The Cronicals of Grumpy

The Chronicles of Grumpy

September 21, 2009 - 309,058 Miles

Swapped the distributor and crankshaft position sensor then crossed my fingers hoping the P0302 problem was fixed. Nope.

September 20, 2009 - 308,899 Miles

Beautiful morning to install new rotors. Pull the caliper off on the passenger side and notice a leak. Start searching the caliper to find it completely dry. Check the brake line dry too. Plus it smells more like oil than brake fluid. What the heck is leaking oil over here? Crap, the shock just puked it's guts. Held on for over 308k miles though.

Decided to make a run to my brothers and pull some more parts off the parts van. I set out with the idea that I'd grab the wheels, crankshaft position sensor, distributor, and front shocks.

I started with the wheels. Previously I had left a pair of donuts on the front from the dolly tow, so I only had to swap out the rear wheels for...a couple more donuts. Found out something I didn't notice before too. The AWD vans use a much larger donut. So now the van has two 16" rim donuts in the front, two 18" rim donuts in the rear, and looks seriously funny.

During the wheel swap the rain started so I put the shocks off till a later date. The crankshaft position sensor was a quick grab so I did that in the rain, then I climbed inside and pulled the distributor.

September 14, 2009

Ordered Grumpy some Raybestos Pro Grade rotors from www.RockAuto.com , $26 each.

September 12, 2009

Grumpy's front brakes had been giving me trouble with odd grabbing. Pulled the rotors today and headed to NAPA to get them turned. Was told they would be very close to discard thickness after machining and was quoted $37 for new rotors versus $20 for turning. Returned home and put Grumpy back together. I'll deal with the grabbing for a few more days.

September 2, 2009

Topped off the front diff fluid.

August 24, 2009

Checked after work and the axle is still leaking. Sigh.

August 23, 2009

Priorities, what priorities? Back to my distractions.

I need some nuts and bolts to mount the horns, red and black spray paint, a new air filter for the lawn mower, some spade connectors, a longer section of air hose, and my wife needs some CV clamps. Walmart, Home Depot, Napa #1, Ace Hardware, NAPA #2, home.

Sanded and painted the bow tie. Hey the compressor for the horn is silver, painted it black. Added more paint to the grill.

Mounted most of the hardware to the horns, more silver, painted black.

Drilled the another hole in the center bar for the second horn.

Distraction from distractions. Taught me wife how to make counter sinks into the mounting bracket for her Jeep's CB antenna.

Drill hole in Grumpy to mount the air horn's compressor and bolt it in place. Pull stock horn wires back into the engine compartment, attach leads for air horn, and attach them to the compressor. Test the compressor, it lives. Mount the horns to the center bar and the center bar to the van. Run the air lines. Test the horns. Success, Grumpy can express my disapprove of others' driving abilities. Wife and daughter, who are now both in the house, come to the window. More triumphant horn blowing, they shake there heads and go back to what they were doing.

Put the rest of Grumpy's face back together, thinking the black grill looks so much tougher. OK, time for the axle seals . Well maybe I could get the first coat of paint on the rims and let them dry while I do the axleseals .

Hmmm, I need something to lean the rims on while painting them. I have the old rusty spare from a friends Ranger, tire still looks pretty good. Use my tire changer to pull the tire off the rim. OK, now to paint. Wait, I can put this tire on another rim from that Ranger that had a blow out. Plus, seating the bead with fire is fun. Redneck flame thrower anyone?

Finally onto painting the rims. Painted the first two and my daughter asks if she can paint. Showed her a little and let her get started. She did most of one wheel, but my oversight instructions to prevent runs made her lose interest. Finished that wheel and painted the forth.

Finally onto the axle seals . Pull the passenger side apart, fairly easy and straight forward. Short break for dinner. How the heck are you supposed to pull the seals ? I can't get any tools in there with the axle shaft in the way. Damage seal further by trying to get tools in there. This can't be the right way. Crap, it's getting late and I need this fixed so I can get to work tomorrow. What's the factory service manual say? Spend too much time trying to find book #2 of the factory service manual. Somehow misplace my portable work light, spend some time trying to find it. Give up and use Grumpy's emergency flashlight. Grab Grumpy's original front diff and work out how to

get the seal out, then do the same with the current diff. Push the new seal in and put the rest back together. Clean up all the tools and discover the FSM book #2 in the pocket behind Grumpy's passenger seat. Read the proper way to remove the seal by removing the axle . Sounds easy, doh!

August 22, 2009

Intention was to Grumpy's yank the Y-Pipe loose and reset it, hopefully eliminating the exhaust leak, then replace the front axle seals , check the compression, and maybe replace the crankshaft position sensor.

Pulled Grumpy on the ramps and started attempting to loosen the Y-Pipe, which of coarse doesn't budge. Heat it applied, still nothing. Gave the bolts a few shots of PB Blaster and started waiting.

This is where distraction set in. Grumpy needs front recovery points if it's really gonna be off roaded and I wanted to see what hard points I had to deal with, so I removed the grill, bumper cover, and bumper. Determined that I couldn't bang out the dent that a PO had put in the bumper, but the frame horns were undamaged. Think I want to build some tow points off where the horns mount to the sub-frame.

Thought about putting stuff back together, but with the grill off already I decided to go ahead and paint it black, since I've been meaning to for quite a while. Removed the cracked bow tie, having a few pieces break off and took the time to super glue it back together. Painting of the grill went well and I think it looks pretty darn good. Letting the bow tie sit over night. Tomorrow the glue globs will be sanded off and it will be painted red.

With the bumper off I had access to the non-functioning horns. Tested the circuit, dead. Checked the fuse, blown. Replaced it and tested again. Horn circuit has power. Pulled the horns off, both show signs is rust, one rattles badly. I've never known a horn to rattle. Well, I do have set of cheap Harbor Freight air horns laying around, might as well install those.

Played around a little with loose wires to get the air horns to fire using the steering wheel's buttons. Once I was happy with that I started looking for someplace to mount them. Figured out that facing down the horns would fit

roughly where the stock horns were, but would be mounted to the bar over the AC condenser in the center. It even had a hole in the correct spot on one side of it already. I removed the bar to drill a hole on the other side.

Then thought, since the grill is black things behind the grill should be black as to not draw the eye. Red horns, now painted black and a fresh coat of black on the center bar.

While this was going on, I was occasionally being pulled away to help my wife with upgrading the lift on the back of her Jeep. Going from a cheap Rocky Road Outfitters spacer lift to and Old Man Emu spring lift with new Rancho RSX shocks.

Dinner time rolled around, so we put stuff away. Quickly test fit the newly paint grill, looks pretty sweet, but the unpainted back edge is visible from the sides. Grill will be removed again on Sunday for more paint. Never got

back to the Y-Pipe or anything else that I really should be tending to.

After dinner, it was starting to get dark out. Since I had some painting momentum going I grabbed the stocker wagon wheels that Mr. Roboto gave to me a while back and began prepping them for paint. First a good scrub down, then sanding. The stock chrome trim rings do a nice job of scratching up the outer surface of the rims, but sanding cleaned that up pretty good, well good enough for going on Grumpy anyway.

After I was done cleaning up the rims, it was time to call it a day. Made a mental note to put the leaky axle seal as top prioity for Sunday.

August 18, 2009

Thought I heard a new noise coming from Grumpy on the way to work. Having previously destroyed two front diffs due to bad axle seals and knowing that the diff I just put in Grumpy is yes, leaking at the axle seal. I thought the fluid had gotten low, even after checking it a couple days earlier.

On my lunch break, I laid one of the blankets I keep in the van on the ground and checked the fluid again. Level was still good, but I was tired of worrying about it. When I returned to work I ordered new axle seals from http://www.RockAuto.com . Less than $18 for the pair shipped vs. $13 each plus tax locally. They shipped ground the same day and according to the tracking will be here at work tomorrow.

