One of those days

[JSM]

Just venting. Got home late last night after taking kids to amusement park. Got to sleep about 1am just in time for alarm to go off at 6am.

I have 3 vehicles (ty, tahoe and a beater daily). I planned to leave the beater with my mom so she had a car while I was gone. Jump in the tahoe start it up, low bat. light is on. Damn alternator that is about 5weeks old obviously is bad AGAIN. Time to take it in for warranty for 3rd time, this is getting old.

So no problem, typhoon is running decent, drove it friday to work. Jump in it. 5 miles down the road the bolts for the waterpump are loose, well the 2 that were left were. Tightened the 2 the were left, started it up, but it was too late. All but 1 were sheared off.

So it is just before 7am, if I call my house it forwards to my cell phone anyways. That didn't work. Luckily I have a cheap toolbox in the ty I carry, and was able to improvise enough to get it back home.

Pull the alternator off the ty, put it on the tahoe, start it back up still not charging. :rant:

Drove the daily beater, mom is stuck at my house with no wheels.

Got the bad alternator for tahoe with me to take back. Any guess what I will be doing tonight?

 

[QWERTYphoon]

Re: One of those days

Is this a trick question? You'll be fixing the Ty first, right?

 

[mattw]

Re: One of those days

LOL, you need to change your screen name to "looseBolts".

-Matt

 

[canadian]

Re: One of those days

Got the bad alternator for tahoe with me to take back. Any guess what I will be doing tonight?

Teaching your Mom how to wrench on cars?

 

[JSM]

Re: One of those days

LOL, you need to change your screen name to "looseBolts".

-Matt

Since 3 of the 4 sheared what should it be?

 

[attackdog]

Re: One of those days

I have an 01' Yukon and just replaced my 4th alternator. I have replaced the batteries, cables, and added a voltage load leveler but still am having trouble. I don't know if it is just my truck but it is a pain in the butt. I am glad that it is easy to work on. Let me know what you find.
-Dean

 

[VermontTy]

Re: One of those days

Another reason to have more than 1 beater. I personally prefer a beater-salad in the driveway; a rusted out import, a turd truck, maybe an SUV with no brakes.....the choice is really up to you.

 

[dgoodhue]

Re: One of those days

LOL, you need to change your screen name to "looseBolts".

-Matt

It should be 'loose nuts'

 

[JSM]

Re: One of those days

It should be 'loose nuts'

Daron sees that and that name will be sticking. :rant:

 

[MikeRenz]

Re: One of those days

HTR. Hand Tightened Racing.

 

[BigBadSmoosh]

Re: One of those days

you said work was 5 miles away?

why not ride a bike? =P

 

[JSM]

Re: One of those days

Work is 15miles away, I got 5 miles before bolts sheared off.

I can promise there were not hand tight when installed. This time they will be all new bolts, grade 8 and red loctite. If that doesn't work safety wired.

 

[canadian]

Re: One of those days

Can't you weld them on?

 

[turbodig]

Re: One of those days

Work is 15miles away, I got 5 miles before bolts sheared off.

I can promise there were not hand tight when installed. This time they will be all new bolts, grade 8 and red loctite. If that doesn't work safety wired.

Water pump bolts don't shear for no reason... either they were weak to begin with, or something is really stressing it. (accy bracket, belt, etc)

I'd dig a little deeper into this one, personally.

 

[Daron]

Re: One of those days

Daron sees that and that name will be sticking. :rant:

BAM!!! Loose Nutz it is!! That name fits better than spandex on JLo for more reasons than you all know. Jeff has a storied history with this issue lol...

Someone just needs to photoshop Jeffs face on:

 

[alwayscode390]

Re: One of those days

Time to tell your mom to buy a beater ... that way you can use her car in situations like this , HAHAHA ---

 

[Six-is-Enough]

Re: One of those days

BAM!!! Loose Nutz it is!! That name fits better than spandex on JLo for more reasons than you all know. Jeff has a storied history with this issue lol...

Someone just needs to photoshop Jeffs face on:

I'll second Loose Nutz for Jeffrey. That is to funny!!!!:rotf:

Who we got to pay off to get his name changed??????:tup:

 

[JSM]

Re: One of those days

Water pump bolts don't shear for no reason... either they were weak to begin with, or something is really stressing it. (accy bracket, belt, etc)

I'd dig a little deeper into this one, personally.

It is the 4 bolts that hold the pulley onto the waterpump, not the watepump to block bolts.

I suspect they just got loose, then the pulley became a nice shear.

 

[JSM]

Re: One of those days

Update: Tahoe is fixed, didn't teach mom how to wrench any. She did watch me put the alternator back on. It turned out to be a combination of 2 things. The original charge wire from alternator goes to battery, that connection was dirty.

I had also put an extra charge wire on awhile back and ran it to the main fuse block terminal under the hood. I picked the wrong terminal so it was charging through a big 30 amp fuse. Well that fuse was burnt (not really blown). So both ways it could have charged were not working.

Fixed both issues, had good voltages this morning and drove it to work.

Also got all the parts to fix the ty, just didn't get to it.

 

[2kwik4u]

Re: One of those days

15 miles is nothing. I rode the 17 miles from my house to yours last night and home, although it was dark when I got there. Took a little longer than driving (drive time is 30 minutes, ride time is ~1hr), but I feel a few pounds lighter this morning.

The real lesson that Jeff learned last night everyone is asking?!??!!? Use the volt meter before assuming it's a parts problem and yanking everything off the truck!