Randy in Maine

'90 Comanche long bed with the Dana 30's (I think) in decent shape with a 4.0L and 5 speed. Stock Michelin 215/75/15s and the 3.07 axles, but with the sort of usual tired rear springs. Good brakes and overall running conditon. I have a good frame mounted hitch with 2" receiver. LED towlights. I want to tow a 79 VW Camperbus (3300 pounds) 500 miles using my VW bus towbar. DC to Maine. What do you think?

Since you are almost driving right by there on US Route 20, here are a couple of spots worth visiting if you are into that kind of thing...rare to see rhinos, elephants, the "hell pig" and camels anymore in Nebraska. http://ashfall.unl.edu/ http://www.nebraskatravels.com/toadstoo ... -park.html

Keep us posted on the results. I am going to be doing my bus and the Jeep soon.

One more thing.....if you end up with a new Brosal pump, sometimes the "in" and "out" lines are reversed. Hook up the one you think it is and confirm that you are really pumping fuel. It took me way to long to figure that out once.

I just turned over 179,000 yesterday and am now getting ALMOST (but not quite) 22 mpg ~ 21.7 but working on it.

Nothing wrong with the mechanical fuel pump on a 71 baywindow, but keep in mind that the pushrod is different for a generator equipped vs an alternator equipped bus by about 1/4". If you recently went from a generator to an alternator, that could be the promblem. A fuel pressure gauge will tell you what yours is putting out. A new pump is only about $25 from here.... http://www.busdepot.com/view.jsp?model= ... odgroup=-1 Also make sure that your are using a metal fuel filter located by the tank and not once of those cheap plastic ones betweent he pump and the carb. Make sure the fuel sock in the fuel tank is not all munged up and is free flowing. Poke a hole in it if needed. When the pumps die, they usually do it when your are demanding more fuel at high RPMs. If you decide to replace it with an electric one, buy a 3.5 psi rotary fuel pump from CB (not a "facet type" pump) and run it off a relay, not off the coil. Just my 2 cents.

I always bought my chicks from here with pretty good results.... http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html I always preferred the buff orpingtons for my egg layers as they have a nice personality and not pecking at each other. Excellent producers. My meat birds http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product ... rocks.html were these as they have an excellent food:weight conversion factor. Nice 8.5 pound roasters when you are done. I knew a guy that would butcher them and bag them for $2 each. Money well spent. I always gave them away to the local "AIDS House" where they had them for the family Sunday dinner. Quite tasty. Chickens are fun to watch and would eat bugs forever around the farm.

Go talk to them and bring in the bill of sale.

So what do you do when they use an RPG on a chlorine or oil tanker?

The purpose here for Fiat is not to buy Chrysler or even take on any of Chrysler's debt, it is to take a few unused or under utilized Chrysler plants and make Fiats here, for sale here. Nothing more. If the deal goes through, Fiat ends up with 35% of Chrysler which could go to 55% in a few years. Mecedes already owns 20% of Chrysler and the US made MB Sprinter van is the only bright spot here. Fiat does know right now how to make decent small cars and trucks that get good gas or diesel mileage, Chrylser does not. Chrysler is hampered by the same things that the other US carmakers are dealing with....UAW contracts negotiated when the market was booming, health care cost for employees/retired employees, and a weak economy where car buyers are few. And even fewer are buying big honker trucks and cars that get poor mileage or are pooly crafted. Why would you? When we enacted the "chicken tax" a 25% tariff on imported trucks back in the 60's to protect American Car Makers, the American makers just raised thieir prices because they could. Sorry, but you reap what you sow.

Have you tried putting a 12 volt test light (or a noid light if you have one) in the electrical connetion to one of the injectors and withthe coil wire off, have someone try to start it. I think the test light should flicker.

We are about 7" so far working on about 14". We call it "winter".

My brother in law (one of the mechanics at UPS) says they start to rattle when they get between 300,000-400,000 miles on them. Lot of motor homes also use the freighliner chassis to build on. They are a fine truck, but helps to have the manual to service them correctly..... http://www.mercedesmanuals.com/Mercedes ... icombo.htm I have seen all kinds of disasters from "quickie lube places" trying to change oil. I would not go there on a dare.

How do you get reservoir coolant water back into the system?

I liked my 88 GW in Burgandy. Kind of a gas pig and they rusted a lot though. I got a "moon shot" (248K) out of it though (bought it with 77K).

Well just snug all of the bolts down evenly and try to sneak up on the torque spec (which is not really very much with a little bolt like that). I would try to wipe or vacuum as much of that crud off the top of the head without crumbling it up a lot. The previous owner used cheap oil and filters or went to those lousy quickie lube places. Consider using a better oil filter (I avoid Fram and use a NAPA Gold that is made by WIX) and a better oil. I use Mobil 1 10-30 or Brad Penn 10-30 myself and change it very 5K. I have never used the Seafoam or put diesel fuel or auto transmission fluid in the oil prior to changing, but I know people do. Less viscosity or more detergent action to break up the crud. I would give that a try and see how much crud comes out. I will bet the oil pan is alot worse.

