who is wrenching today?

[RearAdmiral]

Even with a new diff the trans was still making noise. They had to crack it back open and are pretty much going to replace the trans now. On the plus side I've been enjoying my Ascent in touring trim for a quite a while as a loaner. Wife likes it.

Finally got my WRX back. It is running well so far thankfully, about 9k worth of work + the other 4-5k. All warranty but yikes still. They also damaged one of my wheel center caps and torqued two of my lug nuts WAY down. Found that out when I went to switch to my winter wheels the other day. My air impact gun struggled to get them off.

 

[Motostu]

Finally tore into the 535 to change the oil pan gasket; it has the typical BMW oil seep issue because they somehow can't design a gasket that will last over 60k miles.

I'd been putting it off because it's requires a lot of teardown just to get the pan off, and this being an xdrive makes it even more of a job. The right front axle goes through the oilpan to get to the front differential.

I've got the pan back on now, but found some other things I'm going to address while I've got it apart because I don't want to do this again anytime soon!

 

[skyking]

I finally got back to the bumper on the dump truck today. I had a 92" piece of 12" channel steel to work with. That original chrome bumper is no longer in production, and the alternatives are stupidly tall.
I stuck it up there on a bucket and a work deck and some shims and beat it around with a BFH till it was even.

At first it was a little tight when I opened the hood.

I worked it down until I had a little breathing room.

Now it is up on the welding table in the carport, and I will wrestle the drill press out there to work it. Sure wish I had a mag drill!!

 

[Motostu]

Finally tore into the 535 to change the oil pan gasket; it has the typical BMW oil seep issue because they somehow can't design a gasket that will last over 60k miles.

I'd been putting it off because it's requires a lot of teardown just to get the pan off, and this being an xdrive makes it even more of a job. The right front axle goes through the oilpan to get to the front differential.

I've got the pan back on now, but found some other things I'm going to address while I've got it apart because I don't want to do this again anytime soon!

Update: after a number of SNAFUs getting parts, I finally got it back on the road last week. Ended up changing electric water pump, thermostat, and turbo coolant line o-rings while I had (relatively) decent access to them since the car has >110k miles on it.

Got new front axle seals and differential oil as previously planned as well. Hopefully will be good to go now (outside of normal maintenance) for another 100k.

 

[BoomerD]

Update: after a number of SNAFUs getting parts, I finally got it back on the road last week. Ended up changing electric water pump, thermostat, and turbo coolant line o-rings while I had (relatively) decent access to them since the car has >110k miles on it.

Got new front axle seals and differential oil as previously planned as well. Hopefully will be good to go now (outside of normal maintenance) for another 100k.

After owning/driving them for about 30 years, I can confirm that BMW does indeed stand for " Bring More Wrenches," and "Break My Wallet."

 

[Motostu]

After owning/driving them for about 30 years, I can confirm that BMW does indeed stand for " Bring More Wrenches," and "Break My Wallet."

They are fun to drive, though!

I've heard some horror stories, but have actually had great luck with this one. I've had it 10 years, and outside of a couple of recalls, it's only ever needed normal maintenance type work (oil changes, brakes (just pads and fluid flush), and tires) until now. I really only dove into it now because my wife was sick of it dripping on the floor; it didn't lose enough to even need any oil added between changes. Most of the parts weren't very expensive. Biggest were the water pump and thermostat, and I only did those as preventative maintenance because I plan to keep driving it for several more years.

Agree this would have been a large bill if I'd had the dealership do it all; lots of labor involved. Fortunately I have a spare vehicle, so could afford to leave it in the air while waiting for everything to show up.

 

[BoomerD]

They are fun to drive, though!

I've heard some horror stories, but have actually had great luck with this one. I've had it 10 years, and outside of a couple of recalls, it's only ever needed normal maintenance type work (oil changes, brakes (just pads and fluid flush), and tires) until now. I really only dove into it now because my wife was sick of it dripping on the floor; it didn't lose enough to even need any oil added between changes. Most of the parts weren't very expensive. Biggest were the water pump and thermostat, and I only did those as preventative maintenance because I plan to keep driving it for several more years.

Agree this would have been a large bill if I'd had the dealership do it all; lots of labor involved. Fortunately I have a spare vehicle, so could afford to leave it in the air while waiting for everything to show up.

They REALLY ARE "The Ultimate Driving Machine!"
I used to have a parts guy in Costa Mesa, CA who got top of the line parts for me at a great discount. Brakes were pretty easy...and cheap enough that I replaced the rotors at least every other pad change. Sadly, he retired and sold the business...the new owners ended the discount program for end users.

 

[skyking]

my cousin has the X5 hybrid. It was sure loaded with features. I did not have time for a ride.

 

[winr]

Going to recurve the points distributor in my 65 F100 tomorrow

The mechanical advance will be dropped to around 10 degrees and the initial will advanced to around 16

Found out BUC-EE's sells non ethanol regular, it is close to Galveston and sells a lot to boat owners


Ricky.

 

[tweaker2]

Recently did a complete suspension and steering overhaul on my son's 2009 Taco. What surprised me most was how the upper control arm bolts needed to have the fenderwells bashed in to clear the way for the bolts to be extracted and then hammered back in to hang the UCA's back on. Had to resort to some very medieval methods to get the bolts back in place. Didn't have the manual handy for that year to see how the dealers cope with that.

