Yes, the gas cap was on!

Hi John,
You hit the nail on the head when you said my Tundra had warranty issues.  I took it to Toyota of *****and and they did ~$2000 worth of work.  It was all covered under warranty except $7 for gas for the loaner.  They found code P2442 and water in the air valves. (Thats what I had too, JP) The invoice says they performed TSB repair replaced valves and both air pumps.  It took almost all week last week to get things straightened out, though.  

The first guy I talked to in service (on Monday) said he was 99% sure it was a loose gas cap.  He said to tighten the cap and drive it for a couple days to see if the dash lights cleared.  He said it wouldn't hurt to drive it.  Of course, it didn't help the light situation.  I called back Wednesday late afternoon and talked to a different guy who said to bring it in right away.  I took it in Thursday morning and picked it up Friday afternoon, good as new (almost!).  Thanks for your help.
GS
******************************************************
When I first saw this 08 Tundra, it was in limp-mode and 4-wheel drive. Have you ever seen a vehicle that goes into 4WD if an emissions component is bad??? 

I like the safe diagnosis, the one that covers everything - "loose gas cap". Hmm, well new to me and I've been doing this automotive service/repair thing for a living since 1974... hmm

Is it a new-car warranty issue???

Subaru oil leaker

Look Ma, it's a Justy! My-oh-my! 

I thought all the "old-cars" had been crushed during the “cash for clunkers” project, so I pondered about other nifty cars that might show up at my shop’s front door. Here is a short story about one such cash4clunkers escapee; a fine running 1994 Subaru Justy.

Now this example of auto-technology was one that Subaru wished we’d all have simply forgotten, yet all THREE CYLINDERS ran great and it was worth a little restoration. 

A guy, the owner who shall go nameless uses this little car as his daily work commuter.

WHY IS IT HERE? Reasons for this visit were Simple Routine Maintenance. A timing belt, front crank seal, a look at the oil spraying on the engine, gee! Oh yes, the infamous distributor body seal was a leaker as well.

Let’s repeat this guy’s tale for the NEED for ROUTINE MAINTENANCE

After

Before

 "As I pull to a stop in rush hour traffic, (Think Lots OF OTHER CARs in a congested intersection), clouds of smoke unfurl from beneath the hood. The other drivers around me always look over in my direction. The smoke envelopes the front of the Justy, and I'm pretty sure most of the other drivers are betting when the FIRE will begin on my Subbie!"

 No idea how long this "smoking issue" had been going on, but it had become embarrassing and a worry to this guy, the Justys' owner. Many worn out seals, leaking oil, had all makings for a rolling Justy fire-bomb waiting to happen. You know anticipation, just like when the lunch-truck shows up, but that's fairly predictable.

What will show up next I wonder; perhaps a Yugo or as Carl said a GEO?

When is it really empty?

The question should actually read when is my gas tank empty. I just wanted to see if any of you would suffer pangs of memory guilt. Better yet, do you have a history of driving the car plain out of gas. Do you?

Is it more than likely if the engine stalls and won't restart that your first thoughts are of gasoline? Or what about the light that resembles a tiny gas pump. Does it flash or steadily glow yellow? And it's been doing that for nearly thirty miles so far...?

Look at what 30,000 miles of repetitive vapor driving left in a new fuel filter. That crap was the fuel pump, it was new, but now it doesn't work. look. 

One fact we all seem to forget, this includes myself, our vehicles have fuel pumps. These fuel pumps feed the fuel injection system; they're the heart of the system you could say. These fuel pumps are submerged in the gas tank for a reason.

The internal parts of a fuel pump are cooled and lubricated with the fuel in the gas tank. Let the level run low and the fuel pump wears out at an accelerated rate. So to keep the fuel pump alive try to make QUARTER FULL the same as empty.

Are you Cavitating?

The CONSCIENCE FACTOR - A prelude

 

Having a conscience in the automotive service industry, and making a living can be like mixing oil and water. I find myself in a constant battle the Ying and Yang of making a living or just simply telling a customer the ramifications of all that I have found. Although it's not my money or car; should a person throw good money after potentially bad?

As a customer, client or guest you need to rely on my honesty. I voice my opinion at times to inform you of repairs I feel might be opening up a proverbial 5 pound can of worms.

All this is simply put on the table as a reference before I begin my story. Currently I have such a vehicle in for repairs and it’s been leaking engine oil much like a severed artery would leak blood.

The car has nearly 275,000 miles on the odometer. Should I be thankful for the work or should I be giving of my observations and opinions. What if my customer cannot afford expensive repairs or ultimately the replacement of this vehicle? 