August 15, 2009

Still trying to clear the P0302. Removed the front passenger side wheel, checked the spark plug for problems, none, put van back together. Removed engine cover, looked for wear areas on the wiring harness, none, put van back together.

Once the weather clears up again, I'm gonna grab Green crankshaft position sensor and swap it in. Maybe that will do something.

August 10, 2009

Vacuumed the interior, washed the floor mats, and re-installed the benches.

August 9, 2009

250 mile round trip run to my parents house to get rid of my sister's crap and bring my daughter home.

August 8, 2009

Run to the hardware store to get concrete floor anchors for my Harbor Freight tire changer

August 7, 2009

First complete fill-up since the fuel leak was discovered. I was going to verify that it's leaking from the hose that connects the fill tube to the tank, but I think I burned too much fuel off already as the van was used to help my sister move again. Even with a bunch of city driving the ScanGaugeII is showing 18.9 MPG. Not bad for a crappy old van.

August 6, 2009 - 306732 Miles

Torsion bar lift. Was going for an inch, but the passenger side bolt bottomed out. Ended up adding 3/4". So big, so aggressive. All other vehicles on the roadway bow before its might, or maybe they're just trying to get away thinking it'll blow a tire of something.

August 5, 2009

August 4, 2009 - 306661 Miles

Actually did some work on Grumpy again. Today's mission was to re-install the front drive shaft to see if the transfer case got locked up from running without the drive shaft for so long. Didn't take too long to put all four corners on jack stands and install the shaft. Once completed I gingerly pulled out of the drive and headed down the street. I was expecting the worst and had visions of pulling the transfer case out of the parts van to replace Grumpy's, but to my amazement Grumpy didn't do anything weird. Try as I might, I could not get Grumpy to do the locked transfer case front wheel push when driving on any surface.

I then pull Grumpy up on the driveway ramps to review where I need to make adjustments for the torsion bar lift and shade tree front wheel alignment. While underneath the van I noticed that the front diff's right side axle seal and the rear diff's pinion seal both are leaking. I check both of their fluid levels, but didn't need to add any. Must remember to check fluids often and repace seals before winter sets in.

July 2-August 3, 2009

Just daily driving. Did manage to get 22.9 mpg on one trip with it though.

June 29-July 1, 2009

Daily driving again, but thanks to the replacement wheel bearings Grumpy is interstate worthy again. Amazingly according to the ScanGaugeII, it's getting slightly better than 20 mpg. Best trip thus far netted 21.5 mpg.

June 28, 2009

Finished putting the driver's side together and filled the diff and engine with oil. Test drive shows everything is good. Haven't connected the diff to the transfer case yet. Gonna wait till after Green's trans is rebuilt for that.

June 27, 2009

Slept in cause I felt I deserved it. Started work around 10. Things were going well till my torque wrench fell apart in my hands. Already returned my friend's trunk so now I get to wait till my wife and daughter return home for another trip to Sears. Dang torque wrenches don't have the lifetime guarantee. Bought another. Back to work on the van. Wife suggests going to a movie with friends and I agree. Got the oil pan, front diff, and passenger side half shaft and steering assembly together before the movie, but that's it for the day.

June 26, 2009

Spent the day pulling parts from the parts van and putting Grumpy's parts back on it when needed. I was planning on getting home and going to work on Grumpy, but my friend's Ford Ranger that I borrowed to get around had the right rear blow out while doing 60mph on I-90. I hate the Ranger's stock jack and I don't think the spare had ever been removed. Luckily the H.E.L.P. (Highway Emergency Lane Patrol) truck showed up with a real jack. An hour and a half after the flat I was rolling again, but I was done wrenching for the day.

June 25, 2009

Thursday morning I tried driving to work, but the ABS started kicking in again. I returned home, called in to work and started in on the van. Pulling the front wheels off I found the known bad bearing is now really cooked and most likely the cause for the ABS kicking in. I decided that if I'm gonna do anything, I'm gonna take care of it all. The time had come to get the front end back together again. I started by yanking the steering knuckles, then pulled the front diff (which requires removing the steering linkage), and since I was under the van I noticed that with the diff removed the leaky oil pan could also be removed. Might as well since my parts van has a good one. Between the heat, not knowing exactly what I was doing, and multiple trips to Sears, the first day was done, but at least everything that needed to be removed was.

June 24, 2009

Grumpy decided to scare me by activating the ABS on a dry road while stopping for a light. Luckily I was able to steer off to the side of the truck in front of me. The rest of the drive home was fine.

May 10-June 23, 2009

Daily driven, blah.

May 9, 2009

Grumpy served as a mobile repair shop for a local Jeep (mostly Liberty) gathering.

Random person, "Hey does anybody have this?"

Reply, "Yeah, I got that in Grumpy"

Every time I bring Grumpy to a Jeep gathering it makes me want to hurry up and get it lifted, but other things need attended to first.

Also, pulled the door card from the passenger side back door and pushed a dent out.

May 4, 2009

Received an Astro cargo net, 1998 dealer service manuals, and other misc stuff that I bought off someone on CL.

May 3, 2009

Accidentally put the key into the slider and the key turned. When I bought the van all the tumblers were frozen. I had twice before sprayed lube into the slider lock, trying to get it to turn and got nothing. Last attempt was a couple weeks back. Now it turns smooth as butter. With this one, every lock on the van works with the key again. Yea!

May 2, 2009

Pre-BA/BE Rally get together 57 miles from home. No problems as long as I kept Grumpy to 55 mph or less, just a vibration nightmare any faster. Ended up arriving two hours before the host (Tim) due to him thinking nobody was coming except those from Milwaukee, who were coming out later. His mom had coffee ready, so I drank a lot of it. While waiting for others I took the time to swap Grumpy's ignition coil back in, then spent time watching some red-headed wood peckers chase each other around a tree. The get together was held at Tim's parents' place, which is on a beautiful wooded five acre lot.

Once the vast majority of people arrived we headed to the local scrap yard, family run place with no real organization. Everybody was off in their own direction with occasional call outs when somebody found something that another was looking for. Two hours were spent there with the only significate purchase being an Audi's door for $20.

Back at Tim's parents' the wrench fest began. Grumpy, Audi, Toyota mini-camper, Sube wagon, and a VW Golf all had someone under the hood or laying under the vehicle at one point. I added a hose that I noticed Grumps was missing, not knowing what it does. Didn't change the way it ran any. I'll post up what it was after I figure it out.

The whole time that we were wrenching Tim's mother was keeping us supplied with brats, watermelon, German potato salad, and more. Much props to her for everything she did.

When it was getting late and others had already left, I said my goodbyes and headed home. Amazingly Grumpy managed to get just over 20 mpg for the day.

April 20, 2009

In my seemingly never ending quest to rid Grumpy of this dang P0302 code, I spent an hour pulling Green's ignition coil and installing it in Grumpy today. Got done with the install and cleaned up just in time to cook dinner, watch Heros, and help my daughter with her Math homework. Two hours later I take Grumps for a test drive. Still setting the P0302. When I returned home I sat in the drive watching the CEL flash, reved the engine to around 1400 RPM for a count of 20 the CEL goes steady, let off the gas the CEL starts flashing again. My research says the flashing means a code setting condition is current, while the steady CEL means that one has occured. Wish I could determin which sensor is setting the code. Might try checking the compression later this week.

April 19, 2009

Started pulling the ignition coil from Green to try it in Grumpy. Discovered that I couldn't remove it without removing the stop for the throttle/cruise control cable housings, which in turns requires opening the hood and working from the front. Decided I'll continue when it's not raining. Forecast shows that the rain might be light enough when I get home from work tomorrow.

April 12, 2009

Pulled the passenger side oxygen sensor from Green to swap with Grumpy's passenger side sensor. Should have pulled Grumpy's first as I discovered the wiring harness is different between their model years. Ended up swapping Grumpy's driver and passenger side sensors, but it didn't help the P0302.

