2010-09-09T18:27:05Z Joe Reid joe@joereid.com urn:uuid:60a76c80-d399-11d9-b91C-0003939e0af6 http://jrc.comment.489/ 2008-10-02T11:39:42Z 2008-10-02T11:39:42Z 2008-10-02T11:39:42Z <p>Sidewall punctures are no good, there is almost no way to patch them reliably. I would know, I put a screw through the sidewall of the donut in the trunk of my 'opaz when I was messing around with the stereo back in high school. It kind of sounds like they put wrong size tires on the back, like they have either a slightly different rolling radius or circumference. That would definitely screw with your computer and make the transfer case unhappy (but only in 4wd). Maybe in 2wd your front is engaged all the way back to the xfer case. Who knows.</p> Joe noemail@joereid.com http://jrc.comment.488/ 2008-09-30T18:44:31Z 2008-09-30T18:44:31Z 2008-09-30T18:44:31Z The only recent problem I have had with my 05 explorer was that I had to put 2 new tires on the rear because one had a hole near the sidewall and the patch the dealer had done wasn't holding. So after driving it with just 2 new tires on the rear (I was needing 4 for the winter anyway), it screwed with the computer for the control-trac feature and I was getting some slipping and whining from the transfer case. Thought my trans was going. Took it back to the dealer and they had it happen to them and the mechanic had dealt with a same thing on another explorer so he knew exactly what it was and it was fine when you put it into the 4 wheel high. So I ended up putting the other 2 new tires on it to solve the problem. I was hoping to make it to the end of October when I had some money coming, but you know the deal with that. I did it now because my sister and I had to make 2 emergency trips to VA this month with my truck, so I wanted to make sure I had no problems with it. Cheryl noemail@joereid.com http://jrc.comment.486/ 2008-09-29T10:44:33Z 2008-09-29T10:44:33Z 2008-09-29T10:44:33Z Yeah the guy who changed mine said the job wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, so I probably could have done it myself if I had another car to work with in the mean time. I went the ebay route when I had to <a href="/2007/12/03/broken_brake">replace my parking brake</a>. The part was only available locally via the dealer who wanted $200 for it, but I found it on ebay for $20. Joe noemail@joereid.com http://jrc.comment.485/ 2008-09-29T09:40:31Z 2008-09-29T09:40:31Z 2008-09-29T09:40:31Z John replaced the fuel pump on his silverado. He got the part new on ebay and it cost him like 1/3 of the retail price. it didn't take him very long to put on either. Betsy noemail@joereid.com http://jrc.comment.484/ 2008-09-29T06:41:52Z 2008-09-29T06:41:52Z 2008-09-29T06:41:52Z Here are the pictures of the fuel pump: <p><img src="/media/blog/fuelpump1.jpg"/><p> <p>Note the manufacture date. This pump looks pretty good to me for something that is older than most college students these days.</p> <p><img src="/media/blog/fuelpump3.jpg"/><p> <p><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WqhtocGS2PE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WqhtocGS2PE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></p> <p>This is the pump mechanism. The gears are in great shape; <strike>no</strike> even wearing, no flat spots and still work very smoothly. One of my dad's theories was that these gears were getting hung up because of crud or they were wearing unevenly and getting jammed. Doesn't look like the case... </p> <p><img src="/media/blog/fuelpump4.jpg"/><p> <p>Dad's #2 theory was <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commutator_(electric)">commutator</a> problems. This is the bottom of the motor where two contacts supply +12 volts and ground to opposite pie pieces causing it to spin (driving the gears from above). He thought maybe the commutator was worn out and didn't have enough copper left to conduct the current required or that the springs pushing the contacts against the commutator were too tired to make a good connection. It looks like there is plenty of copper, but it's worn some very deep grooves. The contacts have the same grooves (in opposite) and when aligned have very good surface area and a good connection. I think the motor was failing when the contacts somehow got out of alignment with those grooves and suddenly couldn't make a good enough connection to supply the required current.</p> Joe noemail@joereid.com http://jrc.comment.483/ 2008-09-26T22:48:20Z 2008-09-26T22:48:20Z 2008-09-26T22:48:20Z Our fuel pump seems to be going too. It'll start just fine, but once you shut it off it's hard to get started again within the next 15 minutes or so. It's only really a problem when we're running errands and need to stop the car for a few minutes at each store. We haven't had any problems with the pump giving out while driving though. JR noemail@joereid.com http://jrc.comment.482/ 2008-09-26T22:32:36Z 2008-09-26T22:32:36Z 2008-09-26T22:32:36Z Aw. Poor Beej. :-( Manda noemail@joereid.com http://jrc.comment.481/ 2008-09-26T12:46:54Z 2008-09-26T12:46:54Z 2008-09-26T12:46:54Z Yeah, I guess it could have been worse. I've got my dad looking for something else for me. It's rather annoying, it's a good car with low mileage for it's age (133k) and it's easy to fix. The problem is just that parts are getting harder and harder to find. Joe noemail@joereid.com http://jrc.comment.480/ 2008-09-26T10:00:08Z 2008-09-26T10:00:08Z 2008-09-26T10:00:08Z Oh no! Cliff and I had our early 90s tahoe fuel pump die last december in rhode island on the center lane of a bridge in a monster snow storm...The RI state trooper then "bumped" our sorry butts off the highway with their crown vic...i was relatively sure i was going to die.. I know its probably blasphemous to say this but are you looking into a new(er?) jeep Kooter noemail@joereid.com