A decision must be made by an intelligent mature automobile owner. My job is to diagnose, estimate and inform them of what I’ve found. I must then turn the information and observations over to the owner for a final decision.

Restoration Observations

I haven’t seen this car for well over 30,000 miles. Although it had one of my lube reminders in its windshield it was thousands of miles overdue. The oil leak was so profuse it didn't justify a standard LOF. The habit of topping off the oil, but not changing the oil filter was being followed.

That sewing machine sound

Yesterday morning before repairs began I started the car to position it onto a hoist. As the motor sprang to life I was instantly reminded of my childhood and the sounds that a Singer sewing machine would generate.

I quickly turned the key off to check the oil level; it showed oil was a quart low. I again started the engine and although the noise was still there, it wasn't as loud as before and began to finally disappear as volumes of oil began coursing throughout the engine.

My diagnosis and comments

The sound is like valve lash adjuster clatter. For the moment I will assume that the rapid loss of oil can only be from the oil pump, which on this car is driven by the timing belt.
 

Was it Cavitation?
 

Yes because air pockets had formed in the oil pump. Have you ever heard that term cavitation, if not you should look it up or even Google it!

PS
 

This was a very successful repair. The oil pump seals were the cause as I'd  thought they might be and engine damage was not obvious. I will put the car on a 3K interval and watch as well as listen for the next year. I have a good feeling about the car now.

Winters visiting your neighborhood too!

Summer of 2012 was a good time to be a cat, but not a mouse.

Our two and and a half month long summer gave me many views of this happy kitty. Was she begging for attention or was she just showing off her “catch of the day”, I will always wonder.

What did all that really mean?

After a couple minutes of hard thinking I realized that the rodent population was keeping up with that centuries old reputation of “breeding like ….”! Another thing remembered was the approaching Northwest style winter.

There is something you and I have in common: Your car.

“Hmm...whats that smell? Has anyone else noticed it?”

And so the phone calls begin sometime in November or December. The weather has started to get real wet, cold and most likely we have snow. Rodents are now eagerly seeking out warm places to hold-up for our winters hardest months.

Besides your house, they really like cars & trucks that are seldom cleaned. For inside your car or truck, a rodent passenger with relatives will find you have a virtual meal-on-wheels with morsels in just the sizes they prefer!

Another annoying fact;

Mice tend to nest near the heater core. You may even find a surprise nest in the glove box! Sometimes they build a nest inside the blower motor fan. They then leave to forage while you drive around with their new nest tucked neatly away within your dashboard.

Or they go on a ride with you except their in that nest they've built INSIDE YOUR heater blower fan. There tends to be a little bit of noise and then odor if that happens. Think about it, you've been at the fair with the rides that spin around...hmm.

I'll stop there and let you think a moment about all the items and areas we service on your car or truck and how likely it would be for us to spot a mouse if you have them, before you have to make that call to us.

Do I really need brakes?

...well do you want to stop?

You could say “isn’t there a super cheap way to fix my brakes” or better yet “can we do just one wheel at a time” my response to either would be no. In life the saying “you get what you pay for” most definitely applies here.  

Let’s say you own a higher-end 1998 to 2003 model year vehicle. The brakes are causing all sorts of warning lights to illuminate your Christmas tree dashboard. Ignoring it seems like a good choice. Just forgetting to mention the problem to those of us who service your vehicle is not really a test of our honesty.

Decide to ignore that bright BRAKE or ABS warning light and you have three choices;

1)   Immediately depart the service facility on the back of the tow truck.

             Or

2)   Own up to a problem you feel should be addressed by skilled in brakes.
             Or

3)   Repeat step two, ask for a diagnosis and an estimate. Best choice.

Here are the/your reasons:

Many pre-2000 brake problems can be traced to the fact that those Cars or SUV’s had options that were considered standard. Yes, they were installed on only that one year, make and model and you purchased it. You didn’t know that all the driving you were doing was really just for research and development?

The Twist or call it Luck

A little twist to the above statement; the car company that manufactured your vehicle is out business or they sold themselves to another country. Many of the parts that were available, although for a short time, are now on a shelf in a warehouse somewhere waiting to be cataloged and inventoried.

Some food for thought:

If you like your car, sport utility vehicle or crossover utility vehicle then you’ll fix it. Do you feel safe and comfortable when you’re driving it and fuel mileage is acceptable? Once again you will fix it. After all why wouldn’t you want to fix it? Ever heard of a Tucker or a Corvair..?

Tundra AFR Sensor Code O2, O2

The Front O2 sensor(s) on a later model Toyota Tundra is really called an Air Fuel Ratio sensor. It usually develops a heater circuit failure around 90K miles or later. This ToY fit those parameters & the check engine light was on.

