…Wow that’s a great quote.

Clogged CPU Heat Sink

Our ’02 Yukon Denali has been suffering from erratic idle at low speeds, especially with the air conditioner on, and occasional stalls at low speed, usually turning but not always. Querying Google for Yukon/Tahoe DIY information is generally useless but I did find these nuggets:

http://gmcowners.com/gmc-forum/showthread.php?t=15028
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090820223923AA1m67n

They suggest replacing a bunch of stuff to start. The BMW had some stalling issues but its computers are great and always tell you exactly what’s going on. It suggested changing the camshaft position sensor and after doing so, the stalls disappeared. So I thought I’d follow the above articles and my own experience with the BMW and swap out about $700 worth of parts.

But the part about the throttle body intrigued me. I figure it’d take an hour and $2.00 worth of carburetor cleaner.

So, get your carburetor cleaner from WalMart for $2.00 or any gas station for $4.00 and some shop towels. Pop the hood.

First we have to remove the tubes/baffles going from the air filter to the throttle body shown here:

Yukon/Tahoe Intake Pipe/Baffles

It’s a really funny shape with a big empty baffle below and that long empty baffle on top to the right. Remarkably, this large assembly is only held on at three places.

Loosen the hose clamp near the throttle body:

Yukon/Tahoe Throttle Body Pipe Clamp

Loosen the hose clamp near the air filter:

Yukon/Tahoe Air Cleaner Pipe Clamp

And the tricky part, disconnect the keeper holding the tube to the coolant hose. Get a very small flat head screw driver to depress the lock and wiggle the keeper apart:

Yukon/Tahoe Keeper

Now pull out the assembly and you should see this:

Yukon/Tahoe Throttle Body

Push open the top of the throttle plate and you’ll see a thick layer of black carbon on everything. Get your carburetor cleaner and blast it on all the surfaces around the inside of the throttle opening (called the venturi.) Get your shop towel and while holding the throttle open, clean as far in as you can. Clean the back side of the the throttle plate (butterfly valve) as much as you can. Take some time here and make sure it’s spotless. Be sure to remove any fuzzles left by the shop towel. We don’t want them in the engine.

Yukon/Tahoe Throttle Body Areas to Clean

Put it all back together and make sure the engine starts.

That’s it!

For us: IT WORKED!

The erratic idle is gone, the stalls are gone. Unbelievable.

I’d give it a 1.5 on the difficulty scale. Anyone with a bit of mechanical skill should be able to do this fix.

I was given a Bandit SX-135 weed whacker a couple years ago and it works great but the head was awful. It always clogged up with grass, broke lines, and took forever to extend new line.

I bought this Shark Tooth model with the serrated lines and it’s great. The lines last a LONG time, they can cut through a black hole, and are easy to replace. Replacing the stock header was trivial too. Highly recommended.

I got it home and tore it apart to see what I had and shockingly, I don’t think this things ever been turned on. The top skins were beat up, but the bottom skin was in good shape. There was no dust, everything looked new save a little corrosion and look, I don’t think that CPU fan has ever actually been spun up.

REPC SGI Indigo 2 IMPACT 10000

SGI Indigo 2 IMPACT 10000 Totally Clean. No dust at all.

SGI Indigo 2 IMPACT 10000 with unused CPU fan.

Who buys a $25,000 computer and doesn’t turn it on?

Anyhow, here’s the card:

Phobos G160 10/100 Ethernet for an SGI Indigo2

Phobos G160 10/100 Ethernet for an SGI Indigo2 2

GMC Vortec 6000 engine

You’ll need 8 spark plugs, anti-seize compound, a regular socket wrench, a socket adapter kit, spark plug socket, and probably a metal tube to slide over the socket wrench for more leverage. I used the steering shaft off the kids Razer scooter.

There are two challenges with this DIY. One is getting the spark plug boots off. They simply pop off when the boot is pulled, but they’re on there TIGHT, you may have to twist them to break free, then pull straight back. There’s a metal heat shield around them which gets in the way but there’s enough plug to grab on to. That shield will come off with the plug. One trick I used was to grab the rubber boot with some channel locks and pull them out using the manifold studs for leverage. This worked well for the passenger side plugs, especially for the one in the very back.

