Chevy Duty
Last night I order a few parts for my truck. This is probably the first of many orders to come over the next few years. I have often thought of ordering side view mirrors but it already has some. They are very ugly though.

First I order some hardware. Namely, head light adjustment screws and springs.

Second I ordered a rear fender patch panel. What this means is I will be cutting a rusty piece out of the side of the truck, roughly 14" by 34" and welding the new piece in. This should be fun. Hopefully I will remember to snap some pictures so that I can forget to post them.

Here is a pic of a new patch panel. $17.95


Here is a full fender. (not to scale) The yellow rectangle indicates where the patch panel belongs.


And my rusty fender. I left the image small so that we wouldn't be overwhelmed by the whole in the fender.


I ordered the stuff from Chevy Duty. I have catalogs for several companies that sell this stuff. The choice for which company to get it from came down to the value on the bottom line. Per my research, most of these companies are selling parts all made in the same factory.

As you can probably guess, I decided against getting another plug after it started.

A few weeks ago I needed to use the pressure washer to assist in the de-greasing process. Myself, David M., and neighbor Lott all tried to get the thing to start. Lott knows more about these things than David and I. He judged it was either flooded or needed a new plug. Seems pretty obvious. I ended up borrowing his that day because mine was being such a pain.

Saturday, because it was nice and I was messing with spark plugs anyway, I decided to write down the part number of the spark plug that goes in my pressure washer. The engine is a 5.5 HP Honda. The pressure washer is a Cambell Hausfeld. I am pretty sure I spelled that wrong. After writing down the part number, I decided to try to crank it. First pull! Guess it was flooded last time.

At this point two stroke engines are more of a mystery to me than four stroke. The whole thing with setting the choke, etc. Anyone want to explain to me yet again how that is all suppose to work.

This pressure washer has not been very reliable. It tends not to want to run when I need it. This is actually the second one. The first one never would crank. At all! I returned it the same day and got another one. I should have known better.

Seriously though. When trying to start one of these beasts how should the throttle and choke be set and when should they be changed and how do you keep from flooding it and how do you keep from killing it.

Awaiting your reply.

You Are Here
For the life of me I can't remember anything interesting to say about Friday.

Saturday morning I replaced the other 7 spark plugs. The truck is running nice and smooth. I still haven't borrowed a vacuum gauge to determine if the intake gasket is blown. I suspect it is base on the way the oil has been disappearing. Still going at a rate of about 1 quart per 1000 miles.

Ah, It all comes back to me now. Friday I went back to Advanced Auto to get them to clear the check engine light. I also picked up another spark plug. When I got home Thursday night, I only had 7 plugs. Who knows what happened to the 8th one. Perhaps it got left on the counter.

I acquired a 40 lb pressurized sand blasting tank on Saturday. I put it together yesterday afternoon. I hoped to acquire some sand this afternoon but it was cold and rainy so I didn't venture out. The first thing to be blasted will the the inner fender wells from the truck.

I tried some paint stripper on the bed side yesterday. Did I mention how many coats of paint are on that thing. Timewise the paint stripper is no faster than a high speed sander with a 24 grit disc. As for elbow grease I am uncertain. The first half hour you stand around and watch the paint bubble up. The second half hour you scrape and scrape and scrape. The instructions said to use a plastic scraper. After about 2 minutes the plastic scraper had softened and become worthless. I then switched to a metal scraper. I will miss the plastic scrapper. It has served me well for several years for applying wood putty to brad nail holes in furniture, cabinets, etc. The metal scrapper was previously used to remove gaskets from a Chevy small block. The handle on it broken so it will be moving on as well, but not until most of the paint scraping is done. Think duct tape.

[insert witty joke here]

[VERBOSE = ON]

Misfire

Last August I had a problem with my truck. (see Hard Drivin' 2). I will get back to this in a paragraph or two.

Yesterday when I got in the truck to head out for lunch, the Check Engine light came on. The engine was running rough and concensus from the peanut gallery said the engine was missing. What could this be? A bad plug, a bad plug wire, distributor cap, bad sensor, bad computer. Who knows?

