Los_Control

You can if you use the left foot for the starter 😛

Weeel, there is a old rumor going around about Grandpa's Suburban. 🤔 He got drunk one night and the old rumor goes, he hit a parked car and raced home so fast he created a rod knocking. Then he painted the car cream white because thats what he had lying around .... He would never drive the car on the road and while moving it around his junk yard the bearing froze and locked the engine up .... car sat since the mid 1960's ... just a rumor of course. 🙄 I have a 1951 Ford V8 that was locked up tighter then a drum .... I found a mouse nest under the intake. tried everything and could not get it to break free. I removed the timing chain and the crank was locked up. I started by removing all the rods/pistons from the block ... all looked fine and was a fresh rebuild before engine was parked. I then started on the main caps and again they looked fine ... except the last one by the rear seal ... had a drop of mouse pee on it and that was enough to lock it up. Once I removed the bearing, looks fine ... the crank has a slight bluish color in the tiny spot .... I plan to assemble it with the same bearings .... but just a drop of mouse pee locked it up. Your engine has a story to tell, you are this far into it .... would not hurt to just remove and inspect the bearings and then put them back where you found them .... you have 9 sets down there and just one bad one is all it takes.

OK, now you have me interested ... I have been planning to go with the ECU ... Ignition control module. In fact I was going to order one yesterday .... I have all the parts for final distributor assembly now. The ECU is reasonably priced, but also need a electrical pigtail to connect to the ECU .... I thought I was going to have a heart attack. RockAuto wants $85 for the pig tail, so I check Amazon, they want $130 🥵 So now I'm curious what this HEI is you speak of to work with this conversion?

Think Dave has a good idea. One advantage to fixing yours is they are already painted .... possible to straighten yours without damaging the paint or maybe just a little touch up. I remember your bed was pretty rough and needed lots of replacement parts. Seems the hinges can bend fairly easy with abuse .... not too much effort needed to bend them back. And they should last unless you want to start hauling grain in it again.

Thinking it would not be in the pcm ... I changed the pcm and no difference. I worked on it yesterday and replaced the water pump <---- this was my fault. I had a new pump here, the pump on the used engine felt really good so I ran it .... seal went out. Also replaced the nylon bushings on the wiper linkage ... what joy it was, have not done that job in 30 years and it was not fun then either. .... So am back to square one, Think I will just think on it a bit til after the first of the year. Car is fine for around town 99% of our driving. One thing different after changing the pcm/fixing exhaust .... now it pops back through the TB when the engine starts acting up. Did not hear this before. I want to play with my truck for a few weeks and let the Caravan stew.

Have you even tried installing them? I admit mine looks a little goofy also, but the tail gate opens and closes just fine. IIRC seems like they angled up when bolted flat .... I also had one that was rusted to the gate pretty bad and twisted the rolled tube when forced the gate open. A little heat fixed that and when installed all works fine. I do have a spare bed I could have taken the hinges off of .... preferred to use the ones that came with the truck as long as they worked. .... And they do.

I think it is the modern fuel .... the recipe has changed over the years, modern fuels boil at a lower temperature causing vapor lock. This would explain why you have the issue in 2024, but not 10 years ago. With today's fuel systems, electric fuel pumps and a return line ... modern cars are not affected by the changes. For many, adding a electric pump is enough to take care of the problem when it arises. .... Basically install the electric pump and call it a day. I wonder and have a plan to install a return line .... Some on youtube have installed a return line, and claim the fuel circulating through the lines never sit long enough to heat up and cause vapor lock. I like this idea because it is preventing the problem from happening in the first place. While the electric pump is a fix for after the problem occurs ..... choices.

So after changing the pcm, wife was driving to the store and the wipers quit working (linkage fell off) 🙄 I was surprised when I removed the resonator ... now the flow is perfect coming out of the muffler ... the resonator was plugged. .... Is a teensy bit louder with just a muffler and no tail pipe, barley noticeable. A google search showed it is not as common for a resonator to plug up as a cat .... but it does happen. No, it did not solve the main issue .... drive all day long at 50 mph, but 25 miles at 75mph and the engine acts up Only stored code is rich fuel mixture. I'm wondering now if maybe I have some vacuum lines crossed and want to spend time on them. Looked at it yesterday and the water pump took a dump 🙄 Wondering if it is time to bring in a demolition crew with dynamite.

