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

[snowaddict91]

^Another good trick I've learned is to alternate between trying to tighten and loosen the offending bolt. Works on the same principle of breaking apart the rust bond.

[abraham]

Ok, then. NOTE TO SELF: Do NOT use impact wrench on exhaust bolts.

How about one of those induction heating tools like I saw up above? They ain't cheap, but COULD be a pretty rad tool to have around.

Induction heaters are cool. Never used one on a bolt that's seized but it could be useful for spot heat.

Or you could cook a hotdog

[Norseman]

checking in. hose refresh.

[El Chupacabra]

Yeah the shaft that was stuck was solid steel, and the bolt I was drilling out was (I'm assuming - but you can probably tell I'm not exactly an expert on this stuff lol) hardened steel.

Damn. That's an overbuilt bike rack!

If the rest of the rack is salvageable, Thule generally makes replacement parts available. Etrailer.com and even Amazon have had parts when I've looked.

[Thaleia]

TBH I didn't even look for parts - thing was close to 15 years old and was getting tons of rust. Seemed fine mechanically but clearly wasn't (failed under load while driving) so wanted something shiny and new.

[Thaleia]

Fucking stuck bolts. Working on cars would be a breeze if not for stuck bolts.

Absolute truth.

My wrenching experiences were doing routine maintenance / fixes on my old af cars because I could barely afford gas, let alone mechanic visits. Even brakes were long tedious jobs cause everything is in such crap condition.

Fast forward to when I was balling with my newest car in 2010 - a 2008 Nissan Rogue. Ugly vehicle and awful mileage, but any time I had to do any work on this newish car everything was so problem free. Such a difference. Like, it was enjoyable work.

[gravitylover]

I like the way those induction heaters look and wouldn't mind having one especially considering all the rust I deal with here in the northeast but it seems that a decent impact wrench will see a lot more use. Considering my (lack of) budget for tools right now I think I want to go with the more often used one so an impact wrench is on the short list. Due to aforementioned budget I'm thinking it makes more sense to go with a corded one. Since it will likely never be used anywhere other than here at home is there still a good argument to go cordless or should I opt for more power at a lower cost?

edit: I've pretty much talked myself into this one https://www.harborfreight.com/power-...nch-64120.html For the power and price it wins and for as often as I'd use it I bet it lasts a good few years. Unless someone has had a bad experience with this I'll probably be picking it up this afternoon.

[warthog]

^Another good trick I've learned is to alternate between trying to tighten and loosen the offending bolt. Works on the same principle of breaking apart the rust bond.

But then I would have to know which way is tight and which way is loose.

[waveshello]

Absolute truth.

My wrenching experiences were doing routine maintenance / fixes on my old af cars because I could barely afford gas, let alone mechanic visits. Even brakes were long tedious jobs cause everything is in such crap condition.

Fast forward to when I was balling with my newest car in 2010 - a 2008 Nissan Rogue. Ugly vehicle and awful mileage, but any time I had to do any work on this newish car everything was so problem free. Such a difference. Like, it was enjoyable work.

The Nissan Rogue is one of a handful of vehicles that are notably ugly in my book, haha. I'm not much of an artist but when I see one I think "I could do better".

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[uglymoney]

All the Nissans focus on ugly sloped rounded rear ends instead of useable space. So meh.

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[Touring_Sedan]

Progress Report.

The injector must have done it's thing. Now that it's warmed up a bit she's quiet as fuck.

[warthog]

Jesus- the raising of the Titanic.

I forget how rusty shit gets up north. Been spoiled down here for too long.
I had a 1983 CJ in High School that was a rusty shitbucket by 1990 when I started driving.
I now have a '79 that has less rust in it than the '83 probably did at 1 year old.

I also had a '94 Pathfinder that had a completely rusted out frame by 2000. That one pissed me off. I washed it religiously, took great care of it, and the frame didn't even make it 10 years. WTF?
Nissan has been an uninspired shitty meh brand since that last good Pathfinder in '95. The new lineup looks like they might be trying to get it right again, but I am worried they appear to be copying Lexus, which I think is a mistake. Those angular lines look weird to me. I think KIA is the brand to beat lately for style. The have been killing it.

[gravitylover]

Partially successful day but I learned a bunch so that's nice. I had 5 jobs planned, got 2 done and one almost but needed a different part than I got so the truck is disabled waiting for a thermostat.

