Big day today. Worked on my website till 4 am. Went to bed around 5 and was up by 11.
I had 2 mechanical things to do on the van, the first one was to replace a pipe that link the water pump to the radiator hose. This thing rust on all Caravans and if you let it alone it can start leaking badly and put the engine at risk of over heating. Mine was completelly rotted so changing it was top priority.
The second thing, an other common thing on Caravans is that my o i l (why does this word get all messed up by the forum??) pan was starting to rust. Again if left alone, loosing your o i l while driving is pretty bad for the engine.
So, got an estimate for both:
Coolant pipe replacement: 250$
Oil pan replacement: 300$
So... checked out youtube, saw the procedure for both. Both are easy to do but the o i l pan replacement is a pain in the b..ack because there is like 20 bolts to remove. It's also very messy.
So I decided to compromise. I got the part to replace the coolant pipe: Part is 45$ and I needed silicone lubricant for it, so 10$ more but that can will last me a lifetime
I already had grave guard paint which is not standard but...
So I found this place where you can rent a lift for 10$ per hour. There are mechanics in the place so if you get stuck you can ask for advice.
It took me and hour and a half to replace the pipe, had to add 1 gallon of anti-freeze and one gallon of distilled water for an extra 20$. While I was doing that, I removed all the rust I could find Under the truck (including on the o i l pan) and coated everything with gravel guard paint. The pan had some rust but nothing major. I think the garage wanted to make a quick buck ;( Well it's done now so it should be good for a few years.
I also covered the new pipe with gravel guard, it should help protect it against salt and water and what ever makes that pipe rust on all the caravans.
They charged me for 2 hours for a total of 20$. So in total it costed me around 110$ with taxes instead of 550$. Plus my vehicule has some undercarriage protection now. Quite happy with that.
While there I talked to the guy that does body work at that place. He is charging me 600$ to replace the rusted areas on both sides. I think I will go with that, I was planning to simply grind an patch with fiber glass but once I started grinding the other day I realized there was a lot more rust than I thought. Someone had already patched it and it was a mess.
So that is the next step.
Oh when I got home I replaced the cabin air filter on my car (2002 Accent Sport). By the look of it, it had never been changed during the entire life of the car LOL It's supposed to be a while filter, mine was black and all the slits were filled with dead leaves, sand, dust and all sorts of things. I Wonder how air managed to pass through it ROFL!
Finally I tested my new power washer tonight. Did a complete rinse on the truck (no need to wash it when tomorrow it will be covered in sanding dust) and did a quick wash on the car using a wash and wax car soap. First wash this spring and it was dark do did not spend any more time than needed on it. I will likelly do a complete detail on the car this week-end.
So things are moving forward slowly. We are finally getting a break from the horrible weather, so I expect to speed things up now.
