Greetings and Salutations!
So I took a night off last night… both physically and mentally spent. I actually went to bed on Friday night at 22:00 so I’d make sure I was up to you know, actually do something besides being a fart-sack-slug.
It worked. I was up by 08:30.
And commenced to working on a multitude of ‘sins’ if you will. Namely getting the yard squared away, AND working on the Boat. I finally went and did the window regulator. I’m exceptionally happy that a guy on the YouToob who had a video for this exact year and model which prepped me for the job.
I did the full-on tear-down, and got everything ready:
Once I had ‘skinned’ all the crap out, the new piece went in rather smoothly. Sorry for a dearth of photos, but it was hot as balls, and I was working, rather than doing a walk through. Needless to say, it worked. The window works like a champ.
I did fuck up one thing and that was making sure the door handle worked when I put it all back together. I’ll fix that in the next few days. It’s a matter of removing the inner cover, and re-mounting it properly (I didn’t get it ‘seated’ right as it seems) but hey, at least I can lower the window to open the door from the outside…
I also have to pretty much do the same for ALL the other door handles as the 03 Nav is notorious for having shitty door handles. Thankfully I got a completely new set off of the eBay for $35 w/free shipping, so I have that going for me.
It took me about two heat-cat inducing hours to get the door done. However, I was motivated, so I went a wee bit further and did the fog lamps, which I had mentioned I had overlooked before. They came out ok, but as they (as far as I can tell) are INOP, it’s a cosmetic thing. I figure out what’s wrong with them later.
THEN…
Yeah I wasn’t done.
I took off the broken and faded front grill, seen here:
Well, it looked like this after about 2 hours of work:
The reason it took so long was I had to take a Dremel cutting tool to 4 out of the 5 screw/nuts securing it… and as you can see, the discoloration on ALL the lamps is gone…
Interesting side note…
The hood is made of fiberglass
NOT STEEL
You can see in the upper right corner where the cutting blade hit the fiberglass and scored a line in it. Very interesting side note IMO AND explains the WHY of the paint on the hood being SO much more shitty than the rest of the truck. The UV is playing hell with BOTH the paint and fiberglass as those of us ‘in the know’ understand… sanding and repainting might just be off the table in light if this…
Jes’ Sayin’
So the new grill?
Well once I hacked off the old nutz n’boltz?
It came out looking like this:
Ain’t that purty?
Now as to the emblem of the front?
Well that’s a conundrum. The clear plastic on it is cracked all to Hell and gone from road debris. Pulling it apart and just ‘cleaning it up’ isn’t an option. Neither is the $66-a-shot new one. So I got it off, filled in the cracks, and am working on doing a custom ‘in progress’ thing that IF it works, well… I’ll show you. If not? Well I’ll suck it up and buy a new one.
Payday IS this upcoming Friday after all.
Who needs food?
I mean overall, J3 hooked me straight the fuck up. The only blip on the radar was when I took it to the Car Wash to get it it’s first decent scrub in who knows how long? This was shortly after getting the window operational, so of course I wanted it (the Boat) scrubbed. When I got then, all was well UNTIL I went to put it in ‘neutral’…
THE WHOLE FLIPPING SHIFTER KNOB BLEW INTO PIECES!!!
NO IDEA (at the time) as to what exactly happened, but maaaaan… I kind of geeked… the car wash alarms started blowing, which TBH sounded a LOT like the “INCOMING! INCOMING! INCOMING!” alerts we had in Iraq, which I’m sure contributed to me geeking the fuck out “Ert! Ert! Ert!” as myself AND the Boat were caught in the treadmill, unable to shift out of drive into neutral or anything else… queue PTSD meltdown amiright?
Thankfully, this must happen occasionally, ‘cos this big dude jumped into the ‘shotgun seat’ with a screwdriver and asked if he could do what needed to be done? I was like “FUCK YAH! dude!” and he popped open the shifter console, which allowed him/me to then shift the Boat into neutral and get my ‘scrub on’.
When I got home I was able to put it into park due to dude opening the ‘guts’ of the system, which allowed me to bypass the normal shit, and googled the fuck out of what the fuck just happened!?!
Seems it’s the lil itty bitty screw holding everything together had worked it’s way loose, which allowed the shifter knob to ‘pop off’ and thereby NOT allow the shifter to function, as the shifter knob ‘safety button’ was no longer capable of engaging.