March 31, 2009

Tried swapping in Green's cap and rotor, no change still setting the P0302. Put Grumpy's cap and rotor back on then went to fail emissions. No surprise, Grumpy failed due to the P0302.

March 30, 2009

Played with the throttle driving home today, never let the throttle position sensor (TPS) hit zero and never set a code. Decided to play with the idle set screw again, idle is currently set at roughly 1000 RPM. Yeah, idling at 25 mph! Anyway, this time I drove Grumpy around, pulled over, adjust, drive, pulled over, adjust. Discovered that the computer recalculates what is TPS 0, so despite the van is now at a nice high idle the code still sets. Retested the no TPS 0 driving thing again and the code doesn't set. Returned Grumpy's idle to a normal level.

March 25, 2009

It had been suggested to check the distributor for a worn bushing. Pulled Grumpy's and Green's cap and rotors to compare, both vans felt the same. Since Green doesn't have a misfire problem, I assume they are both good.

March 15, 2009

Finished cleaing everything, then reassembled swapping the injector/poppet cylinder 2 and 4. The idea being if it's the problem then the misfire should move to the new cylinder. Cleared the codes then when for a cruise. Set code P0302, cleared it and kept going, P0302 reset. Guess my injectors/poppets are fine.

March 14, 2009

Tear into the upper intake manifold (plenum), trying to diagnose the P0302. Wow, 302k miles = lots of carbon. Started cleaned everything.

March 9, 2009

Called Al Piemonte Chevrolet and talked to Brad in parts, asked if they would meet an internet price for the GM Fuel System Treatment Plus. They came close at $18 a bottle, so I stopped by to pick up a bottle. Thanks Brad and Joe! Once I returned home I opened Grumpy up so I could follow Seafoam's instructions instead of what was on the bottle. Cleared the P0302 using my ScanGaugeII and took Grumpy for a drive. The code didn't reset, till I let Grumpy idle. I cleared the code again, then cruised around never letting the throttle position sensor hit 0. The code didn't return. So just giving it a little gas keeps the code from being set. My wife will pick up a second bottle of the Fuel System Treatment Plus for me tomorrow, which I'll use normally. 22 days till emissions.

March 7, 2009

Using Grumpy as tool transpart/parts runner while working on my wife's Jeep in "The Warehouse" My wife says, "I'll take Grumpy and go get dinner." Huh, what? My wife was volunteering to drive Grumpy, a vehicle that has essentually been treated like it has the plague by her since it was brough home, to her credit it's so dirty and nasty it might. She'd have never done it if her Jeep wasn't up on jack stands while my daughter and I replaced the front wheel hubs, struts and springs, and the cut CV boot. I warned her that it pulls to the left during hard braking and makes about 10 times the wheel bearing noise that her Jeep did, then handed her the keys, my daughter tagging along on the food run while I wrestled with the strut spring compressor. Successfully returning, I was informed about how Grumpy was quite the appropriate name as it grumbled as soon as it was put into reverse, but the trip was trouble free.

March 1, 2009

Checked the voltage at Grumpy's horns. Only pulling 9 volts. I should grab a horn from a junk yard and see if it is enough to make them sound.

February 27, 2009

Grumpy rolled over 302k miles today.

February 16, 2009

Padiddle! Grumpy has had one headlight that's been dim for a while. Getting in this morning that one still worked, but the other was dead. Luckily, it was bright enough out that I didn't had to worry about it on the way to work. After a couple hours of overtime, it was getting dark quick. I took the quickest route home that would run me by Wally World and grabbed a couple new lights to put in. By the time I was out of the store it was dark. Driving the rest of the way home made me a little nevous, thanks to lack of vision and worry about getting pulled over. Thankfully made it home without incedent. Replaced the bulbs, turned the lights on, nothing. Dis/reconnected the bulbs a few times, still nothing. Took a break to cook dinner, then went back to work looking for a short. Dis/reconnected the bulbs again, now they work. Guess it took a few time to clear some of the corrosion on the connectors. Must remember to get some dielectric grease.

February 7, 2009

Again Used Grumpy for tool transport/parts running while working on my wife's Jeep in "The Warehouse". This time the seal replacement was successful, although I did have to run back out and get some different tools.

February 6, 2009

Used Grumpy for tool transport/parts running in a failed attept to replace a front differencial axle seal on my wife's Jeep in "The Warehouse". I like "The Warehouse", wish I could use that space to work on my vans.

February 4, 2009

Grumpy survived the first day of driving after its AWDectomy. Drove the whole day with the radio off trying to listen and feel if the front wheel bearings are going bad due to the lack of complete half shafts. I hear noises from the right side and feel slight vibrations with my feet over the left, but the van seems to be driving fine. It doesn't pull to either side anymore than it ever did and it doesn't coast down any quicker. I jacked up the front of the van when I got home, spun the wheels, and wiggled them looking for play in the bearings, but they seem fine still. Maybe I'm noticing things that were there all along, but wasn't paying attention too or couldn't hear due to the radio.

Complete weirdness, the check engine light decided it wanted to work again today. I had thought that the bulb burned out.

February 3, 2009

Disassembled the other half shaft, installed the axle shafts into the hubs, topped off the transfer case and rear diff, was pulled out of the Garage by my wife with her Jeep Eugene, and then jumped the battery off Eugene.

Took it for a test drive, seems to do OK dispite missing pieces. Tomorrow I drive it to work. Wish me luck.

February 2, 2009

Got my wrench and with a little heat from my propane torch all of the drive shaft's bolts came out quite easily.

Finished taking apart the first half shaft, one of the CV bearings went flying, I think behind the tire rack. I'll have to find it when I reconfigure the garage before dropping Green's transmission.

In anticipation of getting the alxe shafts in and being able to drive Grumpy again, I grabbed my beat up jump pack and plugged it in to make sure it has a full charge to start the van tomorrow.

February 1, 2009

My wrench has passed through a local USPS hub, maybe I'll get it at work tomorrow.

January 31, 2009

Received a USPS tracking number, my wrench has left Florida.

January 27, 2009

Ordered the Torx wrench I need on eBay this morning, just in case. Good thing I did too, Sears doesn't stock them in store, online only.

January 26, 2009

Tried removing the front drive shaft, it's held in place by these funny Torx flange head bolts. I had previously bought a set of Torx sockets at Sears and the E12 size worked just fine on the differential side of the shaft, but there isn't enough room to put a ratchet, swivel, or extension on the E14 socket to undo the transfer case side. Called around to the local auto, hardware, and industrial supply shops, nobody carries Torx box end wrenches. Got online and started searching for one, apparently they make driveline specific E12 x E14 box end wrenches. Sears has them on their website, but transportation to the store isn't available. Hopefully I can pick one up tomorrow.

Must have been cold and tired yesterday when I was looking for the horn's fuse, I posted on www.AstroSafariVans.org that I was looking for it and after reading someone's reply to where it was found it very quickly. It was even properly labeled. Fuse was blown, but it didn't help the horn, it just clicks.

Also, discovered that I had left the key turned to the first notch in the ignition and the van's battery is almost dead.

On advice from others on the www.AstroSafariVans.org, I'll be taking apart the half shafts and installing the axle shaft into the hub to hold the bearings together. Unclamped the boots on one of them tonight and started cleaning the grease out of it.

January 25, 2009

Finally got the CV removed. The instructions I printed from www.AutoZone.com didn't include disconnecting the sway bar link, but that's what did it. With it disconnected I could shove the lower a arm down enough to have the CV clear the differential. Finally having the CV out I put the suspension and steering back together, then turned my attention to the brakes. Both sides have worn their inner pads while the outer pads looked almost new, looks like the calipers need rebuilt. I'll order parts to do so this week, but for now Grumpy gets new pads and put back together. Need to get Green in the garage and remove its transmission.

