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Dammit!

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Keith Browning

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:fuming:

 

What a great week for me! The exhaust manifold leak on my 2001 Explorer went to full volume this week as I was flying up a hill on Tuesday. I knew it had to be addressed sooner or later but it was such a "small" leak for a while and thought I would get to it when I had time.

 

Thursday I got to it and installed the $8 gasket. The first time I stuck my big hairy meat hook in to grab the bolt I had just loosened the inlet on the evaporator core burst right at the bracket that secures it to the evaporator case. refrigerant oil everyfrickenwhere! Now I have to fix THAT when I have the time and the money.

 

But hey, at least the truck is quiet right?

 

Tonight, Friday, I am half way home from work and going down hill about 45 MPH. I step on the brake and the pedal goes to the floor...

 

Needless to say I am now walking. Fuck me! :banghead:

 

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That sucks Keith. My car started giving me problems right before I sold it. Had to put a rack in it after it dumped all the PS fluid on the driveway then had to run some brake lines all in a matter of a week. That did it for me.

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It sucks doesn't it, when our own rides break? Yet, our own rides are always the last ones to be fixed, aren't they? I guess after wrenching on others' rides day in, day out, the last thing we want to have to deal with is having to repair our own rides.

 

You know Keith, I just got rid of my '95 Crown Vic that I put 450,000 kms. on it back in November. I Bought it when it was only 2 years old. The main reason for getting rid of it (besides the age) was mainly that the body started to rust at all the quarter panels. If the body was still half decent, I probably would still be driving it today.

 

I guess New Jersey winters have taken their toll on your 12 year old ride. BTW, are you near Parlin or Plainsboro?

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It sucks doesn't it, when our own rides break? Yet, our own rides are always the last ones to be fixed, aren't they? I guess after wrenching on others' rides day in, day out, the last thing we want to have to deal with is having to repair our own rides.

Exactly. There are several things on this truck that I have just let go due to the rust and rot. Shocks are original. Knocking ball joints are original. I have an evap leak that is probably from the rusted fuel filler neck which is obsolete. The right front ABS sensor is funky. Tires. All of the brake backing plates are falling apart. The trans cooler lines are patched up in two places... despite having brand new lines in my garage that I did not install because stuff that needed to be accessed looked to be troublesome due to rust. I feared the repair would snowball just like this manifold job has.

 

 

Originally Posted By: mchan68
BTW, are you near Parlin or Plainsboro?

About an hour from each of those towns.

 

 

 

 

Do know however that despite my outpouring of unhappiness it is not lost on me that no one was hurt in this incident. Things could have gone very wrong and fortunately I did not panic. It's uncanny that as a technician you immediately know what is happening as you press the brake pedal and feel it suddenly sink to the floor and the puff of smoke and smell of brake fluid only confirms what you already know.

 

Now that I have had time to reflect on this I realize I am more screwed than I thought. Money is really tight now. The $8 for the gasket didn't kill me. The evaporator core and refrigerant is more than I can afford to spend right now however and well, A/C is a luxury you know. I didn't need the $85 tow bill and now I have to fix the brake lines. I no longer trust this vehicle - do I dare let my wife drive it with my daughters in the back seat? I have a lot of training coming up... Yonkers, Newark and Pennsylvania, all 1 hour plus commutes.

 

I JUST paid off the wife's Freestyle this week. Omen? Perhaps. No payment means a little extra cash to patch this truck up or replace it.

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Three little letters.......C V T.

 

 

Brad, you took the words right out of my mouth. They DID discontinue CVTs for a reason.

 

BTW, remember the co-worker I told you about, that was hot and horny about making his '97 4.0L SOHC Explorer a 5.0L? Well, he finally went out and bought himself a high mileage '99 for the cheap. He's been playing around with it for the last two months. He actually went to the trouble of yanking the engine/trans for a full overhaul.

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Keith, c'mon you're a tech. You should know better than anyone else that it's time to ditch the Explorer. A boneyard with a tow truck will give you more money for it, than it's worth for you to even fix just ONE of the problems on your list. If being down one vehicle is such an issue, perhaps it's time to see the boys in the front door. Yes, it sucks just getting out of payments on one vehicle into another set. But you need to ask yourself, what's more costly to you. Taking up your WORK time to fix YOUR car, or biting the bullet to get yourself into another?

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The CVT doesn't bother me and my wife does not drive the car hard at all. We saw a few go bad in the beginning but in the last few years I have seen none come through the shop. I was under the impression that production was limited due to poor sales - people didn't like them. I actually like them for the most part but I admit the car seems a little sluggish off the line when you get on it. Once moving that thing takes off when you nail it though.

 

I will be weighing my options in the near future. For now the Explorer has to get me back and forth to work and home. I can get a Fiesta or even a Focus for under $20K. If I can catch some kinda rebates/incentives on top of D-Plan I would rather go new. I like driving a larger vehicle but at this point in my life a small car that gets good gas mileage fits just fine for commuting.

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Quote:
The CVT doesn't bother me and my wife does not drive the car hard at all. We saw a few go bad in the beginning but in the last few years I have seen none come through the shop.
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Didn't I say we weren't gonna talk about this! Shhhhh, let's bury it deep down and never talk about it again. Posted Image
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I have a great idea! Go buy a KIA Soul. I have been wanting so bad to rig up a container that dumps a little deposit behind one of those every time you park. I have lots of horse manure. Every hamster I have ever handled crapped if you held it more than a minute so a hamster car needs to leave little poops regularly.

I figure a metal box with a lock motor operated chute cup. Unlock pulls cup under hole in box and locking slides it out and it dumps.

I'll UPS you the first load of horse crap.

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