Continuing Thread: What Are You Fix-It'ing Today?

[HobieMarty]

Finished up the dishwasher installation today. I used a rotary tool with a little sanding barrel thing and cleaned up the backs of the tiles so everything would fit back together somewhat correctly. I used clear contact cement to glue the tiles back in place. I also used some black epoxy to fill in the areas where the black grout was missing and then used a flat black paint marker so the epoxy would match the grout. Hey, whatever works right? We plan on renovating this kitchen in a few years anyway so I am not all that concerned that everything has to be perfect.
I have heard that new dishwashers don't dry as well as the old ones did, but I washed a small load and they were pretty dry except for a plastic bowl and lid that was on the top rack.

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[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by HobieMarty

Speechless!!! I was moved to tears reading this. I hope your friend can find a peace within himself, you have helped him a great deal with your loving support. God Bless You Sir!!!

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Thank you Sir. Me and Mrs Bugs keep up with him and it has helped. He has his moments but in the end, this has help bring it somewhat to a close.

He has a heart of gold and wants to help in so many ways. He does have the fear of not having made a difference in the world. Something I think we all feel.

As we like to say…. “He is our Billy”

Thanks again everyone.


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[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

I know the feeling well!
Its been an un-frag week for me. I made the mistake of not using my standard towels for wipe-down along with a water based w&g remover... the combo left surface contamination all over. I ended up sanding most of it off, over 2 days to get back to flat, any way, I went back to my normal ritual today... and re-shot. It came out great.... rituals work if you dont short cut them. I missed about 10 fish-eyes, at least correcting them wont drive me to sepuku like the other day nearly did!

Hey RS,

Can’t tell you how much I love this stuff.


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[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by Brian 162

Wow, that truck is in great shape.
How old is the fuel pump?

Thank you,
Other than getting crappy MPG, she has always been there for me. Sure there have been maintenance things over the years, but it’s always started and run.

Sorry for extremely late reply, 2025 was a blur after retiring from 31 years with the state and then jumping into a job on 1/2/2025, I called quits to that dumpster fire in November and catching back up o life. The fuel pump was replaced about five years before my post. I bought the truck in November of 1994 shortly after getting hired with the State. My first “new” car and I do not plan on getting rid of her.

The truck is now back at home and runs, here is the update.

So after doing what I could to fix the issue which mimicked both fuel and spark, I turned my man-card in at took her to a shop recommended by a friend who is a professional mechanic. I drove it to the shop about 15 miles away, and was able to keep it running well enough that it got there under it own power.

The shop (Shade Tree) now that I know what I know, and completely going against my gut feeling about taking any of my vehicles to a mechanic shop. But alas, with the new job, heavy travel, I just did not have time to burn. At first, they verified that all of my repairs were good and that they would need to did deeper. Fast forward eight months later, no progress, truck baked in summer heat, jacked up half ass repairs by experimentation, and now hearing…”well you did this and you did that” regarding my attempt to diagnose a problem myself. I elected to remove my truck from the shop. It got ugly to the point where I was borderline, threatening legal action if they did not release the truck back to me. I should like to add that the truck started at the front of the shop, but then ended up around the side of the building in the land of misfit toys stuffed behind a motorhome. It wasn’t an easy fix EASY money job so therefore it got put on the back burner. I was traveling so much that the time they were taking I really didn’t worry about too much because I just wasn’t around. So now, after the truck sitting at the shop for so long, it didn’t run. It wouldn’t even start, and the driver seat was completely broken in the back blown out.

I arranged the truck to be towed from that piece of **** shop to another mechanic that I have history with. A shop I should’ve taken the truck to initially, however, this other nightshade mechanic was recommended by somebody I knew. After the second shop took delivery of the truck, he determined that the fuel pump I replaced, went bad for whatever reason while the truck just sat for eight months, and needed to be replaced. The pump I replaced it with was a OEM Delphi fuel pump and it carried a lifetime warranty. So they replaced it. The parts didn’t cost anything, but I did have to pay for labor which I did not have a problem with. He also determined there were multiple connections that the other shop had screwed up because they were plugging and unplugging and ramming wires into things that they shouldn’t have been touching. Once he replaced the fuel pump and got the truck running, he knew within minutes what the problem was. It was a bad OEM EGR valve this entire time. The OEMEGR valve I did replace from the dealer, but I guess this is one of those cases where I got a bad or faulty fuel pump and an EGR valve, which led to the problematic issue that the truck had for almost a year and a half.

