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Lubricate, check for contact with area around frame. If you spot wear, figure out where. Hinge/pins is unusually a good suspect for failure. Otherwise maybe replace moving part/s
Moving parts are lubed and working well. I wouldn't expect anything to be worn out. It's just one of the many fit & finish problems this GM vehicle has. Workmanship has really gone down the toilet.
Hose clamp pliers are really expensive, and usually channel locks do the same job. The needle nose worked beautifully for this application.
Last edited by mountainmanjoe; June 15th, 2019 at 2:51 PM.
Moving parts are lubed and working well. I wouldn't expect anything to be worn out. It's just one of the many fit & finish problems this GM vehicle has. Workmanship has really gone down the toilet.
Hose clamp pliers are really expensive, and usually channel locks do the same job. The needle nose worked beautifully for this application.
Agreed, the newer vehicles don't seem to be as... robust, as each generation passes. Too young to remember anything pre-80's.
My bad, I meant hose pliers. If there happens to be a harbor freight near you, maybe order online. Most of their actual tools are quality, they've come a long ways.
Last edited by Beau Oszman; June 15th, 2019 at 3:11 PM.
What a day. It's just after 7:00pm and I think I am just waking up now.
Yesterday, I posted here but the post didn't take. I pulled my seats out, vacuumed and cleaned under the floormatt, moved my amps out from under the seats, temporarily putting them behind the seats, fixed my rearview camera, then put my queen inflatable bed in the back and I decided to try sleeping in the truck. lol - It was actually fun, I just couldn't find a place to go. I finally found a partially industrialized area and parked in front of a semi along the road. That didn't really work out as he started up the truck and headed off at 3:30am. I slept good, but I woke up in a daze and I was washed out all day. The queen bed is too big, it's almost perfect but those wheel wells ruin it. It's too high of a bad anyways, you lay basically right at the window height, which is cool for laying there and looking out, but it's too high. I bought a cheap double sized bed, inflated it today, then slept for hours just parked at a park. I could have kept sleeping forever. For all the vans I ever had, I NEVER did this, which is surprising. It's quite liberating. Just go where ever you want. Tired? Take a snooze. The bed might stay in there all Summer we will see. Anyways, mission accomplished. I wanted to try it out in case I leave town here and decide sleep in the truck. I want to know what I need from experience. I should have done this when I was seventeen/eighteen with my first van.
GM's Upfitter Schematics.. I cannot figure them out, maybe it's me, but there is something strange about the Rearview Camera factory wiring and lack of schematics which seem to have changed in later years. Perhaps they were still working out the final wiring scheme when mine was built but, my camera stopped working from nothing I did. Or at least in a section of wiring I have never tinkered with. From the front fusebox, the reverse circuit that triggers the camera and mirror to turn on.. there is something wrong. I do not have a multi meter to figure it out.. maybe a relay is reversed under the hood. I have never really touched anything there, but I had to by pass it to get it all working. Anyways, it's fixed. I know I will be changing it later. Right now I can view the rear camera on my radio and on my inside rearview mirror. I have a few ideas for more cameras so.. like everything else, my fix is temporary (I wish I would quit, but I like projects too much).
Thank you for whomever suggested the chrome polish. I polished my from bumper today. Wow. Perhaps I never learned to look after the fit and finish on vehicles because my first vehicles were rust buckets and beaters, but I have had arguable nicer vehicles than this van and I never once polished. The bumper looks like new. Even the tiny rust spots that were starting make me feel down are gone! Cleans it all right up. Beautiful. I bought all kinds of polish and cleaning products. Glass polish, trim cleaner/polish/shine. I am home too late, the sun is going down, but I tested a few areas by spot washing and treating an object at a time.... and wow... aside from some deep scratches and door dings, I should be able to have this truck looking brand new.
Oh yeah, I hooked up an inverter I had too. 300W under the passenger seat. Now I can plug in a laptop, charge cordless tool batteries and inflate a temporary bed. Pretty cool. I am to have moved forward.
One of the things I have to do is acquire on more amp. I want everything symmetrical. So I either find the same amp as the one I have, or buy two new ones. Then I can mount them and get out of the way and DONE. I am pretty sure that they are going underneath. I don't want to waste space inside. Everytime I find a matching amp at a great to deal, I don't have the money. Get the money, the amp is no longer available. I have the money, there are two matching amps available but... then I am spend three times as much.. I just go in circles. I want this done, so I can do other things.. like build a console and set up other things.
Son of a bit... I just posted this and some guy just posted an add for the best deal I have seen yet. Maybe I am going to pick up what I want for nothing after all?
He sold them on me last night. All I had to do was drive there and pick em up. It's partly my fault, I wanted him to part it out as his suggested. If I had more money, I just would have bought the lot and sold what I do not need which never happens and takes me forever, along with the frustration of Craigslist lookie loo's. That was a screaming deal.. I just... I counted my cash last night, and while I was proud not to be spending, I was... a hundred here, a hundred there, whittle faster than I thought it did. I don't know what you guys pay in tax, but yesterday I bought something for a hundred bucks. I added to additional items at ten or eleven dollars a piece... thinking I'd splurge... It came out to just over $150.
Environment Tax
Provincial (State) Tax
Federal Tax
Probably more BS that I didn't see when I looked at the bill. @#$% me. I'm not giving these government money. No way. Not anymore. Not that I was a huge tax-payer, but they milk you where-ever you go. Then you get involved with them and watch these idiots taking government cheques "work". @#^% them.
Today I replaced the coolant. All 16 litres (quarts) of it, because I have rear heat. It may seem premature -- I only have 70,000km (44,000mi) -- Dexcool "is designed to remain in the vehicle for 5 years or 240 000 km (150,000 mi), whichever occurs first." Well my vehicle is 6.5 years old, so the coolant is beyond its "best before" age, and I am paranoid of getting the dreaded Dexcool sludge. Some of you maybe remember back around 2007 there was a class-action lawsuit against GM due to Dexcool deteriorating plastic and causing engine failure.
Here's the anatomy of my cooling system (2013. Note that older systems worked differently).
Remove the overflow tank for better access. Remove lower radiator hose from water pump and let drain. Remove heater hose and let drain.
I unplugged both heater hoses, stuck a garden hose nozzle into one end and flushed it through until it ran clear.
I also picked up one of those inexpensive flush kits. You're supposed to cut your heater hose and splice the "T" connector into it, but I didn't want to molest my factory molded hoses. Instead I grabbed some 5/8" ID vinyl tubing I had kicking around, and added it instead.
Connected the other heater hose but leaving the lower rad hose off, I screwed the garden hose into the T and let it run for a while. This should flush some old coolant out of the engine block.
I re-connected the heater and radiator hoses and filled everything up with fresh water, and went for a drive making sure to reach operating temp.
Came back and let everything drain out. A lot of old coolant still came out. Flushed everything again until water ran clear.
Hooked back up, filled radiator with two jugs of Dexcool and went for drive again to work the air out of the system. Topped up with water.
Scrubbed out the overflow tank so I could see the level again properly. It had some black sediment in the bottom of it.
June 15th, 2019, 7:19 AM
