IcePrick

My first ex-wife got our year-old Explorer in the divorce. Her new boyfriend put ATF in the coolant tank, toasting the motor. Instead of fixing it, they let it rot in the back yard under some trees. She married him. He worked on the furnace in their new house, the place literally burned to the ground days later. Cause of fire: gas leak at inlet to furnace. If it wasn't for a neighbor being up late and smelling the smoke, the two of them and their three kids would be dead. Oh, and they hadn't paid their homeowner's insurance. I'm not sure how that worked out in the end, but about a month after the fire, the insurance company was denying their claim.

Imagine how clean his windshield would be if he had done it the other way around.

I have seen marginally burned valves give inconsistent cylinder pressures - as in, the same cylinder over a series of tests sometimes having okay compression and sometimes having poor compression. Also, worn or damaged ring could give insufficient compression when cold, then improve when the engine is warm. I know you don't like either one of those, although one is somewhat less crying than the other. Gotta do the work and make us Internet mechanics stop dreaming up worst case scenarios for ya. Look at plugs from several cylinders, get out the compression gauge, dry/wet/leakdown. When I started ripping into the 5.4, I thought it was going to be a battle to get to everything. Now that I've done it once, it really wasn't that bad - all the tubes and hoses were quick connects, and the wiring is set up so you can't easily mis-connect stuff on reassembly. Even removing the ECM was a breeze (yes, unless you are a small Asian child you kinda have to remove the ECM to get to #7 spark plug). I bet once you start tearing into it, you'll be somewhat surprised with the ease of process, and with adequate blood sacrifice to the Ford gods, the result as well. Wish I was there, I love a mystery.

LS swap? Too soon?

I recall something about this... no, actually I can't recall it, but I recall an issue about it. I think it was an early compatibility issue in software, I would guess it has been corrected by MY2015 but we're talking about Ford here. Been on Ford-trucks.com and looked around?

A couple plugs are the cheapest parts-swapping diagnostic - but still ~$15 each. At least pull them and take a peek. Be happy it's #1, not #7, and not a Triton. I think the Triton engineers were all fed into the intake of a runaway 7.3 Diesel at 13k RPMs. At least I hope they were. Compression test/leakdown that cylinder would be my next move.

There used to be a few states where that was the rule, I don't know if it has changed. Kentucky (I think) had no titles for vehicles over 25 years old - bill of sale. It was a popular title-washing state. I believe it was one of the Dakotas that an MC registration was its title. Vermont is popular for troubled titles, there is a loophole there that I've forgotten - I looked into it but you have to have proof of residency and appear in person to register it. The Dakota solution could be done by mail, no residency. I never followed through with trying to title the GasGas (it never had a title and Disney lost the MSO), but it was the option that looked most promising. I've often wondered about obtaining a title through a mechanic's lien. Buy an untitled vehicle, sit on it for a year, claim you did work on it and the owner never paid. Would require collusion with the former owner. Arizona has a "bonded title", my superficial (mis)understanding of it is you put up a bond with some relationship to the value of the vehicle and if it isn't contested in 2 years you can convert it to a normal title and recover your bond. Maybe someone here has more specific info on that.

I now find myself asking a very important question around "mealtimes" - "am I really hungry?" Sure, I could always eat something, but am I truly hungry? I think a great deal of our eating (and overeating) is the programmed aspect of mealtimes in schedules as well as the socialization that happens around the table, counter, or tailgate. The flip side of that is if I allow myself to get overly hungry, I can over-order and over-consume. This brings up another realization: am I eating until I'm just no longer hungry, or until I'm full? There's really little need to get "full" in modern society, with the ability to have food on hand nearly all the time. It would take some discipline, but if one ate only when actually hungry and only ate to the point where the hunger is satiated, one could be pretty healthy even on a less strict diet.

I have the Exelite version of those. They're da bomb for cutting wire ties if you don't need them pulled tight or if there's no room to get in with a wire tie tool. No more looking like a multiple failed suicide attempt after reaching up under your newly-wired dash.

