Truck broke down, HELP!

[jjzepplin]

Originally Posted by JointTech

its not the years, its the miles. And yes I don't let her drive a car with 100k miles. She gets a new one every 3-5 years. Oh and I don't buy her anything. She makes way more than me and wears the pants in this family. haha. I haven't had a new vehicle break down in 20 years. I did run out of gas in her mini once. stupid single gauge I couldn't see the gas or the idiot light.

I meant no offense to the OP or his "desirable" girlfriend, whatever that means. I do know 95% of the trucks on this forum aren't fit to be daily drivers much less something to send your GF on a roadtrip with. I went with that assumption. so apologies if any toes were stepped on.

[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by JointTech

its not the years, its the miles. And yes I don't let her drive a car with 100k miles. She gets a new one every 3-5 years. Oh and I don't buy her anything. She makes way more than me and wears the pants in this family. haha. I haven't had a new vehicle break down in 20 years. I did run out of gas in her mini once. stupid single gauge I couldn't see the gas or the idiot light.

I meant no offense to the OP or his "desirable" girlfriend, whatever that means. I do know 95% of the trucks on this forum aren't fit to be daily drivers much less something to send your GF on a roadtrip with. I went with that assumption. so apologies if any toes were stepped on.

"de·sir·a·ble (d-zr-bl)
adj.
1. Worth having or seeking, as by being useful, advantageous, or pleasing."

AKA, an active woman that likes classic trucks, and isn't afraid to drive them. A guy that likes trucks just may find this attractive. Like a hot girl that likes to watch football.

Careful how you come off. You questioned whether he cares about the safety of his girl, assumed he was being selfish, then called his truck an "old beater". Now, you've continued your roll, by saying that 95% of the trucks on the forum aren't fit for daily drivers? Dang, dude. Take a mydol and speak for yourself

[Prematuregrey]

A good one is hard to come by. Its disappointing that you would think that 95% of the rides on hear aren't roadworthy. My girl was happy to show me her collection of Chiltons/Haynes manuals spanning all the vehicles she owned when we met. When I met her she was keeping a Geo Storm in pretty dam good shape and turned that for a profit, it's still on the road now with a friend of mine but barely cause he hasn't done anything with it. Funny enough, the newest ride in my stable is the one stuck on a trailer not running and my girl doesn't drive my cars cause they are too big not cause she doesn't want to. She can barely see over the fenders on the K and the Benz is a land yacht, she like her little Saab.

To the OP, glad you got your truck back home. Also glad your girl was ok with being towed, I'm assuming by a strap, and knew how to do it well enough to not damage anything. Sounds like going to an HEI wouldn't be a bad call. I've liked mine.

[NCannon]

I don't even own a car with less than 125k on it. My jeep has 175, and it still goes everywhere. I have 6-speed volvo V70R that I'm trying to sell, and I typically commute on my bicycle. I do have some concerns about the reliability of this truck now, but up until recently it had been really reliable and I don't use that term lightly. I've owned a handful of "old" cars for over a decade and started working on cars in auto shop before I had a license.

I know carbed cars have issues here in Denver when the gas stations switch over to winter fuel, so I'll probably be toning down the use on the ol' truck while it's cold. Either way, my GF isn't a mechanic, but she understands cars and like I said, would not take kindly to me telling her she couldn't drive it. She normally drives a honda but obviously can't take the honda to pick up a sofa. I got the truck to use it as a truck. The fact that it's manual steering, brakes, and transmission doesn't bother her or me.

I'm not offended, it's just a pointless statement relating to the questions I had and the thread in general. It might not be a bad separate thread "Does your ol' lady drive your truck?"

Thanks again for everyones help. I'm a little concerned now about this 12v at the coil, but I'll troubleshoot that later. It also appears my heater core is leaking, which is news to me.
-Nate

[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by NCannon

I don't even own a car with less than 125k on it. My jeep has 175, and it still goes everywhere. I have 6-speed volvo V70R that I'm trying to sell, and I typically commute on my bicycle. I do have some concerns about the reliability of this truck now, but up until recently it had been really reliable and I don't use that term lightly. I've owned a handful of "old" cars for over a decade and started working on cars in auto shop before I had a license.

I know carbed cars have issues here in Denver when the gas stations switch over to winter fuel, so I'll probably be toning down the use on the ol' truck while it's cold. Either way, my GF isn't a mechanic, but she understands cars and like I said, would not take kindly to me telling her she couldn't drive it. She normally drives a honda but obviously can't take the honda to pick up a sofa. I got the truck to use it as a truck. The fact that it's manual steering, brakes, and transmission doesn't bother her or me.

I'm not offended, it's just a pointless statement relating to the questions I had and the thread in general. It might not be a bad separate thread "Does your ol' lady drive your truck?"

Thanks again for everyones help. I'm a little concerned now about this 12v at the coil, but I'll troubleshoot that later. It also appears my heater core is leaking, which is news to me.
-Nate

Let me know if you need any tips with replacing the heater core. I've replaced the heater core, and literally almost every single piece of the heating system, and my truck gets very toasty even in single digit temps

[NCannon]

It looks like it's pretty straight forward, are there good threads on this forum on that subject? My heating system is a little wonkey and basically "ON" all the time. The levers don't really seem to do anything. I'd love to sort that out as part of making this a better "daily driver" type vehicle, but that might be in the years to come. I figure I'd like to get it squared away mechanically before I futz with luxuries like heat

[Mister-B]

Originally Posted by NCannon

It looks like it's pretty straight forward, are there good threads on this forum on that subject? My heating system is a little wonkey and basically "ON" all the time. The levers don't really seem to do anything. I'd love to sort that out as part of making this a better "daily driver" type vehicle, but that might be in the years to come. I figure I'd like to get it squared away mechanically before I futz with luxuries like heat

Yes. Try a search

Back behind your control levers, there are some metal pieces that connect the levers to the cables. From the factory, they came with pot metal that breaks pretty easy. You can buy the rebuild kit from Brothers or wherever for around $20. Your cables might not be connected anymore, or might need to be lubed. In addition, the fan switch behind the control could be having issues.

[DT1]

I do know 95% of the trucks on this forum aren't fit to be daily drivers much less something to send your GF on a roadtrip with. I went with that assumption. so apologies if any toes were stepped on.[/QUOTE]

This is surprising news to me. If I had to guess(And that's all it would be) I'd say that it's closer to 95% of the trucks on this forum ARE fit to be daily drivers.
Personally, if there wasn't an ocean in the way, I wouldn't worry at all if I decided to drive mine to France.

[NCannon]

I think the clarification should be that this wasn't exactly a road trip. It was a trip across town to drop off some larger items for work, then down to a furniture store for a sofa and (ideally) back to work, etc. It was cut a bit short due to the coil failure. Again, the truck was bought to be a truck, I've had it filled up with mulch, concrete, 8' fence posts, 100's of fence pickets, etc. All that and we've used to to take bikes up to the mountains, and driven it over some of the highest mountain passes in the country. Up until yesterday I didn't question its reliability.

It's been great as a fun project and a pretty good driver. It never overheated in the peak of summer and I've been really happy with it. I need to figure out this resistance wire issue, and I'll feel a lot better about getting her back on the road and taking it up to the mountains.