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I love the Time-Serts, a bit spendy, but work great when you need a thread repair that is very strong and needs to seal also.
The initial kit is expensive, but the inserts are not too bad in price, about $10 each.
I have been getting them from mechanicstoolsandbits.com:
http://www.mechanicstoolsandbits.com/manufacturer-kits-ford-kits-c-21_34_46.html
Nice seeing the Fairmont project moving along.
I agree, the little stuff and consumables usually ad up in cost and time.
I hate working on a project and run out of paper towels, brake cleaner, fluids and oils, RTV, loctite, assembly lube, trash bags, and then hardware.
It’s usually the time aspect more than the money.
I bought several of the muti-compartment storage cases to organize bolts, nuts, washers, and other stuff.
For example, One case is just for 1/4″ dia bolts of different lengths. I marked the clear cover with a sharpie with the bolt size and cost (if I bought them.) It makes it easy to locate the bolts and also see which sizes your out of. Having the cost marked reminds me of how much I am donating when giving away the bolts to others.With 20K miles on the current tires, I would just get a replacement of the same type. Was the old tire under warranty? They should pro-rate the new tire cost to reduce the cost.
Many of these new tires have a lower rolling resistance than a standard tire, which is the main reason to use the same brand/type of tire.
It should tow #3,000 is stock configuration.
If it does not have a transmission fluid cooler, it would be a good idea when towing. The added load is hard on transmissions and cooling system.
Correct towing hitch and braking also. Make sure you have good brakes, and if the trailer has electric brakes, a brake controller.
I think the truck was rated for around #3,000 stock, so the stock load rated tires should be OK. If you were loading the bed or hitch with additional weight, you should look at higher load rated tires.
I haven’t used the programmers on a gasoline engine, but a performance tune might be the wrong way to go when towing. Usually they increase ignition timing and require higher octane fuel. The added timing may create pinging when towing. The knock sensor should catch it and retard the timing, but then it is overriding the new tune.No problem. I get it, and I don’t disagree.
I guess I’m just searching for a way to get the customer to understand that Time, Training, and Tools are expensive, but there are some people you can never please.
What upsets me, I take a perfectly running car into the dealership for recall work, or warranty work and get it back with more problems than when it went in.
Stuff like half-way slit vacuum hoses, body/paint damage, damaged spark plug wires, loose connections, etc.I have seen some places like this. I don’t know the details, but you will need a good lawyer to help setup the business to limit your liability, maybe a LLP or something. Then you will need to check insurance issues and cost. Not sure how you would vet the mechanics or how much deposit would be required and how contracts would be handled.
Concerns about safety, environmental issues, damaged or stolen tools, and general up-keep?How many shops are using cameras to record daily activities?
I know many have surveillance cameras setup for security and insurance reasons, but are they ever used to show a customer how much labor time was spent on a repair?
Most large chain repair shops and dealerships are not good at building relationships with customers.
I’m not sure the best way to build customer trust, but I don’t think lying to them is the right answer.You need to have high current flow through the wires, like if you are testing an ammeter.
Put the voltage probes across the ground wire, ans set the meter for millivolts. It should show zero voltage.
Crank the starter, which should put some current through the wire, and see if there is some voltage registered.Edit – The oxidized part is non-conductive and had eroded the copper slightly. I think the wire may also become more brittle.
Because the wire diameter has been eroded slightly, it will increase the wires resistance, but only a small amount.
The issue is if the erosion gets into the crimp, it will loosen and not provide a good contact.
I had a spade connector on the headlight circuit where the oxidization compromised the crimp. The headlights would work for about 10-minutes until the bad connection heated up and would loose contact, then no headlights. After some time, connection would cool and headlights would go back on for a few minutes, then repeat.I don’t like using ramps, at least the tall red steel ones that everyone seems to have.
Sometimes they slide when driving onto them, and a friend of mine (not the best driver), over drove a ramp causing alot of body damage to the car.
I also hate the cheap tri-leg split tube type jack stands. There is almost nothing to keep those from folding inward if the weight is shifted to one leg.
Found a photo of the jack stand type to stay away from:
https://fourflighting.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/jstandcrop.jpgAuto parts stores, wal-mart, and such will take your old oil at no charge. The local drag strip here also takes waste oil.
If your car takes 5-Quarts, buy the 5-Quart jug of oil and pour the used oil oil back into the jug (from the drain pan.)
You need a oil drain pan, oil filter wrench, socket or wrench for the oil drain plug, oil funnel, and paper/shop towels. Maybe hand cleaner too, but dish soap works.Synthetic oil changes are more costly because the oil is more expensive. Wal-Mart usually has good prices on oil, but check for sale ads from auto parts stores as the sometimes have really good deals.
If your car sits so low you need to lift it to change the oil, it might make sense to pay the money to have someone else do the work because you would need some sort of jack and car support.
I have the “Torque” app($5) that works with the bluetooth OBDII scanners. I bought a higher priced OBDii to bluetooth adaptor “PLX Kiwi 2” (Looks like $39.99 now?) I don’t think I needed that more costly one, but I was afraid the <$10 ones might not work correctly? It works good for getting codes and displaying sensor values. You can clear the codes, but it does not let you change parameters like a professional diagnostic computer. The Torque app also lets you setup the phone as a gauge cluster, and has GPS speed, so you can display the OBDII speed next to the GPS speed to see if the OBDII (speedometer) speed is off because of wrong size tires or gear change.
If you are into filming in-car video with your cell phone, it had a "track recorder" that videos while you drive and you can display the OBDII data in the video, and even have a map overlay of your location and street your on.