Since I had a little time to kill before dinner, I removed the grill to check the horn's wiring harness for current. Sadly, no juice. After dinner I looked for the horn's fuse, but didn't find it.

Tomorrow, I jack the back of the van up and remove the front drive shaft.

January 24, 2009

Went to Harbor Freight today, twice (thank you, Jayme). I went there in hopes to purchase the tools needed to finally remove the bolts from the wheel bearing assembly, impact gun, impact sockets, compressor quick release, etc. At home after the first trip I head out to the garage and discover I wasn't paying close enough attention in the store. The metric socket set I grabbed was 3/8" drive, but the impact gun was 1/2", then the SAE set I grabbed skipped the 15mm size. So I had two socket sets that did me intirely no good, sigh. At this point my girls were out getting hair cuts and picking up groceries and I had to wait for them to return home. The second trip I paid much closer attention and I now have both metric and SAE sets that will work with the impact gun I bought. While I was there again also grabbed a 25" long 1/2" drive breaker bar. Back in the garage, I persuaded the 9/16" socket onto the 15mm bolt head that I had rounded off, connected the breaker bar, and pulled. Damn thing worked better than my 3/8" ratchet and BFP (Big F-ing Pipe) and loosened the bolt. Next the 15mm socket on the 15mm bolt head that I hadn't buggered yet, no problem. Guess I don't need the impact gun now, so it will be returned and removed from my credit card. Yea! With the bearing assembly out of the way, I try removing the half shaft. Dang it, still doesn't clear the diff case or steering knuckle. What do I have to do to get this thing out of here?

January 23, 2009

Tried a new product for loosening stuck bolts, Loctite Freeze & Release. Still can't get the bolts out, but at least I cracked a 9/16" Craftsman socket down the side.

January 22, 2009

PB Blaster, soak 15 minutes, tap on the bolts, try to loosen, tap on the bolts again, try to loosen, still stuck. Come on, I want to drive! PB Blaster, left for the night.

January 18, 2009

WD-40 didn't work, pulled out the propane torch. Got one bolt free, but the other two are still stuck.

January 17, 2009

Sure, one downward hit on the top of the knuckle pops the upper ball joint loose. Passenger side done, made easier by the inner joint of the CV falling apart. Driver side it doesn't fall apart, need to remove wheel bearing assembly to remove CV. Three bolts, but they are stuck. WD-40ed and left for the night.

January 16, 2009

Passenger side upper ball joint doesn't want to pop no matter how many times I hit the side of the knuckle with a hammer and none of the tools to pop it fit due to the CV being in the way.

January 15, 2009

Grumpy ate it's front differential this morning as I was trying to drive to work. AAA brought it home, I called in to work, and started trying to remove all the FWD components.

January 14, 2009

Slowest traffic ever and cold as hell. After an hour and a half I'm hurting, pull off head to nearest open store to warm up and call in to work. After warming for an hour, head home on the surface streets. I'm able to go much faster, but is still takes an hour. Spent a couple hours chasing down why Grumpy's blower motor does work. Turned out to be the relay not delivering enough power in low and no power in high. Set the speed selector to M2 and went for a test drive. A little heat, but not enough. ScanGaugeII shows that the van isn't going closed loop. Time to get a new thermastat.

January 12, 2009

Driving last Friday, listening to the engine, it didn't sound like it was shift into overdrive. Played with the shift lever today while driving to work. Yup, no overdrive. Dang it.

January 7, 2009

Parking lot donuts are fun.

January 5, 2009

Once again my "project van" gets pushed into daily driver duty. This time cause Green's transmission isn't shifting into third.

January 3, 2009

Loaded up Grumpy with tools and belated Christmas presents and drove to my brothers house with the intention of giving my nephew his presents and finally getting my brother's Chrysler LHS running again. My brother ended up being a little sick and didn't feel like spinning any wrenches, so we sat and watched a few episodes of Storm Chasers that he had recorded. When I returned home I parked with the left front on a pile of snow and ice to show off it's suspension flex. Ha!

December 31, 2008

Aired up the tire with the slow leak, then cruised Grumpy around the neighborhood till the engine warmed up. Found I couple big frozen puddles to get a little loose on.

December 16, 2008

Drove Grumpy to work today and home in a nice snow storm. Drove just fine, could have done without the idiots that couldn't get out of their own way for a 3 mile stretch of road that took an hour to travel. My father in-law let me know later that I should have avoided that road as it's usually bad with bad weather. Really wish I had fixed the HVAC blower when the weather was nicer. Damn, my toes were cold! Found a curb with the side of the right front at one point and slightly dented one of my "good" wheels.

December 15, 2008

One year of ownership. Still a piece, but mostly cheap fun.

December 14, 2008

Used Grumpy to drop-off and pick-up my daughter from her boy's to attend his little brother's 2nd birthday.

December 9, 2008

Received the 2" Lift bolcks at work today. Yea, Grumpy gets to be bigger. I'm thinking 235/75R15 tires at the moment.

Chicagoland received several inches of snow today and wouldn't you know it Green my daily driver starts over heating as I'm taking my daughter home. Pulled Green into the garage and discovered that somehow it had become low on coolant. Cleared the snow off Grumpy and inflated the tire with the slow leak. Started up after about two seconds of cranking. The AWD worked wonderfully in the freshly fallen snow.

The tire I repaired yesterday is holding pressure. Once we get some decent weather I'll be putting Grumpy's original wheels back on.

December 8, 2008

Finally received a Nealey Tire Repair kit and installed a patch/plug in the tire. Looks great so for. Brought the tire up to pressure and will let it sit a couple days to see how it holds.

December 5, 2008

Sent money to pay for shipping of the 2" lift blocks.

November 28, 2008

Had to grab a couple things out of Grumpy today and noticed the smell of gasoline. Sure enough it's leaking. Luckily, it's just from where the rubber hose that connects the gas tank to the filler neck. Not going to be able to work on it till next week sometime, so I did what any reasonable person would do. I took it for a joy ride to lower the level below the filler neck. While I was out I pulled through a Taco Bell drive through. When I was at the window the cashier saw my ScanGaugeII and asked if Grumpy was a cab. Quickly explained what it is and how it works. He sounded like he wanted to get one himself.

November 25, 2008

I love the smell of new spark plug wires, actually no I don't. They always smell kinda funny, but I digress. Installed Grumpy's new wires today. One again looks like I've pulled original equipment out after 300k miles of abuse. I guess previous owners weren't that into routine maintenance. Putting them in went smooth enough and Grumpy started right up. Since I had the engine cover off I decided that now would be a good time to Seafoam the engine in an attempt to clear the last remaining engine code (P0302 Cylinder 2 Misfire). I had previously done this with Green and it cleared the problem up right away. Took Grumpy for a cruise to get the engine temp up, then pulled into the local Advance Auto, removed the intake from the throttle body, dumped in the Seafoam, and created a lot of smoke in the cabin thanks to an exhaust leak between the passenger side header and the Y-pipe. Shut the van off and put back together the intake and reinstalled the engine cover to kill the wait time required by Seafoam. Once everything was back together, I fired Grumpy back up and watched the pretty white cloud spew from its exhuast. Let it run for about five minutes, then shut it off to go in the store. Doh, while I was working on Grumpy in the parking lot the store closed. Drove it home and checked the engine codes, P0302 was still there, but I had to run Green a few times before the code cleared itself. I'll use Grumpy to go to work tomorrow and see if it clears itself.

November 20, 2008

It sucks when the cash budget doesn't allow to spend money on toys. However Grumpy needs to get out of the garage so some household projects can be done (can't get to the table saw) and the Jeep's leak can get looked at. Ordered up some Federal-Mogul PowerMax 7mm wires from RockAuto, with the 5% discount code they are cheaper after shipping than the off brand cheap stuff available locally. Still, I hate using my credit cards.

