2017 Log

4 December 2017,

Oh, what a week last week was. On Friday coming off the 95 onto the 15 in Las Vegas, the 2003 Durango popped then power was down and it started running rough and loud. Limped it to a RAM dealership to get it check out. Ended up buying a 2016 RAM 1500 Laramie. The new truck is nice, the Durango ended up having no compression on cylinder 2 and we could not get the spark plug removed from cylinder 3. The engine still runs, but think that a valve guide may have slipped. Not really sure about the spark plug. The plan is now to trailer it back to Idaho and pull it apart and see what we find. Overall, the Durango is in good shape and may become the mule for the '53 International project truck our oldest son has. That will be documented here and on YouTube.

13 October 2017,

I'm back in Idaho was up here for a class last week and took some extra leave this week.

I've been working on the 2003 Dodge Durango, changed out the upper control arms, lower ball joints, and the passenger side axle seal. That all went well, got some new tools that made it much easier, lower ball joint had to be pressed out and the new one pressed in. I also had to drop the spare tire out of the way so I could tighten up the rear shocks that I had put in last month, still had a little bit of clunking coming from the driver side one. I bleed the front brakes as well, had to remove the front lines when putting the calipers back in place after the control arm replacement. Also got new tires and an alignment on the truck, all my work and I wasn't' too far off at least on the driver side. I got some video of this work.

Had to take the 2015 Subaru XV Crosstrek in, it threw a few codes on Monday evening. It turned out we had some rabbits chew on the wiring harness, and 4 sensor wires. $1027 in repairs and the added some "rat tape" on some of the wires to help ward off rodents.

Also did an oil change on the 2004 Dodge Neon, ran the AMSOIL Engine and Transmission flush for 15 minutes. Let it drain until only one drip every few minutes. New AMSOIL filter and drain plug as well. Filled it up with AMSOIL Signature Series 5W30. We had just hit 10,395 miles on the last oil change it didn't look that bad, may start doing some oil analysis on the vehicles in 2018 just to see. The Neon now has over 162,000 miles and is running really well.

Started to work on my 2004 Subaru Legacy center differential, but the weather turned, cold and rain this evening and I'm heading back to Henderson on Sunday so this work will wait until 2018. I'll be driving the Durango back to Henderson this will give me more room to bring stuff back in December. It is also AWD and has new tires so I'm not losing any of that capability.

15 September 2017,

Replaced the crankshaft position sensor and camshaft position sensor on the 2004 Neon. Discovered the engine mounts (replaced in September 2013) are shot, not seeing any good reviews on other replacement ones. I will try a fix and see if I can get a few more months out of them.

14 September 2017,

2003 Durango shocks replaced, that had its challenges. Found a couple other issues that I will address soon. It was riding so much better today after getting the rear shocks replaced. The bushings on the lower front shocks were destroyed. The upper bushings on the rear shocks were also destroyed.

12 September 2017,

Over the weekend I installed new MOOG anti-sway bar links on the 2004 Neon, have camshaft and crankshaft position sensors on order (leaking oil and running rough). On Sunday we went to the Idaho Expo and checked out the Snake River Region SCCA autocross event. A really cool event, we got to hang out in the in middle of the course and took pictures on the second run before lunch. Not going to be able to run the event in October, but in 2018 I want to run several.

Also found the clunking on the back of the 2003 Durango, shock mount bushings are shot. Have new ones on order and will get them installed this week. Also, I have the center differential on order, so Friday will be a busy car day. WIll get some videos made of this work and updates here.

9 September 2017,

I drove up to Mountain Home Idaho from Henderson Nevada yesterday. It was a great drive, some rain but not much traffic. Filled up the 2004 Subaru Legacy before starting and twice along the route. Had 26.6 and 31.3 mpg for the two legs, Henderson to Ely Nevada, then Ely to Twin Falls Idaho, a combined mileage of 28.7 mpg. That is a pretty good highway mileage, AMSOIL Signature series 5W30 oil and AMSOIL gear lube in the transmission and rear differential. It's right at 9,900 miles since the last oil change (Feb 2017), will be doing one in October when I come back to Idaho for a course. May end up replacing the center differential on it as well.

