Category: Titanium Hitch

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Garage Day: Titanium Hitch and His New to Him Ford (Post #383) 8/27/2013

Another Saturday, another Garage Day. Wrenching on a old truck with your best friends in the middle of rural farm country is as American as America gets. This time the patient was Titanium Hitch’s 1998 F-150. According to TH the truck had been running pretty rough. It was in bad need of a tune up.

What started out to be an oil change, a brake job, and to investigate the rough running, became an all day ordeal. When we talk about project creep, this project not only crept, it grew as it did. What finally happened was a plug change, oil change, brake fluid change, two O2 sensors replaced, air filter change, and a final sorting out of the sound system problems from the last garage day.

First, the good news, the truck did not need brakes. The pads were deemed to be in satisfactory condition. So TH is going to shelf the pads he bought for another time. The brake fluid was sucked out with a syringe, fresh oil replaced. Then the nipples all got a turn as the bad fluid was evacuated from the lines.

This went exceedingly well with three pseudo-mechanics working on it. +EGD was at the wheels while I filled the reservoir. TH was relegated to pumping. The instructions were pretty tough to follow. Pump the pedal and say when he was pumping. This took a few tries to get perfected. But as with most things TH finally became an expert peddle pusher.

On to the O2 sensors. A lively debate was had betwixt the three of us regarding how many O2 sensors an F150 had. We quickly found what we later learned were the upstream sensors. Only through a parts search did we find out that it had a set for downstream as well. Well hoity-toity for them! We all were surprised and our theories of why it could only have two, like a Land Rover were dashed on the rocks of our hubris.

The codes that were being thrown were thought to be related to the downstream sensors. I’m still a little fuzzy on this but I went with it. Besides the down stream sensors looked to be the easiest to remove. Yeah right!

The driver’s side came out with out much of a problem.
The passenger side was…welded …frozen …rusted WELDFROZTED in.

A great many attempts were made with a great many tool configurations.

We first cut the lead so we could use a deep socket,

We then attempted to sawz-all the sensor,
Then a propane torch was tried,

Then the sensor was cut into pieces with a large bolt cutter,
Finally a socket with a large cheater bar was used to tear the threads off. To get the cheater bar in to play the truck had to be lifted up to the maximum height of 5 ton jack stands. I was quite worried about this, as one mistake and the state’s insurance agencies would be writing a bunch of checks to happy sad widows.

I’m surprised I don’t have a picture of the end result of the sensor. But suffice to say brute force won the day. You can well imagine that the threads were trashed. EGD remembered to grab a tap in the correct size when we went to the parts store to spend some more of TH’s beer money hard earned pay on auto parts. EGD managed to get a few threads cut back into the sensor port and the second was installed. The front sensors were looking pretty bad as well. They were probably WELDFROZTED in as well. None of us wanted to find out. Another problem for another day.
Next was plugs. We should have guessed we’d have problems. The first plug fell apart as the lead was being pulled from it. You can see the center conductor out of its plug in the following picture a long with what was left of the O2 sensor on the right side.
Half the plugs we pulled came apart in one manner or other. After examination of the plugs it was easy to say they were the originals. This was evident by checking what was left of the anodes for spark gap. The plugs were so badly eaten away and the gaps so large I was surprised the truck ran at all. One of the gaps measured .1000. Yes… point 1 thousands. The actual factory plug gap should have been .0560. Two of the plugs measured .0900. I didn’t measure the rest. I hope you can see the ends and how badly eaten away they were in the picture.

I gapped all the plugs with a feeler gauge and they were installed. At some point here a lively debate broke out about the parts we had just picked up. The replacement O2 sensors did not have the correct key on them. It looked to me what little key was there was half-heartedly cut off/ground down.

We looked at the existing up and down stream plugs for comparison. Then we compared them with the one upstream sensor which we could actually reach with out being a contortionist, the passenger side. Sure enough the replacements didn’t match any of the OEM ends. We installed them anyway, trusting that the AutoZone guy gave us the right parts and they were labeled correctly in the boxes.

The oil change was completed in short order. The truck was two quarts low on oil as well. The black stuff that was serving as oil didn’t even fill the five quart jug of the replacement oil.

I had to bail out before the speakers were addressed. I waited long enough until I got to hear the engine with all the new bits. They gave me the honor of firing her up. She roared into life and idled like she was meant to. I’m going to guess she gets 3-4 miles more per gallon of petrol.

