in the Ranger.


Done, without even jacking it up. I can slide in under the front and reach the drain plug just fine, and the filter has plenty of access from the top. Interestingly I've noticed a significant decrease in leaked oil with this Mobil High Mileage that I switched to on the last change - I went from leaving two or three dime-sized drops nearly every time I parked, to leaving none. It still seeps some but not enough to make a mess of the concrete, which is nice. And that's even though this is 5w20.

Task two: Pump the old gas out of the GMC.


Done. That red pump worked great - the only problem I had was that I somehow missed the packaging and instructions stating that it can be used as a siphon as well, so when I put the output into the second jug and walked away to get more jugs, I didn't realize it was still flowing at a significant rate and spilled a decent bit :v: Totalled about five and a half gallons, given that the Mobil jug is 5qt plus the spilled amount. I flashlighted the inside of the tank and there's very little left in there, maaaaybe an inch at most, that will be a pain to get out with almost any hose since it's hard to keep the end in the gas. The tank itself is still amazingly clean inside and I think I'll be just fine with some gas stabilizer + plenty of fresh premium. Those jugs will go into the Ranger a gallon at a time.

Task three: Change the oil of the GMC.

Done, using oil left over from the MS3 and a filter that apparently when I bought, I bought it for the Camaro application and forgot to get the taller truck application I normally get. Oh well, I'm not planning on leaving this change in it for long.

Task four: Drain the radiator of the GMC.

Done. I hemmed and hawed about this for a bit until it dawned on me that instead of making a massive mess, I could just pump most of it out :downs: Pump worked great again, got the coolant drained as far as I could and had very little come out when I pulled out the :argh: petcock :argh:



This little bastard. The rubber gasket is trash, so I need to find a new one. I'm guessing it'll have to be some generic thing - I measured the inside diameter as a tiny bit over a half inch, like 0.525" or so, and about 0.825" on the outside diameter according to my calipers.

Task five: Sort out the Ranger wheel bearings.

Did this one just now after taking an extended midday break from vehicles. I popped mangled the driver's dust cover off to find that the grease looked awfully metallic grey; I'm going to park it until I can swap at least that wheel bearing out. I actually have wheel bearings and I think the inside dust seal already on hand, I'll just need a fresh cotter pin and outer dust cap.

Oddly with the wheel off I couldn't get any notable play out of the rotor, but that grease definitely showed a failing bearing or two to me.

IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Sep 9, 2013

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Changed the driver's wheel bearings in the Ranger tonight. Haven't driven it much since but it does seem to have tightened the steering up a bit; however, it definitely didn't fix the hard pull under panic braking. I did finally get it to happen with the windows down and you can clearly hear the right rear locking up; the question then is that happening because it's unloading due to an alignment issue, or is it grabbing hard while the left rear doesn't do its job and pivoting the whole truck around it? I'll get it aligned eventually and sort that one out then.

I need to get some more grease packed in there (I totally spaced on actually packing the void between the inner and outer bearings full of grease :doh: ) before I take it on the freeway and make sure it's not trying to wander all over. Also, the Harbor Freight lever grease gun is a pile of poo poo.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Triple-post trip report: Picked up a pistol-grip version of this grease gun at Home Depot at 6:30 this morning and had the rotor back off, jammed full of grease, and back on the truck by 7:30. Works so much better than that HF lever-action.

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BrokenKnucklez
Apr 22, 2008

by zen death robot
When was the last time you had an alignment done? I wouldn't completely say its an alignment issue but I wouldn't rule it out.

Are the calipers retracting correctly? I had an old car with a sticky caliper and it would do some of the strangest poo poo with my rears.

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