Why did it fail? Read on..

Simple comparison…

How long does an average incandescent light bulb last? If you stuffed it into your exhaust subjecting it to extreme heat and vibration it wouldn't last 10 minutes.

Now take a heat emitting element & enclose it in metal. In this scenario you’re the computer and you Command it to get real hot, real fast. How long will it last? Environment determines life span and this is a harsh environment. Temps range between 600 to 900 degrees Fahrenheit, not including that it’s getting splashed with water. A good reason light bulb elements aren't used and you just learned something!

Repair on vehicle!

Since the AFR Sensor failed it needs replacement, but look, there are serious side affects you discover upon removal. All the threads are mushed over or as some would say; stripped. 

What to do!? Do you replace the exhaust manifold to get new threads or do you chase those old threads and regain 70% or more.

I did the “chase-the-threads” thing as an experiment and this customer was lucky. Fewer problems seem to defeat the experienced technician, special tools help as well. 

Tune-Ups - REQUIRED!

The photo included in my post is to visually stress the importance of routine maintenance. A simple spark plug change with estimated cost of $145.00 would have saved this person an additional $1100.00 on the replacement cost of two damaged catalytic converters.

The owners manual gives a mileage interval to replace a normal wearing part. There's good reason too, the spark plugs pictured here aren't just normally worn, they are actually worn away.

Much more material is gone than what I would expect to find at the correct replacement mileage.

That brown coloring is was un-burned gasoline, money just being tossed blown out the tailpipe as the SUV went down the road.

The CHECK ENGINE or SERVICE ENGINE SOON lamp had been flickering away for hundreds of miles.

BTW.. Why do they call those warning lights, "idiot lights" anyway?

What is a HEPA FILTER really for?

Isn't it amazing how the replacement of a single filter can have so many good side effects. This is a special filter as its only purpose is to clean incoming cabin air. Removing dust, pollen, and sometimes little critters; I think it has a very special purpose!

Ever had a strange odor appear from out of nowhere after turning on the heat/defrost/AC in your vehicle?

Better yet; have you had the thrill of seeing a mouse looking back at you from under the dash as you were driving down the road? Both the smell and those tiny little eyes are really special experiences, but still scarier than hell when they occur. Wouldn't you agree?

Look at the castle some mice were in the middle of building...

The photo above is from just behind the glovebox.

Fresh air is drawn down into your cars' cabin fan!

New and good for another 15,000 miles!

There is nothing like knowing you are driving around in a rolling "mouse motel".

We check these filters quite often here at Johns Lake Joy ToY.

EEK! Surely..Shirley is that SMOKE!!

Calming a frightened customer; after they drive up with smoke rolling off of one of the front wheels, this takes talent.

I watched my wife Gail handle the situation with confidence in a calming/cheery manner. Once again our years of experience paid off. Shirley seemed to gain her confidence after exiting the smoking van as well. What was smoking you ask, have a look..

Flushing brake fluid once per year actually costs less than the labor to replace brake pads!

PS: This shows what hot brakes can look like..

HOW ARE YOURS?

Leak, Leak - Where is that leak?

It was just another typical Friday afternoon in June-uary. It's nearly the end of the day and my gut says the exhaust leak on this 92 Maxima is not the headpipe gasket.

Talked to the customer, told him I want to remove the complete head pipe and look for cracks. You see I used my smoke machine to source out any and all exhaust leaks. What didn't make sense though was the way the smoke curled out below the flange on the head pipe. One would assume it was the manifold or gasket, but my gut feelings said to look deeper.

I removed the pipe, ground off the welds on heatshield and look at what I found. Apparently one of the welds popped off and this WAS the exhaust leak.

These pipes are made out of "want to be" stainless steel. So, come Monday I will run a test pass on a nonimportant area of the head pipe with a mig welder. After that it gets reassembled, resealed and goes down the road. This should make Mike the customer happy!

Here's a picture;

2012's first Snow in Carnation Washington

Well the weather predictions were correct, just wish someone in the media would explain to the new people here what wet snow is really like...

Not Just Another ToY SNOW....http://youtu.be/Pl5X_l2HsGw was fun putting together. Note that editing is not one of my better talents; playing in the snow mixed with dry humor, these are..

....the National Weather Service has predicted....

SNOW, SNOW, and more SNOW

This forecast (see below) is very reminiscent of the one we were presented, but ignored in the winter of 2003 - 2004. Mid-westerners like Gail and I grew up in cold snowy winters. No big deal right?

Differences in location produced similar Arctic weather patterns, but the mountains, and a close proximity to ocean moisture have changed our perception of what a "snow-advisory" truly is.