I've had a Snap-On #2 Phillips bit for about 45 years now, it's #SDM222BZ. I can't find it online by that model number, but it is similar to their SDM222IRB. It once had little ribs that helped keep it from camming out of a worn Phillips screw, they're long worn off by now. It came in a ratcheting screwdriver kit that I bought when I was in the Coast Guard. I didn't have much money then, but it seems to have paid off buying the good stuff. I can also recommend their #EXDL10A left-hand cobalt-alloy drill bits with matching screw extractors - many times, when drilling a screw to extract, it would just start backing out without having to even use the extractor on it. I know it's remarkable to have such a tiny, easily-lost tool hang around for that long, but there's a reason; this is by far the most effective driver tip I've ever used. Other guys would wreck screws with poor quality drivers, this thing would take them out with no effort. It also for some reason is very effective on JIS screws, it never put sharp edges on the grooves of any of the fasteners on my Jap motorcycle - so I never found a need to invest in JIS bits or screwdrivers. I think I've got my money out of it, should probably get a new one.

Me too. I forget about some of the great recipes I've made - not that I forget what they are and how to make them, they just escape from my repertoire. I guess I need to write them down and make a menu, something I've never been able to make a habit of though I've tried in the past. Too easy to fall into the peanut butter on toast routine, I'm more of a spontaneous "what do you want for dinner tonight - we have some of this, that, and the other stuff?" type cook than a planner and shopper. Thanks. I wish I had the patience to write something that could maybe make some money, but I like mangling metal in the shop too much.

Well, veg-based protein drink with berries, soy milk, and flax seeds. Making quinoa in veg broth now to get mixed with cucumber, tomatoes, celery, red onion, white beans, parsley, and kale for dinner. Maybe some air fryer chickpeas for more crunch. Lunch will be leftover tacos from last night - cabbage leaf shells and spicy riced cauliflower instead of ground beef.

All of the plant-based cartels come under the secretive umbrella of Big Vegetable. This whole health/nutrition/clean eating thing is the next scam - wait until people get addicted to comparatively inexpensive, hormone and bacteria-deficient vegetables and start rejecting the wholesomeness of the high fat, sodium-drenched Standard American Diet. Then they'll spring their trap and charge more for veggies. By then, there will be no McDonalds left to turn to, run out of business by the likes of the broccoli mob, the kale consortium, the legume cartel. Think of the tragedy of a world without Happy Meals, kids having to eat a salad with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FRIED IN IT, and missing the $0.03 Chinese-made plastic toy that will eventually find itself wedged in the seat rails of your Kia. Just ponder that reality for a moment, America. Terrifying to think of entire acres of plants filtering water and creating oxygen where methane-belching, water-soiling red meat machines once grazed at their engineered feed. The horror. I've said too much already. If you find my body wrapped in cabbage leaves and left to fertilize a Brussels sprouts farm, you'll know I spoke the truth.

In other news, the international carrot cartel has introduced a diabolical new product for dogs, called "baby carrots". Some dogs are slower to show addiction, but most are hooked after 3-5 doses. The bastards are going to peddle this shit at prices that undercut almost all commercial dog treats. Worse, the product carries with it almost zero detrimental nutrition, causing comfortably plump dogs to lose crucial excessive fat reserves. Paradoxically, this increases their desire for the treat, eventually turning them into lean, potentially athletic shadows of their former selves.

I guess that forum has to stay open for unregistered members to post as guests so that legit people with legit problems can get an answer from an admin? I imagine others will follow... Some of the links were spoof links: while displaying a legit link it would direct you to a similarly named link but not what you were looking for. The first one I noticed was their Xhamster.com link actually going to 1Xhamster.com, likely for nefarious purposes. My browser is only displayed the html, so I could see right away that it was a misdirection and not my favorite porn site an even more sordid corner of the web than where most of those filthy porno addicts hang out.

