60+ year old thread.

Good morning everyone!!

After confirming that the robins nest in Lynn's greenhouse was empty, I finished pulling off the last piece of siding yesterday, pulled the nails and also took down the old ceiling fan...which I found it my father in law had attached to a board he hung between rafters using 4 finishing nails...it fell while I was taking off the blades.

I also confirmed I am getting older. Lynn's dad built a cedar closet in the stable for some reason. Loaded with crap, it's time to clean it out and pull it apart. I pulled one of the outer panels and found that it has fiberglass insulation in the walls - now I need to figure out where I can get rid of that..and suit up for the rest of the job. I was hoping to just toss everything into the dumpster we have for the greenhouse/tractor garage re-do. Ugh.

So, after that I was doing some work on my UTV when I suddenly felt a twinge of pain in my right side. Within a minute I couldn't bend over or walk without pain. I finished up and retreated to the house. Turns out I somehow must have pinched a nerve. Better now - not completely - but it was a restless night's sleep as I tried to find a comfortable position to sleep.

Taking in re-cycling this morning and probably not much else just to rest up the side.

Oh, the tree guys cleaned up the pine that fell alongside the driveway yesterday, too. We knew it was slowly dying - it has to be 50+ years old. We actually put the curve in our driveway because it was such an awesome tree. Turned out to be loaded with ants although you never saw any on the ground by it.

Be safe out there!!

 

I've had 2, many years apart. They're totally out of the blue. First one was was while driving home from work, luckily a country road.. I was all over it, finally got stopped in a corn field. No cell service, afraid to move, had to do something, 30 miles out in the boonies, made it back to the road, called wife when I got a signal. Made it home, wife had already called the squad, they were there.
I had passed a big stone, according to ER X-Ray tech.. I have passed one other since, many years apart. Somehow it's better knowing what's going on, but they will still drop you in your tracks. Not fun.

 

Good Morning Folks.

I know where you are coming from Mark. Tearing the kitchen pantry apart and finding s*#t the builder did that I now need to address. Makes life harder. Because of the bad knee it is a much slower process doing the demo. Just be careful with the nerve issue. Rest up today, maybe a nice soak in the pool.

Getting a root canal done today. It's going to be one of those days.

Any how, Have a great day folks and be safe.

 

Good Morning

Builder sh#t ... like a garden tub developing hairline cracks because the feet were shimmed with caulk?


...almost 20 yrs ago now I discovered that one ... still pisses me off.

Be safe, healthy, and happy.

 

Good morning everyone.

I'm getting my morning espresso dialed in. Gaggia espresso maker is helping me want to get up to enjoy my morning coffee. Talk about going down the rabbit hole of "oh this is so much better" coffee. Sweet espresso can spoil a guy.

Yesterday's 5 PM errands left me stuck in traffic for a while. I'm thinking to myself the Air Conditioning in Tacoma is not that good! It's already having a hard time. Little googling pulled up the TSB about Tacoma's in hot climates. Yep, if a customer complains about poor performance there is a Toyota Auxilary Fan to be installed. What? I guess they left it off thinking "most of the USA doesn't get that hot." Grrrr. We are having temps in the '90s with near 100% humidity this week. Texas fun.

Lack of A/C Performance at Idle in High Ambient Temperature
T-SB-0063-18Rev2 July 19, 2018
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10166026-9999.pdf

I suspect I need to wait until a 100F day and run it in for 'lack of AC'. I'm going to blow a gasket if I'm told that doesn't cover 2021. I'm still shaking my head about the transmission cooler (need to get an ODB2 diagnostic and watch temp). 6 years or 60,000 miles Automatics should have new fluid.

 

Carl, reading your post just confirms that all of America is out to get money from us seniors. Stay diligent.

Hit or miss here. Order something with 2 day delivery and get an email the next day for some type of delay. On the other hand I needed a new carb for my Mantis tiller and paid the $2.99 for next day delivery and it was delivered the next morning. I needed the tiller at my sisters beach home last weekend.

Mark: For disposal of fiberglass check with your county landfill. They may offer hazardous materials disposal. Our county landfill will take them on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday only. Hope your side heals up quickly.

Today is the dirty job day, clean the pond filters. Then I need to run a few errands. Purchase some birdseed, 20% off through Friday, look at a new pair of summer sneakers and recycle some Styrofoam. Have a great day everyone.

 

Mark: Don't overlook eBay for a cheap overall. mess around with "Dupont Tyvek Painters Coverall Bunny Suit with Hood." I just snagged some 3XL for $11 shipped!

We used them in our Semiconductor fab. Still remember getting through the airlocks, changed into my bunny suit, and thinking, "now I have to pee?"
Oh, my son, who was five at the time, told his kindergarten teacher I worked as a rabbit! He had overheard me talking about "another day in the bunny suit."

I'm itching thinking about fiberglass. I still need to strip the pump house to studs and redo it. The cheap siding was used, nothing more than cardboard.
Rats move in and nested in the insulation. It is just a mess, so full hazmat gear to clean that up and redo it with plywood sheathing and Hardiboard exterior. It's a
small 4' x 8' heated enclosure for the wellhead and bladder tank. Hardiboard is good, just a trick to setting nail gun pressure, so nail heads aren't over-driven.

