Ok, #1 and #2 Have Been Indentified; #3 Possibly Found

[Griff]

So, I drive from TX to WA and find out upon waking up Thursday morning that I have a water (coolant) leak. In the dark of the left coast, I couldn't tell where the water was coming from... So, after breakfast, I go out... check again... and see coolant below the heads, but none above the seam between block and head... Bad!

The good news is that I'm parked right next to a well-recommended repair shop. So a few hundred dollars later... ok, ok... 20 hundreds later, it's all good... The repairs were finished late yesterday afternoon... so... instead of driving down to the truck stop in OR I planned on spending the weekend at thru rush hour traffic I waited until this morning.

So I leave... and got an email. My truck inspection is due mid-week (the 29th), so I decide I'll get it done today. Make appointment and all is well. Get in the shop in a hurry, 1st truck in line... tell the mechanic that before he starts the inspection to double check my right front brake, as it seems "sluggish". No problem... so... he lifts the hood, telling me to get in the truck and he'll check it for proper operation (air brakes require the brake pedal be pressed to check the "slack adjuster". Before he tells me to press the pedal, he hollers up for me to "...nevermind, found the problem." Leaky wheel seal, brakes shoes are soaked in wheel oil. Bad, but not very... new seal, shoes and a cleanup, I'll be good to go.

Until he tears the wheel down... removed the bearings and checks for fit on the new bearings... as the old ones are pretty chewed up... Spindle is out of spec, and has been allowing the bearing race to turn... not good at all... repairs could mean a new spindle... $1,000, plus bearings, seal and labor... alignment, etc. You know... I think something like this should still be under warranty... I mean really, the truck only has 2 million miles on it!

So, the truck is out of commission... and I'm back in the motel.

And... although my "cool-pad" for the laptop has a broken fan blade and vibrates somethin' fierce, but for some reason... I just don't think it falls in the same category!

[Rusty]

I think about the first 3 trucks when I started driving didn't even have front brakes. LOL!

[AJMD429]

Sounds like my day - I spent more 'time in the wellhouse'. . .

Each thing I 'fixed' uncovered something else broken, peaking with me standing in a pit of water with mouse-poop and fiberglass in it. At the end of all that, I did get a chance to capture some Bald Eagle video while back at the range setting up a trail-cam over some post-season deer carcasses...so not all the day sucked.

[Borregos]

Man! That sucks!!

[handirifle]

Griff
Sorry to hear about your run of bad. Hopefully nothing new for a LONG time.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Grandpa would have just thrown a couple road apples in the radiator on the old farm truck.
Did you have a good rest?

[Old Savage]

Griff, hope things get straightened out for you. Went to the gunshop and found a very nice .45 Colt Vaquero with a 7 1/2" barrel. Put it on the lay away.

[earlmck]

Dang, Griff. With luck like that going for you I hope you didn't waste any money on lottery tickets.

[Griff]

Dang, Griff. With luck like that going for you I hope you didn't waste any money on lottery tickets.

Oh thanks... now I gotta go check those numbers...

[Old Savage]

Boots and I hit Mega Millions tonight for a buck. She has no idea yet.

[Blaine]

Like I tolt ya....break down closer the next time...we coulda gone shooting tomorrow....Kilt a few savage, white rocks in Capital Forest.....

[FWiedner]

Ain't no thing, Griff.

Sometimes ya just gotta fix stuff, and nothin' is free.

Another tank of gas and back on the road again...

[jdad]

And the worst part was we were going to meet Saturday afternoon and I was going to him and his son shooting.

[Nath]

Could of been worse Griff....that hub could of caught fire!

Head gasket....broken stud?

N.

[rafter-7]

Well Griff, sometimes you just half to look up and be thankful!.... That cows cant fly!

With that kinda luck ole' Bessie sure would of found you that day

^

[gundownunder]

It's a good thing your not trying to make a living with that truck
Only 2 million miles, it's shameful how stuff just isn't made to last these days.

[Pete44ru]

.

I'm glad to hear yer truck's ills didn't put ya in the weeds, or stranded mid-desert.........


.