November 16, 2008

Grumpy gets new spark plugs. I had two helpers, my daughter (7th grade) and her "boy". Fairly easy service, aside from the two spark plug wire boots that ripped apart. New wires will be ordered this week. Till they get installed, Grumpy resides in the garage.

November 7-15, 2008

Daily driven, no problems.

November 13, 2008

Was informed that it would cost $11 to shipp the lift blocks.

November 7, 2008

An AstroSafariVans.org /LostKJs.com forum friend offered up some 2" lift block for the cost of shipping. Told him to check into the cost and let me know.

November 6, 2008

It's sooo nice to be able to start Grumpy on a rainy day. It's amazing what a better cap and rotor can do. And check this, according to the ScanGaugeII, Grumpy has been getting 21 mpg since the overdrive is working again.

November 4, 2008

Grumpy did well getting me to work and back today. After work I neglected everything else in order to get Grumpy better equipped for daily driver use. Not being able to start on rainy days would prevent me from getting to work and the lack of overdrive would hurt my wallet. I pulled it up on the ramps, then started on replacing the cap and rotor while the trans cooled. Turns out that the cap and rotor were the ORIGINALS ! 8^O I've never seen a cap and rotor look so bad. The trans service was messy as per my normal. One of these days I won't make a mess on the driveway during a trans service. The shift solenoid was easy to swap out and things went back together fairly easily. The test drive showed that the overdrive is working again. I found pleasure in shifting between D and 3 and actually seeing the RPMs change.

November 3, 2008

Jayme's Liberty quit shifting into 3rd and 4th. While it's being repaired she once again gets to drive the good van, which means Grumpy has once again become my daily driver. Pressed for options to get the spare off, I elected to install my "good" American Racing/BFGoodrich wheels on Grumpy. The test drive to make sure the previous vibrations and pulling were indeed donut related pushed the odometer over 300k miles.

October 22, 2008

Danger, danger! Apparently Grumpy's donut has gone bad. Terrible vibrations and hard pulling to the right is the result. I deemed it too hazardous to drive and called in to work.

October 22, 2008

Snapped a transmission pan bolt on Jayme's Liberty. Since the trans job didn't get done, she gets to drive Green tomorrow, that means I get to use Grumpy for the day.

October 16, 2008

Acquired the shift solenoid needed to restore Grumpy's overdrive.

October 14, 2008

Oops, Grumpy caught another flat thanks to the pallet destuction. Mounted the donut and dunked the tire to find the leak. Turns out that it's close enough to the edge that Discount Tire won't repair it. What's a cheap bastard to do?

October 12, 2008

Grabbed some 8' x 8' pallets from a local mfr's trash last night to take apart and turn into selves and maybe a workbench. Being so large and having limited storage space, I wanted to break them up as quickly as possible. Enter Grumpy. Using some strategically placed pieces of wood, I simply drove onto the pallets to pull the boards apart doing minimal damage to the wood and a lot faster than using a crowbar.

October 11, 2008

Parts run to get a trans filters and gasket for my wifes Jeep. 7 miles till 300K. Pulled out the wagon wheels to start prepping them for paint and noticed that my $30 windshield had cracked while sitting in the back. Makes me wish I got to it right away, sigh. Online reseach shows that I need to replace the 1-2 solenoid in order to regain use of overdrive.

October 9, 2008

Much nicer day, started Grumpy just to start it. No probs today.

October 8, 2008

Ah Grumpy, my fare weather friend. High humidity and failure to start as I try to use Grumpy to go to an eye appointment.

October 6, 2008

Trip to the scrap yard to look for parts. Found some door card mounts, but that's about it. At one point while I was trudging through the yard I saw a van across the way that looked promising for parts, then realized I was looking at Grumpy through the fence. 20 miles till 300K.

October 4, 2008

Parts and tool running while we replace the CVs on my wife's Jeep. 25 miles till 300K.

September 25, 2008

Grumpy started just fine today. Seeing how it hasn't moved in over two weeks, I drove it around the block. Got to keep the abandoned vehicle ~~mafia~~ police away.

September 21, 2008

Was going to use Grumpy as a parts runner while we worked on my wife's Jeep. Unfortunately it refused to start.

September 17, 2008

Warm dry weather makes Grumpy a little less grumpy. Fired up first try today, pretty much confirms that a new cap and rotor are in order.

September 15, 2008

Grumpy still refuses to start.

September 14, 2008

Made another attempt at starting Grumpy, still no dice.

September 13, 2008

Was going to use Grumpy for a quick local trip, but it refused to start. Most it would manage is a quick rumble. I'm hoping that it's just mosture in the distributor cap due to the day's rain, however I won't be able to really check for several days.

September 9, 2008

Drove Grumpy to work again, less than 100 miles till 300k. Grumpy came to the aid of Green (my other van) after work. Green needed to be jump started. Apparently I left the dome light on a few days ago. Grumpy received a hand me down K&N air filter as I changed Green's to a Amsoil Absolete Efficientcy air filter.

September 8, 2008

Grabbed the ScanGaugeII, plugged it in, and drove Grumpy to work this morning. Being able to see the RPMs verified that it is not shifting into OD, something that I had suspected for quite a while. it also showed that it got an abismal 17.4 mpg during the trip, a well as having the following error codes.

P0753 Shift Solenoid 'A' Electrical

P0174 Bank 2 Lean

P0302 Cylinder 2 Misfire

P0000 Self Diagnostic Failure

After work, I drove Grumpy up to Mundelein where Tim (someone I met through my wife off roading her Jeep) and I removed the tires from the stock Astro wagon wheels that I received from Alex back in January. Going try to prep and paint them in the next couple weeks.

Acquired transmission filter kit.

September 6, 2008

Original plan for the day was to drive Grumpy back into the city to retrieve the windshield, then meeting someone to pull the tires off the wagon wheels that Grumpy will eventually be using. That plan was changed after I started driving, gave the guy a call to find that he was planning on making a trip to Rockford in about 30 minutes and wouldn't be home. Since he hadn't left yet, I asked if he would be able to find room for the windshield since he would be passing right by Elgin. He said he'd check then left me know.

Having some time to kill, I headed to Elgin Lock & Key, the local lock smith. I described how the key made by the dealer from the VIN works perfectly in the ignition, but doesn't open any of the doors and asked how much it would cost to make a key that works in the doors. $50 didn't sound to appealing. I had thought that would be a little odd for all the door locks to have been replaced and discussing this with the smith, he agreed, but would have to see a cylinder to know for sure. From my pocket, I produced the one I had removed last Sunday. He determined that the pins were stuck due to corrosion and after about 10 minutes working the lock with penetrating oil he had freed it and had it working normally with the stock key. I let him know how awesome I thought that was and gladly paid him his minimum $10 fee. Having gained this knowledge, I should have the other locks working within the next week or so. When I returned home I reinstalled the lock in the driver's door and proceeded to lock and unlock the door using the key until most of the novelty wore off.

Having not heard back from the guy with the windshield I gave him a call to find out that he was now meeting someone from Rockford halfway at a gas station not terrible far from home and that he would be bringing the windshield. He gave me an estimated time of arrival of 11:30, giving me even more time to kill, which I spent working on my other van. I arrived five minutes early to the meeting place and tried calling him to let him know I was there, but got his voicemail. I tried calling him every five minutes for about 20 minutes before he called back. Traffic was killing him. I told him exactly where I was and told him to call again when he got close. 30 minutes later he called again, he was about six miles away and a little confused as to where he was, but it was easy enough to get him on the right path. He finally arrived, over an hour late, we made our transaction, and I left as he started hauling out catalytic converters for the other guy he was meeting.

Unfortunately, with him being so late, it run into the time I was going to use for tire removal. I called Tim, he guy I was going to meet for that, and rescheduled for Monday after work.

Later in the evening I drove Grumpy to RHPS. So nice being able to lock and unlock it like a normal person.

