Observations for today

[KidVermicious]

I have three observations for today.

1 - the '95 22RE distributor cap looks exactly the '85 distributor cap, except the plug seats are too small for your wires. So don't let the guy at the parts store fatfinger the year of your truck and make you waste 45 minutes trying to figure whats up with your wires and then driving back to the store for the correct part.

2 - would you like to know what it sounds like when you leave your socket and breaker bar on the crank bolt and then start the truck? It sounds exactly like you levitating three feet in the air and shitting your pants at the same time, that's what it sounds like. On the other hand, now I know how easy it is to break free that crank bolt.

3 - sometimes when you've been working on your truck you pull off the intake tube. If you try to start your truck afterwards, it will fire for a second and then die. I know you all have done this, don't lie. What you may not know is that sometimes you also disconnect the harness wire coming from under the plenum and leading to your ignition coil. If you try to start the truck with that wire disconnected, it will behave exactly as if you've left the intake tube off, and if you have laid it over the passenger fender to get it out of the way you will not notice it and you will spend 10 minutes trying to figure out what the f*** is wrong with your intake boot.

 

[SV_Dude]

Another fun day of bending wrenches on the 4runner?

 

[KidVermicious]

What was your first clue?

 

[BucknutBob]

These stories are always fun and amusing...as long as they're someone ELSE's stories (LOL). It's never quite as funny when it's happening to you...at least not in the short term, anyway. The person who came up with Murphy's laws looooves mechanics!

 

[SV_Dude]

If it makes you feel any better, I learned the hard way to chalk the wheels when pulling the drive shaft. The e-brake didn't work either.



I have never moved out from underneath a vehicle faster than at that moment.

 

[TechnoMyViolet3]

Its days like these that really make me appreciate the days when everything goes right.

 

[Footofgod]

2 - would you like to know what it sounds like when you leave your socket and breaker bar on the crank bolt and then start the truck? It sounds exactly like you levitating three feet in the air and shitting your pants at the same time, that's what it sounds like. On the other hand, now I know how easy it is to break free that crank bolt.

Been there and done that.

 

[BoatRacer]

My first Toyota was owned by a good friend of mine in high school. He lived on a nice lake front home and had the bad habit of parking the truck on the boat launch. One afternoon we came outside to see it floating near the end of the dock. The e-brake cable broke. We just managed to pull it in close enough for the front tires to touch before it sank. I bought it back from his insurance company, flushed the fuel system, and had the interior cleaned. It was a great truck for years! There are plenty of other things I don't want to admit to, and Yes OP, I know exactly what the breaker bar sounds like when still attached to the crank while trying to fire.

 

[BucknutBob]

Actually, I think I did the crank-bolt "trick", too! Managed to break my own windshield in freezing weather once--that was fun to explain (LOL)! My best friend and I had this running joke--before starting a project on a vehicle, we would lightly punch/rap our knuckles on some part, so we could say we got it out of the way up front and didn't need to have it happen later by accident.

 

[mpleitez]

I got one too, 3.0 had a broken motor mount I was unware of, I was reving the engine and BOOM:behindsofa: the gine made contact with the fan and shroud. Shattered the fan into my radiator i had just replaced a few weeks before and the fan made a nice dent in my hood. Seconds before I was giving it throttle from the engine bay. :amen: Like Bob said it's funnier when it's not happening to you. Good Luck KID

 

[BucknutBob]

A buddy of mine had on old Chevelle that was giving him problems--one day when we were pulling away from a stop sign, it died on him. He got mad, fired it up, revved it up and dropped the shifter into drive, thinking he would peal out. BOOM! Now his driveshaft is lying on the ground (LOL). Very quietly, he gives me an evil-sounding warning--"Not one word!!!" We DID have a good laugh about it later that day...after the steam stopped coming out of his ears.

 

[Footofgod]

Since we are just telling old war stories now......

My first encounter with a CV axle happened on an 87 Celica. I had a bad habit of spinning the tires every chance I got. So at a stop light, I started spinning away and then.........BOOM! The car rolled a few feet and I quickly shut it off not knowing what the sound was. Got out and found my axle on the ground. At the time, I had no idea what it was. Easy fix and I was back on the road. Knowing what I know now, I'm lucky the diff did not explode.