I called my mechanic on the way home and left a message saying I would be dropping the truck off this morning. This morning I dropped the truck off at 7:15 am. A sign on the door said, "Don't drop off your vechicle without calling first." I had already called and the truck was running rough so I left it there anyway.

David M drove me back home and I took the Miata out for the day. Cool and cloudy, top up.

I never got a call back from the shop. I suspect they must be on vacation. I went back by this evening and picked it back up. It is barely driveable. It gets really rough if the speed gets up around 35 or 40 mph. The check engine light flashes if you go over 40.

I Googled today for Dodge RAM 1500 engine missing 40 mph shakes hoping to get some insight on what to do to resolve exactly what the problem was. I found something interesting I will share with you in a moment.

Tonight I drove the truck to the parts store. They hooked up the computer and reported "misfire on cyclinder #8". This is one of those moments when I actually begin to love computers again. The problem seems to be narrowed down to either a plug, wire, or cap. The cheap-skate in me says, I will try the plugs and see what happens from there. Home again. I replaced the plug in #8. It runs smooth now. Only 15 minutes of effort. The light is still on but I think perhaps this is something they will have to reset. I will replace the remaining plugs this weekend.

Now why is this plug bad? It could be because of excess oil in that cylinder. Remember last August? This is what I found today. It should be easy to test. I just need to borrow the neighbors vacuum gauge.