Thus we found a need to understand our environment taking over. Now a chain saw, sandbags plus winch and accesories all are standard equipment when fall arrives. It only takes one storm, and you understand what being prepared is really all about. The CERT training we took helped so much.

One of two vehicles was constructed

 to travel off-road, but this one got a

snow plow and a 10,000 pound winch.



Bottom of the driveway, Lake Joy Drive is behind us 
as we approach the 100ft verticle climb it takes
along the sides of my hilly property.

This ToY 4Runn'r worked great for extracting a 2004 Suburban from a culvert.
 It was on it's side                                     

Special Weather Statement

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
1032 PM PST SUN JAN 15 2012

WEST SLOPES CENTRAL CASCADES AND PASSES- 1032 PM PST SUN JAN 15 2012

THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT SOME 

LOWLAND LOCATIONS COULD RECEIVE SEVERAL INCHES

 OF NEW SNOW BY TUESDAY AFTERNOON.

A POTENT PACIFIC STORM WILL IMPACT ALL OF WESTERN WASHINGTON

 LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AND 

WEDNESDAY. THIS SYSTEM HAS 

THE POTENTIAL TO 

PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ON BOTH 

THE MOUNTAINS AND LOWLANDS. THIS COULD RESULT 

IN POWER OUTAGES AND HAZARDOUS WINTER

DRIVING CONDITIONS...

ESPECIALLY ON THE LOWLANDS. AT THIS TIME... 

EXACTLY HOW MUCH SNOW 

WILL FALL AND EXACTLY WHEN THE SNOW WILL CHANGE 

OVER TO RAIN ON THE LOWLANDS WERE STILL

UNCERTAIN.

LOCALLY HEAVY SNOW SHOWERS WILL DEVELOP OVER WESTERN WASHINGTON
MONDAY AFTERNOON AND PERSIST INTO TUESDAY...(SHOULD READ THUSDAY)
...A POTENT STORM MAY BRING WIDESPREAD SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL TO
WESTERN WASHINGTON TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY...(AND IT DID!)

TODAYS PREDICTION

AFTER A BRIEF BREAK...(IT ALMOST FOOLED ME)
LOOK FOR SNOW SHOWERS TO INCREASE MONDAY AFTERNOON OVER THE AREA.
THE SNOW SHOWERS WILL BECOME LOCALLY HEAVY...ESPECIALLY IN THE CASCADES...
MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY AS A WEATHER DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS THE REGION.

All of this and much, much more came to our Cascade foothills. The extended forecast began to include Thusrday as well

OK. The RATS created a problem.

Found the no-start problem. Took some pictures. Rat damage. They love to eat the insulating material in spark plug wires and most anything electrical/insulated they find in the engine bay. For now all I need is a coil wire; a full set of wires are on the way. If you wanna see pictures just scroll down..

                                              Ahome for big, greasy, stinky dead RATS!

                                                             Did you say RAT!!!

                                         

No conductive material remains in the coil wire

Norwegian?

Used Oil and the Do-It-Yourselfer

Used Oil Considered Threat to Environment

Used engine oil contains elements that are unhealthy for you. Copper, tin and lead are just a few that come to mind. But one metal, lead, is known to cause birth defects. Studies haven't proved conclusively that used oil is a carcinogen, but when burned it emits high levels of airborne lead! A 20-year old article.

If you're a DIY’r; you change your own oil. Be a wise DIY’r; drain the oil from the filter before disposing of it. Simply punch a small hole into the metal dome-like end and let it drip-drip-drain for 12 hours.

You may find as much as a shot glass full of used oil has drained from your old filter.

Here at John's Lake Joy ToY, we use bottled oil. But the empty bottles are not recyclable, even if cleaned. We decided to use a capture device allowing new oil film from inside the bottle to drain into a common container. My wife Gail designed and assembled this one in ten minutes.

Empty bottles from every 8 cases collectively provide enough new oil to service a small four cylinder engine.

Recycled Oil Skimmer

- Oh so GREEN -

WHERE DO YOU DISPOSE OF THE WASTE

If you’re going to change your own oil, recycle it. Return used oil the parts retailer that sold it and is responsible for its collection. If you have a problem properly disposing of your used oil, ask your retailer, a service station or a local recycling center for help. If you live in Washington State you can also visit this website. Another website informs you about what, where and how of recycling.

YES.. Thermostats are Important!

Complaint; "I have no heat inside my Dodge Grand Caravan. Can you tell me why and fix it?" Why sure I thought; time for the space age tools! Using my laserguided thermal temp gun I was able to deduce that the vehicle no longer had a thermostat. I would find that the thermostat had fallen apart and was now spread out deep within the upper intake manifold. Using my borescope, with grappler attachment I searched the inside of this vehicles lower intake manifold and retrieved 90% of all the thermostats components.

