SOLVED! Post 2853 Leaking Injectors, Dealer Techs Rock! Extended Cranking after Engine Swap 3.4L 5vz

His exact words on the all the front end stuff were:

"I'd drive this truck to California the way it is, you've got at least 12,000 miles/1 year before you need to think about that front end stuff. I've been driving it all over since you brought it Monday, and checked it all out today when I had it up. Man, I can BARELY hear anything with that bearing, WHO told you that you needed all of that right now??? Save your money and do all that stuff together later!"

Told him WHO told us that. I guess $6K wasn't quite enough to get out of us, and perhaps its more than a coincidence that suspension mods are their other specialty aside from engines? This guy knew we were ready to pay him to do the wheel bearing, and yet he told us to put it off. Guessing there's no need to explain why I told him for the umpteenth time how much I adored him after he said all that....

On the big fuel debate, he said:

"Get gas at different places each time, or mix it up as much as you can, because each company has different chemicals/detergents in theirs, so this way the next one you get will burn off the crap from the last one, and so on. Also, run injection cleaner ~1x/6mths. But no need to ever pull your injectors out and clean them, since they were just done - should be good for the rest of the truck's life now. And change your fuel filter at least as often as manual says, or more often if you want." He was thinking it was 30K, or 15K, I'm gonna double check - but his point was like many of you have said (Mod, I think?) - it's cheap, easy, and could very well help keep MY BRAND NEW HEAD TO TOE FUEL SYSTEM ) sorry to brag, but dontcha think I've earned it by now?) in tip top shape. And the gas thing - heck yeah, variety is the spice of life, right? Easy enough rule to follow!

I asked him if he encountered rusty bolts when dropping the tank. He said they weren't bad, but it is a dirty job - then repeated that last part a couple times, but he wasn't complaining. I thought of all the nasty crap we've ever driven that truck through in remote areas (horse/cow poo, dead things, you know, gross stuff) and felt even more grateful and also slightly ashamed - but it's not like you wash the underside of your truck, right? I'm glad we didn't attempt it ourselves - like the engine, I'm sure we COULD have done it if we REALLY REALLY were hell bent on it, but I'm thrilled that we found someone else who is experienced at it, close to home, charges hardly anything, and has the proper workspace to do it in. He said no rust in the tank, no charred wires, and he even saved the old pump for us - he said there's only one tiny speck of rust on it, so this way we'll get to see it's condition.

Asked him if we need to keep an eye on that fuel rail for leaks, where the bolt is stripped - he said, "No, I tightened it up really good, it's not going to leak on you, it's just a pain for a technician to check your fuel pressure!" I thanked him once again for cleaning up the mess that someone else made - from noticing and replacing the leaking fuel hose, to dealing with the stripped bolt, to repeating diagnostics (in spite of that bolt issue) that had supposedly already been taken care of.

I asked him what we owe him, and he said, "Oh, I did change out one more hose for you, while I had the tank off, I saw a section that looked original, so (in a very guilty sounding voice) that was $5." I let him know that was the breaking point for us, we can't afford any of it now.......

I managed to worm it out of him what his fave dessert is - crap, he picked a tough one! He's totally worth it though, especially knowing he's going to ridiculously undercharge us on labor. Looks like I'm tracking down a good cheesecake recipe this morning.......

He said he'd call this afternoon when he's ready to let her go home - wants to be really good and sure the problem is completely fixed - I LOVE THIS GUY! Best part is, even if it's not - yes, that would suck and be super frustrating, but I'm not freaked out anymore, because I KNOW this guy would do the right thing if it winds up being the pump didn't fix it for some crazy reason, rather than ditching us like the engine guys did. So, I'm already celebrating a victory in my mind at this point.....

We might actually get our Taco back today, with ALL NECESSARY REPAIRS DONE. Today would be the first time in 55 days that we'd get to just drive and enjoy, and coincidentally, today is my husband's birthday. This was his birthday wish.

ALL HANDS ON DECK - PLEASE SEND POSITIVE WISHES OUR WAY THAT TODAY IS THE END OF THE REPAIR ROAD AND THE BEGINNING OF THE FUN ROAD FOR US!!!

Thanks guys! Hopefully I'll be giving one final update later today!! Happy Saturday all!

P.S. Keakar, maybe we won't make it to 1,000 after all? We'll see........

I love having a mechanic that accepts partial payment with this: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/philadelphia-classic-cheesecake-52544.aspx Getting started now!

 

Outstanding!

 

Thanks K! By the way, with the rack and pinion, he said no point replacing boot, do the whole thing, but don't bother til

YOU SEE THE POWER STEERING FLUID LEVEL DROPPING!

Sound familiar?

Didn't bother explaining to him how that will never happen, as we have little gremlins that come refill it in the middle of the night......

 

Yep, I remember.

