There are just some days I wish I didn't turn wrenches

[OR VietVet]

Last night, about 6, got a call from landlord and asked if I could help a golf buddy of his. Turns out the guy is a vet and was 1.5 miles from me. He has a 2015 Ford Escape SE with a 1.6 eco-boost engine and he got it hot and shut off in his driveway on Friday. He saw it getting hot and made it home but set a CEL and the gauge was in the red for 1/2 block. I threw my floor jack and some equipment in back of my Tahoe and my girl and me went to see what is going on. Jacked up, set a jack stand for safety, crawled under and saw coolant leak dropping thru a hole in the splash shied at back center of engine. Buried from bottom but saw a way in from top if remove cowling. It ran fine with no smoke at tailpipe and stayed at 1/2 gauge with reservoir full. My girl drove my Tahoe and I drove the Escape and got home, 1.5 miles, quick as could. Only hit one stop light. This morning I took cowling off and air snorkle tubing at back of engine and none of my pressure tester adaptors fit reservoir. Had to fill with water again and I started it and let run at idle. Then I saw the leak. Broken plastic hose that comes out of rubber hose at back of head, snakes to driver's side and up to front at radiator and tee's off to driver's side of radiator and a quick connect and from the tee goes to the passenger side and attaches with another disconnect at the coolant reservoir. Dealer had part today. I will be doing it tomorrow. With the tear down and diagnosis of this and the complete inspection of the 98 Sidekick and running to dealer and Auto Zone and day getting hotter, at my retirement age, I shut down and will do the hose crap in the cool of early tomorrow morning. Then reassemble all I took apart to get to the culprit. In the brightest part of the light you can see the rusted looking end of the rubber hose and the pulled to the side, rusted looking end of plastic line that broke completely when I laid hands on it. Also, in the last pic you can see the positive cable end that I will be cleaning too. Seems like every vehicle I touch needs that work at the minimum.

 

[OR VietVet]

Got failed part removed/installed this morning for the Escape. PITA back in there. Easiest part was the cowling replacement. Turns out that the badly corroded battery cable was the negative cable. Surprised me. 4.5 total hours labor for teardown, diagnosis, part replacement, refill and road test, battery cable cleaning. Labor money in my pocket was $340 plus a $50 house call.

 

[OR VietVet]

Unfortunately, I had a problem with the 98 Suzuki Sidekick 1.6 SOHC work. Valve cover gasket went smoothly and found 4 of 6 hold down bolts just finger tight. 4-5 hoses over the top that easily unhooked and a bracket that is a support for the snorkle from throttle body to MAF/air cleaner. Had an old style/smaller size oil pressure sender and my sender socket would not fit. Had to use a deep 6 point socket to remove. Then cut off the badly corroded cable end and installed a new cable end. Found that the plugs should be changed every 30k and had 36k on them, so did them too. Installed new pcv valve. The old one was severly clogged and would not rattle at all when shook. It was a pleasure to work on something older for a change that had easy access to components.

Then the shoe dropped. Sorry but have to get back at it tomorrow to figure out my problem. Details and repair/fix tomorrow.

 

[OR VietVet]

The Escape owner said he wants me to change the oil and filter on it soon. I told him 25+ on labor because not all oil filters are the same. He said he was told it is a PITA on the filter. The turbo plumbing is in the way. I told him I would be fair. He said no problem paying whatever. The recent coolant leak work went ok and he gave me a $50 tip. He is a vet and I will work with him. I usually figure out a way that is pretty easy to get at the filter. At least it is a spin on filter and not a cartridge.

