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What have you done with your other vehicles today.

236K views 3K replies 180 participants last post by  sixsix 
#1 ·
Since we all have other vehicles.
And we all basically work on our own stuff.
And we talk about it on the forum.
I modeled this thread after the infamous . "What have you done to your van today" Thread for just such emergencies and what not.

Well since my van is mothballed right now till warm weather. I been driving the truck. I having the same as the van did before. When it is this cold, 6-16 degrees the truck just don't get warm long. Heater suffering. I going to put a piece of cardboard in the radiator today. When you stop driving the temp gauge drops and the heater is Poo-Poo. And it is loading up from being cold and idling so much warming up. One good throttle application and it fine, but after a few days of kid glove idling around it just dont run the same.

Cutting and placing the cardboard all it getting for now. As my baby is hogging up the heat in the garage and she is not coming out. And I sure am not standing outside looking for and modifying a heater control valve in 15 degree weather. So I will deal with it when it gets to 40 degrees or above. For for now we are good.

If anyone feels I was wrong starting this thread. In my back yard I have a large supply of pitchforks and torches. Some rocks in a pile. Feel free to come by and run me out of town on a rail. We will be serving beverage of your choice and snacks before the stoning commences. Please RSVP promptly so I know to get additional pitchforks and torches. We have a unexhaustable supply of rocks. I hope everyone enjoys the event.

Thank You.
The soon to be stoned.
:whack:
 
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#3,027 ·
icebrrg3rd said:
Well, the wife decided to kill her van, it's making a knocking noise. Great. That was the only automatic vehicle so now I'm driving her everywhere since she won't drive stick shift. It also means any family trips are in my vehicles, but that has its upsides and downsides. Now we need to search for a new van plus we have nothing to trade in. Yay?

-Andrew
Wait until someone does a push-pull-or_tow deal. Or sell it to your local LKQ for $300 and start over. I prefer the former option, but who knows how long you'll wait.

Why won't she drive stick? As my husband is fond of saying, anyone can drive an automatic: One hand, one foot, half a brain...
 
#3,028 ·
Leeann_93 said:
anyone can drive an automatic: One hand, one foot, half a brain...
Lol! Anyone can drive today's standard.
My youngest son has an '02 subaru w/ a stick and has owned manual transmission cars since he got his license, 10 years or so.
One day I let him try my '69, 3 on the tree, no problem he thought.
That ride was hilarious, no power anything and you need to finesse the gears.
 
#3,029 ·
WoodButcher said:
Leeann_93 said:
anyone can drive an automatic: One hand, one foot, half a brain...
Lol! Anyone can drive today's standard.
You'd think. But you'd be wrong. Millennials, among others, are lost when faced with a stick. There are news stories about attempted carjackings that are abandoned because the vehicle was a stick.

Three on the tree is a weeeeee bit harder.

I actually liked my '84 Renault Alliance. While it was good, it was very good - about 45 mpg, went 80-85 on the highway with no complaints. Better yet, to put it in reverse, you had to pull up on a little collar right below the shift knob (you know, kinda like pushing down on a stick in a Beetle to put it in reverse). When someone who professed to be an expert with a stick attempted to drive that car, hilarity ensued.
 
#3,030 ·
Leeann_93 wrote:
Better yet, to put it in reverse, you had to pull up on a little collar right below the shift knob (you know, kinda like pushing down on a stick in a Beetle to put it in reverse). When someone who professed to be an expert with a stick attempted to drive that car, hilarity ensued.
I drove a Lloyd Alexander 600 (1958 vintage or so IIRC). The Lloyd company was related to Borgward. It was a very small wagon design, similar shape, but smaller than an an old VW Type III SquareBack. It had a 2 cylinder air-cooled motor, which looked something like a Harley_Davidson.
The shifter was a 4-speed on the column. To get to Reverse required pulling outward on the shift lever, against a pretty hefty spring, like you were trying to remove it from the column. Then there was another position that lever could be moved to. If you did not get the spring detent out far enough, you stayed in first gear, and lurched forward instead of in reverse. With that wimpy little motor, you definitely needed all four gears to get any place fast, assuming there were no hills.
Rod J
 
#3,031 ·
Yep, "once upon a time we actually drove the cars, not the other way round.