Sheesh.
All’s well that ends well.
Now I have to figure out what’s up with the AC.
I’ve recharged it per instructions and specifications, but it’s still blowing hot as balls. Any insight would be appreciated. I have a new cabin filter, but am unsure if that’s the issue… I hope it is ‘cos I can fix that, even tho it’s a pain in the ass, but at least it’s cheaper than say a new compressor (worst case scenario)
So again, an early night.
More Later
Big Country
Re the hood. Doublecheck. Im betting it’s not fiberglass but aluminum. Don’t believe ford sourced any fiberglass for its vehicles unless it’s some kind of aftermarket
my 2001 E-350 Super Duty had a glass hood from the factory
man it was hot as shit up at the top of FUSA today, it hit 88 and humid as piss… too hot to go boating IMO- what fool wants to melt in the sun these days? i watered the flowers on the deck and trimmed a couple of tree branches out on the 3rd hole my golf course. will be back in the 70’s tomorrow..
This. Ford did a lot of fiberglass hoods in the early 2000’s. I had an ’03 F-150 with one. The outer bed skin (5.5′ short bed w/a super crew cab) was also fiberglass, much to my surprise when in first got it. Also had an ’02 Mustang for a while that had a fiberglass hood, the front edge of which kept bubbling up due to a piss poor fiberglass repair job and repaint done by a previous owner. If you want it repainted right, have shop do it (I know, expen$ive) as doing decent 2 stage auto paint on fiberglass is kind of a bitch, in my experience.
For the A/C, are you sure the compressor clutch isn’t locked out by the ECU? Most OBD2 vehicles will do this when the refrigerant charge is low to prevent damage to the compressor, and usually requires a scan tool to clear the error code, and allow the compressor clutch to engage again for normal operation.
In a many case, looks like it’s coming along nicely. Given your background, I’m thinking it’d be more fitting to call it “the tank” rather than the boat, but that’s just my opinion. That and $1.50 will get you a coffee at McDonald’s
Put some dye in the ac system to find the leak.
Does the compressor lock up when you run the air? Been some time since I did ac work. Too much Freon/r134 or too little and it won’t lock up. Could be leaking but if it suck in juice it is probably not leaking. But dye will find it. Good luck.
Most chain auto repair stores have coupons for ac service/diagnosis. I think firestone usually less than $20 or $30. No obligation on your part to pay them for repair, but they do usually run their vacuum/cleaning machine and add dye as part of that process.
Some makes/models there’s a separate ac fan on the radiator and that not working will prevent the compressor from running. Also check the heater core valve to ensure its not wide open.
Are you sure the clutch on the compressor pulley is running? look at the A/C compressor with the engine running and the A/C off. The pulley should be turning but the part on the end is not. Turn on the A/C. The clutch should be turning with the pulley now. The relay that controls the coil that pulls it in failed a few weeks ago. It was $20 for a new one.
It would be petty fun if you could 3D print a custom emblem. The rakkasan logo, sausage princess derp face, orsomething else along those lines. UV resistant or outdoor grade filament and maybe a clear coat and youre good to go. Adapt the mounting studs or clips, maybe even some way to make it an easy swap so you can change it out based on your mood.
Along with all the other A/C hints above, make sure you didn’t overfill it. Too easy to do.
Get a rebel flag wrap for the hood. You won’t stand out too much. lol
Might find an emblem at the junk yard.
Without gauges, adding freon can be disastrous. With the system not on, checking the freon pressure to the ambient temperature chart will show if the charge is close. If it is, the problem is not the amount of freon. If it’s low, finding the leak is the next place to look.
Dyed freon is available at parts stores, and the battery powered UV light, with glasses, is cheap. Park the vehicle on concrete, turn it off, and come back after dark with the light. Look at the water that drips under the car. If it’s full of dye, you have a bad evaporator coil. If you don’t find any dye there, start looking over the hoses, around the compressor, and the condenser coil near the radiator. If you have a leak, it might only be a schrader valve. I had one leak on an old car I once owned. It was a cheap fix, but required pulling a vacuum on the system.
Make yourself a Rakkasans logo for the front grill, wrap it in epoxy coating. One of a kind!
Good news on how the ride is coming along. Congratulations! Good luck with the A/C , I live pretty far down the Delmarva peninsula and our summers are similar. A/C is definitely a plus in these conditions.