December.

75 Silverado. Have failed to make headway on carb. Need a hard to get vacuum operated choke actuator. 97 Silverado: swapped out rear tires from the 75 truck. They were worn down to no edge tread (from front end wear). Tires on 75 truck have huge tread but are 10 years old and cracking. Should have done this years ago. Front tires to be swapped soon. Saturn: new starter installed. Valve cover gasket set bought but not installed. Trailer: A 20 ft double axle enclosed trailer. I had to move it about quarter mile to new spot at apartment complex. Two of the tires so old and rotted they won't hold air. Jack up an axle and block it up to make them appear full. just need to look in a local ditch for newer tires. I don't need hardly any tread for now.

Oct-Nov

97 Silverado: the drivers door was sagging with age. I bought new hinge bushings and pins. Put the vehicle jack under the open door, removed the pins and replaced the bushings. The spring came out and that became a real problem when I tried to get it back in. Bushings got sort of smashed and somehow I managed to get it all back together after removing the pins yet again and jacking up door with spring compressed. About 2 to 3 hours. Needed a spring compressor. Auto part store didn't have one. Then the door still would not open up from inside hardly at all. I was yanking on the handle and it broke. Bought new handle assembly. 75 Silverado: I had bought a carburetor rebuild kit a couple months ago. Just took the carb off and took it inside. Can rebuild inside where it is warm. Saturn. It got hit early October in drivers side low speed. It was technically a total but i retained it. Totally drivable. Body panels cracked-they are plastic. Then passenger side broke out-stole iphone. New passenger glass. Next rear drivers side small triangular window broken out. Bang smash smash.

Blog expanded to include all vehicles

I am highjacking this blog to include my entire fleet. The Red Green truck (1997 Chevy Silverado, 2WD, 350 engine). Green truck with a red (maroon) cap by A.R.E. Company. My dad and I liked the Red Green show on PBS. Also the 1995 Saturn SL2. It has about 208,000 miles on it. The motor is in poor condition, but trying to keep it going. Uses lots and lots of oil. It survived a year or so with Jessica and now Kristen is abusing- I mean using it. Got new front tires on it a few months ago $200. The shocks are worn out though. Alignment unknown.  On the Saturn recently (sept 1st) we replaced the headliner. Been ripped to shreds for years. Took several hours if not 3 or 4. Fabric from Walmart ($6). Spray adhesive from Advance Auto $12.  Kristen found over $4 under the rear seat.  Then I replaced the fuel filter. I have had a new one for maybe 3 years but never installed it. Hopefully this will end the stalling Kristen has encountered lately.  Red green Truck 9/14/12 Friday: a problem that has been getting worse over 4 years. Yes it was noted on a repair report 4 years ago that left rear wheel cylinder was leaking. In the last year I began adding brake fluid to reservoir.  By now it had covered the shoes with fluid so bad it was not  working at all. Truck pulls to the right when stopping.  I replaced both rear brake wheel cylinders ($22). Went smoothly. Did not have to remove the springs or shoes at all. Near the end of job a small squirt of brake fluid got in my eye. Rushed into bathtub and flushed my eye. It seems ok. Then I bled the brakes. Road test. Ok but still the brakes are a little spongy. Always have been slugish or not very crisp. The pull to the right is now much less. May take a while to get fluid off shoes.   Saturday. Replaced the spark plugs with Bosch platinum 2. Test and can't tell a difference. Old plugs ( AC Delco ) looked pretty good despite the age of the engine and miles put on them. Plugs were about $16 a few years ago when I bought them.  Off to Walmart. Bought 2x5 quarts of oil and 4 oil filters. $50.  Oil and filter change. Took out the 5000 mile old synthetic and put in Valvoline NexGen MaxLife 10W30. It is made with recycled oil. They say it is better than crude oil for a basis to make new oil. Plus it "closes the loop". It is in the green bottles. Also I upgraded the filter to a Fram Toughguard with 6x protection. Supposed to trap more particles. I want the engine to last a long time. At 182,000 miles now.  While under the engine I see oil leaking from the front seal area. It can wait.  Took almost 20 quarts and 5 oil filters to Walmart for recycling.  By the way this summer I had to pay $1,100 for a new fuel pump on the redgreen. Dealership did the job. I replaced the little pump but it still kept not starting so I gave up. They found a short in the pump module and replaced the whole thing. Had to tow it once to Firestone and again to dealer. rental car cost about $200. About $1,500 total for the ordeal. Fuel pump went out in Atlanta about 3 years ago at the airport. Rental car and repair cost about $1,500 then.  Pray for my fuel pump.  Sunday 9/16/12 Anyhow the antifreeze or coolant replacement has been overdue for years. I have had all the supplies for 6 months now. About $25 for 2 gallons of new plus a little jug of Zerex super flush. Took from 2-8 pm doing this. 

Feb 15 to 28 work.

