mjeff87

I've got one of those, in the "toolbox full of tools I haven't touched in 20+ years", along with a timing light and a dwell meter. LOL.

Not for nothing, but I had to make an emergency trip up to north central PA on Monday for a funeral and decided to take the Focus instead of the Jeep. I've been banging it around locally now for a couple months and have about 3K miles on it since buying it but have never really taken it on a roadtrip. I was a bit gentle with it for the first hour or so of interstate driving, but it was humming along nicely so I decided to run the paint off of it. 770 miles, mostly all interstate, in about 24 hours (with a quick overnight stay at my brother's house) and it averaged about 35 mpg. It is geared low ("southern car" LOL) and has aftermarket 16" wheels on it, and holds 3200 rpm @ 80 mph. For comparison, my buddy's Jetta revs about 4100 @ 80. It really did not like the mountains of PA and WV, I basically had to just keep it in 4th and feather the throttle to keep it around 70 mph. If I tried to push it I ended up constantly shifting between 4th and 5th. But, I was able to drop in in N once I crested the top of a mountain and freewheeled it the whole way down the other side @ idle speed doing about 80-ish. Fun little car, and surprisingly not uncomfortable driving it 14 hours. I'm finally taking it up to give to my brother over Memorial Day weekend.....

How the hell would a clutch know if it was "offroad"? My .02, I"d just go with a Luk. But I'm not crazy with the clutch pedal....the less I have to press it the better. No experience with ceramics, but aren't those usually used with high HP/RPM type applications?

Ok, I'm in. I'll figure out details later. The wife and I will be in Florida the first week or so in July, then I'm on call for work until the 16th. I'll roll up sometime Friday late afternoon, maybe Greg and I together. I'll have to bug out early Sunday morning, and need to figure out a place to stay Friday and Saturday night. Sweet.

Put me down as a definite.......maybe, right now. Let me talk with SWMBO about that weekend, I think I might be able to make it up for at least Saturday. Maybe I can hitch a ride with Wahoo, or bring the KJ. LOL. What's a decent place around the area where a weary traveler might rest his head for the night? I have an old high school buddy that lives somewhere in York, but I haven't talked to him in 20+ years. At worst, I have wife's relatives in both Lancaster (close) or Phoenixville (not as close but cooler folks) I could crash at. We were just up in Phoenixville last week for Easter, lol. Jeff edit: I just asked the boss off for that Friday, so I might get my grass cut early in the morning and then drive up during the day. Anyone going to be in the area Friday late afternoon/evening?

The Official "Death Wobble Starter Kit"......I just shot iced tea out of my nose

There is a definite cutoff on the external filter......I think it's 2006 per everything I'm seeing on the internets. After 2005 the filter is integrated into the pump assembly and is non-serviceable. I've asked him 3X now what year his is, he's not answering the question. Frustrating to say the least. On a side note, I put a new valve cover gasket on the 2.0L in the Focus over the weekend. I'd been getitng a faint "burning oil" smell after running on the interstate lately and it's been bugging me, especially now with nice weather and the windows down (A/C isn't working in it currently, but I'm not in any rush to diagnose the problem). $45 and a gasket later, no more smell

Hallelujah.....it's not fixed yet, but at least he's doing diagnostics. Says it will run for about 5-10 seconds on a shot of ether. That little fact would have saved him the $30 or whatever he paid (proabably more, it was an AC Delco part) for the new CPS. And, I've got him good with the idea of draining the tank via the fuel pump. Hopefully that won't clog up the filter, which is still undecided as to in-tank or stand alone on the frame rail somewhere.

Cool, thought so. Unless the whole passenger side of that MJ looks like a dumpster fire, there's no reason to part that thing out. It should be sold whole. JMHO.

Weren't 86's all longbeds? (or did I dream that up somewhere....)

^^^LOL, yup. I think he's also mistaken when he's telling me the fuel filter is in-tank with the pump. All of the interneting I've done today (while I'm here hard at work) is showing the filters were inline on the driverside framerail up to 2006. IIRC, his 'burb is either an 03 or 04. I would be totally not shocked if he was wrong on that. It could be just as simple as swapping in a new $10 filter. Or not.

Just a quick follow up on this.....he's still at it. Hasn't done any of the diagnostic testing suggested, but went and got a new CPS anyway and installed it yesterday. That did nothing to fix it. Then he texts me saying he "flushed out" the metal can the gas he put in was stored in and "clumps of sludge" came out. He never said that gas was THAT bad...... I've got a feeling the (in-tank) filter is hosed at this point, but he claims he is still getting 54 psi at the rail (jumps to 58 when cranking). A small part of me still thinks it's an ignition problem, but if it walks like a duck, then you know the rest. I'll probably end up driving up there this weekend when I don't have any time to and help him get it sorted out finally.

Do what Dzimm says, but also use a bottle jack on the side you are working on. Put the jack on top of the axle and extend it up to the framerail above, then pump the jack as much as it will go. That will force the axle down (and hold it there securely) while you slip the spring in. You shouldn't even need spring compressors if you use this method. I *hate* using those things.