Seems every vehicle is different, depending on condition of engine & carburetor. Back in the day when my flathead actually ran 🙄 It liked the choke to start it, once started it was a race to open it up before it choked itself out .... It did not need or like a choke to run and warm up. Seems like a automatic choke or a scisson choke has a tough row to hoe.

Several years ago I saw a cartoon of a driver in a vacant lot driving circles while the mechanic was bent over the fender adjusting the valves. Thats what I think about with adjusting the valves hot .... I'm with you and will leave them a little loose when cold.

Real men use to lean over the fender and adjust them while the driver would keep a steady pace down the road.

Sometimes it is good to just step away and take a break ... I did that and went back at it today. I had the new used PCM and thought I would install that before touching the exhaust. I did recheck codes first and had code EGR failed .... last time I checked it was rich fuel mixture. But it just keeps bouncing around between 02, EGR, rich fuel. May not look terrible ... compare to this photo. The pins for the transmission control module were corroded and kept putting it into limp mode. So when I look at the pins to the PCM, they are not as bad, they are getting corroded also and could cause weird issues. Possibly the pcm just needed the connections cleaned ... I dunno, I just swapped them out and cleaned the pins on the new/used one. .... I'm guessing the original one is fine, just needs cleaned. Did this fix my problem? .... NOOOO!!! It did act up again, I forced it to go further this time ... at one point I pulled over and held my hand over the tail pipe. I still feel the flow is weak, and when the car is acting up, I thought the exhaust was way hotter then it should be .... wanted to burn my hand holding it over the pipe at the rear bumper. I can only blame the heat on a plugged exhaust not passing through fast enough to cool off. I feel like the King of England .... Tomorrow it will be OFF WITH IT"S MUFFLER! Just slowly fighting my way through several small different issues .... hoping I will get it this time with removing muffler.

The pilothouse did not come out with turn signals, so all were put on by owners where they chose to put them. The throttle could be useful for a farmer to work the truck in the field and walk beside it to load or unload .... or 100 other purposes that would not pass OSHA rules today.

When I cut the cat loose and removed it from under the car, piles of loose crap poured out of the cat .... no question it was bad. I removed every last drop from the cat and can look through it, nothing but a metal shell left. There really is no improvement in flow at the tail pipe ... I never thought about the muffler being clogged also. With all the loose crap that poured out of the cat there is no surprise it is also plugged. I might try to make a video later .... I feel if others saw what I see ... they would agree the exhaust is plugged and there is no sense doing anything til after it is unplugged. ..... This will not be pretty 🤣 I'm already committed to a new exhaust. I will chop the tail pipe off behind the muffler and check flow there I think it will be bad, so I will cut the muffler out. Now I will have a straight pipe off the header and it has to be good flow .... engine has good strong compression. Hoping I can weld or mickey mouse the resonator and tail pipe to it, and have something that I can drive to see if it now fixes the problem. .... It is all junk anyways. Complete new exhaust cat, muffler, resonator is $250 and is 3 pieces to bolt together .... will do that after I fix the existing issue. This has been a rough month on the wallet already, bi-annual car insurance, wife birthday, spent $$ on the caravan & 49 Dodge ... Christmas is coming up .... MAKE IT STOP!!! 😭

Well that was fun ... think I might have to try it again 🙄 Cat is totally gutted and I managed to put it all back together and go for a drive. In a way it was actually worse because it started acting up sooner then it normally does .... it also acted up a little bit at 45mph on the back roads home, which it never did in the past. I still think the exhaust may be plugged though ... is it common for a cat to plug a muffler or resonator? Only test I have for this is the dollar bill trick. I fold a dollar bill in 1/2 lengthwise and hold one 1/2 on top of the tail pipe, with other 1/2 flopping over the end of pipe. With the engine running at idle, will blow the bill straight out. The idea is, if you have a burnt or leaking valve, the bill will flap back and forth as the exhaust sucks it in ... quick and dirty test when looking to buy a used car. ... the bill should be straight out all the time. So I'm a bit confused, on the Caravan, the bill only goes up less then 1/2 way of being straight out ... just no pressure to blow it. Every car I used the trick on blows the bill straight out ... my 49 Dodge blows the bill straight out. So I dunno, I got the PCM today ... not satisfied with exhaust though ... got to play some more. I'm thinking to disconnect cat from tail pipe and see if it blows out normal like it should. Then connect muffler with the resonator disconnected to see it blows straight out from there. ... I have a feeling the muffler is plugged.