It was a very happy day to get the truck back finally. Now on a funny sidenote, when I went to go fill the truck up the first time after getting the fuel pump replaced, I’m sitting at the pump and it sounds like a waterfall under the truck. I’ve bend down take a gander and the underneath the truck and the ground just covered in fuel pouring out of the top of the fuel tank. It was just one of those things that the seal for the fuel pump apparently was bad and the Shop immediately corrected that issue. No fire so that was a good thing.

In the 31+ years of owning that truck, this is the absolutely first time she has ever left me standing there with no idea what was going on.

This is what I did in an attempt to fix it.

Work done:
New fuel filter
Rebuilt TBI with new injectors
New M.A.P. Sensor
New I.A.C.V.
New T.P.S.
New ignition control module
New coil module
New plugs
New cap
New rotor
New wires
New O2 sensor
New EGR valve
New EGR solenoid
New manifold temp sensor
New K&N air filter
New Distributor 11/3/2024

Cheers


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[oldE]

Jeez. All I did was put a hook on the barn door.

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

Got the silver down, swept up the shop and re arranged the planes... I'm kinda bonked.

Every time I see your work in this stage, I am reminded of the book “Passage of Flight”. The brothers recover the family Cub and they both get zoned out of their minds by the dope they applied to the new surfaces.

Yup, attempting to catch up on all I’ve missed.


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[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by Baz

Too late now but I wonder if you could have just raised your bed, T?

That's how I've always done it on my Silverado.

8 bolts total - 4 each side (I think...or maybe 10/5).

Loosen those on the passenger side and remove those on the driver's side using a cordless impact wrench.

Detach filler neck.

Lift bed up - I use a bottle jack with pieces of wood.









Also.....I keep a spare fuel pump on hand just in case. Lots of purchasing options when it's not an emergency and you're just being pro-active.

Good luck, my brother!

In the end, this new OEM pump went bad while sitting in the lot of the shop I stupidly took the truck to. This new OEM pump was replaced with only 15 miles driven on it.


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[herr_oberst]

Or, "I managed to figure out a way to keep the horses from escaping the barn"

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by oldE

Jeez. All I did was put a hook on the barn door.

It it’s such an awesome Barn!!!!


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[bugstrider]

Pictures are worth 1000 words, or the number used in my normal post.



Date when the shop installed it. Took over an hour to remove.

5.7L V-8

[rsrguy]

Originally Posted by bugstrider

Every time I see your work in this stage, I am reminded of the book “Passage of Flight”. The brothers recover the family Cub and they both get zoned out of their minds by the dope they applied to the new surfaces.

Yup, attempting to catch up on all I’ve missed.


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I thought it was flight of passage? Ya, I'm pretty religious about wearing my respirator, I only joke about sniffing paint....
Although I do like the way the hangar smells the next day!

[Brian 162]

Glad it all worked out. Getting defective oem parts can and did in your case take you down a frustrating path. I had a 97 Tahoe with a 5.7. It was bulletproof, just a check engine light every once in a while. Rust did it in.

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by rsrguy

I thought it was flight of passage? Ya, I'm pretty religious about wearing my respirator, I only joke about sniffing paint....
Although I do like the way the hangar smells the next day!

Ha! Oh Damn…………… my bad!!!
I guess I should change my handle to “Stider of Bugs”. I claim my moment of Dyslexia. lol


Yup, something about certain smells that we all like.

Fresh cut grass, first rain, the wood smell with new construction, fresh epoxy when working composites and it has set overnight….

[bugstrider]

Originally Posted by Brian 162

Glad it all worked out. Getting defective oem parts can and did in your case take you down a frustrating path. I had a 97 Tahoe with a 5.7. It was bulletproof, just a check engine light every once in a while. Rust did it in.

(Long post alert)

Thanks,
Yeah, that was a wild ride for sure… 24/25 was quite an ordeal for vehicles. I am glad to move into 2026 with the anticipation to have time to work on the 912’s metal and get the 911 back together and the fast mover looked at, at “Bugstrider’s Shoestring Skunk Works”

All started with the Chevy Volt that went down for a main battery issue. Down from Jan 24, returned to service Dec 24.

Truck went down April 24, returned to service Sept-Oct 25.