Great first post!

I should have been more specific when I said "plain old oatmeal". Think what your grandmother used to make when you were a toddler, not the stuff in the packet with brown sugar and cinnamon, or anything that has microwave instructions... with one exception below. Anything that is "instant" or in a package with flavored powder is going to be fooling yourself that it's healthy. There's actually a different method, where the groat is cracked instead of cut and/or rolled. I like Coach's Oats, which are toasted first and then done in this manner. I have no idea what the toasting does for it nutritionally, but they cook quickly and have a very robust texture to them. The biggest problem - nutritionally - with oatmeal is what people do to flavor it. This is the perfect application for a banana that's a little past what you'd normally eat - mash it up and mix it in. Really, any fresh fruit cooked in oatmeal will be pretty good. A scant handful of pecans on top makes it yummier.

Hmmm, I don't know about the cucumber/tomato thing. I'll do a little searching. Finding decent granola/muesli without all kinds of additives can be a challenge. If you find a brand that isn't entirely compromised with sugar and can keep some with you, or reliably find it again when you need it when traveling, that's a score. Sugars and oils on nuts and dried fruits are often overlooked. I left dried fruits off my "grab something quick" list because they're so unpredictable with additives. Like granola, If you're not shopping at the same place every day, you may not find the same brand you normally get and you'd have to read labels... negating the "quick" part. It's hard to beat plain old oatmeal. Cut up some fresh fruit to cook it with to add flavor and sweetness. Whole fruits are better than the equivalent amount of sugar that they contain, unless you're doing stupid amounts of grapes or something. Stick with apples, the fiber is good for you. Beans. There's not a whole lot of things as good for you as beans. Maybe broccoli or blueberries. Beans are satisfying and easily prepared in many ways. Canned ones can even be fairly clean, some brands have low-sodium options. Gotta read the label.

Broccoli florets or baby carrots and a single-serving cup of hummus. Can of cut green beans, drain and dump in a little Italian dressing (good hot or cold). Can of black beans, can of corn, drain and mix with a can of Rotel in a plastic storage bowl. Peanut butter on a rice cake (watch for added sugar in the PB). That's mostly borderline survival food, but it isn't horribly dirty except be aware of sodium in canned beans (brands differ) and the sugar levels in the corn. None of it will leave you "slugged" and in a carb coma. If you can get fresh stuff, a cucumber and some cherry or grape tomatoes and a few leaves of basil is awesome. Better if you can slice the tomatoes and the cucumber and let them self-marinade together for a while. Add a little cheese if you need the fat and protein. Apple, pear, banana for a snack. Unsalted nuts. Just wander around in the produce department and grab a couple things that look good, whatever is fresh. That's on-the-go stuff as you asked, sort of the "crap, I'm not going to have time to make a real lunch, I'll just grab something that isn't fast food". With some preparation and cold storage options, you can do a lot. Veggie sushi? It can be amazing...

So that's why you never take that sweater off.

Dude, he won't move to Arizona because it's too cold in the winter.

Can you hear the fuel pump run at key on before cranking? Fuel pressure data is such an important diagnostic value, I think it's sad that there isn't a sensor for it on many cars (on the few I've worked on, when there is one, it's usually just a Pressure/no pressure, not a value or constant data stream). "...there are no codes" - It's important to know what scan tool you're using to determine this, some of the budget or older ones don't read every parameter. As always, is the battery healthy?

@clublights 😈

Now would be an excellent time to do a ZX14 front end conversion. You lose linked brakes, but the improvement in the front, both suspension and braking, is significant.

I just watched both of the Project Farm videos, the Milwaukee pliers finished below the middle of the pack. I guess the redeeming factor is the ability to return the HF version to a store that's under 5 miles away, no hassle for the swap-out. I've seen the way they do returns here, they glance at it briefly and throw it in a bin and say, "okay, go grab another one". Lowes and HD, not quite so simple.