Builds BNG Cruzr - Journey Back to Dirt

[NeverGiveUpYota]

And I’m not way smarter like @Comet suggested cuz I just read the invoices above... radiator maybe?
Any chance you heard bubbling when you got out of the truck? I just remember when my pump went on my Nissan I had very audible bubbling as the water gushed out.
Pump has a weep hole lower facing right side, about the size of a small pea. See if it’s wet or below that.

 

[jackhossross]

*shrug*

No idea, truck ran fine to town afterwards. There was no high temp, no warnings at all.

Turned around and saw liquid all over in front of the truck hahahaha.

No idea, asking the shop if they did anything when looking. All they did was stop the leak in the fitting from oil cooler to the tranny, alignment, check my suspension install and give a look over of the truck.

Shop thinks transmission had too much ATF in it, causing the tranny to shift awkwardly.

Regardless, I caved and ordered a radiator and oil cooler the other day, so this one will be coming out.

 

[jackhossross]

Any temperature spikes? Rough running or missing? Stinky sweet smell coming from the exhaust pipe? Lots of white exhaust smoke?

Phew, now that I got that out of the way, lets regroup and start simple.

In servicing, did the shop mess with the cooling system? Was it overpressurizing before the trip to the shop? Radiator cap within spec? (FSM will walk you through that one)

My wishful thinking involves just too much antifreeze in the overflow reservoir or a loose clamp or an old hose giving up the ghost. Check the simple stuff first for leaks.

Someone WAY SMARTER than me will be along shortly with what will be a simple solution.

Did I mention WAY SMARTER?

I’ve had a nice new catalytic converter smell coming from the truck since I did that, but it’s pretty much gone at this point (hundred or so miles).

 

[Comet]

Buster Brown has been a thirsty monkey for my coin since I purchased him last year. Baselining an older rig without all the records can be a crap shoot. As @Ian Crawford said to me once (paraphrased) "Fixing one thing will reveal what else is going wrong".

Hang in there, it has been a great ride so far.

 

[jackhossross]

Received fabric from Pendleton for my interior — I think the little hint of blue will look pretty sweet.

I will be matching the same scheme as OEM with leather on the sides and fabric on the centers. Planning to redo the door cards as well.

 

[jackhossross]

Something I did in my last three cars that I plan on doing in this one is an iPad mini 2 LTE dash install.

I love having it as an infotainment system. I installed the same setup in my WRX, STI then Golf R.

By running the head unit into the center console, I’ll have the iPad connect through the lightning cable.

The only thing I’ll be doing differently is allowing the iPad to be in place with the "apple" leather magnetic screen cover to attach while on the dash. This will allow me to simply "snap-on" a cover to block the sun from heating it up and keeping the interior look traditional when in place covering the iPad. I will probably need to do quite a bit of rearranging to move buttons around to get it all to fit and work seamlessly.

 

[jackhossross]

phew sitting at work dreaming of working on the cruiser this weekend. nice 14 hour day at this point! c'mon weekend!

 

[jackhossross]

Received the truck back from my audio guy. Sounds incredible and looks great - I will add pictures once I can take them.

However, the shop requested I drop off the carpet for the front and middle since they would be installing an amplifier. Well, the carpet install was really half assed. There is extra fabric all over and the holes cut out for the hi/lo shift boot and AT shifter are massive compared to what they need to be.

Really disappointed - the shop has performed stellar work for me in the past. I'll post pictures and you guys can tell me if I am feeling how I should be. I was planning on doing the carpeting myself, but they insisted and then got it completely wrong.

Guess I should've done it all myself sigh.

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

If it’s that bad be sure to tell them you want to be compensated. Carpet isn’t cheap. That stinks!

 

[gilamonster]

Definitely call them out on the sloppy work.

 

[jackhossross]

Well the conversation with the shop has been great. Very willing to help me out on a new carpet. He purchased a new set of carpet for me - but I am going to install it myself this round go as I installed the rear with the wheel hubs and it went really well, was pretty easy to cut the carpet and trim it nice and tight.

Planning on working with a different audio shop in the future. Some guys in Denver that come highly recommended, but for now everything is well sorted.

I replaced the thermostat as that was what caused the puke-fest a couple weeks ago. It was broken, causing all the fluid to stop instead of flow through the engine. Drove the hell out of the truck yesterday on a 94 degree day and it performed flawlessly.

Install two new O2 sensors tomorrow afternoon after I get a bike in. In the office now until about 4pm ish today if I can get everything done.

