A little backstory on the truck: since I bought the truck, it hasn't idled well. Last weekend when I was coming home from the property, it tried really hard to stall on a couple of occasions. Frequently I would experience loss of power when I stepped on it, to the point of the engine RPM dropping. This is exactly how my old Chevy truck used to behave when I would let it sit too long and the distributor cap would start to corrode a little. Since the truck only runs on the weekends, the symptoms seemed to match, so I decided to give it a tune up.
So Friday I went out to give it a tune up, which unfortunately ended in catastrophic failure. I ended up rounding the bolt on the air intake, which means that the cap and rotor weren't readily accessible. In addition, even with a "ratchet handle extension" (aka a big wrench looped on the end of the ratchet handle), two of the first three plugs that I tried to pull out wouldn't budge. Fearful of breaking the spark plug (which is a very costly repair, plus I would have to tow the truck somewhere), I decided not to crank on them (they are only supposed to be torqued to 30lbs...). I did replace the one plug that I was able to get out. It didn't look to be in good shape, though it didn't look like it was the problem. The gap was still about right (I found out that I don't have a gapper anymore, apparently I didn't snarf dad's), and while there was some slight build up on it, the place where the arcing actually occurs still looked clean.
Today I decided to give it an oil change, since AutoZone had a nice oil change special. One thing I have noticed that is a concern is that I only got 2.5-3 quarts out of the truck. It takes 5. I checked the oil before changing it and the dipstick said it was fine, it was well above the add line. It is something to monitor going forward for sure.
The oil was dark, opaque, and thick; it was obviously overdue, but not chunky like mom's old Chrysler. What a difference it made. The engine runs nearly silent now, most of the engine noise is gone, and the burning smell when I stop is all but gone now. In addition, the truck seems to have more power, though it is still too early to tell. I did put some fuel injector cleaner in as well today, but I definitely didn't expect this kind of a difference. It still stuttered a little bit; it didn't solve the hesitation problem, but it made it less apparent. It does idle a lot smoother now. So finally some good news on the truck front. I am bringing it in for a tune up Tuesday, and also a power steering fluid flush (the truck groans and squeals when you rail the steering). Then a transmission servicing (it hasn't been done since the tranny was rebuilt a couple of years ago), and hopefully it will be good for a while. In case anyone cares, I used the high mileage Castrol. It is a partial synthetic blend, and the truck really seems to like it. AutoZone had it on sale for a buck more than their regular oil change special, and it was worth the dollar.
I decided not to do any construction this weekend because of the big snowstorm coming in on Monday. While a lot of places are now predicting it will miss us, on Saturday the reports were still mixed, and I didn't want to chance it. The main issue is that the way it is right now will withstand snow, it is completely tarped and there are no places for the tarp to sag. The next step in the shed construction though is to stand up the walls. Once I do that, the shed will be very vulnerable to snow until I get the roof on. I can put in the support beam, and I have two tarps that can act as a temporary roof, which would work fine for rain, but snow will collect, and the weight will break the tarp, much like the problem I had with water pooling in between the studs a couple of weeks ago. So I elected not to do any further construction until there is no chance of snow.
Today I went up and picked up another bag of trash, and just walked around up there for a bit. I actually found a nice step for my shed. I am intending to use it as a base step for the shed. It is actually quite nice. Unfortunately it weighs several hundred pounds and I haven't figured out how to get it up there yet. I will probably borrow a wheelbarrow or something.
In addition, I moved up some individual bricks lying around up to the shed site so that I can make some nice steps to get into the shed. These will eventually go on top of the big lump in the prior picture.
The last several days have been nice and dry, the creek is back to normal.
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