Spark Plugs Drivers Side

The sparks on the drivers side were accessible, but the steering shaft did make things more challenging.

Spark Plugs Drivers Side Steering Shaft

Spark Plugs Passenger Side

Spark Plugs Passenger Side Hard One In Back

After getting all the boots off the second challenge of getting the spark plugs out presents itself. This actually wasn’t that hard, but you had to be clever. I used the regular socket wrench with a combination of adapters to build extensions long enough to clear the engine, but short enough to avoid fire walls and steering columns. Frequently you could build a socket combination that worked, but couldn’t get leverage to turn the spark plug. That’s where the tubular extension came in handy. For the back passenger side plug I used a 3/8 to 1/4 drive adapter and another 1/4 back to 3/8 adapter to get just the right extension length.

After getting the plugs out, simply apply anti-sieze compound to the threads of the new spark plug, thread them in by hand, then tighten by had with the socket wrench. I don’t know the torque for the splugs, I’ve seen both 22 lbs/ft and 11 lbs/ft so I went with had tight. That should be OK.

On a difficultly scale of 1 to 10 I’d give it a four or five as you have to lean over the truck’s fender and really pull hard on the spark plug boots at weird angles around large obstacles. You need to be clever with a bunch of sockets extensions too. Finally, I pinched a nerve in my back which will take a week to clear up and combined with the upper body muscle soreness from having to pull and twist at wierd angles you’ll be in some pain for a while if you write software for a living.

midwayusa.com Logged In Birthday Pricing

Here’s the price not logged in:

midwayusa.com Not Logged In Standard Pricing

…just a little bit of dishonesty. Seriously, if they don’t want to offer a discount, then don’t. Lying about a discount is way worse than not giving one at all.

The first thing to understand about the scope industry is it’s impossibly huge. There are WAY too many options. Given that I’d get something modest first to see what you like and assume you’ll get something else down the road. In my research it seemed the 3×9 (zoom) x40mm (front lens size) with a standard reticle (crosshair) was the most popular. From there I set a price of $300-$500 and from there narrowed the manufactures and models. Finally, take the list to Cabelas and try them all out. They’ve got almost all the scope models available for testing and even a stand so you can test them across the store. I bought from them too for the service of keeping the product in stock though it cost a bit more.

I bought the Leupold VX-II in the above specs for $299. It’s a very nice, very standard scope. I would buy something else knowing what I know now and given the opportunity to do it again for the AR-10, but the scope will be really great for a number of applications including hunting rifles or even plinking on a .22LR so I’m not disappointed with the purchase. It’ll get used A LOT for YEARS to come on many different guns. It’s probably a good start.

For the AR-10 Carbine I want to get an 4x or 6x ACOG next. It’s about $2000 so that’s a couple years down the road.

For the AR-15 I got an EOTech 512 red dot. Wicked cool but no magnification which is a bit rough. I’ll probably get a third party magnifier for it for around $200 which should round out the features. If you go for the EOTech go for the models with the adjustments on the side so they can be manipulated with a magnifier installed. The 512 has them on the back which is not optimal in that case.

Armalite 1" Scope Mount Assembly EX0027

Finally for the scope you’ll need rings. I went for the Armalite one piece set so the dis/mounting is easy. With two separate rings you’ll need a $100 mounting kit to make sure they’re in line and don’t break your scope. You may be able to find a cheaper one piece and definitely more expensive ones with quick release etc…

With optics it’s all about seeing the product before you buy. Narrow the list and take the family to Cabelas one weekend to look at all the models. Bring your credit card.

Old and New Asus P8P67 Pro Motherboard Boxes

Fedex’d overnight with a free UPS return label. I got it installed and running within an hour. Here’s the new and old boxes. Note the new sections highlighted in red indicating the new revision. It shipped with the 1305 BIOS so I didn’t have to upgrade it.