 

[OR VietVet]

Ok, mystery problem with the 98 Suzuki Sidekick is solved. I did the all the listed work a couple posts back, but when I went to back off the ramps, the engine started and ran for 2-3 seconds and then sputtered and died. Strange. I checked new plugs and they were fuel soaked. I checked spark with an old plug and had good blue spark. Obviously had fuel. I took about 15-30 minutes rechecking my work and found nothing wrong, at all. I then looked at the fuel pressure regulator, that I never touched in the previous work, and when I unplugged the vacuum feed hose, fuel came out. Turns out that the regulator diaphragm blew on the 25 year old vehicle. See video and that was me just turning the key on and no crank. Replaced with a new regulator and it took a bit to restart but was definitely a different cranking sound and then fired off and ran at a higher idle for about 10 seconds and then idled down and was smooth. In gear, still smooth. That damn regulator failed in my driveway. I showed the owner and he agreed that was not my fault. Collected my payment and he said he still wants me to inspect his 86 Nissan Hardbody Pickup. In all the years I have been working on vehicles in my driveways at home, 40+ years, I have only had a vehicle towed 2 times that was towed to me and the repair was more than the vehicle was worth and so was towed away. I had to sleep on it but I figured it out.

So, when some guys have a problem crop up out of the clear blue sky after doing some work, remember, some components/systems pick their own time to fail.

 

[OR VietVet]

Thought I had till next week before having a vehicle to look at and then I went for tacos today and a fav place and the manager, Denise, that I have known for 15 years, approached and said she has a CEL on and a VCS light flashing. Had it a week ago too, took to the dealer. They were booked solid and did pull the code and cleared it and sent her on the way with no paperwork for the code to know what it was. Now same lights on again. No running problems. She is buying me lunch tomorrow, they have a double stacked Stumpy Burger, like White Castle size, with Canadian bacon, cheese and a sauce that is killer, called a Concrete Cutter. Gonna have one of those and some tots for free. All I am doing for that is bringing my scanner for codes retrieval. It is a 2008 Toyota 4Runner Sport Edition and has the 4.0 engine, same as the 4.0 on the recent 2010 FJ Cruiser I worked on. I told her that after that, I unlock the toolbox and the charges start. Done some research and found some info about the lights. The VCS pretty much comes on every time the CEL does.

Me and my friend go to the bar she manages, called Sonny's, and they have taco Tuesday and Thursday. $1.50 for meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and sour cream. Crunchy shell and red or green sauce. Big shell too that is stuffed just right. I usually have a Concrete Cutter and 2 tacos when I go.

 

[OR VietVet]

More news. I told you that my friend that was in the other shop here locally and we would use lift at night sometimes when I did my build thread. Well he split off and now has his own shop and is in a small town that is about 12 miles up the road, called Junction City, Oregon, and he is partners with a car lot guy that helps every now and then but mainly works out of the office when not at the car lot. My friend is really the only tech. He asked today if I still meant it about my earlier offer to help in the shop if he ever needed more hands. He does not want a 9 to 5 tech. He just wants help 1 to 2 days a week, no more than 3 days and not 8 hours a day. A lot like what I am doing now at home on my back in the driveway. I can leave my tool boxes home and use his tools. I said, "Just say the word and I am there". This is his boxes on the delivery truck when he moved in to the new shop:

 

[Tahoe14]

Keep this going as I just read all 11 pages. Very interesting and it sure tests your mechanical skills and knowledge at times.

 

[OR VietVet]

Sorry, the last two posts are in wrong place. I meant to post at the "I am at work....entertain me", thread. Hopefully @Fless can delete them.

 

[OR VietVet]

On to updates now.

The 2008 4Runner had codes P0441 and P0455. Turns out there is a Toyota TSB about when these two codes show at the same time. Failed gas cap that was not sealing properly because the ratcheting mechanism in the cap was failing. I did replace the gas cap and cleared codes and she will drive till I see her Tuesday when I go to Sonny's for tacos. May need to eventually replace a purge valve but will wait and see. On Tuesday I am going to pull and clean the MAF and if is filthy enough, I will recommend a throttle bore cleaning. The MAF is easy access, so I will do the cleaning where she parks her vehicle. I am also going to re-align the air filter housing cover. The dealer did not hook in the back hinge correctly when they last did her new air filter.