What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

Discussion in 'General Station Wagon Discussions' started by Dogbone, Jul 25, 2011.

  1. 60Mercman

    60Mercman Well-Known Member

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    I Wonder if Lou is Boo’s sister?
     
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  2. daniels

    daniels Active Member

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    Cleaned the whole car, the tires and went for a nice and smooth ride listening to Emmylou Harris.
     
  3. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Leadslead and I went and bought a garage door on sale, hauled it home in Annie--only to find out it was half the width that's needed (8' vs. 16'), so we hauled it back, got the money back. So much for "Measure twice, cut once."
     
  4. kevdupuis

    kevdupuis Membrane

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    Replaced the window regulator in the drivers door on the 85 and I decided to pop the old one apart to see what caused it to wear out. the two pictures below show the intermediate gear shaft in three pieces with one piece still stuck in the frame which when it broke caused the gear to shift and grind the teeth down.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  5. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Ooh, like taking Speed for weight loss--"Mom and her 'diet pills.' Helps her grind her teeth and feel great, too."
     
  6. MAK

    MAK Well-Known Member

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    Whew
    finally got the Colony Park back on the road, off to get it inspected tomorrow, failed because the shift indicator would not line up. after that gets done it time for NEW pics and I'm SELLING THE WAGON
    When you pulled to column to drive the indicator read neutral, everything was off by 1. local transmission guy made the park and its good to go. While there I mentioned that it was leaking trans fluid from the front.
    No Problem just pull the trans out and replace the following:
    Manuel control lever seal
    rear extension seal
    lathe cut seal - front pump
    front seal without flange
    another front pump seal, think O-ring
    Manuel control shaft seal
    oil pan gaskets
    throttle lever seal
    new speed sensor
    they inspected the trans while it was out and found no issues, thank the lord almighty!!!
    and of course the replaced all the trans fluid and changed the oil.
    I had told them that there was no hurry and fit it in as they see fit, use it for filler - they cut me somewhat of a break
    did the work for $600 parts & labor - I thought that was an ok deal but then I have mechanical skills of a Nat
    what do you think?
    Before I gave it to the transmission folks I replaced:
    2 door lock actuators
    1 window regulator
    the clock
    and cut out the bottom of the rusted out spare tire well and riveted a new pc of sheet metal, and undercoated the well.

    Once I get new pictures I will post the wagon for sale,
     
  7. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    $600 for a reseal job? I'd like to see the parts/labor breakdown. It's pretty close, but it depends on your local economy. It's a bummer, though, to be selling it, if it's because of financial circumstances.
     
  8. 60Mercman

    60Mercman Well-Known Member

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    I was thinking that $600 was very reasonable. Seems like most shops in my area are around $85-$100 per hour, plus parts and disposal. From your list, it sounds like you did ok. Maybe I’m all wet. But, I would sure love to get out of a shop for $600 or less. Good luck with the rest, and your sale.
     
  9. Andrew4180

    Andrew4180 Well-Known Member

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    Kinda behind, so I apologize for a semi-long post.

    Couple weeks back I get an opportunity I've been working towards as a photographer for a long time, a chance to photograph winged sprint cars at Golden Triangle Raceway Park in Beaumont Texas. I gas up the wagon, stop in Baytown for lunch, go to start the car and.... nothing, no click, engine doesn't turn, all the lights are on, battery has 12.8 volts, connections are good, so that only leaves one thing.... the starter. There goes my speedway plans, 2 hour drive and its already 5pm... I push the car across the parking lot to Auto Zone, got a ride from a friend back to La Porte to grab my dodge dakota that has my tools in it and came back later in the evening. Then had to run a ways down the road to my storage unit to grab my second toolbox. Little did I know the exhaust crosses under the oil pan and right under the starter. I wrestled with the 40 year old bolts on the end of the manifolds for 4 1/2 hours and couldn't get em to budge. Called it a night as the sun was coming up. And broke my 7 year streak of not having my vehicle towed by AAA. Soaked everything in PB blast for 3 days, and finally got they pipe off, changed the starter and it runs like a champ now. (pics were taken at 3am) P1010317.JPG
    P1010305.JPG
    P1010329.JPG