Technical Service Bulletin

Engine - Spark Knock/Oil Consumption
NUMBER: 09-05-00
GROUP: Engine
DATE: Feb.25, 2000
MODELS:
1994 - 1999 (AB) Ram Van
1994 - 1999 (AN) Dakota
1994 - 1999 (BRIBE) Ram Truck
1998 - 1999 (DN) Durango
1994 - 1998 (ZJ) Grand Cherokee
1996 - 1998 (ZG) Grand Cherokee
THIS BULLETIN SUPERSEDES TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN 09-06-99,
DATED SEP.10, 1999, WHICH SHOULD BE REMOVED FROM YOUR FILES. THIS
IS A COMPLETE REVISION AND NO ASTERISKS HAVE BEEN USED TO
HIGHLIGHT REVISIONS.
SUBJECT:
Spark Knock And Engine Oil Consumption Due To Intake Manifold Pan Gasket Oil
Leak
OVER VIEW:
This bulletin involves the replacement of the engine intake manifold plenum pan gasket.
NOTE: THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO VEHICLE EQUIPPED WITH A 3.9L, 5.2L.
OR 5.9L GASOLINE ENGINE.
SYMPTOM/CONDITION:
An engine intake manifold plenum pan gasket oil leak may occur on some V-6 and V-8
style engines. The oil leak is internal to the engine so no external oil leakage will be
present. Two symptoms of this oil leak condition may be present. The vehicle operator
may experience an engine spark knock during acceleration and/or an increase in the
amount of engine oil consumed by the engine.
DIAGNOSIS:
Make sure Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) 18-48-98 has been performed.
NOTE: IT IS IMPORTANT THAT THE COIL AND SPARK PLUG WIRES ARE
ROUTED EXACTLY AS SPECIFIED IN TSB 18-48-98 TO ACHIEVE THE MOST
BENEFIT.
Inspect the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) valve. Shake the PCV valve to verify
that the pintle inside of the PCV valve is free. Replace the PVC if the pintle is not free.
If the intake manifold plenum pan gasket is leaking, an additional vacuum source will be
created inside of the engine at the location of the pan gasket leakage. Engine combustion
blow-by gases, oil vapor, and air from the crankcase filter/breather may be drawn past the
leaking pan gasket and into the intake manifold. In most cases when this condition
occurs, an engine at idle will create the highest vacuum and lowest amount of engine
blow-by.
1. Allow the engine to reach normal operating temperature.
2. Stop the engine.
3. Disconnect the breather hose from the air cleaner.
4. Attach a vacuum/pressure gauge to the end of the breather hose (Figure 1).
5. Disconnect the PCV valve hose from the intake manifold.
6. Seal off the intake manifold PCV valve hose port opening.
7. Seal off the open end of the PCV valve hose (Figure 2).
NOTE: DURING THIS DIAGNOSIS, IT WOULD BE NORMAL FOR THE ENGINE
TO DEVELOP PRESSURE WITHIN THE ENGINE CRANKCASE. THIS IS DUE TO
THE NORMAL PROCESS OF EXHAUST BLOW-BY GASES LEAKING PAST THE
ENGINE PISTON RINGS AND ACCUMULATING IN THE ENGINE CRANKCASE.
DO NOT ALLOW MORE THAN 3 PSI (20.7 kpa) OF PRESSURE TO BUILD
WITHIN THE ENGINE WHEN PERFORMING THE FOLLOWING DIAGNOSTIC
PROCEDURE.
8. Start the warmed engine and observe the vacuum gauge.
9. Allow the engine to idle for approximately 30 seconds. Do not allow more than 3 psi
(20.7 kPa) of pressure to develop in the engine crankcase.
10. If the attached vacuum / pressure gauge does not indicate that a vacuum is present in
the engine crankcase, then the intake manifold plenum pan gasket is good and no
further internal engine vacuum leak diagnosis is required.
11. If an internal vacuum leak is present then perform the Repair Procedure.
PARTS REQUIRED:
For the 5.2L / 5.9L:
1 04897383AC Package, Intake Manifold Flange Gasket and Bolts
1 05017208AA Gasket, Intake Manifold Plenum Pan
15 06034583 Bolt, Intake Manifold Plenum Pan
1 53030541 Gasket, Throttle Body
2(AR) 04318001 Conditioner, Combustion Chamber
For the 3.9L:
1 04897382AC Package, Intake Manifold Flange Gasket and Bolts
1 05017207AA Gasket, Intake Manifold Plenum Pan
14 06034583 Bolt, Intake Manifold Plenum Pan
1 53030541 Gasket, Throttle Body
2(AR)04318001 Conditioner, Combustion Chamber
REPAIR PROCEDURE:
1. Refer to the appropriate year Service Manual, Section 9: ENGINE for removal and
installation instructions.
NOTE: CLEAN ALL OIL RESIDUE FROM THE INTERIOR SURFACES OF THE
PLENUM PAN AND THE INTAKE MANIFOLD PLENUM CHAMBER.
NOTE: THE PROPER BOLT TORQUE AND TIGHTENING SEQUENCE IS
CRITICAL AND MUST BE FOLLOWED WHEN TIGHTENING BOTH THE
PLENUM PAN BOLTS AND THE INTAKE MANIFOLD FLANGE BOLTS.
3.9L Bolt Tightening Sequence and Torque Procedure:
3.9 Plenum Pan Bolt Torque Procedure
3.9 Intake Manifold Flange Bolt Torque Procedure
5.2L / 5.9L Plenum Bolt Tightening Sequence and Torque Procedure:
5.2L / 5.9L Plenum Pan Bolt Torque Procedure
5.2L / 5.9L Intake Manifold Flange Bolt Torque Procedure
2. With the engine reassembled, inspect the coil and spark plug wires for proper routing.
Refer to TSB 09-48-98 for additional assistance.
3. Start the engine and allow it to warm to normal engine operating temperature.
4. Decarbon the combustion chamber using Mopar Combustion Chamber Conditioner
(p/n 04318001) per the instructions.
NOTE: ALLOW THE COMBUSTION CHAMBER CLEANER TO SOAK INSIDE OF
THE ENGINE FOR 2 TO 2.5 HOURS.
NOTE: A SECOND APPLICATION OF THE COMBUSTION CHAMBER
CONDITIONER MAY BE REQUIRED IF THERE WAS A LARGE QUANTITY OF
OIL LEAKAGE PAST THE INTAKE PLENUM PAN GASKET.
5. Verify proper engine oil level.
POLICY: Reimbursable within the provisions of the warranty.
Time Allowance
FAILURE CODE: P8- New Part


I will check into this...later. In the meantime I will replace the remaining plugs, watch the oil level and assume I now know where the oil is going. And why it is going there!

Hello, Hello
Both of my kids now know enough of the words to several of the songs on the latest U2 album. Enough words to sing along anyway. And when they don't know the words, they make them up. My favorite is "Miracle Truck", but I think I had a little influence of that one.

