I knew I wasn't seeing things. LOL
What did you do to your LS today?
- Thread starter RigsLS
- Start date
I knew I wasn't seeing things. LOL
So, kinda excited about this. When I first picked the LS up I was getting 15.1 mpg tops. After I swapped out the coil and plug on my cyl 3 misfire I was getting 16.2 mpg tops. Now after a week of having all new coils and plugs, this:
Yeah, I don't do blind turns too fast. I like to see at least a little past my braking distance. The exit I was referring to is a very long exit with a long site distance.
The Chinese tires do quite well in the wet. They are very sensitive to tire pressure though like race tires. I think that is due more to the wheel width vs tire width thing. They will slide pretty good at lower pressure due to sidewall deflection that probably deforms the tread patch. Surprisingly, they lose traction very progressively. I like that. It is very easy to steer with the throttle. Higher pressures don't produce the same effect. These things throw water like you wouldn't believe! Flooded surfaces are no problem at all.
The Explorer Firestone tire thing, everyone who knows about tires understands lower tire pressures reduces the load rating of the tire and generates more heat in the tire. The higher the pressure the higher the load carrying capacity. Specifying 26psi on a vehicle like an explorer is suicide. Lose just 5psi from the weather change going summer to winter will drop more than that and asking for trouble.
The Chinese tires do quite well in the wet. They are very sensitive to tire pressure though like race tires. I think that is due more to the wheel width vs tire width thing. They will slide pretty good at lower pressure due to sidewall deflection that probably deforms the tread patch. Surprisingly, they lose traction very progressively. I like that. It is very easy to steer with the throttle. Higher pressures don't produce the same effect. These things throw water like you wouldn't believe! Flooded surfaces are no problem at all.
The Explorer Firestone tire thing, everyone who knows about tires understands lower tire pressures reduces the load rating of the tire and generates more heat in the tire. The higher the pressure the higher the load carrying capacity. Specifying 26psi on a vehicle like an explorer is suicide. Lose just 5psi from the weather change going summer to winter will drop more than that and asking for trouble.
RigsLS
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Telco, any change you'd consider an extensive in depth write up w/ progress pics?
RigsLS
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Izzy, if you haven't already, change out the fuel filter in the drivers side front wheel well for even further improvements.
Telco
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I might can do. I'll have to see if I can find my camera. Don't be expecting updates every day though, I work 12 hour overnights 4 nights a week and on my days off I have a house and a broken wife to take care of.
I ordered another new DCCV from Amazon today. The last one I bought from Amazon lasted almost 2 years. I bought it on 19 Feb 2013. I don't know why it would fail so fast. I'm going to take the old one apart and see what part of it failed and maybe I can beef up the electronics inside. Same code as last time, 2798 short to ground. Doing the test, the driver side actuated but the passenger side just clicks. No apparent corrosion in the moving parts. Part will arrive tomorrow. I might have to increase the coolant to water ratio to 70/30.
Deaconblue
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Are you using the correct G-05 coolant? Also make sure you use distilled water only, not tap water.
Yep, Zerex G-05
FDR
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Got the last major parts for the "FDR front end appearance package"
RigsLS
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Try and cycle the heating/cooling system often, gotta give all components a work out at least weekly if not daily.
The old saying "use it or loose it" holds true in all aspects of the LS I'm sure of it.
^ FDR ???
Yeah, I hear ya. I've been using the heat lately because it's been pretty cool here lately. Thanks for the tip.
RigsLS
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Emergency brake, windows, sun roof, A/C duel climate control ... all need to keep on moving, requires to be "exercised" often in order to keep on working.
Should see the work out mine gets on the weekends in the garage. ('cept the sun roof, it still broken haven't changed the rails out just yet)
Should see the work out mine gets on the weekends in the garage. ('cept the sun roof, it still broken haven't changed the rails out just yet)
Telco
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Funny, I've never had a car (prior to this one) that required everything be worked on a weekly basis, or not work at all. I'm dreading my upcoming parking brake failure, because my car's been up on jack stands for the last week waiting on the trans filter to come in so I can do my solenoid pack. Last time I let the parking brake alone for a week or two I thought it was frozen solid, took a bit for it to release.
Get in the car and work the parking brake then. I use mine all the time so it's like second nature to me now.
FDR
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Yup, that's me.
RigsLS
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"FDR front end appearance package"
Confused as to what FDR is/was.
Thought it was a new company that had body kits for sale but I'm guess you are referring to FDR as your own work or something.
<shrugs><confused>
FDR
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Sorry, I'm not normally this smug about my work. I promise. I'm just excited. It's more like a "FDR Front end lighting package" though. I'll keep the info at that, just in case my project goes the way of LS turbo threads...
waggs
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Happy new year
Jim Henderson
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Man I hate it when I can predict that the LS will give me some mechanical failure in the near future. Little did I know it would be a week after my post about replacing the drive train and how happy I was, but fearing the LS would do something new. Well it did, of course. But this time to be fair I probably can't blame the LS. This time it was a spark plug failure. In over 45 years of working on family cars and various mechanical beasts, I have never seen a failure like this one other than stories here and there.