Feb 17 went to Minute Clinic at CVS and diagnosed with strep. Went to get penicillin and go home. Watch Pink Panther movies and sleep.  So not much work going on. 

Est Feb 19 had some strength and energy. Decided to try and free the brake line for driver side rear brake wheel cylinder.  Sprayed it with WD40 first. Took the line wrench, put it on the fitting and clamped a vice grip around it to keep it from spreading and stripping the fitting. It worked!  Just turned it a bit and snugged it back up. Ready for the swap now. 

Est Feb 22. Took the battery out from apartment, installed and tried to start it. I pumped gas pedal 4 times. It would turn over but not fire. I pumped it 8x and it tried to run but very low RPM a bit then die. I took air cleaner off and saw choke plate was flat across blocking air. I unjammed it and recranked. It eventually fired. I think choke plate is the problem. 

The radiator cap is still cracked open (but not off) so the coolant system won't get over pressurized. I let it warm up then drove it to the mail box .35 miles away. The brake light stays on indicating brake system failure. The brakes are still not working right but with great force will stop the truck. So on the way back I punched the gas pedal to get the RPM down right before I went up a steep pitch. It stalled out. I couldn't start it. Uh oh. I got out and took air cleaner off. Yep, choke had closed off air flow. Opened it up and got it started. Whew. 

Est Feb 25 bought another rear brake wheel cylinder at O'reilly's.  

Feb 28
Driver side rear brake wheel cylinder was installed, brake parts reassembled drum and wheel installed. Kristen came to help a bit to put wheel back on and we went in for supper. 

Next? She may help me bleed the brakes yet again; keep flushing out the old fluid. I may need to take off the brake part that has the sensor in it. Disassemble and clean it up. The other front brake line fitting has a stuck fitting so I may end up replacing another hard line. 

The brake system just keeps being the same topic over again. But it must work right and it has been so neglected for years and maybe decades!  If I have to replace every component, I will. Maybe the brake pedal can stay. Oh wait the rubber cover on it is worn down too ...

Kristen moved the truck

Monday: Passenger side rear brake wheel cylinder was installed, brake parts reassembled drum and wheel installed. I will have Kristen help me bleed the brakes. 

The drivers side rear has no evidence of leaking brake fluid, however it would not be surprising to see that begin. It would be best to replace that wheel cylinder too but I don't have one right now. Still I sprayed the bolts and brake line there to get them ready to take apart. Could not get brake line fitting loose. Will let it soak a long time. 

The truck has been raised up on three wheels over the weekend so I lowered the rear then removed the jackstands at the front. It now looks normal. 

I tried to start it up but it wouldn't fire up. The battery got weak so I took it inside to charge up. 

Spent a few hours on it this day. 

On tuesday, Kristen helped bleed the brakes but the fluid and air didn't flow like I think it should. I don't know why. It was pretty cold so I stopped for the day.

Only after using starting fluid did it start.  Need to get it to start better. Kristen drove it in a small loop. The brakes barely work. Now what?  

Front brakes maybe done

Wednesday I atarted on the drivers side front wheel area. cleaned off clumps of mud, grease, and tar, like I did on the passenger side, for over an hour. Installed flexible brake line. Went to the passenger side and installed flexible line. Now i needed to get a new solid line for the one (36 inch) I had to ruin (rusted connection).

As I worked on the truck I noticed a guy nearby working on a car. I was kind of anticipating him coming over and asking to borrow a tool. Well he did come over and ask if I was going to the APS soon and I said yes in an hour. Anyhow I went to APS ( Went to Autozone )with him. He is a young black guy named Mark and is a friend of a neighbor. He was dropped off at this neighbors so he didn't have a car of his own. He is from Gaffney. Make sense? He is working on a Buick Roadmaster with the A/C compressor froze up.  

I got a solid brake line and two rear brake wheel cylinders. Also temp bought a tubing bender.
We left and he wanted me to stop so he could buy a case of beer. I waited about 5 minutes on him.

I installed the solid tubing which was 40 inches long so it was difficult to fit into the old spot right and would have been even if it was 36 inches. Tubing bender wasn't really necessary. Had to remove radiator fan to ease access. Took an hour. And it was dusk, getting colder.  Put on extra shirt.  Then later another and put on sockhat. Later yet drank pot of hot coffee and put on a jacket with hood. I bled the brake lines and found loose fittings (darn!). Continued til I seemed to get no more air bubbles come out. Lot of walking involved. So front brakes may be done if calipers are not messed up and frozen.  They probably are, darn it. Spent from 1:30 to 9 pm working on it. 

Thursday I started to put on rear brake wheel cylinder and found it was the wrong type. Had to go to APS for exchange. They found the right one (I took old one in to match). They only had one so they had to have 1 shipped over from another store.

Had to work on Saturn (parked at Wade Hampton HS) and so not much got done on the truck. Also I needed to get in some kind of workout so I went to the Y to swim.

