After all the effort, I spritz 303 protective on all the plastic and rubber parts. Let it sit up for a few hrs then I wipe away all the dust under the acoustic panels. Wash each panel and treat then reassemble. Car looks and stays clean as dust just rinses off. In your area of the world, dust and grit has to be unbelievable. Can one say sand blasting while driving?

Swore at it as I spotted grease up inside the right-side wheel arch and located another split CV boot.... :rolleyes:

Did a bunch of maintenance.

Oil change, rear diff, front diff, transmission, transfer case, engine and cabin air filters. Then had to replace the alternator as it died on Wed, so did that and both drive belts.

Then tonight on the way in to work the AC died. Dash controls went completely dead. I wasn't able to check the fuses as I don't have tools in the car, so that will wait until morning.

Oh, the joy of owning a 20+ year old car ;)

Sand blasting is a pretty accurate description, on the plus side bugs and other crap seems to get scrubbed away quickly [emoji848][emoji1787]

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Replaced all the female seat belt buckles in the rear since my fuel pump died so got that swapped out all at once. [emoji849]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...caaaef4481.jpg

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I have had an evap code for the past month or so (slow leak). I first got it on a trip in July and reset it a couple of times, but it came back on the next drive. I let it stay on for a month and then reset it again last week, and it hasn't come back in a week.


When the code appeared I was on a trip and was around sea level. But I live at around 4,000ft elevation. Any idea if the lower elevation could have caused it? I will see if it comes back but I'm wondering if it may have just had something to do with atmospheric pressure.

A small leak is bigger in higher atmospheric pressure.

Put A/C hoses on it after steam came out the center vents. The gauges read weird pressures. The previous time was a small charge. A small PSS was heard while removing the caps. Both cores were tighten. Each valve core turn just enough to know it moved. A quick 30 min vacuum was pulled. Due to high humidity, it didn't pull as low as I would like to see it. The vacuum pulled the first can great. The remaining R134 was pulled when the compressor kicked on. Before reaching engine operating temperature and second can, the condenser fan kicked on. The auxiliary fan had not been kicking on with the A/C command button. Hopefully, now the fan will kick on to cool faster than having to drive off right away.

If you can't lift the hood and see a super clean engine bay you aren't really a car guy.

2006 3.0 - Change my oil pan gasket. Didn't do it today, did it this weekend. The part I was most concerned about, dropping and reinstalling the subframe, was not difficult at all. Took a long time, but I expected that. I have to fill it with oil, refill the power steering and put the wheels back on tomorrow and I'm done. Total about 24 man hours.