When I finally got into the truck to start it I remembered the harness inside the passenger side dashboard. I quickly shoved them back into their plugs and realized that I was on the wrong side of the bottom of the glove box. It shut with them there so I just left them for now. I need to re-do all that when I work on the AC which will need to be soon if I plan on actually driving it. Now it was time to start it. Here is how the first attempt went.
First false start, I grabbed the belt which was not in the parts box because I thought I had bought a new one, apparently I did not. I got the belt routed correctly around the pulleys including the power steering pulley, which does actually look well aligned. Then I gave it another attempt to capture the “First start”. I apologize in advance for the crap camera work. And if you do not recognize the weird background sounds you are definitely not from South Texas. That sound is the lullaby of thousands of cicadas.
Just a quick not about the emotion showing through in the last part of the that video. As a professional with years of experience it is important to convey confidence by not sounding as blatantly surprised when the outcome is actually successful. Luckily, I am a backyard tinkerer who used every ounce of his own ability, bolstered by a hundred Youtube mechanics experience and opinions, a bunch of expensive tools, reference books / online documents, and a pig headed stubbornness that allows me to tell myself I can still do “anything” I put my mind to, and if I don’t my 79 year old mother will be more than happy to tell me all the reasons why I failed.
It RUNS! This changes everything now I have to quickly move on to the next phase. A test drive. I put it in reverse, the brake felt very soft. I quickly realized I had not put the hose clamps on the vacuum hose from the brake booster to the intake manifold. I open the hood and fix this issue. It has a chirp from the serpentine belt that seems to be getting worse. And of all things, it shows unlimited oil pressure. This is undoubtedly due to me not plugging in the damn sensor that has caused me no end of issues and would have worked perfectly if I had just remembered to push the plug into place. I took a quick shakedown run to the gas station. It chirps like an angry bird and had a little stutter here and there. But no knocks from bearing or valve clatter so I am really happy. I popped the hood when I got home to check to anything that may have loosened and notice that I must not have torqued the bolts on the water pump pulley. If the gas station was a mile further I would probably lost at least one of them. I pull the truck into its now familiar position and put up the engine perch and yep, I had not plugged in the sensor. So I get that done and work on tightening the water pump pulley bolts. I tighten the one I can get to on the top and mark it with the paint pen with a line that also goes onto the pulley so I can see if they are backing off. I bump the key and it turns the engine just enough to do the same with the next one, two more bumps and all four are now tight.
It is still early in the day so I decide to go meet my restauranteur buddy who has a couple of lightly used patio heaters for me. Perfect I even need my truck for this. Our rendezvous location is one of his stores 20 miles from the house. I am so happy the truck is working. Not as happy that the AC is not working but I will take one thing at a time. The truck has plenty of power and has no problem on the highway other than the wind blowing crap around in the back of the cab. The usual traffic jam at 10 and 1604 makes me sit and listen to the angry bird chirp loudly as it bounces off the concrete barriers next to me so I turn up the stereo. Damn something is wrong with the subwoofer so the stereo will not drown it out. That’s another project. After meeting with the crew and attaining the bounty (and having a few tequila sunrises) I find the closest parts store to Kill the Angry Birds.
As usual I have to pay the dumbass tax. I should have order it from Amazon for $27 but NOOOO, I have to pay $47 which is still better than the $68 I was quoted for the “Lifetime Warranty” part. I grab the short step out of the truck bed and the 3/8 ratchet from the toolbox and pop the hood. 4 minutes later I am driving out of the parking lot with an almost silent truck. Unbelievable how bad that old belt was. Did I throw it out. Hell no. It goes in the toolbox, just in case. The drive back to the house was much better but at 102ยบ air temp it is just plain hot. So A/C and stereo are next up on the list as long as it continues to run as nicely as it is. I do see the engine light on but I will hook it up to the computer later. Right now I am just basking in the fact I have a running truck again.
