Well...
(This is just going to be a rambling account of what I've been doing lately. I don't need any help at the moment, and you can just skip this post altogether unless you're interested.)
I keep planning to tackle one job and ending up doing three others. I had to replace the driver side window regulator in my 2000 Buick Lesabre. Being more careful than usual, I decided to disconnect the battery which GM decided to put under the back seat and discovered that the battery was sitting in about one inch of clean water. That led to an adventure looking for leaks, discovering a couple of holes, doing rust repair, rustproofing and painting. Biggest problem was getting the rear seat back loose. Got that all squared away only to fine that the entire rear carpet (about two levels up from the battery) was wet. That will require removing the front seat(s) to get the one-piece carpet out. Put that on the back burner because I wanted to (finally) do some work on the GM360 2003 Bravada.
Task #1: Rewiring the buggered up trailer harness and replacing the oddball plug with a standard 7-wire receptacle. I had a GM schematic, and the wire colors matched what I had. Unfortunately, there was a lot of rust and scale from the rear wheels back. Decided to clean that up. Discovered a brand new 2002 date code Michelin spare tire that had never been dropped down. No air in it, and the "hoist" mechanism was completely rusted and seized. Had to grind the end of the retainer off to drop the tire down. It's never touched the road and still has all the paper stickers on it.
So, I started up the air compressor and used my needler to knock off all the loose rust and scale. Fortunately, I found that everything was quire solid with just a lot of surface rust in this area. Lots of good metal left. Thought about using the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Plus but decided to hit all the rusty areas with Rustoleum Rust Reformer. Cleaned and treated everything from the differential back. Maybe paint it with rust encapsulator later.
Obtained and installed new spare tire storage/hoist assembly. Used the needler on the spare tire wheel. Painted wheel with rust encapsulator. Then installed the new trailer hitch receptacle, got that working correctly, and weatherproofed it.
Anyone still with me? Anyone? Buhler? Buhler?
So...(I'm just getting started)...
Today, I decided to flush the cooling system, replace the radiator hoses, and put some new Dexcool in there. How to get at the lower hose? Well, whats this? Hey, look! there's some kind of oil cooler down here. It's three feet long, completely rusted and...bypassed. Methinks this is a power steering fluid cooler. Yup. Well. let's get that outa there.
Yes, I took the entire front end plastic off the truck, which gives you pretty good access to everything in the front, including the area where I want to install a transmission oil cooler. It's not quite as stupid as it sounds because the structural plastic on the front of the "stylish" Bravada is quite different from the Trailblazer, and you really can't fit a decent sized tranny cooler in there without removing a lot of stuff. Besides, now I can treat the minimal rust in the front suspension area and get to all the grease fittings in the front end.
So now I'm waiting for the power steering cooler and the trans cooler to come in a day or two. With some handy mounting brackets and some extra hose. I can change the engine oil and filter. Maybe flush the cooling system, but I'm thinking that I'll change the radiator hoses when I do all the cooler installation work since it will be easier when that lower hose is out of the way.
Making good progress on the truck, but so far it's always something else to do before the intended task. It will be in good shape for towing the pop-up camper in six weeks.
(This is just going to be a rambling account of what I've been doing lately. I don't need any help at the moment, and you can just skip this post altogether unless you're interested.)
I keep planning to tackle one job and ending up doing three others. I had to replace the driver side window regulator in my 2000 Buick Lesabre. Being more careful than usual, I decided to disconnect the battery which GM decided to put under the back seat and discovered that the battery was sitting in about one inch of clean water. That led to an adventure looking for leaks, discovering a couple of holes, doing rust repair, rustproofing and painting. Biggest problem was getting the rear seat back loose. Got that all squared away only to fine that the entire rear carpet (about two levels up from the battery) was wet. That will require removing the front seat(s) to get the one-piece carpet out. Put that on the back burner because I wanted to (finally) do some work on the GM360 2003 Bravada.
Task #1: Rewiring the buggered up trailer harness and replacing the oddball plug with a standard 7-wire receptacle. I had a GM schematic, and the wire colors matched what I had. Unfortunately, there was a lot of rust and scale from the rear wheels back. Decided to clean that up. Discovered a brand new 2002 date code Michelin spare tire that had never been dropped down. No air in it, and the "hoist" mechanism was completely rusted and seized. Had to grind the end of the retainer off to drop the tire down. It's never touched the road and still has all the paper stickers on it.
So, I started up the air compressor and used my needler to knock off all the loose rust and scale. Fortunately, I found that everything was quire solid with just a lot of surface rust in this area. Lots of good metal left. Thought about using the Eastwood Rust Encapsulator Plus but decided to hit all the rusty areas with Rustoleum Rust Reformer. Cleaned and treated everything from the differential back. Maybe paint it with rust encapsulator later.
Obtained and installed new spare tire storage/hoist assembly. Used the needler on the spare tire wheel. Painted wheel with rust encapsulator. Then installed the new trailer hitch receptacle, got that working correctly, and weatherproofed it.
Anyone still with me? Anyone? Buhler? Buhler?
So...(I'm just getting started)...
Today, I decided to flush the cooling system, replace the radiator hoses, and put some new Dexcool in there. How to get at the lower hose? Well, whats this? Hey, look! there's some kind of oil cooler down here. It's three feet long, completely rusted and...bypassed. Methinks this is a power steering fluid cooler. Yup. Well. let's get that outa there.
Yes, I took the entire front end plastic off the truck, which gives you pretty good access to everything in the front, including the area where I want to install a transmission oil cooler. It's not quite as stupid as it sounds because the structural plastic on the front of the "stylish" Bravada is quite different from the Trailblazer, and you really can't fit a decent sized tranny cooler in there without removing a lot of stuff. Besides, now I can treat the minimal rust in the front suspension area and get to all the grease fittings in the front end.
So now I'm waiting for the power steering cooler and the trans cooler to come in a day or two. With some handy mounting brackets and some extra hose. I can change the engine oil and filter. Maybe flush the cooling system, but I'm thinking that I'll change the radiator hoses when I do all the cooler installation work since it will be easier when that lower hose is out of the way.
Making good progress on the truck, but so far it's always something else to do before the intended task. It will be in good shape for towing the pop-up camper in six weeks.
