When it Rains, it Pours (Or, BlackAeronaut's Automotive Woes, an Ongoing Saga)
07-07-2020, 04:27 AM
07-07-2020, 04:27 AM
So, some of ya'll have probably heard about the accident my brother got into with my Jetta.
No worries, no one really got hurt. But my Jetta is a mess now.
Video of the accident, courtesy of my dash cam.
Fortunately, it's pretty much all cosmetic. The only thing really keeping me from driving it a busted headlamp assembly. But it does mean that I am down by a vehicle.
Oh, what's that now? A bad water pump in the Saturn?
Okay, make that TWO vehicles. FFS.
At the very least, I got the funds available to me, and the water pump is readily available in the local parts stores, and I have the tools and know the procedure... But I'm probably still gonna be unable to work on a day that I'm scheduled. Dammit.
In other news, I've managed to clear out the vast majority of what Mr. Electro did to the Suburban in their misguided effort to turn it into a cut-rate ghetto show car. The amount I've pulled out so far is... Impressive. I'll take a picture later on to show you.
The transmission is another issue, though. It turns out that the 3-4 clutchpack is indeed burned out - no one mentioned the fact that the engine runs away when it hits 3rd Gear.
We have ordered the appropriate rebuild kit... At least, I thought it was the appropriate kit. But it only came with one piston, and not the full set.
See, thing is that these transmissions were originally built with aluminum pistons to engage the clutchpacks. But while they worked when they were new, time has shown that they become brittle and crack, letting hydraulic fluid slip past. And rebuild kits meant to replace these pistons have steel replacements.
So now, we're waiting on a complete set to arrive before I can get started.
I've also ordered a full set of plastic check balls.
This is another shortcoming for the transmission. They have steel check balls, and that sounds great, right? Except that some of the ports tend to come under very high pressure - enough that the valve separator plate (a thin sheet of stamped out steel in the valve body that helps separate the individual valves) winds up getting deformed at the ports these check balls are located on, and the steel check balls eventually wind up getting lodged into the plate.
Lovely, eh?
So, we have these plastic check balls (which have been used in many other transmissions for many years with no issue at all) which have just enough give to them so they absorb the impact instead of deforming the separator plate and getting jammed.
I've got my work cut out for me, but I'm still confident in my abilities to do this right the first time. If anything does come out as being too worn, I won't be half-assing it. The rebuild will go on pause, pending the acquisition and arrival of new parts. It might be an inconvenience now, but my parents have assured me that they want this to be done right so it won't be an even bigger inconvenience later.
Other things to fix on the Burbie...
I got a solid shot at fixing the rear air conditioning system on this beast. A preliminary check shows that while the front AC system seems to work just fine (with a stuck damper up front that will be fixed as well), there seems to be no flow of refrigerant to the rear AC evaporator coil. This means one of two things:
-There is no power and/or signal going to the expansion valve, thus it won't open
-The expansion valve itself has gone bad
The first is easy to fix. So is the second, really, but that will also necessitate the discharging of the entire AC system, followed by a purge and recharge afterwards. However, Mom and Dad have deemed this a worthwhile expense if it gets the rear AC working again.
With me having made so much progress on the Burbie's electrical system, Mom and Dad have asked me to look into the feasibility of installing a basic Bluetooth-capable head unit in the Burbie.
It can be done.
In fact, there are even complete after-market kits that let you install a single- or double-DIN head unit in place of the original tape deck. They even come with a specially made pigtail that plugs into the OEM pigtail...
... except the OEM pigtail isn't there anymore.
Fortunately, some wonderful people make replacements, and they're available on the cheap. So I'll be able to make this a thing that happens for my folks as well, and they'll be able to use their phones hands-free in The Burbie.
(Unfortunately, I'll have to rewire the speakers, because that fucktard messed that up as well. This idiot wired the after-market amp directly to the power supply for the trailer brake system!!!)
And also, I will want to replace the shock absorbers because holy hell this thing wallows worse than a pig, but that's an easy thing to do on these trucks.