On my '99 Taco all I had to do was to unbolt the air bag sensors on one side and move a coup'la things off the skirt to the side on the other to get the UCA bolts out and away and I thought even that was a PITA. Didn't have to remove the battery tray to get it done as well.

Next up is R&R rear bearings, seals and shocks in both trucks. Not looking forward to that because the machine shop I work at does not have a hyd. press tall enough to press the bearings off the axles so it looks like I'm bringing the cutoff wheels to the party and oh so carefully slicing the bearings open then hammering the new bearings back on. Ugh. I pictured myself having a 2x4 with a hole in the middle and me jumping up and down on the jury rigged "installer" like a pogo stick.

 

[skyking]

I am shining up things, it is painting season.
We got the replacement blue door painted on my work ride.


I removed and prepped, filled and primered the channel iron "have a nice day" bumper.
It is amazing how deformed a piece of channel is from the forming process. It took several batches of bondo to true the surface up.



I blocked and primed it a few times and it took the black gloss OK.

 

[BoomerD]

I am shining up things, it is painting season.
We got the replacement blue door painted on my work ride.
View attachment 83390

I removed and prepped, filled and primered the channel iron "have a nice day" bumper.
It is amazing how deformed a piece of channel is from the forming process. It took several batches of bondo to true the surface up.

View attachment 83391

I blocked and primed it a few times and it took the black gloss OK.

View attachment 83392

Needs spikes...at least 6" long.

 

[herm0016]

I think I need a bumper like that on the suburban. lighter gauge though.

 

[skyking]

165 pounds is no joke. We put it on there with a forklift this time. When I was fitting it I cribbed it up on blocks.

 

[Fenixgoon]

replacing:
drive chain and sprockets
front+rear wheel bearings
front brake cylinder + line
clutch discs

 

[NutBucket]

Helped a friend do brakes on an E250. New front rotors, bearings, pads and calipers. Then we flushed the system. Pedal feels pretty soft. Previously the front calipers were sticking. So now I'm uncertain if there's still air in the system (used a vacuum pump) or if the master is bad too. Guess we'll try bleeding again first.

 

[Paperdoc]

Soft pedal could be caused by problems in the rear brakes.

 

[NutBucket]

The part that confuses me is the pedal wasn't soft before.

 

[herm0016]

did you run a blead program on the ABS pump? may need to have a dealer level computer, not sure on a merc. my in-laws ML350 has always had a soft pedal, and there seems to be no reason. it stops fine though.

The part that confuses me is the pedal wasn't soft before.

changed plugs and wires, cleaned MAF on the 8.1 L suburban. I swear the thing picked up 50 hp. damn. getting my diabosport tuner going to check out the fuel tables and hopefully remove " torque management"

 

[NutBucket]

Wow. Those plugs look pretty rough LOL

 

[EXCellR8]

Got some seized caliper pistons on the Subaru... grabbed a used set of 4 pot calipers from the west coast. will need to rebuild the existing pair, ugh.. because of those bad pistons my pads nearly wore out diagonally lol. Thought it was the cheap rotors I bought a couple of seasons ago but nope. Replaced the front struts too, will probably need an alignment in the near future.

Doing the timing belt and water pump after that. Last season on the single cam before it gets ripped out next year for either a EJ205 or EJ255

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Only took a few minutes but I finally replaced the broken fog light. (lens ate a rock.)

The off-brand replacement doesn't seem nearly as bright as the old one. (The bulbs came with the enclosure.) Might just get a matched set of oem-quality replacement bulbs.

 

[Eos]

Performed oil service today on my 2018 Explorer XLT with the 3.5 V6. The oil minder popped up about ten miles ago with 5% oil life remaining.

4364 miles in 349 days
239 engine hours
14.8 mpg average

Mobil1 5W-20 full synthetic with a Ford FL-500S filter.

There was some fluid on the AC compressor. No drips on the lower shield, but something to watch.

 

[BoomerD]

Performed oil service today on my 2018 Explorer XLT with the 3.5 V6. The oil minder popped up about ten miles ago with 5% oil life remaining.

4364 miles in 349 days
239 engine hours
14.8 mpg average

Mobil1 5W-20 full synthetic with a Ford FL-500S filter.

There was some fluid on the AC compressor. No drips on the lower shield, but something to watch.

Ouch...you must drive much harder than me...or drive in a lot more city traffic to get that kind of mileage. I have a 2019 F150 Lariat 4X4 6.5' bed with the 3.5 TT V6...I average closer to 20 mpg. I had a 2018 XLT F150 with the 5.5' bed, also the 3.5 V6...I averaged closer to 21-22 mpg.

 

[Eos]

Ouch...you must drive much harder than me...or drive in a lot more city traffic to get that kind of mileage. I have a 2019 F150 Lariat 4X4 6.5' bed with the 3.5 TT V6...I average closer to 20 mpg. I had a 2018 XLT F150 with the 5.5' bed, also the 3.5 V6...I averaged closer to 21-22 mpg.

My commute is 1.2 miles under 35 mph, twice a day. Sometimes three times.