2024 Honda civic, purchased new April 24 for commuting. KIA/RIP 7/4/25 when Mrs bugs n I were broadsided going to see the parents. Spent the entire holiday n weekend in ICU. That was fun……..
Currently can’t post any pics of the car for legal reasons as of now.

Recent purchase of our daughter-in-law’s grandparent’s 2017 GMC Canyon Denali w/2.8 L turbo diesel. Since it was family, I want to do everything right….





Had a full GM pre-purchase inspection performed. The truck only had 32,092 miles and was dry as a bone regarding “ANY” leaks. I know because I crawled through with a fine tooth comb. Took it to our local GMC Dealer for the inspections just to make sure. Have the report saying it checked out “OK”. Not four days after I get it back, a fluid leak develops and the front diff is all wet. They checked all fluids during the inspection, so I returned it for them to go eyes on, and they put it on the lift and proceed to tell me they forgot to tighten the front diff fill plug and wiped it down telling me to keep an eye on it. Truck returned and put back into service. I drive it for two days, fluid leak still there. This just a small amount of fluid dropped over a few hours, 3” wide circle.

I return back to the dealer, where this time they have the truck for three days. I then get that dreaded call from the service counter…. “Mr. Anders, I have bad news…..” ( insert dramatic music). I am told the High Pressure Fuel Pump needs to be replaced…
Yup, $10,069.63 was the original estimate for the repair that mysteriously surfaced immediately after they got their hands on it. Needless to say I was crapping Twinkie’s due to the fact this was days after I had the inspection and purchased the truck. Yeah, I got a family discount but still had to finance the purchase. The dealer was doing a hard push for me to approve the repair immediately, which I said I needed time to process this news.

I then began researching the repair, and yes, it is a nightmare of a job. Books out at 20 hours. After my experience with the shade-tree shop and our 95 GMC, I need another set of eyes on this. I begin calling my mechanic buddies for a lifeline. I am put in contact with a former USMC diesel mechanic who works at a local EU performance shop. Possible win win!!!

I meet him at his place of employment for him to go eyes on.
After inspecting the engine, test drive, clean n re-clean, he noticed a fuel leak at the connection union from the HPFP and supply line.
He then gets on it with a couple wrenches and tightens up the lines ever so slightly. As of tonight, it is holding fast and not a drip since that day.

I have no proof other than a gut feeling, prior past experience with this service center years ago, and my spidey-sense, but how hard would it be to crack a fuel line loose on a vehicle with absolutely zero fluid leaks until a vehicle inspection….. In my worthless opinion, the dealer service center is dirty. Since this experience, I have heard from a few other folks, usually elderly customers that have had similar experiences at the same dealer service center. Again, I only have intuition supporting my opinion. And I wonder why I have serious trust issues with dealer service centers and independent repair shops that promise the world.

Glad to see 2025 in the rear view mirror on vehicle matters.


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[Brian 162]

I don’t trust dealer service departments. I tried using the local Chevy dealer here when we moved here and twice they did something. Not so much deliberate but incompetence. Luckily I found a good mechanic, small 2 person shop.

[mthomas58]

Kitchen and Bar cabinets are going in this week

[A930Rocket]

You guys are a lot more productive than I am lately. Today, I installed the gas line, with a regulator to the pool water heater, at a house we are building in Kiawah.

I don’t like it and I’m going to redo it. Too many fittings and the T needs the drip leg.

[onewhippedpuppy]

GE/Hotpoint dryer has been the bane of my existence for the last few months. I’ve replaced the heating element, thermostats, selector switch, and cleaned out the vent line. This time the return wire from the heating element had melted off of the spade plug and the dryer wasn’t heating. Replaced it, it melted again the next day. Took my time on the next one and cut back the wire to a clean area, cleaned the element plug really well, and made damn sure it was a good crimp. Holding so far but I’m not confident. Looking online this appears to be a super common issue, if it happens again I’ll increase the wire gauge which is a popular fix.

[thingmon]

I have an Amana washer that started trying to self-destruct when in spin mode. Probably springs and shocks. Trying to decide whether to fix or replace.

Or maybe it just needs to be corner balanced?

[ted]

I feel better destroyed a few rags.
low 70s very nice garage weather today.
used simple green hand clean chassis wash away the road grime oil film from 3 days on track.
Had a minor valve cover oil leak in the front that made a mess before we could fix it.
Wax roof and cover it till next race.
All clean Pancho Weaver 92' chassis.
Makes fast fun easy to fully disassemble.