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SOLD — Chrysler water-pump project parts for sale

john — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:04:04 +0000

Update: Parts are sold — thank you Chris!

The following are brand new parts that are left over (didn’t need) from when I wrote the “How-to” change the water pump in a 2.7L.

I purchased these at over 1/3 off list price in Nov, 2006 and I’m going to pass along those savings to someone here, as I see the prices have only gotten more expensive since then

Part # — Description — My Cost

4663635 Timing chain $97.85
4663636 Long chain guide $16.06
4663637 Short left guide $10.29
4792104 Short right guide $11.99
4663634-AB Tensioner arm guide $21.01
Tax @8.25 $11.98
=========
Total $157.19

So, I’m going to sell the entire package for $150 including shipping costs within the US. I did some quick checks at online discount parts houses and these prices indeed are better than all I checked, plus you’ll pay much more for shipping/handling from them!

Send me a message (john at foobert…) if you are interested.

If you are going to do the water pump in your 2.7L, you only need two additional parts: timing chain cover seal (#4792005-AB), and, of course the water pump.

Note — In checking online parts books, all parts are valid for 1998-2004 2.7L engines (and some parts are valid for later engines too), with the exception of the tensioner arm guide which is listed for 01-08 year model 2.7L engines. None listed a valid part number for 98-00 engines, so, I suspect that guide is packaged with the tensioner. Please double check these are the right parts for your engine. I assume no fault if these are not the correct part numbers for your application!!

The original receipt

osh-kosh route planning

john — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:20:04 +0000

A few roads/places that would be fun to hit:

Mt Evens (http://www.mountevans.com/) — Lots of pics Fred Langa’s ride report on it here.
Independance Pass — HWY 82 between Aspen and Leadville, CO. Ride report here. More info at http://www.independence-pass.com/

RTFM on the new car

john — Wed, 21 May 2008 02:07:02 +0000

Most car owner’s manuals are a drivel of common sense stuff and lawyer induced warnings. There were actually a few interesting tidbits that I learned.

This was from a 2005 Jetta, but probably applies to most A4′s.

The power windows can all be opened/closed simultaneously using the key externally. With the key in the door, turn and hold it in the lock position (clockwise) to raise the windows, or the unlock direction to lower all windows. Hold it long enough to get the windows into the desired position.
If the battery is disconnected or dies, the above window feature no longer works. It can be reactivated: 1) Close all windows and doors. 2) lock it using the key in the driver door 3) unlock the driver door 4) Lock the door a second time and hold it in the lock position for more than 1 second.
There’s a fuel filter heater for cold weather ops that extends the usefullness of #2 diesel down to -10*F where the waxy gel would otherwise clog the filter starting at +20*F.
While it does not advocate idling for warm-up (drive slowly instead), it DOES caution to do a 2 minute cool down period “after hard or extended driving” — presumably to prevent coking the turbo bearings.
Holding the steering wheel against the limiting stop for >15 seconds will over heat the pump and damage it. Yes, this is common sense, but I find it interesting they put a number to it. Can I do it repeatedly for 14 second bursts with impunity?
The “Low Fuel” idiot light comes on with 1.9 gallons left in the tank.

And, I seriously have to question this warning:

“The catalytic converter will be permanently damaged by … push or tow starting your vehicle”.

And exactly HOW is that different than turning the engine over with the starter?

New Fuzz Ball

john — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 06:24:14 +0000

Valerie has been working with a small animal shelter to find a cat that is worthy of replacing our two that were abducted about 6 months ago by some coward in the neighborhood. I’ll spare you the details of how we came to learn this, but suffice it to say, the coolest cat I’d ever known is gone and time has finally left us wishing we had another pet again. The woman at the shelter was quite sympathetic to our loss and she seemed to perfectly understand our need to have a tolerant kitty that would be friendly around the baby. Of course, Valerie had her short list of requirements to work into the selection as well (male, short hair, …). Last week, we got a call from her that someone had dumped a box of ~5 month old kittens at her doorstep and there’s a little guy that just might work. Valerie paid a visit and immediately fell in love. He still needed some shots and other vet work at the time so we couldn’t take him just then.

The woman from the shelter dropped by this morning to bring our new fuzz ball to us. We introduced him to the house by leaving him in the bathroom where the liter box resides while we went over some paper work. 10 minutes later, we opened the bathroom door and let him start exploring. He spent about another 10 minutes sniffing around and checking out his new home.

After that, you could hardly tell that he hadn’t lived here his whole life. He’s not the slightest bit shy about people petting him, and once he’s found a mark to give him some attention, he’ll actually follow you around the house hoping more will come. Yup, he’s a keeper. The only question is, what to name him? The shelter dubbed him Cary Grant, but, that just didn’t much suite him. We finally settled on Harvey, as in the band, Harvey Danger.

Maia gets quite excited around small animals and has a unique vocalization when she spies them. As Harvey goes in for the love’ns, she’s more than happy to reach out and play. But Maia sees his fluffy tail and grabs on with a bit more vigor than necessary. Harvey just looks back and patiently waits to be released and then goes about his merry way.

Click the photo to the right to see more pictures of Maia with Harvey.

In tribute to Lex

john — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:09:26 +0000

As an avid reader of, and occasional commenter at Neptunus Lex, it makes me a true interloper. The man has a gift for writing and an incredible ability to keep abreast of world events, offering thoughtful (provoking, even) commentary from a point of view that Just Makes Sense. Lex is the very reason that I don’t even attempt to scribble about such topics here. Even if imitation is considered the most sincere form of flattery — there’s a fine line between that and mockery.

I should also mention that Lex also writes excellent Sea Stories. Which brings me back to the interloper part: he’s a Captain in the Navy. Flew F/A 18s into harms way for many tours. Most of his readers (perhaps commenters would be more appropriate) have some current or past association with the service. About half of the time I comment in order to get a clarification for an acronym that seemingly everyone but me understands. And the group of them humbly oblige with an answer.

Upon learning about Project Valour-IT from Lex, I thought this was the perfect way to say, “thank you for all you do, Lex”. Following my interloper tradition, I joined the team Navy roster to help raise money for the cause. In case you didn’t click the link, the cause is delivering laptops with voice control software to wounded soldiers that have lost the use of there hands.

Now I ask you, my lone reader, to please do what you can to help. Go ahead, it’s there on the sidebar.

Yet another blog?

John — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 18:36:46 +0000

Yeah, it probably is; but, I’d like to think not. For instance, don’t come here looking for a daily snapshot of my life, my political views, or rants about whatever might be happening in the world. Most of the later will be covered better than I could give proper justice in the others blogs that are (will be) linked to on the right. I offer my apologies in advance, because as sure as I do not intend to become that blog, the eventual deviation is inevitable.

What are my intentions then? To be perfectly honest, I really only wish to archive things that fade from my feeble memory and to share some technical tidbits I’ve learned that took more digging than I think it ought to have in order to put the puzzle together. It is my hopes that the power of Google and others will make these morsels available to the poor sod that’s struggling to solve the same problem.

Part of my motivation is also just to play with WordPress — and by “play”, I don’t mean writing this post. No, I mean installing, configuring and running it. So far so good. Lots of things to toy with…

BTW — I do reserve the right to narrate photos from certain special occasion that I think my friends and family may enjoy.

Just don’t expect daily updates, and we’ll all get along just fine.