Pellet heads!! What's up today?

The Stabilitrak is so highly integrated into the control/safety of the rig that the Stab trak will go offline if there are ANY issues with nearly anything to avoid a dangerous situation.

The tranny shifts hard (limp mode) and life is annoying.

 

Is that hail?

 

They are making vehicles so computerized now it's getting ridiculous. I'm having an issue with my Colorado. Sometimes when I turn the engine off I can't get the ignition switch into the lock position and remove the key. The culprit is a switch in the shifting lever. It's been replaced once but the issue hasn't totally gone away. Pretty frustration when I have to start and stop the engine 4 or 5 times to get the dam key out of it.

 

i always knew there was a reason I never drove. Now you can't get the key out.

 

Heck yeah - great new avatar!

 

A) Luck had nothing to do with it - planned all along . If I hadn't been 99% confident, I probably would have stuck with my plan of a used vehicle as I had set a $$ budget and that would have put the car too much over (and as it was, it was $700 over but that I could justify with the extra 30k in miles I would get in warranty).
B) They say you have to have the loan at least 3 months before you can refinance - but if one were so inclined, that would be one way to go. Just a lot of people say they will do it, but they don't.
C) I did consider refinancing and paying off the truck instead, but the finance rates were at 3.9% and the truck's rates are lower.

 

Mowed both mine and my neighbor's lawns. Then started working some more on the decorative stone wall. Before today, just had an outside wall, but I installed an inner wall as fill from degraded wall blocks (I got a bunch for free a couple of years ago), and to hold stone and sand between the two to help keep the invasion from lawn grass to a minimum (and easier to pull when it inevitably happens). Killing two birds pretty much. Doesn't look like much, but I carried a lot of stone, sand, stone blocks, and pieces of blocks just to make what seems to be not much progress.

Ignore the random extra blocks on the outer wall at the bottom - those are just sitting there to get them out of the way.The inner wall will save on all the soil I have to buy since that section will be for smaller plants anyway - and they don't need a deep base. I'm using plain cardboard boxes to discourage tree roots and vines from coming up from the existing soil. The cardboard will eventually compost away.


First layer of sand, then stone, then sand, then more stone.

 

Rigs today are a PC on wheels.

 

Good planning.

By "luck" I meant lucky to be able to afford the high payments to pay off in 6 months. Most cannot do that and your right, many say they will refinance but dont. Thats just not smart.

 

One idea might be to get 1 spark plug that is 1 heat range hotter than factory for that cylinder......might help with the fouling problem.

 

Remember when we were the freaking computers in the vehicle

The advancements arent all bad but its been taken too far and riven the vehicle costs through the roof. Auto 4wd is a great advancement, but keep the manual full time engagement there as well-not all have it anymore

 

There use to be a manual switch on the center console right by the shifter for when the auto didnt work, is that gone too?

 

I do like the all wheel drive system GM uses in the Caddy Escalades...later Avy's and have been a standard on the Astro AWD,

This system is great for the "House car type 4x4" ...but if ya want a serious 4x4 for work or heavy off road use, then the manual 4x4 is the ticket.

A manual lever to select high/low and so on.

The early 70's Fords and GM rigs used the NP203 case.
There are more refined boxes today, but that full time system was pretty much fool proof.

Seems that everything now has to have a batch of sensors and a computer to make it work..

WRONG ANSWER

 

Good idea I may try that. Pulled the code yesterday and its PO301-#1 not firing

smoke show helped me out with some bulletins a few years ago. Replacing the valve cover has helped. There are more extensive mods to the lower end including rings IIRC but with the age of the vehicle (2008), so many other mid to smaller issues it just isnt worth it. Diminishing returns..........

Too expensive to have the work done. If I had a lift and air tools again then maybe, but my days of crawling around under the vehicle in the driveway for major jobs are long behind me.

 

The AVY has the switch but this one doesnt come out of 4wd every so often. It may be the motor on the transfer case but it hasnt happened in quite a while now-hoping that I have taken care of it but fingers crossed. If it happens again, I will change the motor.

Also, i have learned to have the switch in 2wd and not Auto unless 4wd might be needed for conditions. Didnt know that until 2 years ago.

 

My mechanic explained that leaving the 4wd system in Auto all the time and not 2wd, was similar to leaving the old school hubs locked all the time. DING, that made sense to me

 

Don't use Auto unless there is some form of slippery conditions (sn*w or rain), and NEVER use full 4wd with less than a minimum of 2-3" of sn*w on the ground, or obviously mud.

Also, about that Po301 code, make sure it's not a bad coil pack. If the check engine lights started flashing while driving, usually indicates a bad coil pack......do NOT continue to drive while flashing.....excess unburned fuel can build-up in the catalytic converter & start burning /overheating and damaging it. They are $$$ to replace.