About an hour after I got home I got a panicked call from TH asking if there was something I could think of that might have made her run poorly. Seems when TH tried to drive home although idle was good, any application of throttle caused coughing and choking and a poor running motor. It was probably dropping to “limp mode”.

I remembered I had pulled the passenger side O2 lead, but I hadn’t reconnected it. I relayed that and he was off to check it and indeed it was still disconnected. It was reconnected and he made it home.

I talked to TH the following Monday and he told me she was still running rough. During the Garage Day festivities we had had a lively discussion about the Air Idler Valve. If it was half as bad as the other parts, it most likely really needed a good cleaning if not an out right replacement.

It was fun to hang out with my old mates and swap stories and wrench a little in the sub-Saharan African hot Saturday in Oklahoma. I wouldn’t have rather been anywhere else, well perhaps in my pool with Mrs. Okierover, but I got that too so I was a winner all the way around.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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Garage Day – August 2013 (Post #377) 8/14/2013

My good friend and resident evil scientist the +Evil German Dude (EGD) announced we were having a Garage Day at his house this past Saturday. For once I didn’t have anything Land Rover related for him to assist me with. I’m sure he and the former Titanium Hitch were quite surprised as we normally have something to do on the Range Rover. They both liked the Big White Bus’s new stance on fresh springs. I had to call it to their attention, but they responded with friendly comments after looking her over.

Inadequate alternator

The main goal of the day was to install a new alternator in EGD’s F-250 Super Truck 4×4 Beast. If you have been a frequent reader you know every thing EGD touches must be modified. His Chevy 1500 was highly modified. I could write an entire blog post listing the changes he made to the 1500. His F-250 is well on its way to being heavily modified.

EGD and the Former Titanium Hitch

More after the jump….

Today’s modification was to be a nuclear power reactor. He has the need to power small cities and in case of a disaster provide power to his evil lair. Sadly the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied his permit for a mobile nuclear power reactor. They said his design was sound and the schematics were first rate. They just did not feel he rated one.

Beefy.

So he picked the next best thing and contacted the Russian’s for one of theirs installed a DC Power Engineering alternator. At maximum revolutions this monster will put out 300 amps. At idle it puts out 190 amps. Compare that to a stock Land Rover alternator and its 100 amps at max output. They will send it to you polished or one of 11 colors. Impressive.

Size comparison. New on the left and old on right.

The task was a simple one if you were content with using the existing wiring. But EGD is an evil mad scientist, so you know there has to be enhancements. First was replacing the cables to 1 aught. Yes, you read that correctly…1 aught. He is fond of his power conduit mechanisms. Three hundred amps is a lot, and to run it through stock wire is just silly.

One aught cable and in-line voltmeter.

He also installed an in-line volt meter. This is cool enough to warrant install on my Big White Bus. I will have to investigate this option further. One of my pet peeves about my Land Rover is the apparently inadequate wiring. Lots of Land Rover owners outfit their rigs with wenches winches, lots of lights, refrigerators,…etc. These are all power hungry devices in which dual batteries and beefy alternators are just the prescription to get the needed amperage to the devices. EGD’s beastly F-250 is no exception.

Installed.

The former Titanium Hitch and I mostly handed EGD tools and offered the “extra hand” every mechanic, at one time in their life, wishes God had given them. Working with EGD on his rigs over the years is truly entertaining. I’ve never seen him come up against something he hasn’t all ready anticipated.

His work is meticulous, precise, and clean. I have learned a lot from him over the last decade. I told the former Titanium Hitch that when I work on my Range Rover I think about what EGD would say if he saw my work. You’ve no doubt seen the W.W.J.D.? (What Would Jesus Do) and the many variations over the years. My own is W.W.E.G.D.D?

EGD then decided to manipulate the worldwide price of a barrel of crude by doing an oil change in the big diesel. The behemoth uses 13 quarts of oil. Since I have the smallest beer belly of the group, I was elected to ride the creeper under the truck to empty the oil. EGD has made this a simple process by installing a Fumoto valve. No more guessing which wrench you need. No more getting oil on your hands removing the plug. Easy peasy.

Once EGD was done with the alternator installation and oil change was completed, we had a great dinner of roast potatoes, hot dogs, and grilled vegetables prepared by EGB (Evil German Bitch). I know what you’re thinking. But I assure you that’s her own moniker, she picked it out. That’s even how I have them in my phone. She is a superb cook and I always love eating at their house.

