What are you doing today? [Part II]
- Thread starter HARDTRAILZ
- Start date
How much does it take to do an entire vehicle? Thinking of doing it myself as nobody around here uses Fluid Film.
I use a bit less than a gallon on the TB, especially since I do it once a year. Opinions vary wildly and I have seen videos etc showing much less material used so I must really lay it on.
I actually did 3 vehicles: the TB, a Beretta, and a Vue and used about 2 gal. However, 2 are unibodies so a bit less there, and the Beretta is summer only so it just got a quick spritz.
I have a cheap sprayer I bought on Amazon, it doesn't atomize well. It doesn't come with a reservoir so I have to use a Gatorade bottle that I drilled a hole in the lid for the siphon tube. I would recommend one with a reservoir if they are available.
Be prepared to smell like a barnyard and be sore from twisting your body every which way!
Went out for a drive around town running some errands. Filled the tank up and kept an eye on the coolant temp for which I did a home repair on a heater core hose leak. No issues so far and the needle is right in the range. Need to get around to cleaning the interior. 
Fed about 130 college students with some folks from my church. Once a year we feed them a good hot lunch. The students make it easy, they are well behaved and considerate and enjoy the food. We cooked up the food yesterday and today reheated it. The oven today stopped heating after about a half hour of work, so the first few students got to eat microwave reheated food. Then the oven began working again and all was well.
Got the frame pieces back from the sandblast shop and immediately proceeded to put the spray on bedliner. Turned out pretty good and probably better pro.tected than original from the factory. Why can't they do this instead of that wax crap?
Decided to take the TB for a mini vacation to Key West for Halloween. Be back in a week.
Replaced the ecm on a 2012 yota sienna. Seems some rodents got in and chewed up some wires that fried up some part of the board/s inside the ecu. Its my wife's cousins work vehicle so basically doing it as a favor.
We had some tree rats (AKA squirrels) get into the engine bay of the wife's '06 TB and start snacking!
Cost us about $300 to have the wiring repaired.
I don't really hate squirrels. They're pretty good baked in cream of mushroom soup.
Cost us about $300 to have the wiring repaired.
I don't really hate squirrels. They're pretty good baked in cream of mushroom soup.
It was a very short vacation. Left NJ about 9AM, made it to Aberdeen, MD and got into an accident.
Was going south on Rt. 95, left lane, something happened in the right lane and a Vette came into my lane sideways. I t boned him at 65. Air bags went off, after that I'm not sure what happened, but was consious and got out of the car.
The entire front suspension was torn off, control arms pulled out of the frame, front axles BROKEN. The only straight panel on the TB was the rr door. Even the gas tank was leaking.
The driver of the other car and I walked away, no injuries.
I'll post some pictures soon.
Was going south on Rt. 95, left lane, something happened in the right lane and a Vette came into my lane sideways. I t boned him at 65. Air bags went off, after that I'm not sure what happened, but was consious and got out of the car.
The entire front suspension was torn off, control arms pulled out of the frame, front axles BROKEN. The only straight panel on the TB was the rr door. Even the gas tank was leaking.
The driver of the other car and I walked away, no injuries.
I'll post some pictures soon.
I'm glad you're OK!! That's what matters!
Man that's crazy, glad the TB did its job and protected you. That coulda ended way worse than it did. 
Omg! Glad to hear everyone was safe. That was scary just reading about it
Yep, that TB deserves a medal and an honour guard to the crusher. I'm also impressed with the Vette that the driver also walked away.
After shaking it off, time to look for a replacement.
After shaking it off, time to look for a replacement.
Wow!!! Well as they always say, if you're going to play, play it to zero. Do it right.
Nothing huge on my front. On some extended leave from work so I was tinkering around the farm. No pics yet but I tore into the new Ghost. Looks like the fuel lines from the tank to the carb were in decent shape, no leaks and a clear inline filter.
I disconnected the main line and primes up a line from a jerry to the fuel pump. A few primes from the carb mouth and she was idling away.
