RE: RE: Ouch, that hurts. Man down!!!

From: C. Philip Cutler II (cpcii@cox.net)
Date: Wed Mar 10 2004 - 12:50:46 EST


Well it isn't as bad as my activities for the week, thought I would go
in and get an alignment (had the truck 10 years, never done, something
should of been out of wacky by then, and I was steering about 20° to go
straight), some new shocks, and a rotate and balance, and see if they
could find out what was causing a vibration at about 60-65 mph, that
goes away at 70.

Turns out big chunk out of one tire, and even though a tire says is the
same size but different manufactures they might be a hare off in actual
size, so I need new tires ($414 at Discount for Pirelli Scorpion) before
they will perform a complete alignment, and the bushings are shot so
they will need to replace those after the new tires. Also my front
rotors are shot and the breaks are also so it needs those, and the
master cylinder is shot also ($1045 for all that) plus $110 for a brake
flush service. Also looking at the fuel injectors they are blocked and
2 are totally clogged ($125 for throttle body service and $107 for fuel
injection service). New shocks which I wanted and serpentine belt, which
has been cracked since I got it 10 years ago ($628). The rear end had a
leak and it needed a differential service ($169, cheaper than a failed
rear end though $3500 he said).

All in all, a $500 estimate turns into a $2750 bill. But they needed to
be done, if that's all I have to put into the truck this year besides
oil/gas, it’s a cheap year.

Philip

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of Gabriel
Couriel
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 6:52 AM
To: dakota-truck@dakota-truck.net
Subject: DML: RE: Ouch, that hurts. Man down!!!

whatever it is, it's gonna be less than what i have to spend after my
activities this weekend.

anybody got $2,000 laying around?

Gabriel Couriel

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net]On Behalf Of Josh
Battles
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 9:19 AM
To: dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net
Subject: DML: Ouch, that hurts. Man down!!!

So, I'm driving home from school late last night and I begin to smell
maple,
pretty strongly I might add. I turned the heat down and looked over to
change lanes, and the passenger window was completely fogged, which is
odd,
because 2 minutes previous it was clear.

and the smell gets stronger.

So, wondering what's up I turned on the map lights and sure enough,
there's
coolant running down my floormat. Temp guage is okay and the low
coolant
light isn't on, so i prodded on the last 2 miles home. When I got there
and
shut the truck off, I noticed that there was steam billowing from under
the
hood. It looks like I lost the heater core as well as some of the
hoses...
I can see one of the fittings for the heater core protruding from the
firewall and there's coolant dripping out of it. A quick check of the
other
hoses and they're all hot and feel filled with fluid, however the
overflow
tank is empty. Boy am I sure glad I filled that up last week.

So, I preuse through the FSM to see just what's entailed to remove the
heater core and replace it. Mistake #1. The entire dash has to come out
so
you can remove the "climate control box" or something, but to remove
that
you've got to disconnect the A/C and then undo a bazillion bolts. Now I
know that not everything has to be done the way that it's written in the
FSM, but it gave me a good idea of what's involved and helped me to
figure
out that I don't have the time to do it. So, it looks like it's off to
the
dealership. I'll let you all know what the bill is when it's done. I'm
a
little afraid though.

--
- Josh
Lowered 2000 Dakota CC 3.9L
www.geocities.com/lenny187/dakota.html
www.omg-stfu.com



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