After chow time was over, Titanium Hitch told us about the sound system woes in his newly acquired late nineties Ford F-150. The after market sound system had been butchered. EGD was keen to sort out his problems.

I fetched tools while EGD started extracting the radio from the dash. I was also tasked to find a wiring diagram for Ford pickups on the interwebs. That was no real challenge and I was back to handing them tools.

We found the problem, a blown speaker. The others were not in good nick and it was suggested he replace them all. Replacing them was a job for another day.

So we wrapped it all up. I said my goodbyes and headed home with a detour to drop the used oil off at JagGuy’s garage where he will undoubtedly use it in his Bobbed-Duece.

I received an email from an Art of Manliness reader who told me the visited link color on my OkieRover.com website was virtually unreadable in low light. So I swapped it to a red for high contrast.
Thanks Shawn.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering

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Victory Beer (Post #349) 6/9/2013

Nothing tastes better than Victory Beer.


 vic·to·ry beer noun \ˈvik-t(ə-)rē\ \ˈbir\

This is the beverage you get to consume after you solve a particularly difficult problem on your Land Rover. The beverage is most often one from the British Isles but not necessarily so. See also “victory rum and coke”.

We get proclaim victory and drink beer because we solved the mystery of the electrical gremlin that had invaded the Big White Bus. As you may, or may not recall, I had some trouble with the sun roof, clock, driver’s seat, map lights on the rear view mirror, and the interior and door lights.

Originally I had planned to have the amazing JagGuy help me sort out the problem. He is a genius and pretty much my go to guy for electrical problems of all kinds that don’t involve attempting to electrocute giant monsters. I usually call The Evil German Dude  for that kind of power. Well JagGuy’s grand children were in town and visiting and his lovely wife was celebrating her birthday, therefore No Garage Day routine for him, and incidentally me as well.

So after I drove to the shop in Oklahoma City I turned around and headed back south. Spontaneously I decided to stop by my friend Butch (formerly known as Titanium Hitch)’s house. He was just a few blocks from the complete devastation in Moore, Oklahoma of the May 20th tornado you saw in yesterday’s Newcastle Police Dash Cam post. Southwest 134th street leads straight to his house and was the path of the EF5 tornado. The destruction was hard to drive past. So many lives changed. You can see how the people of England and Germany during World War II felt when their homes were destroyed.

An aerial of the destruction at Briarwood and more after the jump….

He was home and talking to the insurance adjuster about his roof. He had 150mph winds at his house and the roof is trashed. His home was in the “debris ball” of that tornado and the dirt and insulation from hundreds of homes was on everything in his neighborhood. I talked with his wife about her feelings during the event. Their son was in Briarwood Elementary School when the tornado hit. I visited with he and one of his high school buddies who is a roofing contractor. After a great chat, they headed off to lunch and I headed to the Okierover de hacienda.

I started by looking at the fuse block. With a suggestion by JagGuy to measure the voltage at the fuse block I found nothing there. He suggested jumpering the fuse next door to the bad fuse port. B5 had no voltage, B4 had the correct amount. I made a jumper out of a paper clip and tested the electrical bits. Sure enough it worked with a jumper.

So with that bit of knowledge I decided to look at the wiring loom. I started at the battery and traced the loom back to the fuse block. The wiring loom runs from the battery through a cable to an odd octopus of connections to the fuse block along the right (passenger) fender and on into the cab and to the fuse block.

If anything had failed I figured it was outside the cab. Mostly I figured that because I was too lazy to pull the dash off and walk the loom  from the fuse block back to the battery. Laziness, what a comfort.

So I pulled back the “protective” cover. There I saw one wire not connected. As you can see from the picture the green is a lovely bit of corrosion that had eaten through the wire. Believe me when I say the first thing I thought was, “This cannot be this easy.”

I’m guessing these two should be connected…

A lovely color or green.
Blurry…

I tested the solution by jumpering the two wires with a make shift jumper with a fuse in line, as JagGuy said, “just in case.” I was very surprised at how easy this was. I was also pleased to see the circuit light the map light on the bottom of the rear view mirror, signaling my success.

I wonder why I continue to use this camera. Blurry.

