Useless Information

[swathdiver]

Sell them James.

I keep doing the same thing…. Oh I might need that or there’s a part I might need later on…. 5 years go by and there that item sits, covered in dust, taking up room and useless.

I say sell it now if you can while it’s still fresh in your mind. My opinion

I think about 10-20 years down the road thinking that I'll have the trucks still and want to keep them going. You're right, I'll sell them to someone who can use them right away and let my kids worry about it!

 

[petethepug]

Thoughts on old parts, extra parts and storage. I can chalk up 3-4 times, on a Sunday or holiday Monday weekend, after 4 or 5pm when everything’s closed, that one of my cars takes a dive. Knowing and having that hard to find part in your pile and being able to fix it in under 30 min vs being SOL with no vehicle until the next Buss day rocks.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Thoughts on old parts, extra parts and storage.
I can chalk up 3-4 times, on a Sunday or holiday Monday weekend, after 4 or 5pm when everything’s closed, that one of my cars takes a dive.
Knowing and having that hard to find part in your pile and being able to fix it in under 30 min vs being SOL with no vehicle until the next Buss day rocks.

I know a NYC livery driver whose 2011 Lincoln Town Car is about to hit (and very likely to go well past)
600,000 miles.
Not a single part on her Lincoln Town Car has EVER failed. Not one.
She has replaced every part (except the engine) BEFORE it failed.
She figures out how long parts tend to last in years or miles, multiplies by less than one, and replaces parts in advance before they fail.
Her plan obviously includes a garage with enough storage for a cornucopia of parts, including rebuilt parts from avoided failures.

Those of us who don't want to keep our vehicles for 600,000 miles can still piss off GM by outlasting GM's predictions, using part of her strategy.

I suggest a milk crate, or similarly manageable container. Into that container, put as many small parts as you can fit.
If we all put our heads together, we can start a new thread and come up with a bunch of relatively inexpensive / hard-to-find parts that we'd never want to be waiting for, to put in that milk crate.

 

[swathdiver]

I know a NYC livery driver whose 2011 Lincoln Town Car is about to hit (and very likely to go well past)
600,000 miles.
Not a single part on her Lincoln Town Car has EVER failed. Not one.
She has replaced every part (except the engine) BEFORE it failed.
She figures out how long parts tend to last in years or miles, multiplies by less than one, and replaces parts in advance before they fail.
Her plan obviously includes a garage with enough storage for a cornucopia of parts, including rebuilt parts from avoided failures.

Those of us who don't want to keep our vehicles for 600,000 miles can still piss off GM by outlasting GM's predictions, using part of her strategy.

I suggest a milk crate, or similarly manageable container. Into that container, put as many small parts as you can fit.
If we all put our heads together, we can start a new thread and come up with a bunch of relatively inexpensive / hard-to-find parts that we'd never want to be waiting for, to put in that milk crate.

I have an eight foot long 3 level shelf full of parts and then a couple of bins full of parts and some on the ground (control arms, cv axles, etc.) next to it and one small wire shelf with several sets of brake calipers. Oh, and lest I forget the 32 drawer cabinet with brake lines, oxygen sensors, strut mounts, etc. Then in my office are slips yokes, weld yokes, u-joints, spider gears, ring and pinion sets, another set of brake calipers and pads, etc.

 

[swathdiver]

Yesterday we were able to check off some more things on the "To Do" list for the Yukon. My helper replaced the heater tees and hoses and refilled the cooling system with 1.75 gallons of fresh ACDelco 50/50 Dex-Cool. I had bought one of those fancy tools to disconnect the lines but my helper was able to just use his hands. That went much easier than planned.

While all that was apart we replaced the passenger side clean PCV hose as the gasket was suspect by me, might have been making my fuel trims a little negative. Then my helper pulled the RR bucket seat and placed it on the coffee table and we went to figuring out why the inner finish panels keep getting destroyed whenever my father and oldest daughter sit on them!
Turns out what I thought was a knurled stud that was friction fit (I really need new glasses) was actually threaded for a nut! The nut was missing. So off my helper went to the hardware store to procure another. As we went to install the new nut, something was blocking it, the missing nut! It was turned around and guess he needs glasses too! Anyway, got finish panel number 5 tightened up and hopefully will never have to replace it again!

Today we're going to diagnose the LR bucket seat's heater and change the fuel pump assembly if the weather holds. Ordered a new seat track for the driver's seat and all door gaskets, should have the parts by the end of the week if the GM strike doesn't interfere.

 

[swathdiver]

My helper just finished replacing all 4 door weatherstrip surrounds and the driver's seat actuator. Will take her out later and check everything out.

Took the truck out yesterday to test the Long Term Fuel Pump Trim. It was 1.70 when the truck was fired up, went down to 1.6X and up to 1.74 while driving. Fuel Pressure never dropped below 42 psi whether I was cruising, accelerating from a stop or passing someone at WOT on the highway. Max pressure seen was 45 psi for mere moments. Pump's duty cycle was generally in the 45% range give or take a few and burst into the 50s at WOT.

I can find nothing about what these numbers mean in the shop manual. The Tech-2 when doing a Live Plot set the range from 0 to 4.0 by default. So if 0 is good and 4 is bad, seems good at 1.7. The Sierra's was in the 1.0s last time checked.

 

[swathdiver]

Almost exactly 4 years and 41,000 miles later and she needs a new Trailer Brake Relay again! Code C1114 00 was thrown again last night.

Replaced the Mode Actuator today. It acted up about three years ago for a whole day and never gave us a problem again. However, I don't want any surprises on the trip.

 

[swathdiver]

The SSR quit sending messages to the dash while I was in the hospital but we changed it out today. We also replaced both of the auxiliary HVAC actuators in the rear. This truck has the Delphi system and it looks nothing like the drawings in the shop manual. Took pictures of the stickers but forgot to get an overview picture as we were dodging rain squalls.

We'll do an oil change and tire rotation in a few weeks and that's it, she'll be ready for the trip.

 

[George B]

James,
Haven’t seen you in a while. Are you ok?

 

[iamdub]

James,
Haven’t seen you in a while. Are you ok?

Isn't he on a road trip to TX?