[Debo22]

Driving home Friday night and pulled into a parking lot to pickup beer. All of a sudden I have no power steering, no alternator, and the engine starts heating up. It turns out I threw the serpentine belt. Saturday I check all pulleys and find one loose, I pull on it and oil pours all over the driveway. The shaft on the power steering pump let go.

 

[Debo22]

I pulled all this stuff out to access it

 

[Debo22]

Turns out I had to pull the a/c compressor also to access the bracket for it. This thing is tucked deep. Replaced the pump and back on the road.

 

[Fatpat]

I hope that wasn’t on the way home from Fullerton! Thanks for taking care of my customer Debo. They said your where great.

 

[OpenSights]

When I bought my cube van I swore I’d never work on it other then oil changes. I get a good deal from my mechanic and he gets a good deal from me.

 

[Tommy plumber]

I don't mind tearing into walls, concrete or anything else to access plumbing; but I do not like having to get to hard-to-reach parts on my vehicle. Brakes, batteries and easy stuff is ok. But when my serpentine belt pulley broke, I let my mechanic repair it.

Debo, were you huffing and puffing and cussing at all doing the work?

 

[OpenSights]

At one time in my life I tried to do it all. Now, other then plumbing, I leave it up to an expert and have it done right the first time.

 

[Standard Drain]

Looks like a Ford E-250 Cube van. You have to yard sale 1/2 the engine just to get to water pump ect.

 

[Debo22]

I hope that wasn’t on the way home from Fullerton! Thanks for taking care of my customer Debo. They said your where great.

Nope, on the way back from Riverside. Thank you very much for the referral.

 

[Debo22]

I don't mind tearing into walls, concrete or anything else to access plumbing; but I do not like having to get to hard-to-reach parts on my vehicle. Brakes, batteries and easy stuff is ok. But when my serpentine belt pulley broke, I let my mechanic repair it.

Debo, were you huffing and puffing and cussing at all doing the work?

Cussed many times but I actually don't mind working on it. I like to figure things out and get that feeling of accomplishment.

 

[Debo22]

Looks like a Ford E-250 Cube van. You have to yard sale 1/2 the engine just to get to water pump ect.

It's a Chevy express, no easy access to anything.

 

[Debo22]

Update- last week after the repair my van was running cold, barely registering on the gauge cold. I thought maybe I bumped the wire off while I was working on it because that would be a crazy coincidence if the thermostat was a goner at the same time. I looked up thermostats on Autozone app and realized I went with the $17 "upgraded" stat when I replaced it a year and a half ago. Turns out the thermostat has a fail safe that locks it open if the temp gets too high. I guess when I was limping it home for a mile without the serpentine belt on it got hot. I had to pull everything out of the engine again and install a normal $12 thermostat. Good news, I'm getting pretty fast at disassembly/reassembly.

 

[89plumbum]

The only important question to ask... what kind of beer?

 

[Debo22]

I hope that wasn’t on the way home from Fullerton! Thanks for taking care of my customer Debo. They said your where great.

The son just called today, he wants a quote on new ductwork for his house. He's 30 seconds to a minute from my house. Thanks again. He said you're going to quote some plumbing work on Monday. Let's try and hook up for lunch on me schedules permitting.

 

[Fatpat]

I hope that wasn’t on the way home from Fullerton! Thanks for taking care of my customer Debo. They said your where great.

The son just called today, he wants a quote on new ductwork for his house. He's 30 seconds to a minute from my house. Thanks again. He said you're going to quote some plumbing work on Monday. Let's try and hook up for lunch on me schedules permitting.

Definitely,

Sounds good to me

 

[Dpeckplb]

Turns out I had to pull the a/c compressor also to access the bracket for it. This thing is tucked deep. Replaced the pump and back on the road.

Tell me about it, I just did plugs and wires and have to tackle manifolds in the next couple weeks. GM sure doesn't like mechanics. Passenger side plugs took me all of 30 minuets including taking the dog house out. Those ones are angled towards the back and a piece of cake. Driver side they took the same head and just flipped it upside down so suddenly the plugs face forward with no access....

 

[Tango]

30 minutes you are fast! It took me several hours in my 1500 v8 GMC Savana. The plugs were really tight all the way to the last thread, had to use multiple tools to reach them. I always put copper anti seize on any threads.

I'm really scared the tranny goes or the engine. I've changed many engines and transmissions of my 4Runners but on this style it would be a nightmare.

 

[MACPLUMB777]

I am a 66 yr old rated 150 % disabled, and my two brothers thank it is
stupid of me to pay a Garage to change out my plugs and wires,
on my 2008 GMC SIERRA 1500
because we grew up as the sons of a Master Mechanic and all of us know how
to do Mechanic work, something they would do for their selves,

 

[GAN]

Before I started plumbing back in 1976 I was apprenticed with the AFL as a mechanic for a Chevy dealer. I have forgotten more than what I know. I used to do most my work, less transmission's.

Now only if I can do it from the top. No place to get vehicles up in the air. I stopped the year I got underneath and with safety glasses on got a piece of rust in my eye when sawing out an exhaust system. Had to go to a specialists, have him numb my eye, dilate it, prick the rust out, then buff the surface smooth again. After the anything underneath it goes to the shop. I can ***** at them if something fails.

 

[Debo22]

Two weeks ago I started up the van and boom, massive backfire. Since then it’s been running with a super high idle and throwing codes for mass air sensor. I did a few tests on the sensor and made sure no vacuum leaks under the hood. Did the stupid thing and replaced the $120 non returnable mass air flow sensor and nothing changed.

Today I pulled the dog house off and checked everything and found this plug was blown off on the intake manifold connected to the PCV valve. So it was a massive vacuum leak. Plugged it back in and it runs perfect. The plastic clips that hold it in are broken so I need to replace it.