All weekend work

I have worked all three days on the truck. Friday I took it for another short drive in parking lot and the brakes sure are totally gone. The steering is no good either. I replaced the V belt and now the steering is just fine.

Took the brake master cylinder off to drain it out and inspect. I took it apart and the cleaned it up. Put it back on and filled it up with new fluid. The brakes still don't work.

Saturday I took off the master cylinder and took it to to APS (Auto Parts Store) and bought a new (remanufactured) one for $16. A rebuild kit was like $45! Makes no sense. After doing a bench bleed, I installed the master cylinder. Brakes wil not bleed right. I always remember helping brother Andy when I was maybe 13 to bleed brakes. All I remember is sitting in drivers seat and pushing the brake pedal when he yelled. It was a mystery to me then.

After an hour or more trying to remove the pressure differential /regulator and combo switch I gave up on that. Some nuts were frozen with rust. I need a 3/8" line wrench! Later I discover a leak from the front passenger flexible brake hose. It is only 40 years old and already needs replaced. Ha. The rain started up, it was late and I called it a day.

Sunday tried to get flex hose off and got kinda sidetracked on removing heavy amounts of dirt and grease and such caked all over the left front suspension and brakes. It needed done. I felt like an archeologist unearthing something. Really bad.

By the way the rain had moved away and it was a pleasant 55 to 60 degrees. Rusty bolts are always the big pain. So frustrating. Plus don't have the right wrench. Been working on the brakes. I decide to go to APS and talk and maybe buy.

It is 7:30 pm and I am listening to game (but I'm not even paying attention). I just went to two auto parts stores. Got some sandwiches from Wendy's. Got parts at Advance Auto then went to Autozone and bought same parts for $6 less and they had the right flare nut wrench. Went back to return items at Advance.  Maybe now I'll have some luck. 

Movement

Tried to start it up and it idled very rough at maybe 500 rpm then died several times. Added 4 gallons of new gas. The old gas has been in it for maybe 7 years! Had to take out battery and charge it up a few hours.

Meanwhile I found a set of new spark plug wires that I bought for it 10 years ago. I thought might as well install. Also covered up a few vacuum leaks with electrical tape. So many old rotten rubber parts. So after an hour or more of sitting in the engine compartment, I changed out the wires. The cap over the distributor was a pain.

Hooked up the speakers to the radio and replaced the fuse. For an unknown reason many of the fuses have the glass broken. Did old age crack them? High heat? So the crummy old pushbutton type AM radio with a separate FM converter is working.

Got the battery and reinstalled. This time it started real well but with tons of oil smoke. Huge cloud. I felt embarrassed. Oh yea I had noticed the radiator was full of fluid so I let it run about 5 minutes. I put it in drive and went around a bit of the parking lot. Smoke billowed out. The power steering was without power. I know the V belt is worn out and very loose. Need to replace. Also the brakes didn't want to stop it right. They also became locked up on at least one wheel. I was lucky to get the truck back to the parking spot. Actually the one next to where it was. The debris of where it was had accumulated.

To do next is determine what brake parts need worked on; replace power steering V belt.

it started and it got cleaner

today Saturday I finally got back to trying to start the engine. Last time it would not turn over.  The battery was charged up I thought but i took it back inside and recharged it before today.  I then today took out all the spark plugs and squirted some light oil into the cylinders.  Went inside and got the battery. With the plugs out we turned the key for a half a second a couple times and it turned over. Then we turned the ignition on for a few seconds to maybe get the oil into all the right places. Since the thing hasn't been started in years I was relieved.

The gas in it is maybe 6 years old - who knows.  It might present a problem for the next step of actually starting.  There is not much gas in the tank so I could easily dilute the old gas.

Interesting to work on the old beast.  I climbed into the engine compartment to work on the plugs. Sit on the front metal that goes over the radiator.  So anyway I reinstalled the plugs and then hooked up the battery.  Kristen had got to cleaning out the front and wanted me to get her the canister vacuum so she could suck out all the little crap from the rust bucket.  plastic bags had rot in the sun over the years and pieces were all over.  All kinds of junk to throw away.  It now looks pretty good inside.

So back to the engine.  I got in the drivers seat and Kristen in the passenger seat.  I turned the key and it turned over pretty well but did not start.  I pumped the gas pedal many times trying to prime it and get a lot of gas into it but no luck.  The ignition clicked a few times so that was not good.

During her cleaning, Kristen had found a can of starting fluid.  I got out and took off the air cleaner top and sprayed into the carb.  Then I had Kristen crank it and it started!  We let it run a few minutes and I thought it would sputter and die but it did not.  I had to shut it down since there is no water or coolant in it.

I'm going to change the coolant in the 1997 truck and put the old fluid into the 73.  Then we can try and restart and maybe drive it around the parking lot.