 

OK, slightly embarrassed to admit we didn't think of this sooner, but also thrilled - after reading your comments I bolded, we are thinking we might have lifetime warranty on the ones we have already!! They are Monroes - husband is on the phone w/the place we got them know, receipt in hand - will know soon! Thank you so much for bringing this up, you might have just saved us a small fortune in parts!!

HOLY CRAP! WE HAVE THE LIFETIME WARRANTY, WE JUST SAVED $334 IN 4 NEW SHOCKS!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BRINGING THAT UP!!

Wow, this day just keeps getting better and better! Lesson learned, will ALWAYS save the receipts and ALWAYS check warranty specs before replacing ANYTHING!

 

call me a sceptic but I have never gotten a completely free warranty replacement for anything I had used for a while, just don't get too excited because I bet they have a clause in there that will still charge you a fee for replacement for usage or whatever so you might still have to pay something on them. don't be shocked if they tell you it will cost a deductible for the time you used it.

EDIT: 112 to go

 

I wanna know moar about these cookies that were meantioned.

edet:111

 

/me Sends some good truck karma.

 

Truck cookies, about to be frosted, for those that said YES PLEASE!

Cinnamon rolls (you try that recipe yet Keakar?) for husband's birthday, yum!!

Forgot to get a pic of the cheesecake for our fabulous new mechanic, but that's cooling in the fridge, along with homemade caramel sauce for the top.

It's a baking frenzy over here!!

 

You already start drinking? Your typing skills are fairly poor for being this early in the day!

Shit, just realized what edet 111 means........damn, we really ARE getting close, aren't we? So, do I win a prize or what?

 

Thanks man!!

 

Didn't work Keakar. Not raining on my parade today, nosirree!!!

We might make it........I'll try my hardest! Wait, do I win a prize if we make it?

Keakar, I just realized why you even posted that - you're trying to get to 1000, you don't actually care about telling me the above crap about the warranty details!!

 

Nope, dry this weekend. I'm at work and using a work pc. They don't let us add any add ons like add block or spell check, besides the one that is already on the machine and it sucks. Besides, spelling errors add a bit of a personal flair to the posts.

Edit: 105 to go

 

Made a bit more progress on my own project the last couple days. Finally got the fender trim, grill and lights installed. Just about time to start fabbing up the new bumper.

I'm leaning towards an ARB clone or Relentless Fab clone...or I just might copy the one I built for the Tundra. I dunno. Gonna have to check out the First Gen bumper thread for insperation.

A bit of a question for some some to ponder.

Whats wrong with the pic in my signature? Hint: The truck is an '04.

 

Oh, I forgot.

103

 

Dry weekend, that sucks! At least your truck looks great!

The sig pic looks like a 98 Taco's body, is that it? Although I have no clue what an '04 body looks like.....

Here's an idea - if it's not the pump (not that I'm getting nervous. Me? NO WAY! NEVER!), AND we make it to 1000 posts, then the deal is all you TW dudes are flying to PDX and fixing the Taco, because that would now be 3 mechanics it's been seen by........dealer 1st, engine mechanic 2nd, and now our new mechanic.

DEAL?

Really, no takers? C'mon TW, git 'er dun!

 

Well, if your going to play Waylon's rodeo roundup at multiple random fueling stations,,keep your receipts and always get one. Just in case you pick up a dirty load of fuel. Mom and pop stations are not to particular on the brand or quality,,they just want there empty storage tanks full again so they can get your money once again and they are usually not bound by just one supplier. If they nuke your rig with a dirty load,,they usually want that to be kept quite and will go out of there way to fix it. Everyone finding out they got a crap load of fuel there, is bad for there business. The internet is evil/good in that way.

If the station is dirty on the outside,,flip a coin on the conditions of there storage tanks on the inside. Dirty on the outside usually means "I don't give a shit".

All this is not always the case,,but 9 times out of 10 it is true.

That's why I only use 1 or 2 stations around town for my fuel and Pacific Pride up and down the freeways.

It pays to be picky, especially with fuel.

To each his own and I wish you the best with your new big money investment.

 

Will gladly blast some Waylon if that will git 'er dun Mod, no prob!

Yes, totally agree - pays to be picky w/fuel - unfortunately we learned that the hard way! Never had a clue before this that there was such a thing as getting "bad gas" - wait, that didn't come out right....

Did you see my post a few days ago, where I was in line at Costco, then the tanker truck pulled up next to me to start filling the tanks? I jumped into high gear FAST! Fortunately no one was behind me in line yet, so I zipped the hell outta there as fast as I could! Just a wee bit paranoid these days....

Thanks for the well wishes....I'm staring holes into my phone at this point, anxiously awaiting what will hopefully be the final call we receive from a mechanic saying, "It's ready!" for quite some time....

 

You guys sure you don't want to come fix the Taco if the pump doesn't do it? There will be lots of these........and they have plenty o' butter in 'em Keakar!

 

Real butter right?,,not the fake plastic anti good butter(zero calorie evilness ruins good pastry,,damn the belly, full speed ahead with the good stuff.).

There, I saved my 1200 overall post for your thread Jen.