I ripped into the tank, which was fn nasty. A few flushes later and she is usable. The in tank line and filter were trash. Some previous owner used fuel line that was not rated to be submersible. She was goo. I got some new line and a filter from Napa and buttoned that up. She runs from her own tank and the primer works.
It does need the carb removed as it has a rich mid to high end bog. That should be the emulsion tube o ring. So a cleaning, quick build and factory needle settings. Nothing I did not already learn the hard way with my other sleds.
Nothing huge on my front. On some extended leave from work so I was tinkering around the farm. No pics yet but I tore into the new Ghost. Looks like the fuel lines from the tank to the carb were in decent shape, no leaks and a clear inline filter.
I disconnected the main line and primes up a line from a jerry to the fuel pump. A few primes from the carb mouth and she was idling away.
I ripped into the tank, which was fn nasty. A few flushes later and she is usable. The in tank line and filter were trash. Some previous owner used fuel line that was not rated to be submersible. She was goo. I got some new line and a filter from Napa and buttoned that up. She runs from her own tank and the primer works.
It does need the carb removed as it has a rich mid to high end bog. That should be the emulsion tube o ring. So a cleaning, quick build and factory needle settings. Nothing I did not already learn the hard way with my other sleds.
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Yes, I'm sure the TB kept me alive. Being so old, I sometimes wondered if the air bags still worked, hell of a way to find out.
Checked on the computer for Envoy/Yukon/TB for sale in this area and the prices are stunning. The one that surprised me was an 03 TB, 170,000 miles for $9k. Anything around 2015-2019 was over $20k, with reasonable milage.
When I retired all my debt was paid off, except for the mortgage. Then the stock market took a dump, lost about 1/3 of the value on my 401k, so I'm sweating car payments. Wondering what the insurance company is going to give me for the TB.
Have to see about a rental car Monday.
You will likely have to negotiate/fight with the insurance company. Be armed with those examples of similar TBs for sale. Kelly Blue Book is probably out to lunch with the current resale market.
Yesterday, loaded up the Sierra with tools, the welder, frame pieces and prepped the RV trailer for the trip north. Also hitched it up so I wouldn't have to this morning. Surprisingly, the weather will be nice and not too cold all week. 12~15c daytime and 3~12c nighttime is surprisingly "warm" up there this time of year. Our trailer is 3 season rated and have already used it in below freezing temps. It's actually quite cozy.
Oh, and earlier this week, the DIL called me because her 'Nox was making weird noises in the front wheel and throwing ABS and Stabilitrak lights. Figure it's probably a wheel hub but my son was at the mines for another week working. She wound up driving the Silvy with its rotted rear crossmembers to get to work. We're also gonna be dealing with that problem when he comes back from the mines today.
Yesterday, loaded up the Sierra with tools, the welder, frame pieces and prepped the RV trailer for the trip north. Also hitched it up so I wouldn't have to this morning. Surprisingly, the weather will be nice and not too cold all week. 12~15c daytime and 3~12c nighttime is surprisingly "warm" up there this time of year. Our trailer is 3 season rated and have already used it in below freezing temps. It's actually quite cozy.
Oh, and earlier this week, the DIL called me because her 'Nox was making weird noises in the front wheel and throwing ABS and Stabilitrak lights. Figure it's probably a wheel hub but my son was at the mines for another week working. She wound up driving the Silvy with its rotted rear crossmembers to get to work. We're also gonna be dealing with that problem when he comes back from the mines today.
Been a busy couple of days down here, although that wasn't the plan. Got the new SSD installed, threw in the OS and all my programs.
Have noticed that when it reboots it takes much longer than expected. POSTing, takes like 3 minutes, and I don't think it took anywhere near that long before. (when it was brand new) Checked the Gigabyte website and my BIOS, to see I was about 2 years out of date, and there were a number of updates. Grabbed the latest, and flashed it. Mistake!
System wouldn't POST at all, and would take 5 minutes just to get to the splash screen before locking up. I thought I had bricked it, but after a few hours of research, found a way to flash the BIOS back without needing get into the BIOS to do it. Crisis averted. Will investigate ways to get around the slowness issue later.