A quick call to confirm my thoughts with JagGuy and I was moving toward repairing the line by soldering a jumper. I cut away all the corroded wire and made the connection. I soldered the jumper in place and put some heat-shrink on the bare wire. I then tested all the electrical bits I could find that were affected by the bad wire. Victory
.

I buttoned everything back up and declared V-WL day. (Victroy Wire-Loom). I bought a round of beers for all those present in my garage. I was sadly all alone but I thanked myself for the drink and went to my office to type up this blog post. I am on my second Victory Beer and this blog post is done.

P.S. Some random thoughts. The whole octopus connected to the bolt/connector is, well…poorly done. I would have much preferred a lovely power block with power on one side and the individual wires on the other…and as we are say what we REALLY preferred, those wires labeled with their destinations. Eh, whatever.

With every turn of the wrench solder of wire we get closer to the Circumnavigation of Oklahoma.

The face of patience as Mrs. Okierover snaps pictures.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.

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October 14th, 2005 (Post #62)

October 14th, 2005
Charging problems
All of a sudden I have a charging problem. Everything was working fine. I leave my lights on one time at work and drain the battery to zero. So I get it jumped and it manages to get me home and such. So a week later I don’t drive the BWB for an entire weekend. That was nice. Anyway, Monday morning she is dead again. So I jump her and drive her to work. Battery drains over the day and I have to have a jump again.

I get home and have to jump the next morning again. So I take it to the O’Reilly’s they test the battery and the alternator. Thumbs up on the alternator according to the guy holding the tester. So I go in and get another battery, prorated and it costs me $15.05(US). Sweet what a deal.

So a couple of days later it’s dead again. I can’t figure that out. So with a suggestion from EGD I begin pulling fuses while measuring the amps at the battery. That was a tricky deal, because the measurement changes as the devices draw. I’m averaging 1.4 to 1.7 draw. I notice how ever that on a couple of fuses when they are out I’m drawing 4.3 to 5.2. With them out I draw more?

Also depending on how long I kept the leads connected the voltage would eventually drop to .3. I’m guessing that was something to do with the meter. Meters don’t like to be conductive paths and I figure that was a safety feature to protect the meter. That is a guess of course.

Well as I’m testing I notice a very high frequency hum coming from my right. Over near the alternator. So I listen closer and the alternator is humming. That can’t be right I think. Also the 4.3 to 5.2 is on the meter when I hear it. Remove the leads it goes away. Reconnect it is back. Well a few times anyway. I am unable to make the hum start on my own accord. So I am convinced the alternator is toast. All that charging on a dead battery could wear out an old under powered alternator anyway.

Lots of web pages mention the alternator being too wimpy anyway. This is supported by the fact that when you order a rebuilt one, they are 100 amp and not 80 amp like the original.

So I order the alternator from NAPA with a lifetime warranty, five year free towing to a NAPA service center. If the alternator is the reason for the tow a new alternator and the tow are free. What the hell, I say, $290 bucks. Whatever I want the damn thing fixed. The teasing from EGD, Titanium Hitch, and my boss is becoming unbearable.

So I swap the alternator. Two big bolts, remove the air filter assembly, loosen the belt tightener. Swap. Bolt it back up, done. Poof like 30 minutes I’m done. I cleaned off the terminals and the battery cables and even grease them for fun.

I go to start it and nothing. Turns over does not start.

First I’m thinking WTF? Those two things aren’t related, well not much anyway. So I get RovErica to fire her up while I check for spark. No spark.

With a suggestion from JagGuy who informs me I must have busted a wire when I was working near the ignition relocation module. Okay so I go back and every wire I touch breaks. Makes me wonder how it was running in the first place. So I wire it all back up with some difficulty. Not completely understanding where all the wires go makes the logic hard to follow. But wired back up it was. Still nothing.

I give up and my wife says it might be good to look for another Rover. “If this one is going to be down three days a week. You’ll need to get to work.” That was bad. I don’t want another car payment right now. And I’m beginning to doubt why I am obsessed with these Rovers. I printed up the testing procedures and got to Test 2 before I find the problem, dead coil. I give up at 11:15pm, send the emails to work telling them to cancel my appointment and telling them I’m dead in the water.

In the morning I call JagGuy again. He says Eric that doesn’t make any sense if you are wired up and don’t have any voltage at the coil, it’s not the coil. It must be something else. I tell him how frustrated I am and that I’m well over my head at this point. He says casually as he signs off, telling me to call him later and to check your fuses and your connections again.