I give credit where it's due, my oldest boy has a class 1 and can drive anything. He married into the family owned company he works for now. In the beginning they stuck him in the old trucks and equipment which he spent the time to learn. A minute after getting in my '69 he was teaching me tricks I had long ago forgotten. The old gearboxes didn't have the fancy syncro in cars today.
 
#3,035 ·
Don't know much about the history of the car 112K on it. The interior looks freshly detailed. Just one minor dent in the rear bumper. It will turn over but will not fire. The tailpipe is coated in black soot. Pretty much appears to be a loaded turbo model with AWD, dual sunroof, and all the bells and whistles. I think my middle son has claimed it so he will have to help with the engine swap when the time comes. Too busy with work at this time of year for me to dive into it. The price was right so I'll explore replacement engine options soon. It came into my friend's garage and the owner didn't want to put any more $ into it so I made an offer. Looking to find a long block and make the swap nice and easy, shelf the spare accessories...

Its really nice inside and outside, I'll start a thread on it at some point

I need to make a trip down to NY at the end of the month to take delivery of my Suzuki Carry truck, maybe I'll find something on the way, everything up here is RUSTY!!
 
#3,036 ·
Mini was known for long oil change intervals and many owners ran them low on oil. Failed Turbos was another frequent problem, they had oil lines issues and the bearings would fail..that could be a possibility and it pumped the oil out the exhaust, in which case plan on replacing the cats also.
Look at CAR-PART.com they have some engines listed for the Mini-S right in NH and New England and depending on the year of your car some with low miles... kinda pricey though
 
#3,037 ·
Thanks Backinabox, I stopped at Central Auto Recycling on my way home with it, good guys there. They have a couple of donor cars.

My mom drives a 2019 countryman, no dipstick! Terrifying..

Was looking for a good forum for the mini, didn't have much luck, there are a few but not much activity.
 
#3,038 ·
Put the code reader on the daughter's Xterra. Vent valve control solenoid needs to be replaced. Apparently it's a common problem on the 3.3L V6.

Got it ordered and it'll arrive Friday.
 
#3,047 ·
Speaking of paint. I stopped by a body shop for a quote on the van. It has a shallow side swipe on driver's side, slider door which PO must have replaced has peeling paint and some bubbles showing plus scratches from when my cat climbed in the pop-out window one night. The rear passenger fender well has a little rust showing from prior shoddy bodywork. Van was definitely in a minor accident before I bought it. I was hoping the paintwork would hold up a bit longer but I think I'm going to get it fixed up. It only has 141k on it, drives great, and what the heck else would I buy? I got a quote of 2k to do from the body line down, all the way around. They would just clean up the rust, sandblast and shape it back as best they can. I know of a rust-free van, the same tan color an hour away. Considering buying the slider and seeing if I can cut out the fender part I need and try my hand at welding in a patch panel. Then have the body shop do the rest. Wish I had experience painting. I actually have a bunch of bodywork tools and a paint gun from a storage locker clean out. Just experience and no shop to do it in.

It's my daily driver and work van and is all stickered up for my business. I feel like it has to look as nice as a 17-year-old van can look.....

I do like that toyota grey though..
 
#3,049 ·
Yesterday: Fixed a forgotten vacuum leak in the Mazda, then pulled the dash apart to replace bunt out bulbs. It failed inspection for not having a working brake warning light (and other things). While I was in there I bypassed the anti-slosh module on the gas gauge, then disconnected the door ajar switches in the driver door. When I drove it afterward, the ABS and battery lights were lit. Great. Looks like I get to pull it apart again and undo what I did. At least it's clean in there now. This used to be a farm truck, and there is a LOT of silt and sand built up inside of every nook and cranny in this thing.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I step on the brake pedal and there's no brakes, the LAST thing on my mind is "let me look down at the dashboard to see if the light came on". I'm downshifting and hitting the parking brake. (Yes,I know it's a reminder the parking brake is still on)
 
#3,050 ·
Has it been 9 days since i worked on the Mazda? The fuse for the battery light blew, replacing it took care of that. I reconbe ted the door switch, now the abs light is still on and the speedo doesn't work. I can't win with this thing.

Today i took on the driver side ball joints add rear shocks. As i was getting into the van to go get a ball joint press my neighbor asked about the buggy. We got to talking, i ended up borrowing his (or his dad's?) press. Saved me 90 minutes and $90.



 
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