The hardest part is in there.
and the clean and scrub pile of dishes that need done,,,, GROSS!!!
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It was the early part of the Tweens when the political divisions of the United States reached irreconcilable differences. Ted, a burnt out computer programmer, and Jim, a double amputee combat vet, reverse engineer the pentagons drone program and create a rebel air force. While traveling the country helping others defend what is left of the country, they run afoul a most evil woman intent on creating a serfdom within the country.
A beginner’s guide to going off grid. how to evaluate if you even want to make the attempt. written by the curmudgeonly author of this blog and his dog
Dio's Workshop 
Jesus , did they ever change the oil in that poor beast ? Looks like a lot of get in it cold and short trip abuse…ain’t no wonder it had issues. Lot of black sludge. Yeah I’d say it probably gonna need rings too ,soon enough . Wonder how worn the guides are ? Did it puff much on start ups ?
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January 17, 2026 at 8:20 pm
Yeah, those intakes were telling me tales of short trips and no warm ups. That sludge in the intake was near a 1/4″ thick. (and I still haven’t gotten it all out,,, gonna try the oven cleaner thing in the AM)
I’m prayin’ that the rings hold, but if that becomes the case, I go full bore and get a BRAND NEW crankshaft from Summit and do a top to bottom. Kind of a pain as all the work I have already done, but,,, Praying that day is further in the future.
As for how she is treated now,,, no start and go’s,,, she gets a warm up cycle, and most of my driving is no shorter than 14 miles, usual being over 40 on a given day with most being over 100.
I have never seen blue smoke from the backend, not on start ups, not on take off from light. Valve stem seals seem good (without pulling one to be sure, guessing here) and the rings may be seeping some, but not showing it in the output. I am seeing a lot of carbon on the piston heads, but centered, not near the edges.(cold runs will do that)
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January 17, 2026 at 8:31 pm
and in response to your first queston: I doubt it. I have seen a trend locally, to change the filter every 10k but leave the oil, just top it off when it drops. (and I won’t tell on the KNOWN culprit of that one) I think I know the place that did any service to this truck (and there had been some, odd gaskets left and right, etc) and the place doesn’t give me a good vibe when I have been there. Short cut artists at best is my vibe.
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January 17, 2026 at 9:06 pm
That manifold needs a cycle in the hot tank. I did not realize that your engine had the spider injector. For some reason I thought you had a throttle body injection system. I’ve never used a thermal camera but I have used my infrared thermometer to find a dead cylinder, a bad florescent fixture, bad wheel bearings etc.
Have you ever used a magnetic compass to find a short circuit? Install a cycling circuit breaker of the appropriate capacity (matching the amp rating is EXTREMELY important…) and trace the wire harness route with the compass. When the compass stops twitching, look for the screw or sharp edge that is letting the magical smoke out of the wire.
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January 18, 2026 at 7:07 am
as bad as that manifold is/was, I don’t think she would have ran at all when cold if she were TBI. Enough crud there to act like a sponge soaking up cold fuel. It sure soaked up the paint thinner/acetone concoction I was using to clean up. Still have more to go and I am going to use some oven cleaner this morning. (thats part of why I didn’t keep going last night.)
The injector ends are clean though. That was one of my first checks after seeing that crud.(I guess fresh fuel helped keep that point clean as the intakes in the heads are clear of it too.)
Yes, I have used a compass to find shorts, but not on a car. I used it to find shorts on my solar system to the house. DC current works well for that, AC, not so much.(unless its HIGH draw)
The thermal camera probably is not the better choice in this as the laser thermometers are point driven, the camera shows lots of distractions. BUT, it did show a 200 degree difference in the manifold points. 375 on good points, 195 in the dead one even though it was at the tail end near the flange.
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January 18, 2026 at 7:50 am