mattadams
12-12-2006, 08:19 AM
Well after buying the truck back, its been spending most of its time at my parents house. Its not that its taking me forever to get it back to where I want it, it just that its been cold and my parents live an hour and a half away so working on it is not the most convenient thing in the world. I've taken a few days off work here and there as warm weather allowed to go down, tear it apart, put it back together again (sometimes thats the most fun part anyways right? :)).
So just in case you are curious, heres what I've been working on...
Issue #1 - Brake lights didn't work, turn signals didn't work. Fuse #13 was blowing. Long story short, wiring harness that went from engine compartment to the fuel tank and brake lights, etc. had come loose from the wheel well and was resting near the header. The heat from the header had burned through about half the harness, causing a few wires to short to the header, causing the fuse to blow. Cut out affected portion, replaced with good chunks of wire, seems fine now!
Issue #2 - Low Fuel light was on and fuel gauge was dead (and had been since before I sold the truck, this was nothing new), leading me to believe the fuel tank sending unit was out. This was actually addressed when I fixed issue #1, woohoo! Of course now I have a fuel tank sending unit doing nothing in my parents basement, but I'll have it in case someone needs one :).
Issue #3 - Third brake light wasnt working. I wasnt sure when it had stopped working, had only noticed it wasnt working when trying to diagnose other brake light problem and even after fixing issue #1, it still didn't work. Solution was that a plug above the headliner about 8" in from the third brake light had somehow been disconnected. Reconnected, good to go!
Issue #4 - Rear diff was leaking. not a great deal of fluid but enough that I was concerned about it. Having only myself to blame since it was a seal problem and I had done the seal, I re-sealed it (much better seal this time) to keep this from happening, and refilled with about $75 worth of diff fluid.
Issue #5 - Since I wasnt using the 6-disk CD Changer anymore, I wanted to get rid of the wiring for it... unfortunately when I had XM installed they had tapped into the CD changer harness for its power and ground and remote, so after getting rid of that harness I ahd to figure the wires again and resplice. This also required me to pull up much of the interior since I had done such an awesome job of hiding it the first time :).
Issue #6 - Since I no longer had the original Garmin GPS installed, I no longer needed the antenna that was roof-mounted. Not wanting to just cut the wire by the roof, I took apart much of the interior to get this out (since I did such an awesome job of hiding it the first time, heh heh). Also removed the power cables for it so they wouldn't be unnecessarily cluttering things.
Issue #7 - I decided to take the CB out. Of course I have a big-ass hole drilled through the roof for the CB antenna, so I left that there, but just pulled the cable and hid it behind one of the panels.
Issue #8 - I decided to go back to stock taillights. Though carbon fiber was ok, decided I liked the stock look a little better. Traded tail lights with a buddy of Walker2970's, and back in business there.
Issue #9 - I wanted to hook up the reverse camera to the deck, since it was capable of doing this. I had to remove the Rostra monitor (pain since I had done such a great job of hiding all the wiring), and hook up the camera to the deck.
Issue #10 - I wanted to hook up my XM Satellite Radio to the deck... XM (actually Jensen) made it a nightmare and thats what ended up taking the most time. Jensen head unit has a female connection on it, the XM Tuner does as well, but the wire that Jensen sells to connect the two has one male and one female... after countless emails where I determined Jensens customer service sucks unbelievable amounts of ass, I finally found the cable I was looking for on the net for way too much money for what it was, and got it all hooked up. Had to move things around a bit since it was too crowded behind the stereo for everything to fit in... the XM tuner is in a pouch to the right of the glove box, and the Jensen Media Module box is now located above the airbag near the defrost... hope it likes heat cause its gonna be getting it! heh heh.
Issue #11 - Since the Warn winch was sold I also wanted to get rid of all the winch equipment that was still in the vehicle. I left the switch for the power interrupt, but pulled all the wires for it. Also removed the power interrupt from the firewall and the wiring associated with it.
Issue #12 - Car Toys had done an unbelievably shitty job of installing the sub and amp in the truck for Oliver (the previous owner of the truck). Wires were left on top of carpet, nothing was screwed down, wires were way too long and just sitting wherever. Since all the interior was apart anyways I did a very professional installation of the sub and amp (well as professional as possible with provided equipment, heh heh).
Issue #13 - Since XM was now hooked up to the deck directly, as was the reverse camera, I had no need for the Bracketron mount holding hte XM Commander and backup camera monitor. This required me to take out hvac controls, but most of the dash was already apart so this wasnt too big of a deal. No more banging my knee on the XM Commander :).
