[cajunfj40]

Hello all,

Still driving it. Decided that it's in good enough shape that I'll just keep it as a cheap truck that I don't have to worry about dents on. Seem to be averaging high 18's to low 19's but only have tank-tank and math and still have that fuel leak at the filler neck. Getting warmer so less time with a cold engine, but sometimes using the A/C.

I forgot how much effort it takes to work on a truck. It's been too long! Rusty stuff, grunged up threads, caked on old burned oil gunk, etc. Lots of sore body parts after weekends wrenching. And it's lawn season, which cuts down on my wrenching time. I have to cut the lawn weekly or it takes 3x as long and looks horrible with the grass clods everywhere from over-loading the deck. Lucked into a riding mower because my parents moved to a house with lawn/snow service in the association fees, so they gave me theirs. Hydrostatic transmission works OK for now, but is one of those cheaped-out versions with no fill or drain plugs and the manual says it is "maintenance free". It's growling a lot. Same transmission in other apps has a drain and fill plug and requires regular changes of synthetic oil per the tranny mfg. Tractor mfg. fill is dino oil, so it's probably really sludged up in there.

Anyways, back to the truck.

Repairs on the truck so far:

New radiator, lower hose, intake manifold gaskets (lower intake manifold gasket blew out on the driver's front, I could see it spraying out!), spark plugs, spark plug wires, DPFE hoses, valve cover gaskets. Took the time to grind the rust off the valve covers and hit them with some rust reformer paint. Found rust-through on the driver's side sealing area, so plugged that with RTV and some soda can metal - just sort of a glued-in patch.

Got the coolant leak fixed, but created a bad oil leak, but not from the valve cover gaskets or my repair to the valve cover. It turns out that when they say "a 1/4" bead of RTV" they mean it. I'm used to using a small bead just to cover imperfections, etc. In this case, it is replacing a factory rubber seal between the lifter valley and the lower intake manifold. Turns out the 1/8" bead just isn't enough to close the gap. Drove it for a while like that, and found it was pulling a lean code now, so I didn't just create an oil leak, I created a vacuum leak. Whee.

So I had to do the intake manifold gaskets a second time. When I got it apart, I could clearly see the un-squished bead of RTV next to the properly squished bits of RTV in the corners where the heads meet the block. Obvious leak is obvious. I had run to a junkyard in the meantime and scored a pair of better condition valve covers, an extra set of valve cover and intake manifold bolts, and some extra A/C mounting bolts that are the same thread as the lower intake bolts. Turned two of the long bolts into studs similar to the ones shown in the exploded parts diagram for the engine as used from '91-'94. Figured it would help me drop the manifold straight down on the seals/RTV. No-go - the manifold hits the cam sensor, manifold must be lowered to about 1/2" off touching before it can move back into position. Tricky! Used "The Right Stuff" black sealer this time, and a good sized bead. Got it all back together and decided to clean the battery terminal clamps before starting it up. Got some baking soda in hot water and a toothbrush. Scrub, scrub, dip negative battery terminal clamp in mixture, bubble and froth, clamp is apparently mostly corrosion and dissolves. Break the bolt on it trying to get it apart. Break the actual clamp monkeying with it to try and "make it work" so I could get to the parts store the next day. So, had to use the old Chevy again (still have not found the title to sell it) for a week as I had no open evenings to work on it. Got that fixed, and the oil leak appears gone, the lean code is gone, the bad rear O2 sensor code is still there, and I have a new Small Evap System Leak code. Guess I need to tackle that fuel filler leak next.

Went ahead and replaced the hood struts so I don't need the prop stick. Have the parts to do the parking brake and front shocks and door bushings, but I'm just driving it for now as I've got too many house projects to do.

I want a feedback gauge for MPG. I can build an MPGuino (got a nice soldering iron for my birthday!), or I can just buy an Ultragage, or I can do the ForScan app with an ELM327 dongle, or do ScanGauge. For a vehicle that will not do Engine Off Coasting, nor be modded to run lean (I'd prefer to do the extra EGR/warm air intake method of intake charge dilution), how much less accurate are the OBD2 info derived MPG gauges than the MPGuino?