September 4, 2008

Made a run to the guy parting out the '95 Astro, this time driving Green. The hitch, mirrors, and power steering pump have gone missing. The windshield that I wanted to remove myself, he had removed and now wanted $30 bucks for. Wish he would have told me that before I drove into the city with no money or ability to get some. Ended up coming home with the front bumper cover, which I will use to test various front air dams on Green before I commit its stock one to the mod.

August 31, 2008

Decided it was time to fix Grumpy's non-functioning door locks. Chose to do the driver door first and though time consuming, it was to difficult to remove. I had read something online about taking the cylinder apart and filing the pins down in order to make the lock work with my current key, but I couldn't see a non-destructive way to remove the lock's cover plate. Consulted a fellow AstroSafariVans.com forum member that works as a lock smith and he let me know that the data I had found online doesn't work on GM locks. With that, I ended the lock project for the day.

August 26, 2008

Today Grumpy received its first oil change since being in my possession. While performing this, I took the time to address Grumpy's oil cooler adapter leak. Pretty easy job. Remove the oil filter, undo two Torx head bolts, remove old gaskets, clean gasket surfaces, install new gaskets, and re-assemble. So nice not to see black crap dripping from it as it idles.

August 24, 2008

Finally got around to buying the gasket kit needed to fix Grumpy's oil cooler adapter leak, but spent most my day wrenching on my wife's Jeep. The repair and an oil change will be done sometime after work this week.

August 23, 2008

Ran Grumpy over to the local welding shop to have the bolt head torched off, ended up having a second on cut off so that a proper repair can be made at a later date. $10. Returned home and bolted all the remaining bumper supports back into place.

In the afternoon, took Grumpy off roading again with my wife in her Jeep and another Liberty owner. I managed to keep Grumpy from getting stuck, but it's lack luster transmission spoils some of my fun. I did some extra running around while the Libby owners were in conversation with each other. It's kinda fun upping the speed, not worrying about trail rash. Ah the joys of owning a cheap POS. At one point I decided to take a trail above the pit that appeared to have be really only used by quads. This brought me rather close to the edge, while a bit off camber a couple times. The Libbies in the pit were a bit worried that I'd roll it, especially near the second wash out, resulting in them moving the Jeeps out of the way of a potential roll. I was able to trail blaze and get the van a little further away from trail edge and continue to safer ground, only to be blocked by a boulder, which resulted in even more trail blazing. Grumpy was also the designated garbage truck as we collected the crap that others left behind whenever we got out to scout the trails.

Drove Grumpy to RHPS, mostly cause it had more gas in its tank than Green. I'm still amazed at how well it drives considering how little I've put into it.

Less than 500 miles till 300K.

August 22, 2008

Cardboard is not the most robust material to make exterior mods with. After two months the seven slot cardboard grill I had made was sagging pretty bad on the passenger side. I got tired of looking at it and cut the zip ties that held it in place. It was then folded up and put into the recycling bin.

Spent a few hours in the evening trying to remove Grumpy's Class II hitch receiver, only to be thwarted by a stripped blot. I ended up leaving it mounted by said bolt and replaced one of the good bolts, just enough to hold it in place to take it somewhere.

August 20, 2008

Darn it. The '95 Astros had different seat belt mounts for the third row. Grumpy now has all the belts needed for the second row with one being a mismatched color. I'll be getting the power steering pump and the Class III hitch receiver, and maybe the power mirrors and windshield next week.

August 18, 2008

Found someone on CraigsList parting out a 1995 Astro window van. Made arrangements to pay the owner a visit on Thursday to grab the seatbelts and power steering pump.

July 13, 2008

Took "The Heep" up to Extreme Jeep Fest, got on the RTI ramp and scored a 424, bettering a stock YJ. Thought it was a little weird being able to out flex a Jeep.

After we left Jeep Fest we stopped by the trails again. After driving 30 yards on the center ridge of some very muddy ruts I was forced to stop and Grumpy gradually slid sideways dropping onto the rear diff and trans cross member, but was pulled free by a stock Liberty.

July 6, 2008

Moving duty once again, this time helping a family friend.

July 1, 2008

Was informed about some off road trails not terribly far from home, so the wife in her Jeep and I in Grumpy went to check them out. I discovered what a weak transmission does for you off road, not much. I'm used to seeing vehicles go up a steep incline and end up spinning the wheels once it gets to be too much, Grumpy just bogs down. Pedal to the floor and nothing happening at the wheels. More proof I should do something about the trans.

Grumpy bottomed out a couple times and damaged the pinch weld.

June 29, 2008

On Sunday we had a Jeep Liberty forum picnic set up to go to. My wife spent some time in the morning detailing her Jeep and since Grumpy was being used to transport our full size propane grill, I continued with the creativity.

The Libby drivers got a kick out of the "Heep" and had me line it up for the group shot.

Read about measuring suspension articulation using driveway ramps. So I pulled them out and gave it a go.

During the picnic someone shaved the Jeep logos, then placed them on "The Heep". Now I just have to find an H.

It was quite a fun day and I have a couple people interested in joining my team for the 2009 BABE Rally. Rock on.

June 28, 2008

Saturday morning while my wife and I were working on installing extended bump stops on her Jeep Liberty, I kinda wondered off into the garage and stumbled upon some temporary auto paint that I had bought back in 2001. So I got a little creative.

June 25, 2008

Got to drive Grumpy to work today. Wife needed to use Green (the good van) because we were servicing her Jeep's rear drums and had to wait for the pads to come in and for the drums to be turned.

June 14, 2008

Wahoo! Grumpy actually attended an event. My daughter and I entered the Wheels Rallye Team's Summer Cruise Gimmick Rallye and lost horribly. The Summer Cruise theme had us driving past cruise night eateries, so we stopped in at one and enjoyed our meal. This put us way behind for a couple things that we had to arrive at within a certain amount of time. Close to end time we gave up on the route and drove to the end point. We were the last to arrive, we didn't do to good with our answer sheet, and ended up placing in dead last. To which we cheered when announced. We'll have to do a few more of these.

June 8, 2008

Grumpy's horn hasn't worked since before I purchased it. In an effort to scare old ladies and make little children cry, today I purchased an air horn kit from Harbor Freight that was on sale for $9.99. I hooked it up to my jump start pack for a test blast, very nice. Can't wait to install it.

June 7, 2008

Stupid rain. Didn't go to the cruise night, because who would be there? Nobody. Grumpy and I instead when to watch a friend sell off his old beat up '67 Mustang Fastback that he's had in storage since '92. He bought the car in '87 for $3500 and put 225K miles on it. Four people came to look it over for an hour and in the end he sold it for $5000 to someone that drove over 200 miles for the chance to bring it home.

June 3, 2008

Son of a gun. Guess the cruise night site I was looking at had their schedule wrong, but I have now been put on the correct path. Fat Boyz cruise nights are a Double K Productions . I now have a correct schedule for all their locations and nights. Grumpy will return to Fat Boyz on Saturday around 6 PM.

June 2, 2008

After schedule conflicts and periods of being inoperable Grumpy will be attending it's first automotive event Tuesday June 3rd at the Fat Boyz Cruise Night in Dundee, IL.

May 31, 2008

Last night there was a loud crash that came from the garage where Grumpy is stored. Turns out that a large wooden cabinet had fallen off the wall. Luckily, it did no real damage to Grumpy aside from scuffing the paint on the back door. Today I started cleaning up the mess. Guess I missed a screw, cause after I pulled Grumpy out I noticed something shiny on the right rear tire. Before I lost pressure, I drove to Discount Tire where they offer free tire repair, regardless of where your tires were purchased. They ended up plugging the tire, patching the inside, polishing the rim's mounting surface, and installing a new valve stem, all for free. This is the third time I've used this service, because of it and generally good tire prices I've purchased four sets of tires from them and highly recommend them to others.