The only thing left that I want to do is get the rocker panels sprayed with bedliner, once I can arrange to get the truck back to Longmont and then to whoever will spray it (probably to gatorhyde, since it looks liek a good product and reasonably priced).This will also allow me to get rid of all sponsor stickers :).
So just in case you are curious, heres what I've been working on...
Issue #1 - Brake lights didn't work, turn signals didn't work. Fuse #13 was blowing. Long story short, wiring harness that went from engine compartment to the fuel tank and brake lights, etc. had come loose from the wheel well and was resting near the header. The heat from the header had burned through about half the harness, causing a few wires to short to the header, causing the fuse to blow. Cut out affected portion, replaced with good chunks of wire, seems fine now!
Issue #2 - Low Fuel light was on and fuel gauge was dead (and had been since before I sold the truck, this was nothing new), leading me to believe the fuel tank sending unit was out. This was actually addressed when I fixed issue #1, woohoo! Of course now I have a fuel tank sending unit doing nothing in my parents basement, but I'll have it in case someone needs one :).
Issue #3 - Third brake light wasnt working. I wasnt sure when it had stopped working, had only noticed it wasnt working when trying to diagnose other brake light problem and even after fixing issue #1, it still didn't work. Solution was that a plug above the headliner about 8" in from the third brake light had somehow been disconnected. Reconnected, good to go!
Issue #4 - Rear diff was leaking. not a great deal of fluid but enough that I was concerned about it. Having only myself to blame since it was a seal problem and I had done the seal, I re-sealed it (much better seal this time) to keep this from happening, and refilled with about $75 worth of diff fluid.
Issue #5 - Since I wasnt using the 6-disk CD Changer anymore, I wanted to get rid of the wiring for it... unfortunately when I had XM installed they had tapped into the CD changer harness for its power and ground and remote, so after getting rid of that harness I ahd to figure the wires again and resplice. This also required me to pull up much of the interior since I had done such an awesome job of hiding it the first time :).
Issue #6 - Since I no longer had the original Garmin GPS installed, I no longer needed the antenna that was roof-mounted. Not wanting to just cut the wire by the roof, I took apart much of the interior to get this out (since I did such an awesome job of hiding it the first time, heh heh). Also removed the power cables for it so they wouldn't be unnecessarily cluttering things.
Issue #7 - I decided to take the CB out. Of course I have a big-ass hole drilled through the roof for the CB antenna, so I left that there, but just pulled the cable and hid it behind one of the panels.
Issue #8 - I decided to go back to stock taillights. Though carbon fiber was ok, decided I liked the stock look a little better. Traded tail lights with a buddy of Walker2970's, and back in business there.
Issue #9 - I wanted to hook up the reverse camera to the deck, since it was capable of doing this. I had to remove the Rostra monitor (pain since I had done such a great job of hiding all the wiring), and hook up the camera to the deck.
Issue #10 - I wanted to hook up my XM Satellite Radio to the deck... XM (actually Jensen) made it a nightmare and thats what ended up taking the most time. Jensen head unit has a female connection on it, the XM Tuner does as well, but the wire that Jensen sells to connect the two has one male and one female... after countless emails where I determined Jensens customer service sucks unbelievable amounts of ass, I finally found the cable I was looking for on the net for way too much money for what it was, and got it all hooked up. Had to move things around a bit since it was too crowded behind the stereo for everything to fit in... the XM tuner is in a pouch to the right of the glove box, and the Jensen Media Module box is now located above the airbag near the defrost... hope it likes heat cause its gonna be getting it! heh heh.
Issue #11 - Since the Warn winch was sold I also wanted to get rid of all the winch equipment that was still in the vehicle. I left the switch for the power interrupt, but pulled all the wires for it. Also removed the power interrupt from the firewall and the wiring associated with it.
Issue #12 - Car Toys had done an unbelievably shitty job of installing the sub and amp in the truck for Oliver (the previous owner of the truck). Wires were left on top of carpet, nothing was screwed down, wires were way too long and just sitting wherever. Since all the interior was apart anyways I did a very professional installation of the sub and amp (well as professional as possible with provided equipment, heh heh).
Issue #13 - Since XM was now hooked up to the deck directly, as was the reverse camera, I had no need for the Bracketron mount holding hte XM Commander and backup camera monitor. This required me to take out hvac controls, but most of the dash was already apart so this wasnt too big of a deal. No more banging my knee on the XM Commander :).
The only thing left that I want to do is get the rocker panels sprayed with bedliner, once I can arrange to get the truck back to Longmont and then to whoever will spray it (probably to gatorhyde, since it looks liek a good product and reasonably priced).This will also allow me to get rid of all sponsor stickers :).