This morning got out in the yard to do the final mow of the year. Grass pretty much stopped growing and is brown in most places due to the lack of rain, but the weeds... Threw on the bagger attachment, to try and pick up as many weed seeds as possible. It's so bad in the back yard, that the soles of my shoes are full of those spiked seeds every time I walk around back there. Figured I would just dump all that on the compost pile, and rake that stuff in. Pulled back the tarp, to find this lil guy hiding under there.
Did have one bit of concern, as the mower ran low on juice before I finished everything. Not a huge deal because I do the front yard first now, and move to the back afterwards. Either the blades would stop, or the drive wheels would stop. Looked down at the gauge and it was blinking in the red. Used the remainder of the juice to get it back in the shed. Thought about it, I've had this thing for 5 years now, so the batteries have given me as much as you could expect really. We'll see how quickly they run out next season when there's considerably more grass to cut. Replacing all 4 will be quite the investment, but that's the tradeoff, not needing to buy gas every so often.
Got done with that to watch my Bears get curb stomped. Knew they were gonna lose that game, but like always, they gave me hope with a nice lil comeback before returning to form. As a result, I think some comfort food is in order. Bacon double cheeseburger and fries are cooking now, those will make me feel much better.
Have noticed that when it reboots it takes much longer than expected. POSTing, takes like 3 minutes, and I don't think it took anywhere near that long before. (when it was brand new) Checked the Gigabyte website and my BIOS, to see I was about 2 years out of date, and there were a number of updates. Grabbed the latest, and flashed it. Mistake!
System wouldn't POST at all, and would take 5 minutes just to get to the splash screen before locking up. I thought I had bricked it, but after a few hours of research, found a way to flash the BIOS back without needing get into the BIOS to do it. Crisis averted. Will investigate ways to get around the slowness issue later.This morning got out in the yard to do the final mow of the year. Grass pretty much stopped growing and is brown in most places due to the lack of rain, but the weeds... Threw on the bagger attachment, to try and pick up as many weed seeds as possible. It's so bad in the back yard, that the soles of my shoes are full of those spiked seeds every time I walk around back there. Figured I would just dump all that on the compost pile, and rake that stuff in. Pulled back the tarp, to find this lil guy hiding under there.
Did have one bit of concern, as the mower ran low on juice before I finished everything. Not a huge deal because I do the front yard first now, and move to the back afterwards. Either the blades would stop, or the drive wheels would stop. Looked down at the gauge and it was blinking in the red. Used the remainder of the juice to get it back in the shed. Thought about it, I've had this thing for 5 years now, so the batteries have given me as much as you could expect really. We'll see how quickly they run out next season when there's considerably more grass to cut. Replacing all 4 will be quite the investment, but that's the tradeoff, not needing to buy gas every so often.
Got done with that to watch my Bears get curb stomped. Knew they were gonna lose that game, but like always, they gave me hope with a nice lil comeback before returning to form. As a result, I think some comfort food is in order. Bacon double cheeseburger and fries are cooking now, those will make me feel much better.
Got to North Bay. Uneventful tow and quite a beautiful day. Setup and all that went well. Setup my wife's work laptop and I had brought a monitor to use with it and made sure I brought a cable for it. It's an older monitor and forgot it uses DVI and vga and I brought an HDMI only cable 
I'll have to run around tomorrow morning to find an adapter. She can use the laptop's small screen until I find one.
I'll have to run around tomorrow morning to find an adapter. She can use the laptop's small screen until I find one.
I can sell you my Saab for what I have in it if your interested...
My week so far.
Monday, started with the DIL's Equinox. It was throwing ABS and Stabilitrak codes. With the Bluetooth adapter and the Chevrosys app, found to be an issue with the right front sensor. Got a bearing hub and new sensor, take it apart and it's a different system from other trucks. The sensor is in the knuckle and thought the tone ring was on the axle. Totally perplexed, we finally figured out the problem. When we took out the hub, there was a round magnet that is stuck to the backside of it that spins close to that sensor and it came unglued and broke. The hub itself was fine. So we had to replace a $200 hub just for a round fridge magnet. And while doing this, found the ball joint had a torn boot and was worn. Replaced that, which was the three rivet type that had to be ground down. Had to drill out the holes in the lower control arm with a dull bit so that was fun. All good in the end.
