i got the stereo all buttoned up and the interior put back together. there's not a lot of room for amps under the bmw seats! they barely fit. there's not a chance they could be stollen though with out taking the seat out!!
i also got my wires run for my brake controller. i have to rewire my car side trailer connector as i need to use 12 gauge wire for the brakes. i have 16 gauge there now. it's good enough for tail and signal lights but not enough for brakes and aux power. i'm using the hopkins insight controller. there is a small led light that's on all the time on the manual controller. not sure i like that but apparently it draws a few miliamps so shouldn't drain the battery unless left for a month. during the winter ill just pull the fuse. hopefully it doesn't cause any troubles. otherwise i really like the modularity of it. easy to see and use without big components
as much as i like my stereo i hate electronics and all the updates required!! i've just spent an hour trying to figure out how to get my computer to download some firmware needed to update my deck because my car play stopped working after my last phone update. argh!!!!!
i did get my new brake switch installed. i took the cold wire out of the connector and soldered my brake controller wire right to it and reinstalled it. that way i don't have weird wired spliced into the side of the harness. now i just have to wire up the connector in the bumper and that job will be done.
i'm going to call pioneer help tomorrow as i've spent two hours tonight with no joy.
took the truck for a 3 hour tow of our camper trailer. tows well but as i get up to 100km/hr i see my engine temps start climbing. egt only 1000f but i'm worried ill overheat so i run between 90-95 and i'm happy. i've got plenty of power for up hills without overhearing. just if i keep it for 30 min or more i see the temps climb above what i'm comfortable with. maybe i'm paranoid but its safe.
so the speakers i installed sound good but not great. they are highly quality speakers and it's been bugging me. after a little searching on line i found that many door speakers are designed to run in open space (infinite baffle i believe it was called). mine were sealed inside a speaker cone to keep dirt and crap off them from inside the door. i decided to cut a small piece out of this cone to allow air movement behind the speaker yet keep the top covered to stop water damage the might get past the window felts. holy cow what an amazing difference. the mid/low bass is 100x better and they sound awesome! simple
fix!!
now installing the rears.
the hole on the left is for a 12v plug. my soldering gun is in a vehicle that's in the shop right now so ill wire it up later
i also figured out finally why my update wouldn't work on my deck. there is a wire for the e brake that needs to be connected to tell the deck that the vehicle is parked. i hooked it up with a side to side connector because i thought it wasn't really an important connection. well the connector never perforated the wire sheath so the deck wasn't getting the e brake signal. now it works and siri works again. man have i missed hands free calling. it's amazing how much i use it with my job! these speakers hit sooo hard too. i'm really blown away with how good they really are. opening up those baffles made 100% improvement.!!
took my family to the cabin this past week and hauled everything up with the cruiser. as we docked (no roads in) a plow wind hit. my wife and kids were
in the cabin and had literally heard the door click closed when the trees fell. i was still on the dock trying to keep the boat from being ripped off the dock so i saw the trees snapping and falling all around me. quite a welcome. anyway we spent the week playing and working to clean the building off at least. on the way home my starter decided to give me a little grief. the contacts are worn and i've had off and on starting issues. this time it just wouldn't go. i had a guy in the parking lot help with a push start and off we went. got an appointment to get that sorted out next week. i was also driving with a canoe on the roof and my trailer behind. i have no idea what my fuel range is with that load and my sending unit is toast so i ordered a new one this morning. i'm going to drop the tank as i want to change the fuel pick up as well. my engine starts starving when i turn a long right if i'm below 1/4 tank. i've filled it when the sending unit was working and it was accurate until it stopped working so i know there something funky going on in my fuel system. hope i can sort that out finally.
lol. the raised part on the cabin is the current addition that isn't even finished. i'm not ready to start a new phase quite yet. ill just make it a little warmer in the winter with little guilt!!
drove to alberta hauling my 4500 lb trailer. towed super well and when i did the fuel economy math i got the same mileage as i used to get with just the 3fe and gear in the truck! man am
i happy with this engine
this came today so my fuel tank parts are here. a few tie down items i want to get yet to install in the cargo area before i drop the tank but hopefully ill get this sorted out soon. also looking into speedometer ratio fixes and my tach. i want to stay stock with my gauges but need to correct the sending singnal end so they can read it.
my speedometer has started jumping and i'm 14% out reading on the slow side with the drive line i have in place. i oredred a new cable from cruiseroutfitters and am having it shipped by abbott enterprises in arazona before it comes north. they're going to splice in an inline converter box that'll make my stock speedometer work properly. when i get it ill update how well it works. now i have to get my tach taken care of and all my gauges should work again. i hate driving without knowing what's really going on with my truck. especially fuel level!! ill clean up the speedo gauge and install the new cable at the same time and hopefully that'll sort the jumping needle
ill call dakota digital once i have time and see if i can sort out what kind of sending unit i need to run my tach
well my truck went into get a quick install of a webasto preheater but they needed to drop the fuel tank to add another line. they said that a lot of guys have hard starts and rough running if you just tap into the fuel line because it drains the fuel filter. who knows. they are a webasto dealer and install a ton so ill have to take their word. this means it'll likely be expensive as the tank has been hard to drop. while it's down i'm having them put in my new pick up and sender so that'll be hours if my time i don't have to spend doing it. might be worth it in the end. i just know i'm running out of time before winter comes and i want it working this year!! my rad hose connector for a temp sending unit came so that'll all get hooked up when i get my truck back. then i have to find a new oil leak. roll eyes. it never ends does it!!
webasto is installed but i couldn't get thermo call to work. apparently rogers is the only cell company that sells GSM sim cards and here in saskatchewan they have such coverage that anywhere i'd go that i'd need to use it won't have coverage. apparently esbar is coming out with one that should work with the webasto timer but time will tell. for now i have just the timer installed. ill get pictures tonight when i get the truck back.
i also had a new fuel pick up and sending unit i stalled while the tank was down. fuel gauge still not working so i now have wires to trace. hopefully my weird problem of starving after a long slow right turn will go away but who knows. little by little ill get the gremlins out!
not sure i like how they routed the hoses so i may play with that later but otherwise i'm glad to have it running. ill tidy up wires and stuff a little as i like as i work out some other issues. now i have to jam an air box in there somehow!!
speedometer cable built with a gear ratio corrector just showed up today. hope this fixes my speedometer squeak. and corrects the speedometer misreading