As this day comes to an end, so does my four day vacation. It was wonderful while it lasted. We dined out everyday. Today we brunched at Cracker Barrel. The little people love the pancakes. Tomorrow I go back to work and the kids back to school.

I occupied a couple of hours this afternoon tidying up the garage. For the most part I just cleaned the tools and put them away. To the casual observer my garage probably doesn't appear any cleaner. Only I know the truth. I figured it was a good time to clean up a little bit, before I start the next phase on the truck.

The next phase will be everything needed to get it to move under its own power again. I made a list. It filled a full sheet of paper. I didn't number the items so as to not be overwhelmed.

The Miata needs to be washed. Driving in the rain on Sunday didn't help. It also doesn't help that there is a lot of road construction nearby. It will have to wait til a warm sunny afternoon.

iMike got his truck out of the mud. An infinite journey begins with a single step.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program. Here are some photos of my truck. First the rear section of the frame with the bed removed. You can see in the second picture that the suspension has been modified so that the truck rides lower. Looks like I have a exhaust leak!

This afternoon the engine went back into the truck. David M. came by to give me a hand. It bothers him that the engine and transmission is mounted via only four bolts.

I didn't mention to him that two of those were missing when I took it out. The bolts from the Tractor Supply Store came in handy.

At this point, I have a list of about 40 things to do/check before I will attempt to start it. Hmmm. How many months will that take?

Friday night we went to dinner at the Outback Steak House. This particular one has been in Huntsville for about 11 years. Even after all this time, it still takes 1.5 hours to get a table on Friday night. This morning I made a trip back to the Outback to pick up my credit card. I apparrently left it there Friday. I didn't notice til I was buying bolts yesterday afternoon. It is scary when your credit card isn't were it is supposed to be.

I just noticed I have 500 gmail invites. There seems to be an epidemic.

iMike is making noises about bringing home his Grandfather's old '68 Chevy Pickup.

I went by a few salvage yards yesterday to look at truck parts. One of the trucks I went to see has gone to the happy hunting ground. At another yard, there was a 70-ish GMC. The guy offered to let me have the entire front end (rad support, inner and outer fenders, hood, grill, etc) for $250. That is only about 10x my current budget.

Today I went to visit a TSC store. (Tractor Supply Corporation). I bought a few grade 8 bolts for mounting the engine block back in the frame.

This morning I replaced the front and rear seals on the TH350 transmission. I also used a wire wheel to remove some of the baked on grunge.

Tomorrow I plan to take the engine off the stand, install the flex plate and torque converter, and bolt on the transmission. If things go well, the engine may mounted back in the frame tomorrow. I have two helpers who may show up.

Happy Birthday to me.

Rick did a little dent pulling last night. Rick also tried his hand a welding for the first time. Panel welding is difficult but with a little practice I will become reasonably effictive at it. Rick was discouraged by the amount of rust he found on the right rear fender. It was in much worse shape than the first.

The kids get out of school at noon tomorrow. They are also out Friday for a teachers in service day. School is also out on Monday for Presidents day? I suppose teachers in service day is actually code for let's have a four day weekend. I further suppose that school gets out early on Thursday so the teachers can get all the work done on Thursday afternoon that was suppose to be accomplished on Friday. This will save everyone some money on Friday as no one will have to drive to the school. This is all just speculation, but that doesn't keep me from being envious.

Because the kids are out, we have decided to take a short vacation. I am very pleased with the notion of a four day weekend for myself. Oh happy Day.

And even if the kids had not been out of school on Friday, I would have probably taken the day off anyway. Friday is after all another of my favorite holidays, right behind Ground Hogs day.

I have a few pieces of sheet metal loaded in the back of the Dodge ready to go to school.

I can't recall what work I did on the truck this weekend. Oh yeah, I cleaned the transmission case. Baked on grundge. At least it was not greasy.

The new entertainment center arrived last Thursday. This weekend I removed all the electronic gadgets from the old one, moved it out of the way and moved the new entertainment center into place. Next the entertainment center got re-populated with electronics and about a half million wires. Just to be safe, I actually drew a schematic of the wiring this time before attempting to hook it all back up.

