RiffRaff does carry them for 23. Unfortunately he is currently out of stock. One of the things I love is he provides the part number and I was able to source one from Tasca.

 

Silver, you'll need a crows foot of i think, 3/4. The pipe connects to a FIXED AN-fitting under that plate. Youll bend it all day long with using only 1 box wrench

 

And we have a winner! That is exactly what I was doing wrong. Seeing this and looking at the pictures of the mount, I was attempting to loosen the fixed fitting. DOH!
Hopefully I can get into it this weekend and finish up.

Thanks Timmy

 

So my truck failed me on the way home this AM. A possible contributing factor was running over a road gator.

She was running fine when I pulled into the gas station. Shut her off, went inside. Everything was normal until the WTS light went out and I tried to start her. Click, all power gone. No dash, no cab light, no door buzzer, zip, zero, nada.

I have a jump box that I know won't start the truck but when attached I get power. I can even bump the starter with it.

My first thought is batteries. They were working great though, no slow starts, none of the signs I know of a failing battery. After getting some sleep I will pull them and get them checked/charged.

My second thought was the gator knocking something loose. I hit it on the drivers side. I couldn't see anything loose or busted though. Is there a main powerline on this side I might have knocked loose/damaged? All the fuel lines along the frame rail no sign of impact, or anything else for that matter.

Any ideas/opinions?
Anything else I should be checking?

 

Some model years have a terminal for the positive cable under the air box, but on top of the fender. It has been known to corrode and cause problems. I am not sure which years have it. Check the main engine block grounds, etc... Get a bright light and start looking around for major components that came loose or broke.

 

One battery is definitely toast, ~8.7 V. Do my symptoms agree or should I be looking for something else once I get the new batteries in?

 

Wait til new batts are in but in the meantime, i noticed a significant size wire loom just under d/s front door. I located a wire there to tap into. Anyway, inspect that loom. If something cut, it could be grounding out/pop fuses

 

2 new batteries and she's purring like a kitten. I'm still not sure if there is an underlying problem or if the 5-6 year old battery just called it quits.

When I get some time I need to check all the grounds. Although she has 13.9 on the pass and 13.7 on the driver side immediately after start-up.

 

 

I see that loom. No apparent damage. I'm beginning to think/hope I escaped the gator with just some clean spots on the frame and I-beam.

Now that's a great idea and something I will use on my RX too with their notoriously bad grounds. Thanks.

 

Yay! Another gremlin quashed
I've had a slow, like a half gallon every 2k or so, coolant leak. I knew I just needed to be patient. Sure enough this week I started smelling it in the cab and then it started pouring on the passenger floor board.
Well, ok, that clear enough, time for a heater core. This was both easier than I feared and needlessly harder than it should be. I never thought I would miss changing the core in my 80s and 90s imports.

I will just say that the "quick disconnects" are asinine. I ended up just cutting them off... For multiple reasons.

 

I have had a starting issue getting slowly worse over the last couple of months. It started as a light puff of white/very lite blue smoke on random starts. It has progressed to doing it on most engine cold starts. It has also started rattling real bad, sounds kind of like it's coming from passenger head, but if I prime the system twice before starting there is minimal/no rattling. Additionally I have also begun to feel a dead spot while driving, sometimes. i would call it a miss but obviously it isn't that.

I have not been able to get down in the smoke and get a good wiff. However, it seems to have a strong diesel smell.

According to Forscan there are no relevant codes.
I'm not even sure where to begin diagnosing this. Any ideas?

 

Weather cool enough to activate glow plugs in the mornings, bad relay/plugs? Oil mileage?

 

It is about time to change the oil.
"Edit: mileage is about 5000 on oil"

Outside temps are at worst 70° currently. It has done on an 85+ day though. What temp do the glow plugs activate at?