I have half the wiring harness disassembled and am wondering how all this works. I think okay check the fuses. Why didn’t I check them earlier? Well guess what dead 20 amp ignition fuse. Feeling like a complete horse’s ass I fire her up and everything worked. Fun thing happens while I’m reassembling the wire harness…the NEW alternator makes the hum sound.

What is wrong with me? I’m a smart guy, well sorta. I’m no slouch anyway. Why can’t I understand all the concepts related to ignition systems? It’s rhetorical, so don’t email me on that.

It’s a few day later and all seems well and the alternator is working well. The battery is not discharged. I own a new trickle charger. And I can now get to work.

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August 2nd, 2004 (Post #49)

August 2nd, 2004
Rust the bain of all autos
Tomorrow my lovely wife and I will celebrate 15 years married. That is an accomplishment here in the middle lands of America. With a 50% divorce rate it seems to be harder for some than for others. Thank you for staying with me all these years. You are the best accessory a guy could have to make the Rover worth riding in.

Rust. Rust is popping up on the rear door. It seems to stay wet back there. I will probably look at replacing the rubber back there soon and to look at stripping the rust off and ending that problem for the time being. My buddy the Titanium Hitch has used some POR-15. He is in the process of using it on his old Ford pickup’s roof to stop the rust which is all over it. He doesn’t have anything to report yet.

Ozzie at Ozzie’s Offroad has recently used some POR-15 also. He promises some pictures and that always means some writing too. Anyway the rear lid needs some work and I will take the opportunity to fix the lock back there too. I don’t think it works like it’s supposed to. I’ll do a write up on it as I start on it look for it in the Tech Tips section. The rain has stopped for a while so it would be a good time to start on it.

I’m gonna pull up the carpet in the front and try to clean it as I did in the back. This will also give me an opportunity to check out the rust I fear is under my feet as I motor about.

I’m gonna add an avatar for any medical things that happen to me when I work on the truck. Maybe I’ll add pictures of the injuries too! The last one was the wrench slipping out of my hand and hitting me in the nose. Right on the bridge and now I have a lovely popping sound when I fiddle with my nose. On the CV joint repair I described the ginsu bracket and the new scar I got from that. So look for the red cross somewhere on the new articles.

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December 3rd, 2002 (Post #14)

December 3, 2002
The Joys of Urban Living and Good Thing He was at the Garage
Garage Day is Saturday. With that in mind Friday after Thanksgiving was a crummy day. I went out to the curb to return the trash cans to the side of the house and there on the ground was my right rear lens protector and some red plastic. I looked at it an thought that’s strange. Then I looked at the truck, long scratch, and a torn quarter panel (with hole). Seems the City of Norman trashman put the retrieval arm of his large trash truck down the side of the Range Rover. Boy was I steamed. I called the City and they came out and assumed full responsibility and the driver returned and apologized.
Monday I went to get estimates for repair. Surprisingly the damage was anywhere from $1200-1400(US). Good grief! In the good ole days my Dad would have said lets pound it out and fill it with Bond-O. Well on a steel car maybe, aluminum who knows. We would have been out $200 with paint. I will have it repaired but the process to be paid by the city is tenuous so I will have to wait until they approve the repair at the City Council meeting someday in the future.
My arrival at work was greeted by several jokes. A sign with pictures of trash trucks and dumpsters from FordShortBed (a new evil woodworking superhero) that says “Stay away from these!!! They are dangerous!!!” stubbornly taped to my monitor. Also Titanium Hitch came in and said excitedly “come on, quick we gotta move the Rover there’s a trash truck in the parking lot!!” I almost got up and went out there. Ha Ha. I will keep you apprised and I will post some pics when I can get them back.

Almost a recovery…
JagGuy drove his Range Rover to Cajun Country (Baton Rouge) over the long weekend and back home. 1500 miles round trip. And after stopping at the Garage to pick up some stuff he came out put his truck in gear and a lound “BINK” came from under the truck. He had a CV joint fail. Wow, what luck that he was at the Garage when it happened. He called me on Monday and told me he had already taken it apart and was heading to Rover Cannibal to pick up a spare. He promised pictures and a write up for all of us. I will post it when he finishes it. It will give him a good reason to buy a digital camera if he didn’t already have one.

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