Just be aware, if you got the lifters to move a smidge, but not the crank .... could be a spun bearing and why the engine was parked. Legend has it, Grandpa Ed got drunk one night and was out Hot Rodding his 1951 Plymouth suburban and spun a bearing and locked the engine up. .... It happens. If the crank wont turn, you might want to start pulling the bearings.

Good advice, will follow it tomorrow. I had to bury a dog this morning, was expecting it to come any day ... she was comfortable and passed away last night. Daisy was a big dog, about 120 pounds .... took a big hole. So I was 1/2 worn out by the time I got to the car at 2:00pm .... was on a one track path to separate the muffler. I did it on my truck not too long ago when I replaced the clutch. .... Caravan just not working out. I will get a sleeve and cut it tomorrow.

Famous last words .... "Oh this will be simple" On a good note, the exhaust is plugged ... I assume it is the cat. I held my hand in front of the tail pipe for 10 seconds and that was longer then I needed to know it is wrong. ..... I just never thought about a bad cat. I really have to thank @Dave72dt again for pointing me in the right direction. This would be a really simple job if I were going to replace the exhaust ... 2 cuts and pull it out. No way to get it out from under the car in 1 piece, so trying to get it loose at the muffler while trying to save the muffler is a tough job. .... I do want to put it back together and prove it is the real problem before spending $$ on it. I would prefer to wait til February .... Complete exhaust system is 3 pieces from RA. $120 for cat, $40 for muffler, $50 for resonator that includes tail pipe and just bolt it all together .... That's a simple job. Saving old mufflers is not

RD250 brings back memories .... I had one for awhile ... it was fun. Was painted white with flames on the tank and drag bars with a custom saddle .... kinda setup for racing. IIRC, bigger piston and carb. A friend of mine that I rode with kept laughing at the baby bike and was only a kids mini bike .... blah blah blah. I told him to take it for a spin ... Dumb arse started from the middle of the block and just nailed it ... He hit the end of the street so fast he could not stop. He only got it into 2nd gear and the little 2 stroke engine hit its power band and started to fly. He laid it down and slid it across a busy 4 lane road in Las Vegas .... amazing he never got ran over and cars stopped in time. The guy felt like such a idiot pushing it back home and all he could say ... OMG I never thought .... He never laughed at it again. Do not shoot the messenger, I was just showing what Jaguar has been up to the last few weeks. I just find it funny and say why now? A lot of companies have gone down the same road, Harley Davison, Tractor supply, Walmart .... and others. People started complaining and they backed off and decided to sell products not opinions. .... Sooo, while all of this is dying down and in the past, Jaguar jumps in feet first and starts it up again. As soon as they get the expected backlash ... they double down and blame it on the consumers .... A crazy way to sell a product. Either way it is just a phase they are going through in this time period ... it will pass, do what you want.

I was not really pleased with the process of installing them either. While I finish things up, I plan to prepare wiring and such, to lift the doghouse off with inner/outer fenders intact. I know they are designed to do that already .... I just want to make sure I keep it that way when adding things to the engine compartment. Just not sure what plug I will use for headlights.

Been awhile, seems it was the shocks/shock mounts .... could not get past them. Or it might have worked.

That commercial just came out a couple weeks ago .... several of us were laughing at it because a car company is advertising some pretty weird people ... and no car in the commercial .... Something strange going on there. A few days ago there was a leak of their concept cars .... scattered feelings about those. This was released after negative feedback on the commercial. Jaguar has simply been demanding to be noticed the past few weeks. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/jaguar-boss-doubles-down-horrible-woke-rebrand-blames/

No I tried and could not. I seen some or most cars you remove the wheel and then there is a panel to remove to gain access to adjust valves etc .... I just thought that was the way they were installed. Back to research and found out they slide in from the top on trucks. I tried for a few days and could not get them in from the side.

Join the jaguar club @Sniper ...

TPS is new, temp sensor works exactly as it should. Giving it more thought. It is easy to unbolt it from the header .... had it on and off a few times. The rest is just held on by those thick rubber bands going to the mounts .... easy to remove. I can just lower it down and rod it out ... leaving all the trash inside the exhaust. If I can snake it out from over the rear axle .... possible, I can stand it on end and shake all the trash out of it. So a simple unbolt, remove .... get er did and replace .... zero $$ spent Rainy and 40 degrees today, sunshine and 70 tomorrow ... Good day to watch old cowboy movies