Got a little maintenance done on the old girl

[BrianF]

Just about done most of the usual maintenance done on the 06 TB. Pulled off the front calipers, greased the pins with some silicon grease, pulled the passenger side CV and checked the disconnect bearings. At 220,000km the front pads and rotors are doing great. They were great so I threw in a bit more grease. Greased the tie rod ends, found out the "glug glug glug" sound it was making. I had ripped out the AIR pump but left one line hooked up to the solenoid near the manifold. Found the solenoid leaking a bit so it was building up moisture in the tube and finally it filled up enough to offer resistance. Got to block that off now too. Found the cause of the hard to fuel issue, pulled the vent solenoid and found it full of dirt and dust. A few taps later and you can now fill an empty tank without any issues.

Besides the thermostat and spare tire hoist, I need to do the TC fluid, grease the driveshaft U joints. Will see if I can get a few more years out of this old girl. Last year I hand calculated its mileage and it was sitting around 12.6 L/100km, which is down from the 12.1 or so 6 years ago.

 

[Reprise]

Damned metric system - 'down' is 'up'...lol.

j/k - I know that way of calc'ing FE is technically more accurate.

Good job on the maintenance - we'll be losing one less member throigh 'TB attrition' LOL

 

[mrrsm]

Small h/j...

For Fuel Efficiency Calculations that can get around that confusing and minor "Metric Nuisance"... :>)... THIS site has a very nifty solution for those concerned with monitoring their long term fuel consumption into one, sweet average MPG listing:

https://calculator-converter.com/l_100km_mpg_convert_mpg_to_l_per_100_km.php

 

[BrianF]

Sorry just reread my post. It got scrambled. I usually use my laptop and it randomly jumps the cursor around and causes that mangle mess.

Well I look at it this way: I can still do the work myself and even with the cost of parts, its well under a new vehicle payment. The amount I could get for this on a private sale or trade in would never cover what it would cost to replace it with a similar style of vehicle. Plus I still love the platform and the overall package. I was even milling around online looking for a newer, lower km Tb.

I too am not totally sold on the L/100km method but it is so easy to hand calculate and for the most part I am still trying to buy into the metric side of things on vehicles.

 

[BrianF]

I had ordered the Dorman replacement spare tire hoist and it just arrived today. Is it better than OEM? Real question: Is it any worse? The general construction appears fine and quite similar to the OEM unit. I remember talk regarding the material used for the cable. It is indeed coated with some sort black anti rust coating and does not have the safety clasps like OEM.

Am I worried that the cable will corrode, causing the spare to careen down the highway? Not in the least. I blow tires on a regular basis out here and use the hoist a lot so I will be able to inspect it and I am sure the plastic winch will self destruct with plenty of life being left on the cable. On that note, the AC Delco thermostat is in transit and I am pretty sure I will be needing shocks and struts again.

 

[Mooseman]

I did a review of it and your concerns are correct.
Dorman now has spare tire hoists

 

[BrianF]

Yes, thanks! That was the article. That info was on my mind when I decided to deviate from OEM to the Dorman. I will be keeping a close eye on this. I had bought a used one a year ago and got maybe 5 uses out of it before it self destructed. I have a knack for catching nails, rocks and other odds and ends with my tires. In fact I think I just found another slow leak. The fun of driving grid roads.....

 

[BrianF]

Oh an on this note. The Tstat is in. ACDelco. Its made in Mexico by Behr and looks actually well built. On it goes next week.

Last fall my wife had noticed that the Tb was not tracking so well on broken asphalt, in heavy winds and so on. She was correct, it felt like the back end was loose. I checked the sway bars and links front and back and everything was still pretty solid. It feels a bit like the shocks (Monroe Sensatrac shocks/struts installed 2014 and now with 60,000km) were softening up. Just recently I found the pass side rear shock was leaking, which would explain why it is not handling like it used to.

So now I am pricing out Bilstein 4600's for her. May as well do all 4 corners again. Are guys getting a decent life out of them?

 

[Mooseman]

When I scrapped my '02, I kept the Bilsteins I had on there for 5+years. I already installed the rears on my '07 and plan to do the struts when needed.

 

[BrianF]

Thanks! That's what I wanted to hear!

 

[BrianF]

Well I broke down and spent some coin last week. We got all our hay in the yard so I had no more excuses on the other work needed. I ordered my 4600's from RockAuto after looking at various venders in Canada, Amazon and ebay. Well like everyone has been saying for years, Rockauto has good prices and service. They do and the shipping/duties/exchange was still better then pretty much everywhere else. The billing said about 470$ all in to my office but in the end they charged a little less than that on my card. They said they should be at my door next week but here they are. Quite happy.

So this Sunday/Monday I now have a project. On a similar note: When I bought the Monroe Sensatracs in 2014, they came to 360$ as they were on sale. They did not have new front jounce bumpers or the rubber spring isolator either. Quite happy with the hardware included.

 

[Mooseman]

And with the new USMCA agreement, the de minimis will increase to $150. All you need to do is split up the order to bring it below that amount depending on shipping charges. In most cases, it will help lower costs.

 

[Kelly@PCMofNC]

Nice work. I love fixing small things...fall in love with the vehicle all over again!

 

[BrianF]

So as excited as I was, I put in the rear shocks early this morning after work. What a difference. The old ones were shot, no two ways about it. The one that was leaking was dead weight and the other had some shock absorbing properties left... if you gave it enough time. I have them laying around so I will grab a pic later.

Thankfully I am not a mechanic or trucker by trade so I still enjoy driving and working on my own vehicles but we will see when it comes time to do the fronts this weekend...

 

[BrianF]

Next on my list was a new battery, which went in today. Last year when I had that parasitic draw, it drained the battery numerous times. We had a nasty winter and the battery froze as well. It was never the same and as the weather cooled off this fall, the battery became weak when let for a few days at a time. The freshy is in and we are ready to roll.