 

OOPs my bad, a day early for the root canal . It's not until tomorrow. Sometimes with all the different appointments for me and the wife, it gets mind boggling.

 

Good post about the TSB Tom, I hope the AC in mine will be okay with most summer days here being in the mid 80's to mid 90's with an occasional 100 degree day. Last I complained about my AC in my 2007, the told me to keep the recirculating system on and it will get colder . We'll see how the 2021 does.

 

Good morning all,

Interesting reads today, we may never see a problem with the Taco AC here but in travels it would be a surprise for sure - questions for next service for sure.

Col, not sure why your father-n-law would insulate the room, maybe they were storing winter clothes at one time? In the past cedar storage was used in barns to store certain tools, equipment and a lot of farm gear (harnesses, saddles etc.) to keep from moths and other pesky bugs that would destroy leather and other natural products used in the past. No need with all the plastic these days.

Odd knowledge from living on a four generation dairy farm while in college, they had a Quonset hut that they purchased and moved to the farm from Truax Field. Cheap rent back then, the farm is no longer there, sold to the state and a new highway headed NE now goes through there. Trivia question for our Airforce members, where is Truax Field located and what was it know for during WWII? Don't Google it LOL

Have a great day - today is AFA graduation - Thunderbirds have been buzzing the last few days in rehearsal for todays graduation, we are in the staging area before they dive down on the east side of the Peak on their approach.

 

Outside of the usual eye and skin hazard for workmen - what makes fiberglass insulation disposal such a hazard? I built a solar heat augmented shop space in Wyoming many years ago - with green house glazing and fiberglass batts in the walls (covered of course). By using the solar heating of the slab and just leaving the space alone to stabilize the internal temp - it would stay above freezing. Key issue turned out to be insulating the edges of the slab (big heat loss when exposed) and down into the earth to create a mass of warm material under the building. My set-up wasn't insulated deep enough to totally get everything possible out of the system - it can occasionally freeze pipes down to 6 feet at that location/elevation.

I returned to Lander one evening in January, after two weeks away - to find the shop at +40ºF (outdoors -15ºF) with nothing other than the daily dose of solar "insolation". There are much better materials available now but the technology is pretty simple.

 

Good Morning and Happy Hump-Friday Porchies! Sure have a lot of topics on the table and it's only morning! TODAY I go tie up the loose ends on the truck - errands and pop-up showers have put it off so far. Not going to be a problem today, it looks like.

I think I will be shopping for all new peppers though. Every one got a "leaf soot" and aphid attack. I pulled them out of the greenhouse for more sun (well, should have been more sun), and the wife has cleaned them as best as they are going to be. This morning, they all look like they've had it, dropping leaves left and right. There are some peppers on them, but they don't look good. I pulled up the cover on the greenhouse another foot for more sun in there, so whatever goes back in will just have to survive the heat. Everything else inside is doing well, and I have some tomatoes coming along.

Anyway, have a great day everyone.

 

Tacoma Mike, would like your input on this TSB. It's 63 pages long and looks quite involved. Since it's not unusual for the temps to hit 100 here in Central/South Texas during the summer, I'm concerned.

Can you tell us Texas folks what, if anything, you know about it? Is it worth doing it? Any advice would be appreciated.

Tex

 

Hi Mike.

Well.

it is a involved addition.
Basically slow speed, hi ambient temp, equals not enough air flow through the condenser to extract the heat from the Freon. This extra fan rams the air through the condenser at slow speeds to help lower the outlet temp. The issue is IMHO Is they have lowered the volume of Freon over the years. This in turn the Freon doesn’t have enough volume to soak and move the hot Freon away from the evaporator and or to absorbed the cool air through the condenser. Imagine a car low on coolant. Not a lot but some. Not a problem unless it gets real hot out. Add that extra 1/2 gallon and it can absorbed and move heat. Hey a cooler engine. Same basic thing. If your having a serious problem and the system is full then, might be the way to go. But, if you want your balls to fall off at 105° outside temp then your going to be disappointed.

 

As your refrigerant passes through the condenser in front of the radiator, it will go from gas to liquid, giving off heat.

Stop in go traffic, 100F+ day, reach over and feel the temp on the right side. (If you have automatic, dual climate control, just hit both to sync). Temp should be the same on both sides. Typically left is cooled first, then the right side. So blowing different temps says, "something isn't right." Normally you are low on Freon. Please don't assume it needs Freon, but meaning both high and low pressure (I still have my Snap-on gauges from when the dinosaurs roamed the earth!).

As Kurt discovered with his 2007, enough air wasn't moving through his condenser with an aftermarket fan assembly.

My wife's Honda has a neat rubber flap and fan. FWD, so no engine-driven fan but only the electric one. It only kicks on at idle; at speed, there is enough air pressure to flow through the radiator with those rubber flaps blown open. The fan sucks those flaps closed at idle, so all air goes through the radiator and condenser (tip, older Honda, overheating. Check those simple rubber flaps on the shroud first).