    So Fast forward to the past week, my mother is out of state for 10 days, and my dad is disabled so they asked me to come home to Joplin for a couple weeks. I opted to spend a little more on gas than risk the sketchy ball joints on the Dakota. So loaded up the wagon and made the 635mile drive in one shot. 78-82mph the whole way averaging 17mpg. Only issue was having to hit the solenoid on the remanufactured starter with a hammer when I stopped in Dennison Texas at the halfway point. Haven't had to do it since, and since I've been up here I've taken my dad to races in Sapulpa and Muskogee Oklahoma, and up to Wheatland Missouri. Planning on going to Bolivar Missouri tomorrow, and Caney Kansas Thursday for more racing. If all goes well, I've got the racing bug pretty bad myself, so the party barge may just make its first passes on a dragstrip on Friday night at Mo-Kan Dragway. Then ill be headed back to Houston on the 15th.

    Started adding to my racetrack window decal collection on the rear side windows of the wagon, so far the tracks shown are Ozark Raceway Park in Rogersville Mo, Historic Bolivar Speedway in Bolivar Mo, Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland Mo, and Houston Motorsports Park in Houston Texas. 65847036_10205912126759233_8261895388047343616_n.jpg
    66329465_10205912127759258_6392154201199214592_n.jpg

    Upgrades will be starting soon after I get home from Joplin, I'll be sure to share exactly what those are, and might even re-start my youtube channel with a series on it.
     
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  10. MAK

    MAK Well-Known Member

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    Here is the breakdown for the Transmission seal repair.
    Not that I would have a clue on how to do this repair, its been in the high 80's low 90's here and this would be just a hot dirty job that I would have no desire to do - even if I could.
    Cost breakdown - less oil

    Manuel control lever seal $ 4.96
    rear extension seal $ 7.28
    lathe cut seal - front pump $ 9.12
    front seal without flange $ 6.44
    another front pump seal, think O-ring $ 6.02
    Manuel control shaft seal $ 4.28
    oil pan gaskets $ 4.56
    throttle lever seal $ 4.96
    new speed sensor $ 67.99
    Trans fluid $ 54.89
    Oil Filter AOD $ 11.88
    total Parts $ 182.38
    Labor to remove replace Transmission & pump $ 435.00
    total $ 617.38
     
  11. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Okay, that looks to be in line, but was the VSS actually bad? Was your trans having shift point problems?
     
  12. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Andrew: I've been in your position many times with customer's GM vehicles. I've had to resort to a breaker bar, when the car was only on jack stands. So I feel your pain there. But I'd like to make a suggestion--update to a PMGR starter (permanent magnet gear reduction, in case you'd not heard of it). They're more efficient than the older-style ones, giving more torque during cranking because of the gear set inside, and are smaller, since the motor itself uses permanent magnets instead of windings. This means that you should not have to remove the exhaust pipe if one needs changing out. And with how GM vehicles are wired, no changes need to be made to accommodate a factory PMGR design. All you need is one from a truck or van with a 5.7L V8, say, the early 2000's.
     
  13. MAK

    MAK Well-Known Member

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    Transmission shifted fine, indicator on dash was off by 1, which in VA it won't pass inspection. When I was changing out the door lock & window actuators, (took about 3 days - on/off ) there was a puddle about 1 1/2" wide of transmission fluid on the shop floor, under the engine. might be mechanically inept but knew this wasn't good!
    have no idea what a VSS is, ?
     
  14. Silvertwinkiehobo

    Silvertwinkiehobo "Everything that breaks starts with 'F.'"

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    Vehicle speed sensor. Sorry, it's habit, Ford uses acronyms for everything. On a $68 part, my question is whether the old sensor was actually bad or not.
     
  15. Poison_Ivy

    Poison_Ivy Dogzilla Fan

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    I guess, you could call to question every other part which got replaced. If only the faulty seal gets replaced, the customer will complain, as soon as a leak starts from somewhere else on the unit, sometime soon thereafter. As a preventative measure, it's best for the shop to replace anything that could go wrong. Then again, you could always pour in some brake fluid, in order to swell up the leaking seal and then stick it to the customer big time for phantom repairs
     

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