Slartibartfast

If the trans overheated bad enough, fluid might've boiled out around the dipstick. Apparently some of the auto trans Jeep Manglers tended to boil over right onto the exhaust manifold and catch fire. I would take a scrap of hose and try blowing air through both coolers. Not 150 psi from a compressor, I doubt either cooler is designed to handle that, just blow with your mouth. If one is clogged, well, there's your problem. Of course, that gunk can only come from inside the trans, so that's still not good news. Bypass the clogged cooler and consider adding a filter to pick up whatever wear material the clog didn't pick up already. Hopefully the overheating didn't damage the trans too bad and a working cooling system + fresh fluid brings it back. When I changed the fluid in mine, it still looked reddish on the stick, but came out brown and nasty into the bucket, and I even saw a little metallic shimmer when I first opened the system. I put it back together with fresh fluid, an external cooler (my rad wasn't that old so I left its cooler in the system), and a filter to catch whatever gunk didn't come out with the old fluid. No issues so far.

You might get lucky with a used LSV. Make sure the bleeder turns before dropping money on it. I'd be inclined to pull the one you've got and see if you can free it up before buying a used one. Either you get it working and don't need to buy a used one, or you know exactly what to check the used one for before handing money over. You posted elsewhere about deleting the LSV. The diagram in the '96 manual shows an LSV for 4WD trucks only, and the '04 manual shows no LSV at all. The diagram on BR-6 of the '96 manual shows the LSV and non-LSV systems side by side, and unless there's something going on in the four-way connectors that I don't know about, I don't see anything stopping you from converting an LSV system to a non-LSV system. Besides rusted fittings, anyway. Maybe cross-ref the ABS blocks and master cylinders to make sure the proportioning wasn't altered there for LSV vs non-LSV systems before pulling the trigger on a delete, though, just to be sure you don't end up with screwy brake bias. As for the forum questions: If I'm putting a long post together, especially if it's been up a while since I started, I like to copy the lot before hitting Post, just on the off chance it screws up. Haven't had an issue in a while, though. I assume the mods are busy and the server changeover will happen when it happens.

Yeah, there's a plug for the ignition switch, I think it's above the pedals somewhere. But the wire connections on the ignition switch itself are right out in the open once you take the clamshell off. The starter should be the black wire with the yellow stripe. If you jump that to + (forget what color but easy to find with a meter), the starter should kick. That said, I've never heard of the starter running slow because the ignition switch was bad. Click/no start, yes. Running slow, no. When you turn the key, that circuit passes power to the starter solenoid. The solenoid pushes the pinion into engagement, but also brings together the contacts that send power to the starter motor (power that goes through the big + cable to the starter). So if the contacts in the switch are hooped, it might do nothing, or it might pass enough power to move the solenoid (click) but not enough to bring the contacts together properly (no start). A slow starter motor isn't getting power, either because of connection issues or because the battery's weak. Surface charge is a new one on me, so I looked it up. Apparently it can make a hooped battery test as good. If the battery charges too fast, it doesn't charge completely, so it acts like a much smaller battery when confronted with a load (like a starter motor). If you have another battery that will fit, I'd put that in there and give it a go. The last battery I replaced still tested as good with my cheap tester. It even started the engine alright, when it was warm out. When it got cold, though, it dragged like what you're talking about. I swapped out the battery and it's been fine since.

Given that the dealer solution involves glue, you'd probably be better off welding it up yourself. Never fun to find holes you didn't know were there. Good luck patching it up.

No. Don't do that. The battery doesn't just store power for the starter motor. It also filters out the noise the alternator makes, noise which the endlessly multiplying electronics in modern cars may or may not be able to deal with. This may have been a valid test on cars of the 60s and earlier, but I wouldn't do it to anything fuel-injected. There are too many expensive things that could go wrong. +1 for a failing alternator. The battery light on the dash isn't a trouble code that hasn't cleared yet, it's a sign the alt isn't charging. A buggered alt can also make the battery run down overnight, if a diode is shorted, though it sounds more like the battery just ran down as you drove home and you got lucky (the lights and electronics didn't discharge the battery enough for them to quit before you got home). Get a new alt in there and/or get it on a charger ASAP, lead acid batteries don't respond well to sitting around discharged for extended periods. Also +1 for making it someone else's problem if it's still under warranty.

Huh, I always thought the diaphragm design was a domestic thing. My WD21 doesn't have one. My understanding is that the diaphragm is supposed to flex and follow the surface of the fluid, allowing air to come and go above it as the fluid level rises and drops below but keeping the two separate. Probably worth replacing at some point but I doubt it's what's screwing up your bleed. You might get lucky with a gravity bleed but I suspect the LSV's got an air pocket in it that will only come out through the bleeder. It makes sense that you didn't have to bleed it when you did the front lines--air would have to go a long way to get from the front brake lines to the LSV. But now you've worked on the lines right at the LSV, and the master pumped air into it as well. If you don't have the clearance underneath to persuade what's left of the bleeder, you may have an easier time removing the valve from the truck and extracting the bleeder on the bench. If it's totally rounded, you may have to resort to drilling and extracting or welding a nut to it. If you can get it out without screwing up the valve, you can just put a new bleeder in the hole and hopefully be good to go.

Hmm. Yeah, that's not the steering stops then. Could be the sway bar. Check where it mounts to the frame, too, I remember reading someone had one of those break off.

Good to hear!

Hopefully that does it! Looks like the LSV might have a bleeder on it, too. There should be a procedure in the service manual showing you what/where/what order.

Looks way tougher with those tri-spokes gone!