Like I said before, I got my work cut out for me, but I have confidence in my abilities to accomplish our goals here.
No worries, no one really got hurt. But my Jetta is a mess now.
Video of the accident, courtesy of my dash cam.
Fortunately, it's pretty much all cosmetic. The only thing really keeping me from driving it a busted headlamp assembly. But it does mean that I am down by a vehicle.
Oh, what's that now? A bad water pump in the Saturn?
Okay, make that TWO vehicles. FFS.
At the very least, I got the funds available to me, and the water pump is readily available in the local parts stores, and I have the tools and know the procedure... But I'm probably still gonna be unable to work on a day that I'm scheduled. Dammit.
In other news, I've managed to clear out the vast majority of what Mr. Electro did to the Suburban in their misguided effort to turn it into a cut-rate ghetto show car. The amount I've pulled out so far is... Impressive. I'll take a picture later on to show you.
The transmission is another issue, though. It turns out that the 3-4 clutchpack is indeed burned out - no one mentioned the fact that the engine runs away when it hits 3rd Gear.
We have ordered the appropriate rebuild kit... At least, I thought it was the appropriate kit. But it only came with one piston, and not the full set.
See, thing is that these transmissions were originally built with aluminum pistons to engage the clutchpacks. But while they worked when they were new, time has shown that they become brittle and crack, letting hydraulic fluid slip past. And rebuild kits meant to replace these pistons have steel replacements.
So now, we're waiting on a complete set to arrive before I can get started.
I've also ordered a full set of plastic check balls.
This is another shortcoming for the transmission. They have steel check balls, and that sounds great, right? Except that some of the ports tend to come under very high pressure - enough that the valve separator plate (a thin sheet of stamped out steel in the valve body that helps separate the individual valves) winds up getting deformed at the ports these check balls are located on, and the steel check balls eventually wind up getting lodged into the plate.
Lovely, eh?
So, we have these plastic check balls (which have been used in many other transmissions for many years with no issue at all) which have just enough give to them so they absorb the impact instead of deforming the separator plate and getting jammed.
I've got my work cut out for me, but I'm still confident in my abilities to do this right the first time. If anything does come out as being too worn, I won't be half-assing it. The rebuild will go on pause, pending the acquisition and arrival of new parts. It might be an inconvenience now, but my parents have assured me that they want this to be done right so it won't be an even bigger inconvenience later.
Other things to fix on the Burbie...
I got a solid shot at fixing the rear air conditioning system on this beast. A preliminary check shows that while the front AC system seems to work just fine (with a stuck damper up front that will be fixed as well), there seems to be no flow of refrigerant to the rear AC evaporator coil. This means one of two things:
-There is no power and/or signal going to the expansion valve, thus it won't open
-The expansion valve itself has gone bad
The first is easy to fix. So is the second, really, but that will also necessitate the discharging of the entire AC system, followed by a purge and recharge afterwards. However, Mom and Dad have deemed this a worthwhile expense if it gets the rear AC working again.
With me having made so much progress on the Burbie's electrical system, Mom and Dad have asked me to look into the feasibility of installing a basic Bluetooth-capable head unit in the Burbie.
It can be done.
In fact, there are even complete after-market kits that let you install a single- or double-DIN head unit in place of the original tape deck. They even come with a specially made pigtail that plugs into the OEM pigtail...
... except the OEM pigtail isn't there anymore.
Fortunately, some wonderful people make replacements, and they're available on the cheap. So I'll be able to make this a thing that happens for my folks as well, and they'll be able to use their phones hands-free in The Burbie.
(Unfortunately, I'll have to rewire the speakers, because that fucktard messed that up as well. This idiot wired the after-market amp directly to the power supply for the trailer brake system!!!)
And also, I will want to replace the shock absorbers because holy hell this thing wallows worse than a pig, but that's an easy thing to do on these trucks.
Like I said before, I got my work cut out for me, but I have confidence in my abilities to accomplish our goals here.