Jsdirt

Lots of beetles out that way I take it ...

I know the feeling! 3,200 miles of bugs here ...

Nice - you're lucky! Good news for me - just found the codes on that Impala are bank 1 sensor 2 codes (o2 sensor). Gotta love OBD-II! Sensor has no bearing on how the engine runs, but because we live in MA, the 85 year old owner on a fixed income gets to shell out $68 for a new one (wiring and fuse good). Needs a sticker by end of month.

That's what I hate the most about OBD-II. The thing runs fine, so the light is on due to emissions. Now if you live where they don't test, then it's all good. But, if it's sticker time, now you've got to waste time fixing it. That burns my ass .... Every EVAP system I've tried to fix was like finding a needle in a haystack. Without a bi-directional scan tool or a smoke machine, it's a matter of guessing correctly. I'd have better luck getting struck by lightning while winning the MA state lottery at the same time ... I might try to rig up my 2-stroke leak down tester on the filler neck & see what I come up with. Finding a 1 psi leak should be fun even still ... Might just throw a gas cap at it and hope for the best ...

Sound like EVAP codes to me. Stupid useless system. It's good at cleaning out your wallet in states that test for emissions, though ... I get to try and fix a "small leak" on a '06 Impala today. I'd better find some blood pressure medication ... Ahh correction - those are lean codes, bank 1 and bank 2. WTF? On a '10 ???

WOW ... amazing what a few years did to prices! Way down from panic central in '11.

This place loves to pave and repave all the roads in and around Boston ... but us poor peasants out west here are left to rot.

You got a Monday truck. That, and your roads down there are 5,000% better than up here. With all the tax money they extort from us in MA, our streets should be paved with gold ... but that's nowhere near the case, unfortunately. As usual, We the People get to pay for it in the form of auto repairs. Crap quality suspension / steering components don't last very long up here. I got 38k miles out of my lower ball joints. Coincidently, was just talking with my dad a few hours ago - he went to get a sticker, and his '09 2500HD now needs lower ball joints at 81k miles.

That's what it sounds like - hub bearings. Noise will change when you load whatever side while cornering. Hate those things. The tapered rollers in our '86 Grand Marquis last forever, especially with synthetic grease. I can go double the recommended service interval without an issue. Well over 120k on them now. My Silverado hub bearings only made it to 70k.

Future of oil changes http://www.autoblog.com/2015/10/09/castrol-nexcel-oil-change/ I'd like to see where the hell they're going to put one of those on some of these econoboxes today. You can hardly even fit a wrench in half of them! Also looks like that system will leave a lot of residual oil in the system, a-la Harley Davidson ... but probably even worse.

They use every excuse in the book to put it to us ...

Drove it 2 miles round-trip today, to change out tie-rod ends on a '66 Ford 5000. Getting my money's worth out of the Viair system.

Yep - that gets a thumbs up from me too.

Yeah that's pretty much a given. Good for reference though.

That's a real good temp to be at. Mine tends to run 90°-120° over ambient, sometimes more depending on how many hills (and how steep) I encounter. Got a tranny full of Amsoil, and the towing package (factory trans cooler). Only twice in 8 years have I seen it go over 200° - first time was on a 93° day according to the mirror thermometer, going up a 12% grade at 50 mph for over 5 miles with about 6k lbs. behind me. Was a nice, straight road. The coolant temp also came off of dead center on the gauge, and was headed quite a ways to the right. Truck never missed a beat though. Second time was this spring - had over 7k on, and climbed a MUCH steeper grade for about the same length with many more twists and turns. Kept at 45 mph, but on a much cooler day. Coolant temp only went up slightly. Both times the minute I crested the hill, the temps dropped fast.

I had that same thing happen a few months back. Tried passing someone on the left, legally, on a similar road, and the guy drove into the side of me. Ended up getting new Westin wheel-to-wheel step rails, a new power/heated/LED t/s mirror, and all the scratches on the passenger side fixed - insurance covered it all. Guy was 67 years old. I would have let it slide, but he was a belligerent dick.

I need one that won't rust!

They're supposed to bleed off excess ... but lots of times when they're installed, the relief in the bottom of the boot is facing the direction that it's pressed down the most in, and will blow the thing out. It should face towards the hub/wheel. The rack ends on my Silverado have no reliefs - the pressure stays in those forever.

Wow you did good there. My Silverado only made it to 38k. Went to get a sticker, and the inspector told me the lowers were junk. I didn't believe him, so when I got home I jacked it up and checked myself. Yep - toast! I managed to get 50k out of my hub bearings, struts, and upper ball joints though.

Glad he's ok! Great news! Out here, even on stock vehicles it seems front end work is a never-ending saga. My '72 El Camino used to take these roads no problem, but all my newer vehicles, it seems like every year something in the front end needs replacing, even with Amsoil synthetic grease at regular intervals. They don't build the stuff like they used to. Our '86 Grand Marquis has over 130k miles on it's 10 year old ball joints (except one that I forgot to wipe the dirt off of). The tie rods inner and outer are roughly the same age, all over 100k miles. Guess it's a truck thing ...

I totally miss mine (El Camino). Regretted selling it every day since the day I dropped it off at the new owner's buddy's garage in SC. Miss the handling, miss the power, and more than anything I miss the reliability - if something did go wrong it was simple, and 99% of the time, free. Never touched the front end once in that car - thing had been cross country, and back & forth from Phoenix to Livermore, CA several times, plus a couple trips to the Grand Canyon, & the Mexico border once, and a few years of 85 mile a day commuting in MA. Only time I ever had a problem was on a trip to Niagra Falls, Canada - was driving around outside Toronto somewhere, and one of my clamps had loosened on the rubber hoses for the tranny cooler. She puked quite a bit of ATF before I threw the line back on, tightened it up, & got to the gas station, luckily a mile up the road. Paid my $6/qt (in '01) and was on my way. If I had used my head, I'd have taken the money I wasted on buying the Silverado, and fully restored the Elky front to back, bought a winter beater for winter, and an old Cummins for hauling cars. Live and learn. Now I couldn't buy half the car back for what I sold it for ...

You need this kind of EPA protest ...

Sorry to hear that Sarah. Hope he's ok.

Now that's a good place to be.

I wish I had installed one of those years ago on mine. Too late now - pit-and-chip-central there ... Nice job - looks factory.