Trying to keep it moving!

TouchMyPen15

1306

A few years back an imgurian gifted me this Dewalt socket set to work on my truck (for secret santa) it has been a god send. My truck started squealing and peeing out coolant from the water pump last night and losing battery power. Im no mechanic, but I grew up poor as shit in the 90s; necessity has made me confident enough to kinda diagnose and turn a wrench.

Turns out it's a collection of shit
The ac compressor clutch is dying ($200 on rockauto)
An idler pulley bearing has lost a seal and is starting to lock up ($30)
And the water pump is going out ($50)
And im pretty sure it's all putting an extra drain on the alternators' ($120) ability to recharge the circut and putting extra wear on the belt ($20)
The best I got for now is cleaning and lubrication and a new gasket for the water pump.

Well at least it's holding coolant for now. I can't turn on the ac without a horrible squealing. There's still a few other issues that im working out as well, but they're not as pressing.

I have tons left to do for my business practice run. As soon as a few more things are in order, ill set up in my backyard and get a feel for how to make my set up work for me

the_more_you_know

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Valkor

well at least your using a good oil filter. with that much damange, i gotta wonder how long that sumbitch was warning you about the pending maintenance..

2 months ago |

It sat for 2 years, I've just got it back on the road as of this spring

Got this water pump, ill have to wait til tomorrow after work to replace it

OrkenMork

On my way down to the beach (6 hour drive) late one summer, my Jeep started making some weird noise on the interstate....At the next exit, I pulled off and stopped in a parking lot. Turns out the water pump was going bad...lucky for me, I stopped in the parking lot of a chain auto store. Purchased a water pump and some wrenches and two gallons of coolant. Swapped the water pump right there in the parking lot and was on my way back to the beach in about an hour!

Ill have a new water pump on it soon

AlackofPotassiumcankill

I'm going to suggest checking for a seized belt tensioner (bearing) causing that squealing AC compressor?

The belt tensioner spins freely

The belt tensioner is the left most pulley, and spins free without the belt. The center is just a free spinning pulley, that's the one with the bearing that has a bad seal

scottgarland12

Don’t buy from Rockauto! They will screw you if you have an issue on the road! Btdt!

When you're limited on money, your options are also very limited. In a perfect world, id go drop it off at a shop, get a loaner, then come back in a week or 2 to a perfect vehicle

whadyameanthatnamestaken

OP , if you had paid a shop to fix what you fixed you’d be out $500-700 easy, maybe more. Keep up the good work!!

Exactly

xj4low

It's amazing what you can fix when you don't have the budget to pay someone else. The more you do, the more confident you become. Before long, you are doing your own brakes, changing brake fluid, wheel bearings, drive shafts, ujoints, rear main seals, etc. I've opened up a transfer case on a jeep once to change out the chain because it was worn and slapping the inside of the case.

After all that, fixing a mower to get it running again was easy.

gimmeadollar

Replace that water pump immediately. Absolutely essential. It’s never the gasket.

Also, do proper diagnostics before buying parts. YouTube is your friend here.

Also, I doubt the ac clutch is bad. More likely the compressor has failed.

Thank you for the advice

Ultemus

Where's your 10mm?

On the ratchet i was using 🤣

Wait, no its in there. I was using a 9mm

Moving to suggest that the entire water pump is bad. Got it up to temp and drove. When I stopped, she started pissing like a club girl in the alley at 2am... Going for a water pump tonight or in the morning

Pissing from the water pump weep hole, pulley shaft, or the housing seal? Weep hole and/or pulley shaft point to faulty water pump. Gasket may not have sealed. Either way, auto parts exchange those out all the time as they see faulty ones come back from time to time. Either way, I understand the frustration but you should still feel proud to get your hands dirty and fix this stuff.

Im always proud to get dirty fixing my stuff

Looks like from the pulley shaft

Fatty seal on the shaft. Exchange it and hope the next one is worth the time to put on. Many times, they want the cores so a company rebuilds them. New replacement parts are expensive. Stuff like alternators that are broken are examined to see what broke, that mart is fixed, it's cleaned up good, and put back in a box to sell again. I went through 3 starters once before one actually worked. Last alt I had that went out, I had rebuilt by some old guys shop down town.

This past fall I had a fault shutting off my AC due to overheating but never ran hot. Computer had 2 temp sensors sending different temps so it defaulted to overheating warning. Changed the sensor and still had the problem. Changed the t-stat and upper and lower hose and got a leak at the radiator elbow. Changed out the radiator and finally things are good again. Now I'm getting a blend door problem after changing it out so only have AC, no head. That problem can wait.

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