May 13, 2008

Call to moving duty. Once again used to move stuff for my sister, this time taking stuff to Good Will. First time for Grumpy out of the garage after the fuel pump replacement. So much nicer to hit the gas and not have the engine just fall on its face. This thing actually accelerates now! Oh yeah, the fuel pump replacement also fixed the starting, just turn the key and go.

May 10, 2008

Grumpy lives! Wouldn't you know it, I could've had it running two weeks ago. Turns out two gallons of fuel wasn't enough to prime the pump. So scary cheap, no name, $30 fuel pump assembly rebuild kits can work. For how long? That will be determined later. Now my attention will turn towards an oil leak it has, which appears to be coming from the oil cooler adapter between the block and the oil filter. This is a fairly common leak on high mileage Astro/Safaris and is often misdiagnosed as a rear main seal leak by mechanics unfamiliar with these vans. I've had to replace a couple of these adapters on previous Astros. Grumpy is cheap though and doesn't get replacement. AstroSafariVans.com has a post on how to repair it, should be able to get done this week.

Apr 27, 2008

Feeling rather tired from the day before, I resolved not to wrench on Grumpy. Instead I straightened out the garage till I once again had room inside for a vehicle. I then rounded up some neighbors and with their help pushing Grumpy was backed inside the garage.

Apr 26, 2008

Dropped the tank to find that the pump had been replaced once already with an Airtex unit, the rebuild kit I have is for a Delco unit. Luckily, I have recently replaced a Delco unit in Green and held onto it. After some headache with the rebuild kit, I lifted the tank into position, connected the lines and wiring harness, and turned the key to ignition on. I could hear it run, but the fuel pressure gauge showed nothing. Being late and annoyed, I called it a day.

Apr 23, 2008

Not having a camera person makes taking videos more difficult, but I borrowed a tripod and made due. Pulled six more gallons out of the tank, keeping the last two gallons in the can to pour back into Grumpy once the fuel pump is replaced.

Apr 22, 2008

Removed the fuel filter, then disconnected the fuel tank's wiring harness (video taped by my daughter). With her turning the key to the on position and a multimeter I figured out which lead is the ground and which one supplies power to the fuel pump. The idea is that I want to use the weak fuel pump to remove the fuel from the tank before I lower it.

After dark, I stuck a hose on the tank side of the fuel line and positioned the other end in a gas can. I then hooked a long wire to the leads that were discovered to control the fuel pump. The other end of the wire I hooked to my rather beat up jump starting pack, that I had positioned several feet away, but still in view of the gas can. With everything set I turned the jump pack on and heard the fuel pump come alive. After 3 minutes the gas can was full. I turned the jump pack off and emptied the gas can into Green. This was repeated until my estimates showed that there was seven gallons left in the tank. I stopped here in order to get video of the fuel removal procedure the next day.

Apr 17, 2008

All my teammate prospects have dried up, Grumpy's fuel pump has weakened to below running pressure, and our Husky had to be put through heartworm treatment (not cheap). No money left for rally. It pains me, but I won't be running the BA/BE Rally in 2008. I've been wanting to do this for two years now, hopefully I'll be able to get things together for 2009.

Repairs and painting of Grumpy will continue as planned. A scary cheap fuel pump assembly rebuild kit (found on eBay for $30) will be installed sometime within the next week just to get it going again. Plan is to enter it in some local gimmick rallies. Hopefully through these local rallies I'll find more like minded individuals that would want to go on next year's BA/BE Rally.

Chicagoland Rallies (have lousy websites)

BRAND-X RALLYE TEAM

Wheels Rallye Team

Apr 6, 2008

My wife and I went to The Badlands Off Road Park in Attica, IN this weekend to do some wheeling with other Jeep Liberty owners from the LOST KJs forum . The result, Grumpy will at some point receive a lift from Overland Vans and go off roading too.

Apr 3, 2008

Finally repaired Green and moved it out of the garage. Tried to start Grumpy to put it in. Not having it, I could only get it to grumble with the starting fluid. Hopefully I'm be able to get it pushed into the garage tomorrow.

Apr 2, 2008

Grumpy decided to remind me that it needs a new fuel pump on the way home from work today. Made it home, but acceleration is almost completely non-existent. Considering not driving it till I get the new pump I ordered today on eBay in. Do I really want to ride my bicycle the 18 miles each way to work? I've done it many times before.

Apr 1, 2008

April Fools, and the fool is me. Realized today that the check engine light never comes on when starting. For those of you that don't know it's supposed to, just to show that the light does indeed work. So I decided to run it by AutoZone to have the codes read. It's running lean with cylinder #1 misfires (known weak fuel most likely the cause) and the 1-2 shift solenoid is shorting. Really need to get a new fuel pump in this thing, but I need to put one in Green first.

Mar 23, 2008

298,000 miles and counting on the original engine and transmission.

Mar 20, 2008

Removed the engine cover for the first time and found an abandoned mouse nest in front of the distributor. Hooked up a fuel pressure gauge and discovered exactly why it only starts with starting fluid. At ignition on the pressure only gets up to 48 PSI, 58 PSI is about what it needs to start. With the engine running the pump maintained running pressure 52-56 PSI. Weird thing is that when the engine is first shut off the pressure goes up to 60 PSI. The engine will actually restart within a couple minutes of being shut off due to this. I'm currently in the middle of a fuel pump swap on Green where I'm trying to replace just the pump and not an entire $350 fuel pump assembly. If successful Grumpy will be next.

Mar 13, 2008

Grumpy has temporarily began my daily driver while I diagnose and repair Green's fuel pump.

Mar 12, 2008

Grumpy performed its moving duties quite well again today. Did some parking garage hill climbing to test the trans. Gets up ok, but I didn't notice any real engine braking on the way down.

Mar 11, 2008

Visited Grumpy to get my I-Pass, started up first starting fluid shot/crank. Checked under the hood to verify which style power steering pump it has, as I think it might need to be replaced. Also checked to see if the trans cooler fittings were the same as my '99, since I've previously made a backyard trans flush kit for based on it. Planning to do a trans flush on Grumpy ASAP and using some Sea Foam to see if that helps the slipping. If it doesn't, I think the trans will have to be swapped or rebuilt to handle the rally's mountains. Did a walk around looking at the various dents and trying to think of what will be the best way to pop them out.

While looking at this blemish I noticed that it was actually sticking out, so I hit it with the side of my hand a bunch of times. Looks quite a bit better.

More moving van duty for Grumpy tomorrow.

Mar 8, 2008

Yea, Grumpy has been TTLed! Still question the operations of the DMV, but that's a rant I shall not waste my time typing.

Next was the trip to the bone yard. Told the guy behind the counter what I needed, to which he replied, "I have new handles for $25 or you can try the yard". Luck was with me as one van that nobody figured out how to unlock the back doors still had it's handle. It was quite fun, really, to climb over the crap in the van to sit in the back and fight with the interior panel while reaching into the door's cavity to get the door open. Just for reference if you find yourself in this situation, the rear rod goes up to up to unlock and the front rod goes down to unlatch. Once the door was open it's a matter of four screws, two nuts, and a press fit to get the handle out. Paid $5 and went to install in Grumpy.

Got to Grumpy to discover that I accidentally hit the lock button when I left yesterday. Spent about 5 minutes breaking into it and it took another 10 to install the replacement handle complicated a little by me not noticing that the replacements mech was slightly bent, but easily fixable. Next installed the rear plate borrowing one the mounting bolts from Green as I had forgot about Grumpy's lack of bolts and placed the front plate on the dash. Grumpy was now ready for service, so I fired it up and drove to the gas station across the street. (Speedway Corp if you read this, a $50 limit on at the pump credit card transactions and today's gas prices does nothing but piss off owners of vehicles that have large tanks. You got lucky this time, but in the future I will refuse to make multiple transactions to fill my tank. My business will go elsewhere.) I then checked the fluids, the levels looked ok, but everything was dark. I really don't think I've seen trans fluid that dark before.