8 September 2017,

I drove up to Mountain Home Idaho from Henderson Nevada yesterday. It was a great drive, some rain but not much traffic. Filled up the 2004 Subaru Legacy before starting and twice along the route. Had 26.6 and 31.3 mpg for the two legs, Henderson to Ely Nevada, then Ely to Twin Falls Idaho, a combined mileage of 28.7 mpg. That is a pretty good highway mileage, AMSOIL Signature series 5W30 oil and AMSOIL gear lube in the transmission and rear differential. It's right at 9,900 miles since the last oil change (Feb 2017), will be doing one in October when I come back to Idaho for a course. May end up replacing the center differential on it as well.

4 September 2017,

Replaced the O2 sensors on the 2004 Dodge Neon SXT this weekend. The front sensor had been setting a code every couple days the last month. I had replaced the rear sensor in 2010 after a rodent had chewed the wires, that one was a universal that worked but not a perfect fit/replacement. I replaced them both this time with NTK sensors, perfect fit and relatively easy. While under the car I found that the passenger side front anti-sway bar link was broken. This could be the source of another issue with it shaking in idle. I have ordered MOOG replacements and will take care of that swap out next weekend.

12 August 2017,

The Subaru Legacy (2004) is running pretty well after changing out the transmission fluid. Shifts are smoother and the clunking has eased up to the point I do not notice any most of the time. Today I ended up tightening up the accessory belts. No issues but did notice a little slipping on the power steering pump.

Gas mileage seemed to be up a little, well it was up to just over 25 mpg, but considering the traffic, air conditioner running that's a good mileage for a 13-year-old car.

6 August 2017,

Well, I hope everyone is having a great summer. It's been a busy one for us.

Just did (Aug 5th) a replacement of the transmission fluid, not the easiest way. Used an extraction pump and removed 136 oz of fluid, which seems to be more than what it should have had in it. Refilled with AMSOIL 75W-90 Sever Gear lube, seemed to be smoother on the shifts during the drive back to the condo. Hoping that helps with the clunking symptoms I have right now. May be the center differential based on research I've done. Will report back on how that goes next week.

16 July 2017,

Over the July 4th weekend we did some work on my 2004 Legacy. Had planned on just doing a fuel pump replacement, but ended up having to replace the entire fuel pump assembly after I broke a hose connection. Did the front and rear struts (not the springs) as they were starting to leak some and not rebounding very well. We had to cut off the rear strut to knuckle bolts. Found out we need to replace the springs as well soon (rear at least) due to a problem getting the rear chamber set correctly. Replaced the timing belt/water pump/pulleys/tensioner as a kit (Gates). Good thing we did as I was able to pull the belt off without reducing the tension.

At the end of the week we had:

New struts front and rear

New fuel pump and filter assembly

New timing belt and associated pulleys/tensioners, water pump, thermostat, and gaskets

New accessory belts

New radiator hoses with new coolant after flushing the block and radiator.

Flushed the brake lines, and had to replace the driver side front caliper as well.

Drive back was good, seemed to run better/smoother.

11 June 2017,

Over the Memorial day weekend, we drove up to Washington to do some work on Juli's brothers 2000 Subaru Outback. There are some videos of that our YouTube channel. We had a great time and got a lot of work done. Brakes all around, oil change, rear differential fluid change, transmission (manual) fluid changed. New struts in all 4 corners and bleed the clutch. We saw that the clutch line was weeping, Ryan ended up changing it about a week later.

12 May 2017,

Good day, I've talked with a few folks that ride motorcycles. And with the heat here in the South West United States, you need the best protection you can get. There are some great AMSOIL products for your bikes as well.

If you are a V-Twin rider, check out-out the V-Twin kit

6 August 2017,

The headlights are holding up, still very clear and seem to be holding up.

In March of 2017, I restored 2 sets of Subaru headlights. One was a set off of a 2003 Subaru Outback that I picked from a local auto salvage yard, the other set was off my 2004 Subaru Legacy. The ones I took off my Legacy were clear, just had a lot of pitting from sand and rocks. They had taken a beating with the winter storms I've driven through over the past two years. There is a video out on our YouTube channel from when I restored them in the summer of 2014. I used the same method this time but used a different paint/coating. Below are pictures of how they look after 5 coats of clear (for plastic) with a final round of 3000 grit wet sanding and some carnauba wax. I will be posting how they hold up.

Let me know what you think? The total time was just under 1 hour, not including removing them from the car which did make it a lot easier.