mjeff87

Lol....got my high pressure line today (a day early). Holy over-packaging Batman.. I'll swap it out Saturday, and *hopefully* fix my last leak. Then I can get back to fixing the KJ

I can see all sides of this....'cause I was (kinda still am) in the same boat as you. My MJ eventually turned into a garage queen a few years ago. Part of that was the way I built it, with virtually nowhere to legally wheel it near me but I still kept it. I had my TJ to use as a DD, and used the MJ occasionally for a fun drive to work or when I needed it as a pickup. Then the TJ died and I got my KJ, which became my primary vehicle. Regrettably I sold the MJ to a good 'ol boy down here who lived further out in the county and really wanted it. I took comfort in the fact that I knew he was going to do the wheeling in it that I couldn't and built it for (and not turn around and flip it or strip all the good parts off it and junk the body). I miss it every day. Everything was going great until the KJ died and I didn't have a backup vehicle. I ended up getting my Focus that I'm driving now just to get around in while I repair the KJ and return it to DD/winter driving duty. My plan was to dump the Focus once the KJ was back online, but it was such a hassle not having a primary vehicle to drive until I got it that I'm going to just keep it now. My experience has taught me to never be stuck without a reliable backup vehicle ever again.

New high pressure hose ordered off Amazon, $33......it should be here by Friday. Noone local has it in stock. I need to stop by the auto store and grab a couple quarts of power steering fluid to get me a couple of days, lol.

Newp. I can't turn the fogs on without at least turning on the low beams. Once they're on, I can shut the headlights off though and the fogs still stay on. They do cut off when I switch to high beams, per federal regs. Like I said, it took me 2 years of owning it to figure that one out. Also, I do have a headlight sentry too (probably all KJ's do ). If you cut off the ignition with the headlights still on, they stay on for a minute. Another learning curve for me. I know, RTFM.

Ahhhh....that's a big NOPE. Got the nylon washers, boogered up one of them installing it and had to go back and get another set. Got them both on successfully, and the damn thing is still leaking. Not as bad as before, but not sealed. It's all put back together (again), I have to go to work tomorrow. It's our office Christmas party and I'm making 20 lbs of bone-in chicken and a 10 lb ham. I've got a fresh quart of power steering fluid in the cab, should be enough to get me there and back for a few days (the leak is only a small drip every couple minutes). I need to order a new high pressure line and just replace the whole damn thing. That flared fitting has obviously failed

My KJ is the same way. You have to turn on the low beams then pull the end of the stalk out to turn on the fogs. Only took me 2 years of owning it to figure that out lol. Stupid Focus....I just spent pretty much all weekend figuring out the oil leak. Turns out about half the oil pan bolts were loose (don't overlook the obvious....), which sealed up the backside leak. Thought the A/C compressor was leaking so I grabbed another one from the junkyard Saturday morning for $30. Got back home, unbolted the old one and went to swap the new one in and saw a small puddle of fluid on the garage floor. Turns out the compressor wasn't leaking after all, but the power steering pump directly above it was. So, back down to the junkyard in my wife's car to grab the pump off the same vehicle I robbed the compressor from. Got back home, spent an hour swapping pumps out and went to put it back together and the damn high pressure line was leaking from the flared fitting underneath. It was cold, getting dark and I was tired so I just put it all back together enough to get it out of the garage for the night so I could get the wife's car back in and shut the door. Today I pulled it back in (on ramps) and tore it all back apart and redid everything. It's still leaking from the POS flare fitting, but not as bad. Put it all back together again and parked it up on the street. After googling it a bit, I learned there's a .50c nylon washer that goes on the fitting that you have to replace every time you take that line off....I vaguely remember the remnants of one on the line when I took it off but didn't think too much about it at the time. My local Orileys has them in stock, so I'm taking off work tomorrow and going up to grab a pack of them. I'm taking my wife to work at 0530 so I can keep/use her car to go get them. Hopefully that will solve the problem and I'll finally have NO LEAKS.