Now the fun begins.

The thermostat assembly in this vehicle was used in two model years, and that's 10 years ago. If I wait another four days I can get another housing. NAH! I decided to reuse the outlet housing, and it was no big deal. By grinding the stakes away I was now ready to install a new thermostat. Only thing left to do is align the thermostat and stake it in place.

These are the parts I finished out of that Dodge Grand Caravan. Yes it needed new antifreeze, and the fluid state might have caused the thermostat to fall apart, or was it simply poor engineering.

Can you recall the last time your thermostat was replaced? I know that IT HAS A PROFOUND EFFECT ON FUEL MILEAGE, but I can't remember the last time it was changed.

It is so rewarding to finish!

Six hours to trace out all fuel system controls; both electrical and mechanical. The bad part was found. It was the PCM or computer that was cycling powers and grounds off so rapidly a lab scope with a high millisecond grid was the only tool that saw the problem. Using a breakout box paired with a lab scope was the trick. Diagnostics time, and final restoration of this Ford trucks’ sensors system would all be a learning experience. Sorry about the tech speak; just excited.

Someone had to find the problem; you can’t just throw away hard to diagnose vehicles. Lucky me, I guess.

This what it looks like when things are working!

One millisecond of data

Other problems found were engine oil mixed contaminated with gas.

DPFE was melted down. The catalytic convertors had been removed and tossed!

All four of them were needed for the system to work properly.

Spark plugs were so carbon fouled they were useless so they were replaced with original brand Motorcraft Platinum plugs.

Incorrect O2 sensors were not helping the problem either, new OE cost almost the same as NAPA. All testing drilled down to a PCM not supplying ground OR power to internal board component logic modules.

But what caused this to happen? My guess is a simple jump start, zappp! Do you have any ideas?

Way too many Chefs' before me there were!!

Many automotive technicians have a type of vehicle we dread repairing. It's the one that has already been diagnosed by the owner. This is evident by the numerous amounts of new parts sprinkled in the engine bay. You know it is going to be fun when you see all those new parts. But for grins add that another shops been there before you. They performed their diagnostics with assistance and input from the vehicles owner.

And now it's your turn at what appears to be a fairly simple fix. All hope fades away when you're told about what has been done by another shop and by the owner too. As more and more information is remembered by the owner, you stand there rubbing your head wondering what you've gotten yourself into. This vehicle is well-known for a myriad of problems. It came to you stinking of soot, gas and all the money someone dumped into it in hopes they could get just a few more miles. Man, I mean really!

Using diagnostic tools; one of which is experience, I proceed. I should've said no after discovering that the owner thought someone had stolen one of their tires. This being due to its color difference; should have been a red flag. Actually the rim and tire by the tailpipe had been cleaned. This vehicle ran so poorly 40% of the fuel it was supposed to burn was coming out the tailpipe instead. Oh, what other surprises lay ahead. I include a photo of the first or second KOER string of codes.

Another flag was the fact that the catalytic converters, all four of them, had been gutted.

(There are Federal Laws that prohibit this from being done....)

The engine oil was so chock-full of carbon I was surprised it hadn't seized! The front heated 02 sensors were completely covered with carbon or soot. We can be sure that the pre-cat sensors do not function just by their appearance. I really need to know how to put a time frame; an estimate; a price on diagnostic time after seeing and hearing just the above?

Let us not forget the fact I have connected a breakout box to monitor, test and diagnose PID data. And the holiday season is quickly approaching. Enough for now.

“…and the 4runner waits patiently for snow to fall, and winter to begin again.”

Okay, I know these pictures are six-months old, but everything is winterized for the 2011-2012 season. The truck w/o snowplow was in two car shows this year. Photos of the ice/slush covered 4runner from last seasons dusting of snow and are here too. Temperatures have dropped to freezing at night for the past week, who can say when IT WILL snow next? The 4runner gets the plow attached again this weekend and takes its position backed into the carport.

It’s a Landcruiser kind of day

This Landcruiser, a 1987 FJ60 is getting the best quality lift components available. 4 inch suspension with a lot of articulation travel. Old Man EMU kits rock, no doubt! A shackle reverse kit is being installed as well. And since the SR kit involves removing the stock bumper, time for a one-off fabrication. Pictures and more on the these ToYs a little later.

Lets have a look as we start and finish a 4" suspension lift on this 87 FJ60 •

Need Music? Turn up the radio...

(Produced in 16:9 widescreen)