High Miler

[mr.mindless]

next couple weeks are peak time crunch, but let me know!

[rejeep]

working on another 5 door 109
I think Shirley Mass area

[M4wdFab]

find a 50s IH or cheby cap to snap up for me out along the way.  not much within 500 miles around here

[mr.mindless]

Overhead was reporting 19.5-20.0 mpg at 70mph across i90 eastbound tonight with the KOT Case on the deck.

Still at 19.4 in Bennington VT for the night. Tail wind was 20 gusting 30. Nice!

[mr.mindless]

just ordered shocks and a steering damper. going to go over brakes bearings and ball joints with a fine tooth comb before MO trip. Brakes aren't where I'd like them to be even with the fresh rear caliper and lack of rattle.
Probably put on new steer tires too. or at least rotate the current steers to a drive corner. They're getting choppier and louder, and got annoying on a 7 hour drive. The a-pillar whistle that I thought was the light bar didn't go away after I took it off, may play with some tape to try and find what spot is making that noise.

actual economy on that tank was 17.3, I think computer was about 1mpg optimistic.
Fuel gauge is acting up again. Getting more frequent with age. Does affect the overhead computer's range, but not economy estimate. so not a big deal to figure rough miles per tank if it craps out completely with as much history as I've got on this thing.

[mr.mindless]

Tires off, wheels painted, front shocks changed. They were definitely whooped. Tire wear says alignment is a sneeze off and pressure was too low. Plus a broken belt and bad shocks. I went for steer tires this time, it sees minimal snow duty now days.

What a rusty mess those wheels are. I need bigger wire wheels and cups. Or a sand blast rig. Might have to at least do the outside face of the rears now but then the bed will look even worse.

[mr.mindless]

Reminds me of back when it was pretty.

[mr.mindless]

intermittent no-start due to low voltage.

charging surge is getting much worse.  bought a standalone voltage regulator but haven't installed it.  tested batteries today and the pair tests to 300a, so they're shot. the cables and terminals all look like shit.

so ordered some cables and some terminals, expect to buy some batteries too. TBD if the ECU charge regulation bypass is needed, or if it's due to some high resistance. Bad batteries could be cause or could be symptom.

Hopefully my splurge of supplies here results in some productivity too. being sick for 2 weeks has me feeling WAY behind on everything.

[mr.mindless]

New batteries procured this morning. I'll be annoyed if I have to install them to leave work.

I haven't decided if I'll change batteries or cables first to see if the charge surging stops. I really don't know what the cause is and whether bad batteries could be causing it or if it killed the batteries. It's not 100% reliable but close.

[mr.mindless]

New batteries and most battery wiring replaced. Thought I had lugs for 2 & 4 awg but nah, so I had to reuse a couple things. Will replace grid heater wire for sure, it’s downright ragged.

Start was a much faster crank.

No voltage surging in 15-20 min idling.
It was intolerable the last few times I drove it.

Old batteries both sitting at 12.3-12.4v and tested to 275 & 325 amps. Weak but still serviceable. Wiring probably the majority of the issue. 

[mr.mindless]

Was charging at 14.8-14.9 when I left home. Down to 14.7 after a couple hours. May still put that stand-alone regulator in. Easy spot on the passenger fender to mount and wire.

At least it’s under 15 and not flickering.

[mr.mindless]

It did a little bit of voltage surging while I was fueling this morning. Then didn’t see it again.

I wonder what I’d learn if I were to monitor the heater grid

[mr.mindless]

Completed the remaining battery cable replacements Friday, and swapped on some lead terminals that didn’t snap as soon as I tightened them.

Also noted that there’s no cable from the heater grid to the grid solenoid. So I haven’t had a heater grid in play for the last 100,000 miles. Unless I consciously didn’t reinstall that wire when I redid the head gasket right after I moved? Don’t remember that. Also surprised I didn’t really notice that being missing when I did that job.

Heater grid trigger wires looked ok but the solenoid is crusty as hell.

I threw the voltage controller under the hood but didn’t wire it. If I see surge again, should be a quick job to migrate charge control from ECU to stand-alone. Just need to look up the resistance I need to put across the factory harness to keep the idiot light off.

[mr.mindless]

Have not seen any charge surging.

Right rear brake went metal to metal. Got that caliper and rotor changed just now in about 3 hours. Nothing fought at all.

Another case of always just do brakes in pairs… hasn’t been long since I did the other.
Ebrake hardware all looked great. Wheel bearing looked great.

[mr.mindless]

just did oil change and fuel filters and swapped that LR caliper.

Yup, a year ago. I think that was maybe 5,000 miles. Neither side needed pads at that time, I had them in stock and shelved them.

Spent a pair from stock just now and the left side pads still look new.