Stupidity hurts......and you shouldn't get paid for being stupid (in my case, anyway).

LOL...even my Jeeps didn't leak quite this much. I think this car had been just sitting, not being driven around much (or at all) for quite awhile before I got it and since I've been driving the paint off of it, some old seals are just giving up. The PO did just replace the radiator in it before he sold it to me, along with the water pump, so at least I'm not dealing with coolant leaks. If I was parking on asphalt/grass, or was able to pull it into my garage to park it I wouldn't worry so much about leaks. But the KJ is still sitting on my side of the garage (hopefully will get to work on it again this weekend), and my driveway is nice concrete......I won't tolerate oil stains on it. Can't park it up on the street either (technically that violates HOA rules, although most of my neighbors don't seem to care about that ).

Well, I spoke too soon. I was getting a small drip from the front of the engine and it looked like it was coming from the PCV valve (of unknown vintage), so I swapped it out. No easy task on this engine (like most things I'm finding out....it's 10 lbs of crap shoved into a 5 lb bag under the hood). STILL got a drip, dangit. I was putting new headlight bulbs in it yesterday (Sylvania Silver Stars, same ones I run in the KJ....suckers are bright) and decided to pop the whole headlights out to work on them instead of trying to skinny my arm on the backside to reach the bulb. Well, when I popped the passenger side light assembly out, I found I had a perfectly clear view of the front passenger side of the engine. I immediately saw the A/C compressor covered in PAG oil, as well as everything around it. While I was looking at it, one little drip of oil dropped onto my garage floor. I think I FINALLY found the source of my final oil leak. It's leaking oil out of the front seal, behind the clutch plate, and getting slung everywhere. The A/C system didn't/doesn't work since I got the vehicle and I never much bothered to figure out why since I rarely use A/C. I'm guessing there's either no charge left in the system due to the leak, so I just need to run down to the junkyard Saturday and pull a non-leaking compressor to swap into it for now. Maybe come springtime I'll worry about actually fixing the system and getting it working. Or not. But at least it won't be leaking oil anymore.

That is exactly what happened to me, lol. Half steel doors, soft uppers. Lifted the door off the hinges, sat it on the rocker to regroup, then grabbed it by the upper. Gravity prevailed, and I was still holding the upper in my hands when the door guilotined my right foot while in flip flops. Crushed my big toe (broke it at the joint), the nail popped right off lol. Chopped half of the second toe about 95% off.....blood everywhere. Good times. Glad I'm not the only one who's done that I no longer wear flip flops or sandals in the garage.

I didn't chop it the whole way off, but about 95%. Imagine flipping the top open on a zippo lighter....the tip was just hanging there like that, hinged by a small piece of skin on the bottom. It was the only time I ever called 911 on myself....got a nice little emergency ambulance ride to the ER. The ER doc was able to sew it all back together, but it's crooked lol. But hey, at least I still have a toe

The first Executive Chef I worked/apprenticed under (many) years ago sadly passed away one morning while out shoveling snow. A neighbor saw him out the window grab his chest and hit the deck. In the 30 seconds it took for them to get out of the house and down to him in his driveway, he was gone. So glad you are ok, albeit with a stent. Take it easy bud....let that snow pile up . You and it aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

I have no words, but what in the meth, Natty Lite drinkin', unfiltered Camel smoking, sister-cousin <<fornicating>>, Ricky Bobby hell is that? Props for resourcefulness and using what you have on hand, but......wow.

You'd think it would hurt like Hades, but the actual pressure from the blood under the nail building up is an attention getter. As soon as that needle tip breaks thru (don't jam it in like you're trying to stab Dracula in the heart with a wooden stake, just ease it in and spin it with your fingertips to try and bore it in slowly and carefully), all that pressure will be relieved. Probably in spectacular fashion too Trust me on this one Rich. I've smashed my fair share of nail beds/fingertips. Even chopped off one of my toes, too, via my TJ. LOL.