[ollogger]

Boots and I hit Mega Millions tonight for a buck. She has no idea yet.

Fred does that mean I don't have to drive truck Monday?




sorry bout all the trouble Griff


ollogger

[Old Savage]

Maybe hold off a tad. We're in for 172 mil and 71 mil Tues and Wed.

[Les Staley]

Griff, from one owner/operater to another, feel for ya...sometimes it helps to remember how long the old truck has been paid for and how much in payments you have'nt had to pay....maybe take some of the bite out of repair bills... Unless you're still paying... Forget I said anything..Les

[horsesoldier03]

You only have 2,000,000 on it??? I guess those AMERICAN made trucks just dont last as long as they should!

Enjoy your down time, your gonna have to work extra hard to play catch up on those maintenance bills, but hey, its cheaper than a new truck!

[KiwiKev]

That's rough Griff. My Ford Falcon with a straight six has been costing me dearly recently. That's only got 106,000 miles on the clock. When looking for a second car I was frustrated by the fact that lot blow their gear boxes before that make 80,000 miles these days. Ask anyone with a H@nda Odyssey. We throw a lot of cash at our vehicles- probably more in the future.

[Griff]

Biggest issue, was... it was the weekend! Found parts today, gettin' 'em shipped in... should be all here tomorrow, then back together. I've been slackin' off on how hard I'd run, run up here, take a day or two off, then run home, take a day off or three... that's gone now, gonna hafta pay off the new credit card bills!

And, yes, Les, the ol' girl's been paid off since 2002... so, really, no complaints.

[RKrodle]

Heck Griff, don't sound like nothing a little bailing wire wont take care of . Glad you caught it before something bad happened.

[Griff]

Heck Griff, don't sound like nothing a little bailing wire wont take care of . Glad you caught it before something bad happened.

Absolutely!

[Griff]

Well... the other shoe dropped this am! What they say about 3's is right! 'Long about 0130 this morning I was awoke from a deep sleep, by the sound of siilence! The engine shut down. Er... a loud bussing noise had replace the steady throb of the engine. I got up and checked the oil & water, all ok, so I sstarted it back up. After a couple minutes the "Check Engine" lite came on; this is the one that is activated by the ECM. A few seconds later it was joined by the "Shut-down" alarm! This is the one that gives you about 15 seconds notice that the computer will shut down the engine.

So I shut it down. There's a system that allows you find out if the ECM has logged a fault code. You're supposed to turn the key on, then flip this hiddem swict and the "Check Eng" lite will flasj in a sequence giving you a numeric code to diagnose the fault. So I did that... and both lights went out! Ooops... someone had left the switch in the diagnostic mode! Hmmm... maybe me?

Hmmm... turn key off, then back on, and only the "ck eng" lite cane on... but doesn't flash! No code registered. So, it's off to the dealer to hook it up to their 'puter, which has more sensitve software, which can read even momentary blips of the various sensors. So, as soon as the shipper can load up my wagon, I run off to the nearest dealer, holding my breath that the shut-down does't happen again leaving me on the side of the road!

20 miles and I make it. 2-½ hours later and they pull it in the shop. And find that one of the 3 oild pressure sensors was telling the ECM it couldn't read any oil pressure. Mechanical guage in dash was reading normal, as was the electrical sensor that drives the "idiot lite" in the dash. Only the ECM sensor was malfunctioning. Go figure, the one of the 3 that can force a shut-down!

They removed it, and apparently it had developed an oil leak into the wiring back to the ECM. After a new sensor, splicing a new terminal into my wiring beyond where mine was fouled and about $435 of my money; I'm on the road again! Luckily, the shipper forked out a extra $200 for me to take this load to O'Hare Intl airport to fly these parts to Dublin, instead of going by ship outta Houston!

Now, if only I can get over Immigrant & Deadman Passes before they put up the chains required signs...

[Old Savage]

WOW

[Griff]

WOW

Yeah... ah... the joys of entepreneurship... and now the "chain law" is back up... looks like I'm sittin' at the casino for the nite!!!

[Nath]

Oh for the good ole days when things were simple

N.