The Miata did the top drop today. WeeDowWee! Forecast for tommorrow is 75. I told Ginger I left the top down in case she needs to drive it tomorrow.

...

My sister has come to visit with us. After picking up the kids from school, we went thru a drive thur to pick up some nast-food, er, fasty-food, er, fast food.

One the way back with our stash of chicken nuggets in hand, a deer ran out in front of the truck. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP went the truck. The deer attempted to accelerate but hooves don't get much traction of pavement. Fortunately it managed to get out of the way. I had braked but had it not scrambled after hearing the horn, we would probably be having venison burgers for dinner.

Last week, Ginger saw more deer in the backyard. This time there were four. If one wanted to go deer hunting around here, they could simply sit on my back porch early in the morning with a cup of coffee and wait. The deer don't seem to see people thru the screen. If you were cold, you could even get in the hot tub. It's hot in the hot tub.

Tuesday nights auto body class went well. I took an outer bed fender, the front bed wall, and an inner bed fender.

Creg K. and Dwayne W. worked on the front bed wall. They removed fixed a very bad ding. This ding was about an inch deep. I kid you not. Excellent job. A lot of old body filler fell of this piece while they were banging with the hammer. They even both got a chance to weld on it.

I worked on the outer bed fender. I basically spent the time removing about a million tons of body filler. There is some rust that needs to be fixed, but it doesn't seem to bad. I will try to get a photo posted soon.

Before heading to class yesterday, I predicted it would be a productive night. I had noticed that weeks 1 and 3 were excellent, while weeks 2 and 4 will a little disappointing. Based on the odd/even pattern I expected a good night.

Last week, the instructor recommended that I buy a new front bed wall because the one I had was in such bad shape. This week he recommended that I buy a new bed fender because the one I had was in such bad shape.

It is my opinion that the instructor is used to thinking as a collision repair expert and sees my parts as being time intentsive to repair. I am interested in doing restoration and I am willing to spend the time rather than the money to get it repaired. I not trying to run a profitable collision repair business and pass the cost on to the car owner. He recanted both times and admitted the parts were repairable. 'Just be prepared to spend some time on it.' Not a problem.

All is good. I have a lot of bondo removal in my future. At spots the bond was 0.5" deep. The ding had to be at least an inch. It is also interesting to me that there are two layers of different colors of body filler, seperated by a coat of paint.

The bed side was originally white, then yellow, then bondo, then red, then bondo, then red. Not parts are bare metal.

The pickup bed is now completely disassembled. It is now stacked up in pieces where the pickup be should be. I have pic's but they are still in the camera.

Saturday's Turbo Tax Festival went fairly smoothly. I e-filed this year. According to the software, I should have my refund deposited in the bank by the 18th of this month. Not too bad.

...

I stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home this evening to purchase Turbo Tax. Yes, tomorrow is tax day.

Before leaving the Wal-Mart parking lot I decided the weather was nice enough. Down came the top. Next stop Gutherie's. And then on through the traffic ciricle before finally arriving home.

I spent an hour and a half in the garage earlier this evening. I finally got one of the bed side walls removed from the bed. It required the use of a 4.5" angle grinder to cut the final connection point, a weld. The bed wall is heavy.

What's Another Word For Pirate Treasure
callipygous

Happy Ground Hogs Day
Last night the front wall of the bed got a little bit of mig welding action. Not by me, but perhaps next week. The instructor needed to demo, and I just happened to have a piece that needed to be welded. How convenient.

This morning the first thing I said to Ginger was 'Happy Ground Hogs Day'. Her response was something between a snicker and evil laughter. It scared me. I knew exactly what she was thinking though: 'You can't remember our anniversary or my birthday, but somehow you remembered Grounds Hog day!'

If this is my last entry, you can probably guess why. Happy Ground Hogs Day.

Anyone want to join me this weekend for my annual Turbo Tax festival. Yep! I try to get it out of the way as soon as possible. If a refund is due it gets eFiled. If more taxes are due it will be snail mailed around the middle of April.