Yeah, it is easy to overheat the cutting edge with a grinder. If you see the metal changing colors you've gone too far. I've used an angle grinder on them before, it's not quite as harsh. A hand file would probably be the best.

You're such a tease.....LOL. We need moar

I chose sharpen each year (on my bench grinder), but in truth it might be 2-3 times per mowing season (which for me is roughly March thru the end of November). A dull blade will KILL your grass, leaving a rough, ragged edge. That is an open invitation to leaf blade infection, which will kill the grass. Not to mention it looks terrible. I'm kind of a lawn nazi, in case you were wondering. LOL. It's one of the few hobbies that I actively enjoy doing, along with wrenching on things. Just ask my wife, she'll be quick to tell you how goofy I am when it comes to our landscaping.

I just quoted that whole scene to my wife last night, LOL. Between Caddyshack, the Blues Brothers and Smokey and the Bandit, I've got a comeback line for just about any situation

Eaton (eatin') + OX, and "beefy". There's a pun in there somewhere

It might not be me you're referencing, but I'm giving away a complete 2.5 that still has all the accesories hanging on it. Not because I don't know the value of it, it just no longer has any value to me. At one time it did, but that time has long since passed. I'd rather someone who needs it, especially if they might be low on funds, gets it and uses it. I got it for free from a NAXJA member years ago, so I'm just paying it forward. The only caveat is that whoever wants/needs it has to go pick it up. It's sitting in an outbuilding on the family farm up in southwestern PA. Funny how some people can be like that, ya know?

He also said it did have stored codes for O2 sensors and multiple misfire, but no CPS code. So.....I dunno. If he'd do the diagnostics like I told him to he wouldn't be playing the "guess this is the problem, let's replace THAT" game. Oh well, I can only do so much. The big thing is, he scored a replacement 5.3 awhile back and sent it to a machine shop for a full bottom end and head(s) rework. It's ready for him to pick up so he can bring it back to his place and put a whole bunch of new peripheral long block stuff on it and swap it in. I know already I'm going to be intimately involved (read: probably doing most of the work) when swap-time comes, and I'm dreading it. He doesn't want to take the time to fix the current problem on the old engine with the new one almost ready to go in.

Nomorobo, it flat out works, and it's free for landlines: https://www.nomorobo.com/ It takes a couple minutes to set up and then it's all automatic from there. Any spam/telemarketer/unknown/spoofed caller gets screened out. All you hear is one ring, and if you don't hear any more after that you know the call got blocked. You can get it for mobile devices also, but it's $1.99/month. It has been working so good on my landline I ponied up and bought it for my Android. Works just as good on it, too. You're welcome.

LOL, I think you linked the wrong video.......I watched all 12 minutes of that. It's the NEXT video (part 2) that shows the fix, which was the CPS, like what I'm thinking, but he didn't do any of the diagnostic tests I told him to do to try and figure it out. He's convinced that it's fuel related, which it very well may be, but he needs to troubleshoot it first before tearing into it...... You'd have to know him and his personality to understand it. See above about troubleshooting, or lack thereof......he's very, let's say, impetuous. He says there's about 18 gallons in the tank now, which I admit is alot of gas to drain. I think he's just looking for the fastest way to get the fuel out of the tank. Fastest doesn't equate to smartest, or most logical, in his mind. LOL.

Well, he's convinced that it's bad fuel (and I'm leaning in that direction as well), although he did not do any of the tests I suggested. He wants to cut a hole in the floor to access the pump, pull it out and insert a harbor freight hand-crank pump to suck the tank dry. I quietly suggested he find a connector somewhere in the fuel supply line underneath (is there an inline filter on Suburbans?) or use the schrader valve on the fuel rail (take the core out), add a hose and jumper the fuel pump relay slot and let the in tank pump empty the tank. But what do I know........lol. I'll update with what he decides to do.

I don't have any drivability issues with mine (knocks on wood....), it's just every once in awhile the pump gets really loud. It's an 02, with only 130k on it. I figure if the head gaskets or valve seats (or keepers) were gonna fail, they would have done it by now. Lol. I'm shooting for 200k on it, which would be about 3 more years of driving it.

He said it was a can of crappy gas he had in the shed for his mowers and whatnot, from last year. It's quite possible that it was more water than gas. It's either that or a no spark condition. I told him to fog the intake with a small amount of ether to see if it would pop off, which would rule out an ignition problem, at least. don't say that about a KJ.....I drive one and at times I can hear the pump whining like the old one in my MJ did just before it died, lol. I'm NOT looking forward to replacing it, either via dropping the tank or going in from the top. I've done the research, and both are not things I really want to do I don't think it's a NSS issue, but I'll ask him to try the neutral trick. Ether test will confirm spark (if he actually does it), and I have no idea on the chip key. It's been running fine up until a couple days ago and actually died on him while driving so I don't think that's the issue, but thanks for mentioning it as a possibility