denverpilot
Tied Down
Guess it’s a good thing the neighbor inquired about buying the diesel truck and delayed me selling it for a month. He saw me taking pictures of it a few weeks ago and inquired.
(Inquired is putting it mildly. He wanted me to float him a loan, times is hard, all that usual story out here in rural land. I don’t want anything to do with that, so I told him I’m no good at being a banker, but I’d hold on to the truck for a month and he could see what he could do... it’s been a month and I haven’t heard from him and still see a number of Harleys in his garage across the road, so frankly I know he’s not serious about needing or wanting the truck. He said HIS truck broke down just before he came over to talk to me about mine. Plenty of time to sell the Harley if he really needs a work truck... so there’s THAT story... but anyway... nope. Not doing a loan for someone across the street who’s likely to not pay. Suing neighbors and repossessing vehicles across a road, leads to way too much drama way too close to home...)
Didn’t really think much of it at the time, but looking back over the last couple of days, the Yukon has had a little vibration on the highway on cruise control that I thought was something in the poor tormented front-end from all the washboards. I already have a brake pad or caliper making a clanking noise in the left front, so I figured it was about time to get it into the favorite shop and let them figure out what’s busted and what is wearing out in the front end anyway.
(The Subaru also needs a shop visit, but minor. Just a bunch of labor. The blend door servo for floor vs defrost is stuck in defrost and I took most of the dash apart trying to get at it and it’s still further back there. Probably have to remove the passenger airbag to get to it, so I put it all back together and have been living with it / driving the Yukon which has A/C that would freeze a witch’s... well anyway...)
Turns out, tonight it overheated a bit and started misfiring on what feels like a single cylinder to me.
It’s been doing that heating thing a little lately. Idling with A/C on, the temp would creep above the thermostat temp and then rolling it would sit in the normal spot on the gauge. Also noticed that the coolant level is very very very slowly dropping and I have to put a little in once in a while. Like six months... not fast, but I haven’t found the leak.
It held for 15 minutes under a pressure test without showing itself. For whatever that’s worth. I tested it when I tested the tractor.
The misfires triggered a flashing CEL of course, haven’t had time yet to pull the codes. I limped it home anyway. Misfiring at low RPM, when wrapped up a bit, smooth as always. Plenty of power revved up, no signs of the misfire getting worse under more work. Interesting.
Flashing CEL under throttle application of any sort, but other than idling semi-poorly and misfiring at low RPM with a minor vibration, it was running fine. Adding some 50/50 coolant in town where the CEL started kept the temp dead on at the thermostat temp.
In the 130,000 miles I’ve put on it, the only other two major problems have been the fuel pump failure, a fuel line rupture that pumped a tank of fuel overboard while driving and later at the gas station, and now this.
Just under 170,000 on it today.
Haven’t decided if I feel like diagnosing it myself in the garage since I have spare vehicles or having it towed or limping it to my favorite shop yet. Hmm.
COULD be... head gasket leaking into a cylinder when the missing coolant problem and the new misfire problem are combined.
Pulling all the plugs for a look at them would tell the tale there, but I nearly wanted to kill someone the last time I tried to pull that left rear plug on the Chevy 5.3 V8 in this thing. It’s accessible if you remove a whole bunch of other CHIT that didn’t have to be routed right across it.
That last part probably makes up my mind for me that it’ll either be limped or towed to the shop for a spa day or three.
Even with extensions and wobbles and everything else I had on hand to try, that back left plug is a BEEEEOTCH to get out.
Or... I’ll just send it to the crusher. Haha. Okay not really. Ha.
Busy week. I won’t get a chance to even think about looking at it until Friday assuming nothing else comes up in the schedule. It can sit parked.
Maybe the neighbor wants it? LOL.
(Inquired is putting it mildly. He wanted me to float him a loan, times is hard, all that usual story out here in rural land. I don’t want anything to do with that, so I told him I’m no good at being a banker, but I’d hold on to the truck for a month and he could see what he could do... it’s been a month and I haven’t heard from him and still see a number of Harleys in his garage across the road, so frankly I know he’s not serious about needing or wanting the truck. He said HIS truck broke down just before he came over to talk to me about mine. Plenty of time to sell the Harley if he really needs a work truck... so there’s THAT story... but anyway... nope. Not doing a loan for someone across the street who’s likely to not pay. Suing neighbors and repossessing vehicles across a road, leads to way too much drama way too close to home...)
Didn’t really think much of it at the time, but looking back over the last couple of days, the Yukon has had a little vibration on the highway on cruise control that I thought was something in the poor tormented front-end from all the washboards. I already have a brake pad or caliper making a clanking noise in the left front, so I figured it was about time to get it into the favorite shop and let them figure out what’s busted and what is wearing out in the front end anyway.
(The Subaru also needs a shop visit, but minor. Just a bunch of labor. The blend door servo for floor vs defrost is stuck in defrost and I took most of the dash apart trying to get at it and it’s still further back there. Probably have to remove the passenger airbag to get to it, so I put it all back together and have been living with it / driving the Yukon which has A/C that would freeze a witch’s... well anyway...)
Turns out, tonight it overheated a bit and started misfiring on what feels like a single cylinder to me.
It’s been doing that heating thing a little lately. Idling with A/C on, the temp would creep above the thermostat temp and then rolling it would sit in the normal spot on the gauge. Also noticed that the coolant level is very very very slowly dropping and I have to put a little in once in a while. Like six months... not fast, but I haven’t found the leak.
It held for 15 minutes under a pressure test without showing itself. For whatever that’s worth. I tested it when I tested the tractor.
The misfires triggered a flashing CEL of course, haven’t had time yet to pull the codes. I limped it home anyway. Misfiring at low RPM, when wrapped up a bit, smooth as always. Plenty of power revved up, no signs of the misfire getting worse under more work. Interesting.
Flashing CEL under throttle application of any sort, but other than idling semi-poorly and misfiring at low RPM with a minor vibration, it was running fine. Adding some 50/50 coolant in town where the CEL started kept the temp dead on at the thermostat temp.
In the 130,000 miles I’ve put on it, the only other two major problems have been the fuel pump failure, a fuel line rupture that pumped a tank of fuel overboard while driving and later at the gas station, and now this.
Just under 170,000 on it today.
Haven’t decided if I feel like diagnosing it myself in the garage since I have spare vehicles or having it towed or limping it to my favorite shop yet. Hmm.
COULD be... head gasket leaking into a cylinder when the missing coolant problem and the new misfire problem are combined.
Pulling all the plugs for a look at them would tell the tale there, but I nearly wanted to kill someone the last time I tried to pull that left rear plug on the Chevy 5.3 V8 in this thing. It’s accessible if you remove a whole bunch of other CHIT that didn’t have to be routed right across it.
That last part probably makes up my mind for me that it’ll either be limped or towed to the shop for a spa day or three.
Even with extensions and wobbles and everything else I had on hand to try, that back left plug is a BEEEEOTCH to get out.
Or... I’ll just send it to the crusher. Haha. Okay not really. Ha.
Busy week. I won’t get a chance to even think about looking at it until Friday assuming nothing else comes up in the schedule. It can sit parked.
Maybe the neighbor wants it? LOL.