Did you bleed the ABS module? I know there's a bleeder there on the WD21, I'd expect the same on an R50.

I had an auto hub crap out and try to engage while driving and it sounded like grinding gears. Scared the crap outta me. Backing up in a parking lot shut it up temporarily, and swapping that junk for manual hubs solved the problem permanently. Also check your wheel bearing for play. I doubt it's that (seems like that would make noise all the time) but easy to rule out. Only other thing I can think of for the grinder on metal sound is a brake sticking. Have a look at your brake pads and make sure they don't show uneven wear from something binding up.

Mine has a mixure of black and blue with no issues (it was like that when I got it). I've read that you want to match them if possible. Mine doesn't seem to mind.

If the ECU thinks the engine's knocking, it's probably detuning the crap out of it. Or if the engine is knocking, the fuel mix could be out of whack. Check the plugs, check the O2 sensor, clean the MAF, see if you can find anything obvious that would be throwing it off.

Jesus! There's your problem. Having it slip like that is a bit worrying. Have a good look at the drive gear on the old one to make sure it's not chewed up. You might even want to check the valve timing to be sure the seizing bearing didn't make the belt skip teeth. Hopefully the drive gear was just slipping on the dizzy shaft or something like that and nothing else is damaged.

Rich exhaust could be a failed oxygen sensor, though it's normal for an engine to run rich when it's warming up. You may be able to back-probe the connector for the O2 sensor(s) with a meter to see if it's working but you could also try just unplugging them to see if it runs any better without their input. Do you have a timing light? Could help to see if the last guy timed the new distributor properly (though you're supposed to set timing warm, which is problematic when it's not running properly.) If the timing jumps all over the place, that could indicate a problem with the replacement dizzy. Fuel pressure's not a bad idea to check either, if you have access to the tools, though I'd expect a fuel pressure issue to crop up at high revs rather than idle. Unless there's fuel coming out of the pressure regulator into the vac line (pull the vac line off and see if gas comes out), I'd assume it's probably fine. Check the other vac lines and rubber parts of the intake for obvious leaks while you're at it.

Depends on the LEDs you use. When I had my '95, I bought a cheap LED panel off eBay for the dome light. 36 surface mount LEDs or something crazy like that, way too much. I've got some smaller (I think they're 6 diodes each?) warm-white LED panels in Rat Trap now and you'd never know they're not incandescents except that they don't run the battery down if I leave a door open.

The vehicles I've seen with third-row seats have fairly flat floors. My WD21 certainly doesn't have a flat floor, and I'm pretty sure the R50s don't either--the cargo area floor is higher than the front footwells (and has to be to clear the suspension etc). You'd have to either cut holes in the roof for your passengers' heads to stick out or drop the seats and have no legroom. Lt. Dan might not mind, but then you've gotta figure out how to get him in there, and where to put the wheelchair now that the back's full. That said, a rear-facing bench seat could be great for tailgating.

You can, but the truck won't pick up any power unless the valve was jammed wide open before. I've read that the EGR makes the engine idle a little better, but I've never tested this with mine. Unless it's hooped already, I'd leave it alone, mostly because the fittings on the pipe to the exhaust manifold are a real PITA to get loose.

Hmm. My first thought on the mileage is a failing O2 sensor, but the alignment drifting that quickly is more worrying. Take a good look at the joints and bushings, maybe jack it up and check for play, see if anything is obviously bent. You might also want to check the strut towers around where they tend to have corrosion issues just to be sure those aren't getting weak and moving around. You could even check the front end measurements against the service manual, but that's probably overkill.

Man, that sucks. Good that it was an easy fix, though, and yeah, hopefully the laptop was backed up. With a smash & grab like that, they probably didn't have their head inside the vehicle long enough for the horn idea to work. I think the only solution for this type of thing is a Trunk Monkey. Or the laminated side windows some newer cars have, but then you can't break out in an emergency.

I'd be surprised if a trans throwing a shift solenoid code wasn't running in some kind of limp mode. The WD21 locks itself into third and stays there. I haven't looked up what the R50 does, but I assume it would at least lock out OD. Good luck with the valve body!

If the transistor in the intermittent box was going out, I'd expect the intermittent function to not work at all (either no movement of the wipers or no delay between wipes). The switch sounds like a more likely candidate, especially if the box looks alright. I haven't studied the circuit diagram but if there's a wire to the tan box that goes live when you put the stick to intermittent, I'd check that first, make sure it goes live when it's supposed to.

Doesn't sound like the motor's on the fritz if it works fine in the other positions. My first thought is the wiper switch. My second thought is that IIRC that tan box on the motor has something to do with the intermittent function. Look it up in the manual (should be in body or electrical, if I had to guess) to see what all is involved with that circuit, then have a poke at it with the meter to see if the contact in the switch is getting weak or the little box is getting flaky. I want to say that wiper amp in the back is for the rear wiper, but don't take my word for it.

Different makes/models run different fluids. The Ford pickup I'm working on takes Type F ATF. A friend of mine has two Chevys that spec Power Steering Fluid, which is its own special thing. I think my dad's Audi takes some kind of mineral oil. And yeah, I've heard that Hondas are very picky about having their own special stuff. I imagine they've all got different viscosities and seal conditioners and anti-wear additives and whatnot that the systems they go in won't work right without. (There's probably some kind of breakdown on BITOG, if you're looking for a rabbit hole to fall into.) Always check the manual! The Pathy service manual specs Dexron II ATF, so I just used generic dex/merc, same as I used in the trans and transfer. Good luck with the strut rod bushings. Eyeball your camber when you're done, mine changed a bit after doing the bushings and I still need to get around to fixing that!