The Rest of the Truck Fix

Putting my truck back together ended up taking a little longer than I had previously expected, and I was working on it until about 1 pm on Sunday.  The job overall took just about 21 hours to complete.  On Saturday I knocked out about 10 of those hours and I was pretty tired by the end of that.  I tried to take a few more pictures this time and here they are:

Here is the lower part of the engine after I cleaned off the gasket surface and before putting the new gasket on.

The mating surface of the lower intake manifold cleaned up nicely too.

The lower intake manifold is back on with a new gasket and seal!

The gasket kit also came with a new gasket for the upper intake manifold.  I liked that the new gaskets were blue.

Here is everything put back together except for the air cleaning duct.  Figuring out where all the sensor plugs went actually was pretty easy, since they are all uniquely shaped.  Also notice the brand new serpentine belt.

The whole project, including coolant (but not including oil change stuff), cost about $90.  This includes a few extra things that I replaced while I had everything apart, like the serpentine belt and the PCV valve.  The price also includes a couple tools I needed and some new heater hose.  I haven't called for an estimate for what the repair would have cost me had I taken it into a shop, but after reading some forums, it sounds like it would cost around $800 to take it in.  And that is of course for just the gasket, which was only a $30 part.  So I think I saved myself a nice chunk of change for a lot of hard work.

I did have a little bit of a scare when I turned it back on.  First, the fuel line fitting wasn't put back together quite right, so I was leaking fuel.  But worse than that, one of my pistons wasn't firing.  After a lot of stressing out, talking to Sean, looking at a couple things, assuming it was a clogged fuel injector, feeling like I just wanted to tow it to a shop, and a lot of praying, it somehow worked itself out.  It shouldn't have, but it did, so I think I am going to attribute that fix to answered prayers.

Since I was so busy working on my truck any minute that I wasn't working, I unfortunately had to pass up a lot of hunting opportunities during the final week of the deer general season around here.  I did go out for a few hours when I was done working on my truck, but under quite non-ideal circumstances.  It was actually a very hot day.  I decided I wanted to try the same canyon I hunted last time from the bottom, but I couldn't find it, so I ended up going up a different canyon- John Nisqually Canyon.  It was a pretty decent spot, but the farther up I got I started to realize most of the deer sign was pretty old.  The only animal I saw on this outing (besides a bunch of birds) was a rattle snake.  He really freaked me out partly because I shouldn't have to worry about rattle snakes during hunting season, but more so because he started rattling about 3 feet from where I had just put my hand as I was climbing up the ridge.  Anyway, it was a still a nice little hike and I got some really great pictures.

Across the canyon you can see really well the entangled web of deer trails, which I thought was a good sign.

Here is a nice view from about halfway up the canyon.

I rested for a little bit and tried to watch for deer.  I had a view of the entire canyon, but there wasn't any wildlife to be seen.

Here is a nice shot of the sun setting over the Snake River Canyon and setting on the last thirty minutes of deer season.

This weekend I take off for the Selkirk Mountains up in the Northeast corner of the state for some elk hunting.  I am pretty excited for the trip.  The area where I will be hunting is actually the only mountain range in the entire lower 48 where caribou (reindeer) live, so hopefully I will get to see some of those (but definitely not shoot, since those guys are federally protected).