Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

[gravitylover]

So here's a thing, I didn't know newer cars don't have headlight fuses, they have individual 40A breakers for left and right. I have auto-on lights and when they kicked on one blew and it tripped both breakers There may be another way to reset it but the simple solution we came up with was to disconnect the battery for a few minutes and rebooting the system. Then it worked with just one bulb until I put the second one in so that's nice to know.

[basinbeater]

Making changes on the e30 vert!

[warthog]

Testing out the site's photo uploading capability with these fun photos-







Wife got cut off by a bird, a snowbird, in a rental car staring at their map instead of the road. She pit maneuvered them and they flipped. $14k in damage. Going for a depreciation check as well. Everyone was fine thankfully.

[skaredshtles]

Damn, man - you have had quite a run with vehicles and insurance lately. ++vibes that things settle the fuck down.

[warthog]

Thanks. I agree. Raptor looks like new now though. Here's to hoping for a nice depreciation check to make it as little better.
House will be done in a month or so, and all told, we will basically have a new house and roof for about $12k out of pocket. Silver linings and all...

[The Reverend Floater]

Goddamn, Warthog. Your recent luck is like a country music song.

[warthog]

Dogs are fine though, so more like Pop Country.

[highangle]

At least your wife showed them fucking tourons who was boss of the road.

[byates1]

Thought I could save a few bucks by putting 75 90 in my rear diff instead.of 75 85. Rear diff groaning in slow tight parking lot turns. So redid. Now no groaning

[present tense]

<p>
Arrived at work yesterday with a strong smell of coolant and steam from under hood, take a look and see a pinpoint stream of coolant from upper radiator hose pissing right on the power steering pump and pulley.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
later in the day time to head home and I do a few wraps of duck tape around the hose and top off radiator with maybe a quart of tap water to make it to the parts store and then home. &nbsp;New hose, coolant flush and refill, All-good.</p>
<p>
heres the good part - as I&#39;m tearing it all apart the puzzle pieces come perfectly together. I had swapped a leaky radiator a long while back and in doing so apparently missed a mounting bracket or clip to properly secure upper radiator hose away from engine (like the power steering pulley). Over time the hose was making occasional contact with pulley and had worn down into a grove that eventually breached a pin hole. Over the winter and after longer drives I sometimes would smell a burning rubber smell (coolant hose rubbing pulley) but could never pinpoint it so just kept keeping on. A week or so ago the pinhole must have manifested because after a longer drive my PS intermittently dropped which was probabaly coolant stream causing belt to slip on pulley.</p>
<p>
just telling this story because it feels good to actually understand what caused the issue vs. just the random gremlins that kill car parts 9 times out of 10.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>

[El Chupacabra]

^^^ I recommend cleaning off all coolant residue from anything it hit, like hood liner insulation or firewall insulation.

I had critters chew up that insulation on my truck, along with a bunch of wires. In looking over the damage, I think I had a slow coolant leak from a heater core hose clamp that didn't seal tightly enough - - and I suspect that leak sprayed coolant onto the firewall insulation, attracting critters.

[Cisco Kid]

When I got my Jeep that had spent summers in the orchard and winters in the shed there was a screen over the air intake and a bag of rat poison attached to the top of the battery.

[present tense]

Good tips - speaking of cleaning, I need to probably do a good clean on the whole engine bay. The coolant spray, grime and grit that goes along with a 14 year old vehicle.

[gravitylover]

Re: Cleaning engine bays. With all the electronics underhood now what&#39;s the best way to do it? I used to grab a can of Gunk spray and get after it with a pressure washer. That doesn&#39;t seem wise anymore.

[warthog]

<p>
This is the hands down best video about how to detail your engine bay. Those little brushes he uses are money. I use them on everything. They come in a three pack at the auto parts places. </p>
<p>
&nbsp;</p>
<p>
Not sure how to get video links working right now-</p>
<p>
Here is the link</p>
<p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRSoRkM8GcM">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRSoRkM8GcM</a></p>

[highangle]

Thank you Mr ...War Thong for that authentic display of tech-tier gibberish! ...

[warthog]

[zion zig zag]

I guess in a world with no skiing, biking, home maintenance or staring off into space, I could find time to clean my engine.


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[highangle]

"An engine bay is a window to the soul."

[Meconium]

Supposedly some people spray their undercarriage and engine bay with bear spray. You can bring your eyeballs once later wrenching on the thing.

[gravitylover]

Maybe some time this summer I will take a day and clean my van but that means I also need a day for her car so, maybe not. lol. Cleaning is therapeutic but damn, minivans and SUVs have a lot of surface area! They are both sapphire/metallic black so that makes it even more tedious. I stopped at one of my favorite pick-n-pulls yesterday and solved my lack of a spare tire issue for $10 Fb marketplace was more like $100+. If you are traveling through Bath NY, stop at Wilberts. $2 to get in and pretty reasonable prices on decent condition vehicles and a really well organized inventory. Every vehicle on the lot is jacked up on improvised stands so you can work under them, they have engine hoists too if you need it.

[skaredshtles]

I guess in a world with no skiing, biking, home maintenance or staring off into space, I could find time to clean my engine.


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...

[Rideski]

So I had been letting my old jeep sit for a while while I was busy with other things, so I let my tags expire. I didn't know you were supposed to keep them current for a vehicle you're not using? So what's done is done and I'd like to get it rolling again. The DMV tells me they won't give me a temp to get to emissions, but I'm not supposed to drive it without tags. And they won't give a suggestion on how to resolve the problem. Tow it to emissions? Seems excessive.

[Cisco Kid]

I would drive it and be polite if a cop stopped me. But thats me.

[Name Redacted]

I drove around the country, CO>GA>MI>OR>CA>CO on no tags, no insurance, a bad CV joint and rusted out muffler. Got pulled over and dropped the axle in the same week I got back to CO. I'd drive the vehicle to the DMV, register it and beg for forgiveness if they call you on it. They aren't cops, they are paper pushers.