What should have taken 20 minutes took 2 hours. Those swollen nuts just had to go so I got new solid steel ones, went to start taking them off and waddaya know a bunch were so swollen they needed a 23mm and then the caps came off a few so I needed a 21. Some were so tight I had a 6 foot pipe on a 30" breaker bar to get them loose. I did one at a time for less risk of breaking a lug. That took 2 hours. Today I replaced the rear shocks. Should be pretty straightforward right? Nope. The bottom came off easy. Yay. No. They came out the top but the shaft wouldn't come out of the top hat. I figured no big deal I'll unbolt that then just pry it off with it off the truck. Nope. The first one took 2 hours and we gave up and cut the top off with a hacksaw. Got the new shock out of the box and it was missing the new top nut and bump stop so I used the old ones The other side also had to be cut off but it only took a half hour and wasn't missing any parts so 4 hours for what should have been 1 hour. Finally the one that has it disabled, the thermostat I got might work fine for the 4.4 but was just off on my 4.2 so rush order from Advance with fingers crossed it's right this time. Front end work didn't get done at all.

Aldo, you were right the thermostat was bad. The pin is seized in there leaving it almost wide open. Fingers crossed the AC works when I'm done. Front end work is probably gonna get done at your place. You have better tools and all the knowledge

[bodywhomper]

What I really need is an angle grinder. And a garage. And a gas axe. And a lift.

Same. I have a gravel/dirt driveway. None of it is flat. A good friend with a 4 car garage and only 2 cars gave me unlimited access to his place. He’s moving cross country in the weeks. <sigh>

[gravitylover]

Am I the first one to use a ball joint separator to compress a thermostat to get it under the tabs? Damn this thing is tight, either that or my hands are actually that weak Had to torque down one of the shocks after the first 100 feet but it's all good now. Confidence is coming up

[unitofstuff]

As to the rusty bolts problem, has anybody here ever used one of these tools? Seems like it'd be just the ticket if it really works as well as these guys are showing!



Exhaust bolts!:

The coolest part about induction heating is how targeted it can be. Other than that, might as well use a torch for under $20.

You could pimp one heating method or another for breaking stuff loose but the truth is that car stuff is such a clusterfuck of unknown materials and heat treat conditions and huge safety factors that it doesn't much matter.

[gravitylover]

Coolant/radiator bleed question. Run the engine up to temp, turn heat on full blast drive up and down the block to make sure transmission is up to temp then open the bleed screw on the reservoir and let it run until the bubbles stop. I tapped on it a few times and sent big bubbles up, put the screw back in and turned it off and a big bubbles made its way to the top. Then took the screw out again and started it and the bubble came out and no more excess flowed out. Is it done?

[Cocximus]

Oxy acetylene torches are also very targeted, much more targeted than the regular torch

[AdironRider]

Comedy of errors doing a simple oil change this weekend in my Tundra. Had it on ramps and draining 8.5 quarts with sustained 25 mph winds meant about 8 of those quarts ended up on my face and not in the drain pan.

Meanwhile I didn't even need a breaker bar to convert my Lexus GX from airbags to springs. One of the easiest things I've ever done. Funny how that works out. At least I did the oil change first so ended my Saturday with a win on the Lexus.

[gravitylover]

^^ I'm thinking that's the direction I'm going with my RR, air sus problems are annoying. I can get pretty cool looking coilovers for cheap with adjustable damping and ride height and still maintain the tow rating.

My rookie bleed thing seems to have worked. I'll double check again in the morning when it's cool to see if the level is right. Next up is rebuilding the front Brembo calipers and replacing the swaylinks and control arms.

Gettin' all aggro with the wrenches I am it's a good thing I know coach Aldo

[ctsmith]

Back to the coolant bleed - sounds like you’re done to me, just check it again after it’s fully cold after running again.

[Skidog]

Back to the coolant bleed - sounds like you’re done to me, just check it again after it’s fully cold after running again.

Yeah I've noticed top off is sometimes required with many coolant bleeds.. reservoirs can be funky.

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[snowaddict91]

Yeah I've noticed top off is sometimes required with many coolant bleeds.. reservoirs can be funky.

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Yup. Not uncommon.

[gravitylover]

Re: Brake Rotors - Centric, Powerstop or Raybestos?

[Touring_Sedan]

Re: Brake Rotors - Centric, Powerstop or Raybestos?

If it's for the Rover, I've had bad luck with anything other than OEM or OEM spec replacements. The JLR ABS system is finicky as fuck.