Toyota realizes most people are not stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic at 5 PM. People are slowly returning to work, forgetting to drive. So yesterday's 30-minute drive was an hour, yep, sitting in traffic. Windows up, recirculating as I had a big diesel truck next to me. My lungs can not take the diesel fumes sitting there. I've got tinted windows, but still, it was getting warm inside the vehicle stuck in traffic.

110F cruising down the highway, I'd probably never notice. Still, I think it should have addressed by the factory.

TSB is straight forward "add a fan, hook up wiring, block up the holes to keep more air going through the radiator support". The tailgate solenoid was 8 pages for "install it, run wiring, plug it in". It's written so the lowest-paid member in the service department can follow the steps. Keep in mind it might be the first time stripping and splicing wiring, but it shows every step. Not a thing wrong with apprentices, but I would love to go into the dealer and get the kit and install it myself. I'm a little more than anal when it comes to harnesses and proper strain relief. I used to make apprentices do a practice splice, then tie that wire to a gallon jug of water and lift it. If it is crimped properly, it was fine. The fun part was to ask them to od (plastic jug of water often got their toes).

Do you launch at FLF Gliderport? My neighbor has his glider up there. I'm at 40XS but no longer flying.

Odd trivia: Ford Aerostar. The trailer package harness had a special plug. With it installed, it would provide a ground path for the stop/turn signals. My Ford wasn't delivered with the harness, but a stock adapter didn't provide the path. Ford did it so customers didn't complain about the clicking of relays. With a trailer hooked up, no one complained but empty vehicle no gear you heard click every time. Took it to the dealer for "nonfunctional trailer tail lights" Service guy couldn't figure it out, the vehicle returned with "unable to duplicate". @#$%! Well, I finally told my friends at Ford what was going on with this issue (most customers had the correct harness adapter) so they got back with the dealer and said "we have a guy who will be on-site Friday, have the customer bring it in". I was the guy! Once I could look at the tech's wiring diagram, and understand what the designers did, it was simple to make a jumper to provide the function. The service guy was good, Service manager had to laugh. Ford was my customer, hence I bought the Aerostar to haul pick them up at the airport as they hated being picked up in a Datsun (only had 500,000 miles on it). I don't have a copy of the TSB, but sat down with the Master Tech and documented everything for the TSB. Much easier than writing an 8D!

Payback was asking if I would go down to the dyno room to help diagnose an issue. I loved getting my hands dirty, but loathe writing 8D's. This turned out to be an easy one! One of the few awards I have ever kept.

 

Oh yeah, I remember something PITA like this. ..




Still not sure of the "root cause" of my AC problem was @roundrocktom , because the e-Fan was installed in fall 2018, about 2 months after I got the truck. Had a nice shroud, and I ran with COLD AC until this March. The first hot day, it wasn't cold by the time I got to a local store. Next day, it was cooler, and the AC was back to COLD. Next hot day, back to just cool. That said to me, I was finally low on Freon. There are NO records for LBR (I'm the 4th owner) getting AC service of any sort. So, along with getting the charge I needed - two lb. low - I had him do a complete purge. That spec pressure was too much for the old compressor, as it blew up.
Now, the AC guy that did the work after that, ended up replacing EVERY component in the system trying to get it to stay turned on. After Covid, turned out if he disconnected my fan, all the new components then worked perfectly. So, maybe the e-Fan could not cool the evap properly, but after replacing the e-Fan with a clutch fan, he finished with no shroud, which makes it "odd" to say the least. But if he connected the e-Fan, it would not stay in cooling mode. If he disconnected, it did. I hate doing 8D as well, so I will pull my old QC trick, and make a 1D (called a decision: remove what doesn't work right. Also, I no longer have the same system components in the AC at all, so comparison isn't completely valid.
Shroud is now on, and it seems to be cooling better again. Haven't had much hot weather to test drive - what I've done has been in cooler weather, and down the road. I will get a chance tomorrow or Friday. At worst, it might need a splash of Freon.

 

Solved my Amazon shipping problem by going down to Weaver's Hardware (the BEST hardware store on earth) and buying the stuff there. The amazon order did finally show up, and I will be taking it back to said BEST place to return it because BEST is also a UPS shipping/receiving point. Amazon needs to get their isht together.

 

Good morning everyone!!

Sounds like you have made a good decision, Kurt!!! I hope it solves the problem!

Nice hot day here yesterday - did some running around in the morning and then laid by the pool in the afternoon. We had thunderstorms and rain hit about 4PM and then off and on all evening. We need the rain. Lynn and I are going out to play golf with friends...assuming my pinched nerve doesn't give me too much trouble.

Stay safe out there!!

 

All this AC talk got me to thinking. I have a 2009 Tacoma EX 4 cylinder that I purchased in August of 2009. Never had to have the AC looked at and it pumps out cold air like it should, Technical Term LOL. The only bitch have about the truck is if the AC is on and I am in 5th gear and want to pass another vehicle, I need to downshift to 3rd to make the pass quickly. I am still happy with my Tacoma.

Music lesson today, last one of the semester. Then off to the foot doc for a shot in the right foot. Maybe a haircut after that.

Have a great day everyone.

 

Weaver's in Lyons? Awesome place.