My dad, sis, and a family friend met me and we formed a two van convoy to my sis's old apartment. Quickly found out that Grumpy's trans is slipping as quick acceleration and uphill starts are not its friend. Also discovered the horn doesn't work and if the engine is cold parking lot maneuvers will stall the engine at idle. I blame the power steering pump. We made two trips to her new apartment and Grumpy performed pretty well overall. Afterwards, I used the van to go to RHPS.

Mar 7, 2008

Can someone please tell me why the Il Sec of States office and the Il Dept of Revenue can't work together a little better and be able to accept the same forms of payment. Seriously Cash or Credit only for the Sec of State and Check or Money Order only for the Dept of Rev. Idiots. Anyway no TTL yet.

Stopped by Grumpy to pull the seats for Saturday's move. That went fine, but then I remembered something else I wanted out of the back, tried to open the back door and the handle came off in my hand. Nice.

Mar 6, 2008

Yea, Grumpy started today! Only took three starting fluid shots/engine cranks to do it. I'm thinking that being above freezing helped. After letting it idle for about five minutes I decided to move it around. I put it in gear and gave it some gas, but it didn't move, the tires were frozen to the ground. Knowing that reverse uses a lower gear than first, I used it and the van broke free. Back in drive, I pulled out of it's parking spot. Wanting to open it up a little I turned onto a minor road next to the storage lot and had at it. Not as much get up and go as Green, but fun non the less. Only about 1.5 miles of driving, it's nice to have it moving under its own power. After I put it back I visited with the lot owners for about twenty minutes, then before I left I gave Grumpy a quick crank without the starting fluid and it started right up. First time I've ever seen it do that.

Tomorrow Grumpy finally gets TTLed, really excited about that and it comes at a perfect time. Need to help my sister move the day after under less than ideal conditions and having both my vans will definitely help.

Feb 22, 2008

Talking about vans on the BA/BE Rally forum, I've got Grumpy entered into a torque off against a '94 Ford Aerostar at some point during the rally.

I checked the specs. Grumpy weighs at least 500 lbs more, and has 35 hp and 110 ft-lbs over the strongest Aerostar engine.

AMC Gremlin vs Chevy Caprice torque off last year.

Feb 12, 2008

Yea! Grumpy started today....for 15 seconds.

Today was mostly about recharging Grumpy's battery by running jumper cables from Green . I hooked the cables up and removed the keyring from Green 's key, so I could lock the doors and go into a nearby building. Got out of the van locked and shut the door, felt my pocket and looked inside. I left the keyring on the console. Luckily, I'm well versed in an unlocking trick, but gathering supplies wasn't too fun.

As a side note, I discovered that when the only door that is unlockable on Grumpy is the back door having the bench seats installed makes for a nice obstacle course.

Feb 3, 2008

I was awoken early by my wife. She was looking through the free section of CraigsList and found a listing for Astro van benches and knew I was wanting seats for Grumpy. I popped out of bed, quickly looked at the post, saw that they were the same year and color as Grumpy, grabbed my cell, called and left a voicemail expressing my interest.

Five minutes later Eric calls back, tells me a little about the seats, gives me direction, and lets me know it's first come first serve. I let my wife know how much she completely rocks, hurriedly dressed, and drove rather spiritedly to pick them up before anyone else had a chance.

I arrived at Eric's, jumped out of the van, opened the back doors, unlatched the second row seat and moved it as far forward as I could (third row was already in my garage at home), then headed up to the house. Eric saw the van pull up and open the door as I was still coming up the stairs. He led me downstairs where I saw the seats stacked on a couch (pic coming). We talked about vans while he opened the door to outside and while we carried the seat out to Green . He had tried selling the seats a few times to no avail. Both seat easily set in the available space with the backs uprighted (11 passenger Astro pic coming). I told Eric about the BA/BE Rally and about ASV, took his pic next to his van. Thanked him and left.

I then drove to Grumpy, cleared a bunch of snow off it, removed the sheet of plywood from the back, discovered the floor mats for the back seat were under it, and installed the seats. Grumpy now has seating for eight, belts for five. Eric called while I was putting the seats in. He had just checked his email for the first time since making his CL post and had received several emails expressing interest in the seats before I contacted him, but I was the only one that called. Luck/fate on my side? Seems that way.

I then tried again to get Grumpy to start, but alas no go. I'm going to bring my tools and a change of clothes to work with me sometime this week in an effort to change that. Once I'm able to start Grumpy again, it's getting relocated to my brothers house. A little further away, but it will be in a fenced yard and he'll start it once a week. He'll also use it for Home Depot and remodeling waste removal runs.

Jan 15, 2008

Mr_Roboto / Alex from the AstroSafariVans forum donated a complete set of stock wagon wheels. The plan is to paint them red keeping the center caps black and mount the tires black wall out. Sure it's not 15 spoke American Racing Vectors, but should give off a nice A-Team feel.

Jan 8, 2008

Stopped by Grumpy at its storage location, was going to temporarily put the old plates from my wife's Jeep on it, but the previous owner kept the mounting bolts. So instead I grabbed a box and proceeded to grab whatever I could out of the interior. Once that was done, I attempted to start it. This is the first time I was unable to start it. It grumbled a couple times, but that's it. Maybe next time I'll grab the my remote starter and try starting while spraying the starter fluid.

Dec 16, 2007

My wife doesn't want the Rally Van kept at home, luckily I have a some friends that own a business with a decent size parking lot that agreed to let me store it there. I snuck the van over to their lot with my wife driving me home after getting done at the gym.

Dec 15, 2007

Somehow my wife agreed to drive me to inspect and/or purchase a Rally van. A Christmas family get together had us in Beloit, WI already and it would normally be about an hour drive to Milwaukee from there. A winter storm came through that day and increased hour drive time by a half hour, mostly due do other drivers.

When we arrived at the house where the van was located I was met by Jeff, his friend, and a happily idling 1997 Astro. First look I thought it was a high top van because of all the snow on top of it. The van was parked next to the garage in the yard with a path shoveled to it. After initial approval Jeff got in, rocked it once, then drove it to the driveway with the van plowing its own path through the snow the AWD doing its job. On the driveway I was able to do a complete walk around. The lights all work and have fixtures in good condition, the tires are good and match despite having one odd rim, the body is a little beat, but nothing major. The inside looks like a work van, dirty and a little beat. Jeff turned it off, then showed me how to start it with starting fluid. After doing so a couple times we went inside, took care of the title, and I handed over my $250.

The snow storm made the drive home a little interesting. I managed to completely slide it through one stop light, but luckily cross traffic had not started moving yet. I discovered that the HVAC blower did not work, which meant I had no defrost. A towel found in a gas station bathroom served as my defroster. The windshield wipers were also pretty ineffective. A couple stops were made to clear the windshield of snow, but for the most part I just pushed through. The handling was actually pretty good and the alignment seemed OK. We got home late and put the van on the driveway to avoid tickets.

Dec 12, 2007

Received a call from Jeff, stating that he would be willing to sell the van for $250 under two conditions. One: I send him photos and Two: I help shovel to get it out of the yard. He briefly described the van, window van, high miles, dor locks don't work, runs good after getting started with starting fluid, little banged up but no major damage. It sounded good to me, so I told him that I will try to get there by Sunday to look at the van. Immediately started trying to find somebody to drive to Milwaukee with me in case I do purchase the van.

Dec 9, 2007

Found a 1997 Astro for sale in Milwaukee for $600 on CraigsList and sent the owner this email.

----------------------

I might be interested in your van, but I can only

offer $250. The reason I can only offer $250 is

because I want to enter the beater-mobile BA/BE (Big

Apple to Big Easy) Rally that takes place next

Memorial Day weekend. The premise is to get a beater

for $250 or less and drive from New York to New

Orleans. Along the way you try to match pictures,

answer questions, and perform other tasks to gain

points. Whoever can drive their beater the whole way