Then yesterday was the work on the Silvy. Drop the tank and chop off the remnants of the cross members. Of course the U-nuts for the tank straps spun so had to cut the straps and will have to grind off the front bolt. Ground down and prepped the frame to accept the "new" crossmembers. Had to grind down the ends a bit as they were too tight in the frame rails. My son then proceeded to weld them in. Not completed as we were running out of daylight.
Today we should be able to finish this up.
Monday, started with the DIL's Equinox. It was throwing ABS and Stabilitrak codes. With the Bluetooth adapter and the Chevrosys app, found to be an issue with the right front sensor. Got a bearing hub and new sensor, take it apart and it's a different system from other trucks. The sensor is in the knuckle and thought the tone ring was on the axle. Totally perplexed, we finally figured out the problem. When we took out the hub, there was a round magnet that is stuck to the backside of it that spins close to that sensor and it came unglued and broke. The hub itself was fine. So we had to replace a $200 hub just for a round fridge magnet. And while doing this, found the ball joint had a torn boot and was worn. Replaced that, which was the three rivet type that had to be ground down. Had to drill out the holes in the lower control arm with a dull bit so that was fun. All good in the end.
Then yesterday was the work on the Silvy. Drop the tank and chop off the remnants of the cross members. Of course the U-nuts for the tank straps spun so had to cut the straps and will have to grind off the front bolt. Ground down and prepped the frame to accept the "new" crossmembers. Had to grind down the ends a bit as they were too tight in the frame rails. My son then proceeded to weld them in. Not completed as we were running out of daylight.
Today we should be able to finish this up.
Seeing as the snow came today, we fenced a bit in the morning and I spent some time on the new sled this afternoon. Carb was torn down and did a basic clean as it was pretty decent inside. As I learned previously, the main cause for rich bogging or flooding is the emulsion tube o ring. This one was no exception as it was hard and broke on removal. Then factory hi lo settings of 1.5 turns out and she came to life.
After a light warm up I richened her 1/4 more each. Then topped up the chain case and reverse box with ATF. I must say, she rips quite well!! Both kids had a tear before supper. So next she needs a fresh battery, lights, a clutch clean and then a closer inspection of the bogies and drivers.
After a light warm up I richened her 1/4 more each. Then topped up the chain case and reverse box with ATF. I must say, she rips quite well!! Both kids had a tear before supper. So next she needs a fresh battery, lights, a clutch clean and then a closer inspection of the bogies and drivers.
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Finished up my son's Silvy. After finishing the welding, cleaned up the frame and put bed liner everywhere. The gas tank straps came in bare steel so put liner on those too. This stuff is super tough as we were hammering on the new pieces with the liner on them and they didn't even chip. Hell, we had to use the grinder to remove some of it for welding as the wire wheel had trouble on it.
Got the box back on with new bolts. I also gave him the original shocks from my Sierra since I don't need them anymore.
Tomorrow I'm helping him winterize his RV trailer and put the cover on it and then leaving for home as soon as my wife is done working remotely. I look forward to getting home as the highway noise is quite bad here. His house is on a main highway with A LOT of truck traffic.
Got the box back on with new bolts. I also gave him the original shocks from my Sierra since I don't need them anymore.
Tomorrow I'm helping him winterize his RV trailer and put the cover on it and then leaving for home as soon as my wife is done working remotely. I look forward to getting home as the highway noise is quite bad here. His house is on a main highway with A LOT of truck traffic.
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Thanks guys. It was a collaborative effort with my son. I just hope he takes better care of it. He tends to let things go until they break. Maintenance is not his strong suit if you remember the tranny flush we did on it a couple of years ago which the fluid was black like diesel engine oil. I thought I taught him better than that but at least his little brother is better.
Last night I replaced the dingy incandescent interior lights in the Odyssey with LED. Much better.
My phone did something weird with the white balance on the LEDs, they don't look green.
