hgeranium

Quick update. Overheated at about 5pm last evening and I didn’t get home till 2:30. Heater control valve and heater hoses installed without a problem. When trying to reinstall the thermostat housing, I realized that what seemed like a guide pin was actually the top bolt that snapped in half! In the field without heat, I wasn’t able to get the bolt to the engine to budge let alone get the other half of the bolt out of the housing. I ended up just having to absolutely lather the thing with RTV to seal the top half. After adding water directly through the thermostat, I was able to get it about 30 minutes down the road before I had to add more water. At that point it got easier as I just had to pull over every 30min to refill until I made it home. To anyone having issues with having to limp their 4.0 home because of a coolant leak and you still have the closed system, it was pretty effective to install the tstat housing without the tstat and fill it all the way up with water through the large port with the hose off. No need to burp it and you can still add it when it’s hot and under pressure later down the road without having to worry about the bottle blowing up water on you when taking the cap off.

I’m waiting on parts anyway. Plus I would’ve needed a new housing gasket. My friend is bringing the HCV, two heater hoses, thermostat and housing gasket. I’m assuming it’s gonna try to overheat again because I’ll have to burp it. Maybe I can pour a bunch of water directly into the engine from the thermostat housing to mitigate it. I just don’t wanna wait for the truck to cool again if I need to burp it lol. I’m already going to be home way after dark so I’m trying to think ahead

There might be a slight chance the thermostat indeed failed. This thing looks older than me.

Quick update. One of my good friends was gracious enough to stop by an Autozone hub to pick up a new HCV, thermostat, and heater hoses. Sad news I still have to wait about an hour and a half for him to get to me. I’ve got the whole HCV set up disconnected. Just need to get the tstat housing off. I’m a little peeved that I have to go through the process of manually loosening the serpentine belt to get clear enough access to that bottom housing bolt. It’s pretty evil that they use these little collars instead of just hose clamps from factory because I have to buy new heater hoses. I may be able to cut it at the collar and reuse it but I’m worried the length will be just too short, plus these are original hoses so might as well do it for the peace of mind while I’m dillydallying on the side of the road

How does one remove the metal pipe of the HCV from the rubber hoses with these metal collars on the end? I’ve never done work with heater hoses so I’m just unfamiliar

Also how does the coolant run from the bottle? I’m just trying to figure out why the engine isn’t taking any coolant and it’s all just sitting in the bottle? I see the bottom hose goes out and splits between the heater core and thermostat. What would be stopping it from entering the thermostat? I’m wondering if maybe with all the overheating the thermostat got stuck closed? I’m worried about pulling off the housing because I don’t have a gasket or RTV on me to seal it back up properly

Currently stranded due to overheating because my HCV has completely broken off. I’m an hour and a half away from home and I really have no idea what to do. For some reason the truck isn’t drinking any coolant, I poured a bunch into the empty coolant bottle and even after overheating again it hasn’t drank anything. I thought maybe there was air in the system but after pulling the top thermostat hose off, I saw the thermostat is completely dry A quick response would be appreciated but from what it seems like, I may have no choice but to get it towed 80 miles back home.

can't beat Ike's original version IMO

First car in high school was an 07 Maxima for a few months until I got tired of it and sold the car for an 08 GTI. This is the car that got me interested in the automotive scene

I just got a full tank of gas, and a few minutes later I happened to park in a spot that had the left side of the truck angled downward. When I came back out I noticed it was leaking gas from the filler neck. I would think it can only leak at such an angle if the fuel neck is rotted out on the top side. After I moved it to level ground, it stopped leaking. I opened the gas cap and I saw the gas inside the filler neck because of the steep grade but I am wondering if it’s OK to drive for the time being? I’m sure it’s been like this for God knows how long but I just want to make sure. I’m about to move in a few days so I don’t have time to do truck maintenance unless it’s absolutely necessary. Maybe just keep away from parking like that and replace the filler neck once I’m settled in?

I have also never done a lick of AC work so I’m kind of worried about having to replace some of this stuff

That’s my plan but I just want to make sure that I should be expecting better cooling once I replace the parts

My truck has factory AC and at some point in the past was converted to 134A. It’s leaked Freon since I’ve had it. From what it looks like it’s just the service ports. I can fill it up and it seems like the majority of it will be gone in a week. When it’s full for those first few days the truck will cool but it really isn’t the most effective. I have no idea how old the expansion valve and accumulator are. The compressor is dated 2008. I wanted to hear about how cold I should be expecting a converted system to be. I understand it won’t be as effective as R12 but I’m assuming something has to be wrong. The compressor itself doesn’t make any noises in the clutch engages just fine. Can anyone with a thermometer or thermal/temp gun and good working 134a AC tell me what degrees they’re getting from the vents? I will have to get a little thermometer to check on my own but just so I have a baseline

This is the CTS for the gauge on the dash specifically. It doesn't provide any information to the ECU IIRC; that's what the CTS on the block is for

Are you going to paint the doors, the rest of the truck, or leave it as is?

Probably an AW4

For what it's worth... This DIY solution worked beautifully. I had tons of water leak in from the tops of both door seals when it rained or when I washed the truck. Sticking that poly rope in between the metal and the weather stripping fully eliminated that leak source and also cut down a ton of the wind noise. This is a great solution if you don't want to potentially change the strength at which you have to close your door with new WS. 5 minute job with ~$2 of poly rope from Wally World. Also, for leaky vent windows I stick two quarters in between the window and the latch to hold it a little extra shut and it works great. The bottom swiveling rivet thing broke on both of mine so mine need a little extra help staying fully shut.

That looks great!

That makes a lot of sense. I'm sure my new head unit sounds so good because of the amplifier. I'll pick up an amp and give it a try on this 173

This has been invaluable information, thanks so much! Now you have me really excited to have a period correct head unit in the truck again

I would message Minuit personally, but he seems to have been inactive for the past 6 months so I will ask here. In 2022 I installed a Pioneer DEH-S4220BT in place of some old crappy 2004 aftermarket radio. I have zero complaints; it works great. However, a few years ago I pulled a relatively nice RX-173 from an XJ in a pick-n-pull. I love how it looks and I love the idea of being able to play my cassettes in the truck. I know it's gimmicky and bluetooth/streaming will always be convenient, but nothing else about daily driving my truck is convenient so it will make it a little more fun popping tapes in there. I could always swap back if I don't like it as well. For those running stock radios, how is the sound quality compared to a modern unit? I understand it will be worse but how much worse are we talking? Is it worth the look to revert to a stock stereo if it means downgrading in sound? I also just hate the bright blue LED that my new radio has. The old radio that was in there had some terrible compression issues too. Just switching the radios made the audio sound like I swapped the speakers. The sound was way more crisp and waaaay louder. With the old radio, I could barely hear it on the highway at max volume. I'm worried that the RX-173 will bring me back to that but worse considering it's about a decade older than the other unit.

First things first, great cupholder Pete lol. Do you have a writeup on doing this? How big of a difference does putting the tweeters on the door make compared to the factory location?

Not sure how many parallels to the subsequent Rocky movies there are with Hard Times, but I loved them so this movie sounds right up my alley

After deleting social media again, I've been watching more movies. I've been on an 80s and 90s classics run lately. What are some of y'alls favorite movies?