Weedville....had to look that one up on the Google machine LOL. You are from that part of PA that noone is ever from, anyone there is either from "around Pittsburgh" or "around Philly". I'm from Johnstown originally (was just up there last week for Turkey day). VERY nice work on the TJ so far, please keep the thread updated

Ouchy. If blood starts welling up underneath the nail (and it will.......), heat up a straight pin or sewing needle with a flame and push it thru the center of the nail. If it's hot enough, it'll go thru like butter. Might want to wear a pair of goggles and a shirt you really don't care about when it does though

2 long, a short, and a long....that's where it's at. Steam locos make me weak in the knees. I'd LOVE to see Big Boy on his current voyage, but sadly geography prevents that.

Day 2, still no drips. Yay. I had to go to VA Beach for work last week Sunday thru Wednesday, 256 mile round trip. It averaged 34.16 mpg. Not too shabby for a2001 era vehicle with 170K miles on it, lol. We're up in PA now for the holiday, won't be back home until Saturday late afternoon. We drove the wife's car (2019 Forrester), and it got 36 mpg on the way up (260 miles). I just had to chuckle a bit. Happy Thanksgiving y'all

That didn't sound like it was fun to do, LOL^^^ Nice Focus though, glad you got it back on the road. I *think* I finally found and fixed the last oil leak I have (had?). I thought that the pressure sending unit might be leaking so I picked up a new one over the weekend. I had to do an oil change, and the sender is right above the filter, so it was good timing. Got the filter off and was reaching up to put a socket on the sending unit, and my hand bumped the threaded nipple screwed into the filter boss, and it started spinning (WTF?). It wasn't even finger tight.....so I unscrewed it, cleaned everything up, hit the external threads with some blue loctite and screwed it back in. The weird thing is that there's no way to tighten it other than with your fingers.....no hex head, nothing. I guess I could have found 2 large, flat nuts and double-nutted it to tighten it like you would a stud, but I didn't have any and wasn't about to go looking for a store that had them on a Sunday afternoon. Got the new filter on, cleaned up the whole back side of the block (it was saturated all around the filter area, so I'm guessing that's where the leak was coming from), wiped off the suspension and called it good. The actual sensor wasn't leaking, and I didn't replace it, but I'm still going to hang onto the new one just in case. It was only like $18. Drove it to work this morning and put a piece of cardboard underneath it in the parking lot, and so far.....no drips

Thanks COM. It's just all mechanical stuff, not all technical computer controlled like later model junk. But, it still all has to be assembled correctly. I'll get it right, hopefully this weekend. I'm coming back home from working remotely tomorrow night, then have to go into the office Thursday (maybe, maybe not....I might take a sick day) and Friday.

Yeah. I line-marked the cam the whole length across the caps, you can see how much the gear spun (and the cam didnt)

Finally got a few minutes to look at this today after work. Tore it down enough to get the valve cover off, and my suspicions were confirmed. All my timing marks on the chain and gear are still lined up, but the cam is retarded about 30 degrees. That dowel pin sheared off and the cam gear spun. Nothing looks broken, and everything still spins without interference so that's a positive. I'm going to pull the plugs and check each piston with a bore scope tomorrow, hoping for the best. I might just only need to swap a new cam and cam gear into it without having to pull the head again. I'll probably pull the front accessories and timing cover back off, just to make 100% sure the timing is set right. I can probably pull all that off next weekend, before we leave for PA for thanksgiving. I might make my deadline after all

Just saw a post over on Garage Journal that is saying Yahoo is shutting down all of their Groups content by December 14th. I'm not sure if the old CC group is still alive over there, haven't checked in ages, but just a heads-up. Not sure if or how any content can be captured (if anyone wanted to).

^^^That happened to me once on a new install, I only drove it less than 20 miles and one of the lines popped off. When I pulled it all back apart and saw what happened, I tossed those cheesy little U-clips that come in the kit as far as I could throw them, and replaced them with small cotter pins (both ends bent back around so they would never come loose). Never had a problem again.