My phone did something weird with the white balance on the LEDs, they don't look green.
Need help from the brain trust.
As some of you know, I totaled my TB. Been looking at used cars and am appaled at the prices of 0213, 14 and 15 Denalis/Traverse with over 100K on them.
These have the 6cyl. engine and 6 speed trans.
I've read on here the timing chains on the 6cyl. were problematic, and I don't know about the transmissions.
How bad were they, and what do I listen for?
As some of you know, I totaled my TB. Been looking at used cars and am appaled at the prices of 0213, 14 and 15 Denalis/Traverse with over 100K on them.
These have the 6cyl. engine and 6 speed trans.
I've read on here the timing chains on the 6cyl. were problematic, and I don't know about the transmissions.
How bad were they, and what do I listen for?
Still work to be done but she is a runner. New battery is in, found out the dash and tail light works but not the headlight. Wonderfully surprised as the electric start works really well.
Still needs a primary clutch clean and check over the track tension and so on but she already had the sled hooked up and hauling square bales.
Still needs a primary clutch clean and check over the track tension and so on but she already had the sled hooked up and hauling square bales.
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6 speed trans were shady in early years, but in the range you're looking they're fine. Mostly you have to ignore the marketing ploy of only charging out the fluid every 100k. Severe duty schedule is 50k, and that's more of a minimum standard in truth, more often if you're actually hard on it. The 3.6 timing problems were *largely* mitigated by a 2012 redesign. However, like it's little brother the 2.4, oil level MUST be kept at full and kept clean. Full synthetic.
As for warning signs: noise. Rattle on cold start is the most obvious early sign of chain failure. Most later signs will be evident in both noise and performance. High oil consumption is another, less obvious problem to look for. Also caused largely by poor maintenance history. It wasn't a garbage design but the low maintenance marketing really made the weak points into glaring disasters. Don't buy one you don't have a lengthy history report on if you're going higher mileage.
Its a mixed bag on the Traverse/Acadia/Enclave line.. I love the product line, but the engine is very expensive to work on. Its debuted in the 2005 Buick Rendezvous. The actual engine nomenclature is called a 3.6HF. The HF Stands for HIGH FEATURE.
Like @Eric04 said, the 3.6 was/is a very problematic engine, but they did improve the design starting in 2013 to make them more reliable. The timing chains are the issue. Its a engine out job, and it aint cheap! Theres nothing really to listen for. They are either a problem, and have skipped time, or not.
Transmissions are also an issue, but not as bad as the engine.
If you dont mind the honesty... Stay away from ANY GM 3.6. They came in almost every GM vehicle made for many years, from cars (Impala, Malibu, etc), small SUV (Terrain, Equinox, 9-4x, SRX, XT4, etc), large SUV (Enclave, Traverse, Acadia, etc), Sports cars (Camaro, most Cadi Cars), and trucks (Colorado, Canyon, etc).
Also stay away from ANY GM made from 2019 to current with a V8 gas engine.
Same on my wife's Nox, had no luck grinding heads off on the lower ball joints (rivets are body bound) so drilled from bottom, glad GM center punched them but, yes! still a bitch. Also if you use OEM replacement BJs you have to enlarge the holes to accept the provided bolts.
I've owned a 3.6 2006 Malibu and now a 3.6 2015 Equinox and never had a problem with either, in fact they were/are great engines in my experience.
From what I've read, the timing chain issues are caused by low oil conditions which cause the oil powered timing chain tensioner to relax and then the loose chain does the damage to the valve train.
My Nox is not a oil hog but, I keep a good watch on it knowing the consequences of low oil level.
Both engines were/are over 100,000 miles.
And hence my complaint of no low oil level warning system. I know for guys like us, it's easy and second nature to check the oil but the vast majority just know how to drive their vehicle to a quick lube when it's overdue for an oil change.
Oh there IS a warning. When it is 2 quarts low.
A little off-topic but could you elaborate on this as to why? I was really interested in the latest Silverado LT with the new interior and last Column Shifter with the V8.
And yess I was surf shopping for vehicles that are wayyy over what I can afford again