Well anyway, I was driving home on the freeway at normal speed etc. Suddenly I heard an exhaust leak type sputtering. I figured maybe a connection to the EGR or some exhaust tubing had slipped or come loose. When I got home I listened to see if I could pin point the sound. It sounded like it was coming from the Valve cover coil cover on the driver side. I figured a horror story like a blown out aluminum head like was common on many of the aluminum Ford V10 engines a few years back. Helicoil time or worse. My scanner said number 7 misfire and ignition circuit problem with coil G(ie #7)
It was late and soon to get dark, so I waited for today, Happy New Year, yeah.
Took a closer look and noticed the coil cover plate had a foot long crack in it. Pulled the cover and found Coil 7 sitting sideways under the cover and the top of the sparkplug electrode broken off. Fortunately I was able to remove the plug along with what was left of the ceramic insulator and the plug center electrode.
Here is a picture...
Notice the in cylinder nose portion of the insulator is missing. Not a good thing but too late by now, I drove probably 6 miles to get home with the sputtering sound, so the ceramic either blew out the exhaust or maybe the hole thru the spark plug body. Either way if there was any damage from the ceramic bouncing around it is done now. I could not see anything in the cylinder and did not "catch" anything with my flexible grabby tool(saves me more often than I like to admit).
Anyway, Tomorrow I walk to the local parts store since I don't want to go chugging around town. Good thing it is less than 2 miles.
The plug that failed was a Champion(I liked this brand for decades) which I replaced back in summer 2011 and it had about 65k Miles on it. Not expired per manual but maybe should have been done routinely at 50K even though on last inspection before summer this year, everything looked fine. The electrodes looked fine with no unusual wear other than being loose in my hand.
I am guessing this is one of those random component failures, 1 in a million(I have driven over a million miles and never saw one of these), and that the LS was not messing with me this time. If it wasn't a random failure I am wondering what may have caused this, did I suck something into the cylinder that banged into the plug? Probably not but I won't know unless I tear things down or something else bad happens.
Oh well, I was going to the junk yard for the after Christmas sale tomorrow, so I guess I'll pick the cover and maybe a handful of coils to tide me over til I can get some delivered.
Jim Henderson
Well anyway, I was driving home on the freeway at normal speed etc. Suddenly I heard an exhaust leak type sputtering. I figured maybe a connection to the EGR or some exhaust tubing had slipped or come loose. When I got home I listened to see if I could pin point the sound. It sounded like it was coming from the Valve cover coil cover on the driver side. I figured a horror story like a blown out aluminum head like was common on many of the aluminum Ford V10 engines a few years back. Helicoil time or worse. My scanner said number 7 misfire and ignition circuit problem with coil G(ie #7)
It was late and soon to get dark, so I waited for today, Happy New Year, yeah.
Took a closer look and noticed the coil cover plate had a foot long crack in it. Pulled the cover and found Coil 7 sitting sideways under the cover and the top of the sparkplug electrode broken off. Fortunately I was able to remove the plug along with what was left of the ceramic insulator and the plug center electrode.
Here is a picture...
Notice the in cylinder nose portion of the insulator is missing. Not a good thing but too late by now, I drove probably 6 miles to get home with the sputtering sound, so the ceramic either blew out the exhaust or maybe the hole thru the spark plug body. Either way if there was any damage from the ceramic bouncing around it is done now. I could not see anything in the cylinder and did not "catch" anything with my flexible grabby tool(saves me more often than I like to admit).
Anyway, Tomorrow I walk to the local parts store since I don't want to go chugging around town. Good thing it is less than 2 miles.
The plug that failed was a Champion(I liked this brand for decades) which I replaced back in summer 2011 and it had about 65k Miles on it. Not expired per manual but maybe should have been done routinely at 50K even though on last inspection before summer this year, everything looked fine. The electrodes looked fine with no unusual wear other than being loose in my hand.
I am guessing this is one of those random component failures, 1 in a million(I have driven over a million miles and never saw one of these), and that the LS was not messing with me this time. If it wasn't a random failure I am wondering what may have caused this, did I suck something into the cylinder that banged into the plug? Probably not but I won't know unless I tear things down or something else bad happens.
Oh well, I was going to the junk yard for the after Christmas sale tomorrow, so I guess I'll pick the cover and maybe a handful of coils to tide me over til I can get some delivered.
Jim Henderson
Were your plugs properly torqued?
Maybe someone with more knowledge can comment, the tech that did my cop/plugs told me one of my plugs was really loose. They were factory originals, he brought up maybe the poor coils or pre ignition caused by not running 91 knocked it loose. The previous owner would switch 87 and 93 between tanks.
I know pre ignition/ detonation damages plugs, maybe not to this extent?
Maybe someone with more knowledge can comment, the tech that did my cop/plugs told me one of my plugs was really loose. They were factory originals, he brought up maybe the poor coils or pre ignition caused by not running 91 knocked it loose. The previous owner would switch 87 and 93 between tanks.
I know pre ignition/ detonation damages plugs, maybe not to this extent?
We're the threads stripped? Was the ground electrode still intact? If all that was missing was some ceramic, I wouldn't worry too much. That ceramic was probably pulverized or blown out the exhaust. If you're missing the ground, I'd have the head pulled to see if anything is in the cylinder. Anything else is gonna be too soft to cause much more damage if any has been done at all. These engines are pretty robust and the way some of us beat on them, I'm surprised we haven't heard of this before. I'd be more worried if you were hammering on it. I would do a compression test though.
Good luck! Keep us posted.