Recent content by Big T

I guess there’s always a first.

I said the same. I was lucky.

Well I did. I backed up there to clear the lane in the parking lot. It worked. Suddenly this job jumped to the front of the line in front of upper and lower control arms on my wife’s 2014 4Runner. Can’t do any work in the yard as it’s too muddy from all the rain.

So I was helping my brother clear a landscaping drain at his home in Corona Del Mar. Headed to Home Depot in Costa Mesa to rent a power snake and I broke a tie rod on my ‘99 Suburban. It was on the right front where I was having issues with the tie rope loose in knuckle from over reaming it...

Can’t believe I failed to transfer the RFID chip in the first place. But it was snuggly in its old receptacle and I was working with tired eyes. I just assumed it was a fixed part of the old case. Now I’m feeling pretty stupid over this.

I cut a strip from an ad card in the mail. Folded it in a size and thickness that would mop up the space and make it a snug fit. Essentiallly, I fabricated a shim to firmly hold it in place. I then put it back together and my tests had it working just fine. So it’s good now. I just don’t see...

Top = New key fob case. Bottom = old broken key fob case. New will crank the engine, but no start. Other set of keys with old key fob will crank and start the vehicle. At the top right of old broken fob there is a rectangular piece, is that for sending a security signal to start the vehicle? I...

Bonus points for admitting the ecoboost is crap.

Just replaced the battery in September, but it was on the alternator that failed. Battery never failed to start the car.

Wife has the car at our Montana home; I am at our Fullerton, CA home. I can try to coach her through using rhe multi meter, but I know she’ll just take it to our local mechanic.

Alternator went out on the 2014 4Runner, stranding my wife in Mackay, Idaho (population ~500). Original alternator went 318.5K miles. I replaced with new Toyota Denso alternator and that lasted to 395.7K miles, or about 78K miles. Replacement alternator (do not know if it was new or reman, but...

This is true for the foam and upholstery part. The cheaper salvage seats typically have the air bag blown in the seatback, but to date I have not used the seatback, only the seat bottom.

As you can see the old was getting ratty. It had 11 years and 394K miles on it. The replacement was from a 2018 with 88K miles on it, so the material and foam were in much better condition. The material faded because they left the seat in the wreck without the doors, exposed to weather for over...