Parked the truck on the job site this morning.



I am paying L1 Automotive to adjust the valve covers and look into the Air Conditioning for me on the 18th. Also have a radiator and auxiliary oil cooler sitting here waiting for install.

D-Day is June 28th, doing a trip from Boulder CO to Park City UT and want to take the truck instead of my wife's Q7. Will be a good test and hopefully an enjoyable trip.

 

[Infinity00]

What radiator did you end up buying? I just put in the CSF2708 I saw listed on the invoice, but wasn’t sure you went with that.

Robbie, “adventure offroad ” a super great guy can do work on your truck in Boulder off Arapahoe over in the old John’s 4x4, or Slee in Golden (only heard about slee, never used them). But the best bet is do everything yourself. Other people will mess up and you’ll end up doing it yourself anyway has been my experience with all my vehicles, especially when it comes to the cruiser, very few people know how to work on them. If you use Robbie or Slee (by reputation only) you’ll have the most experienced people working on it for the best possible outcome, if you can’t do it yourself.

In other words you don’t have to drive all the way to Loveland to have someone who really knows cruisers work on your truck. Found his info in another thread.

Robbie Antonson
Adventure Offroad
Boulder county Colorado
303-884-7813 phone number
303-665-0128 fax number
email: powderpig@q.com

 

[jackhossross]

What radiator did you end up buying? I just put in the CSF2708 I saw listed on the invoice, but wasn’t sure you went with that.

Robbie, “adventure offroad ” a super great guy can do work on your truck in Boulder off Arapahoe over in the old John’s 4x4, or Slee in Golden (only heard about slee, never used them). But the best bet is do everything yourself. Other people will mess up and you’ll end up doing it yourself anyway has been my experience with all my vehicles, especially when it comes to the cruiser, very few people know how to work on them. If you use Robbie or Slee (by reputation only) you’ll have the most experienced people working on it for the best possible outcome, if you can’t do it yourself.

In other words you don’t have to drive all the way to Loveland to have someone who really knows cruisers work on your truck. Found his info in another thread.

Robbie Antonson
Adventure Offroad
Boulder county Colorado
303-884-7813 phone number
303-665-0128 fax number
email: powderpig@q.com

Thanks man!

Slee won’t work on the 60 series any longer, I will definitely give Robbie a call. Would be great to find someone close by.

I agree though! Do installs yourself and you can fix it yourself.

The truck ended up overheating a bit yesterday afternoon on the highway. Was climbing up one of the hills on 36 highway and she got hot. Cooled down in about 2 minutes after I took it easy though.

 

[Infinity00]

Overheated with your new radiator? It was something like 98 degrees yesterday, hot hot hot! Anyway, if your new radiator and thermostat aren’t working well enough, start inspecting your fan clutch. I just put a new red hub in mine but I’d suggest trying the aqua hub someone recommended to me. I think it’s either for a fj80 or t100. Also, not sure if you are aware that the thermostat orientation and gasket are important as is getting OEM thermostat.

 

[jackhossross]

Overheated with your new radiator? It was something like 98 degrees yesterday, hot hot hot! Anyway, if your new radiator and thermostat aren’t working well enough, start inspecting your fan clutch. I just put a new red hub in mine but I’d suggest trying the aqua hub someone recommended to me. I think it’s either for a fj80 or t100. Also, not sure if you are aware that the thermostat orientation and gasket are important as is getting OEM thermostat.

Stock radiator still - haven’t done the install yet!

 

[jackhossross]

Also, orientation? I replaced the original with the new one facing the same way? Not sure what else you would mean. I have the pointed part facing up.

 

[Infinity00]

Ah, maybe I misspoke! I have several different vehicles and on some the orientation is critical. I haven’t found anything on the cruiser that needs an orientation. Sorry!

 

[LCQ]

Eager to see how the O2 sensor install goes and any pointers you find out. I'm planning to do this soon once I confirm mine with the multimeter to see if that's the reason I'm throwing codes 25 and 26.

 

[jackhossross]

It was very very easy - took me all of 10 minutes once the truck cooled down.

I had to use 13mm wrenches to fit into the tight spaces though.

Eager to see how the O2 sensor install goes and any pointers you find out. I'm planning to do this soon once I confirm mine with the multimeter to see if that's the reason I'm throwing codes 25 and 26.

 

[jackhossross]

I also passed emissions after installing new O2 sensors as it removed my CEL and took away the fuel smell i was experiencing when idling.