Take the cover off and spray some Engine Degreaser in it. I like the Castrol Purple Stuff myself. Scrub it with a "parts cleaning brush" and dry it well with a hair dryer. Use some Gum Out carb cleaner when you need something more. I can't remember if those are metric bolts or not, but Lowes has a pretty good assortment of both metric and SAE. Missing one bolt for now is not the engd of the world, but get one in there. I used some Gum Out to clean the bolt holes and then dried them with compressed air. The gasket I used was cork and I set it in a thin bed of Hylomar to keep it in place. Use your "inch pound torque wrench" to tighten all of the bolts up to half torque and I used some locktite blue on the bolts. Then re-torque to the spec doing every other bolt to get it nice and even. Be sure to clean out the vacuum line at the rear with Gum Out while you are doing it or the air filter will end up with oil in it.

Have you checked the fuel pressure? With and without the vacuum line to the pressure regualtor please.

Well I just tested the heater control valve and it will hold a good vacuum. I also tested the vacuum line attached to it and it will hold 20" of vacuum when in the "heater off" position, so I don't think a vacuum leak is the problem. Water temp into the heater is about 185º and coming out is 125º. Air temp at the heater and defroster is 90º with the vacuum applied (was about 75º previously).

Question.... Symptions...not much heat coming out of the heater, fan only comes on at the high setting and the fan motor sqeals like a bearing is going out. I also get some coolant drips on the evaporative canister and I replaced a few years ago the plastic reservoir and it looks like it is slightly dripping from the bottom of the reservoir return hose at the bottom of the reservoir. The temp gauge in the dash shows engine temps of about 200º. OK so I am fixing to remove the heater core figuring it is munged up. I bought a new one at NAPA along with a new blower motor. I stopped by the dealer and picked up a new thermostat and fan resister set up also. My hoses are crimped on at the heater valve and the heater fitting and I assume they are original to the beast. Also the reservoir hose is factory crimped on the return line and "T"s back into the engine cooling system. It is this return line pipe with the T in it that is the focus of my question. My Raytek thermometer gizmo leads me to think that the 2 metal pipes should also be replaced. The "heater valve" shows up on the NAPA site as BK 6601298 ~ $34 and is sort of a "T" fitting allowing coolant to both go to the reservoir and to the heater core along with a vacuum fitting, but they do not show a listing for the "T" metal pipe that draws coolant from the reservoir bottle and from the heater core back into the engine cooling system. All they show is a "heater fitting" 90º pipe with a 5/8" hose on one side and a 3/8" NPT thread (part number BK 6601549 ~ $11). I need the "T" pipe to allow the reservoir fluid to get back into the system. I have not yet tested the vacuum fitting on the heater valve with my hand vacuum pump to see if it actually holds a vacuum, but I can do that. This pipe going to the heater I show temps about 200º and comng back only about 100º so I think that they should probably be replaced while I am in there. The temp of the "heat" at the cabin is only about 75º. So my question is ...what exactly do I need to replace the rest of the system to 1) get heat and 2) stop the dripping. I want to fix it correctly. I will also be replacing the heater hoses at this opportunity. A part number would be great. I can try to take a picture of the return pipe a bit later if that would help. Thanks!

How about taking the heater core to a radiator shop? For cheap money they could have a look at it and see if it can indeed be salvaged. Have them pressure test it also. A new one is $65 at NAPA.

Won't happen for $20.... I would suggest buying a gallon of both Marine Clean (best degreaser I have ever found) and the Metal Ready (a phosphoric acid metal etching compound) and a quart of the actual POR-15. It should take about a quart to do the floorpan. If you want it to stay black, put a topcoat of "chassis black" on it. Difficult to get normal paint to stick to it. Suggestion: Put some "saran wrap" under the lid of the paint can or you will never get it open a second time. Others have used 2 screws with rubber washers behind them to pour some out and then reseal it back up (one of them is a vent).

You may have an air bubble in the cooling system and it will need to be bled correctly would be my guess. Where was the coolant leaking from when you had to fill it?

Just a thought here..... Sometimes if you just drive short distances in the winter, the oil never will warm up enough to "boil off" the moisture from normal engine operation since water is a by product of combustion. I would then suggest taking it down the road for a a good 1 hour trip and see if that removes the moisture from the crankcase. If that is inconclusive, I would suggest doing a compression or a leakdown test to see if you really do have a blown head gasket. It was just a thought...

My heater has recently gone "lame" and only blows lukewarm air. It is close to 0º this morning and the temp gauge moves to about 200º after about 1.5 miles and then drops a little when the thermostat opens and then comes back up and stays at about 200º. The level of coolant in the plastic bottle is correct. Cap seals well. It has the AC if that matters. The fan only works on high anymore. I have not tested the temperature of the coolant with a different thermometer yet. The location of the blow changes as I change the lever from defrost, heat, vent, etc. so I think that portion is working OK. There is no change in the volume of air when I move the temperature lever from cold to hot and back. Just where would the vacuum line be located that may be my problem? Thanks in advance!