What did you do to your LS today?

Took my 04 LS 3.9L Ultimate to NAPA to pick up a new radiator for my 07 Ford Explorer Sport Trac 4.6L Limited. I like V8s.
 
LSFrank said:
Why can't I stay away from the Facebook group? I can't stand most of the pictures and half the people... but I just want to help the people with legitimate questions

And then I drag myself into arguments. I need a life. Or warmer weather for my LS, which will easily suffice.
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I hear ya on the warmer weather....i hate winter..lol
 
Had been too long in between starts, battery run down, actually left one interior overhead light on last I was in it. Ended up putting the power pack to it, idled it for a good 20min. Exercised the HVAC system. Moved it forward quarter wheel rotation. Rev'ed and held elevated rpm's for a bit. Shut down and waited for cool down before the cover went back on. Good times, can't wait for Spring.
 
Jim Henderson said:
My center console latch broke a few months back. The little round shafts on each side broke off. I would guess this is a common LS problem.

I tried the usual Superglue repair last week and this lasted a day. Superglue just isn't good for repairs that put sideways stress on a part. From old modelling work I think there are a few varieties of superglue and accelerators that might work, but in general plastic and super glue is not a solid repair

So, this weekend I was putzing around in the garage looking for some other glues or what have you to try to fix the latch again, I was thinking wire or nail as a new shaft.

My eyes glanced over a box of Pop Rivets. AHA!. The metal shaft would work fine and the rivet itself on the shaft might even work well as a bearing surface. Even the rivet collar might work as a side bearing surface for the latch.

The rivets I had on hand were the usual big box store pop rivets, 1/8 inch if I recall. I used the shortest rivet size that I had. I did not measure the shaft but eyeballed it and chose a 0.078" drill bit from my kit. I also used a hex head mounted 1/16" bit to create a deep pilot hole. The next size up drill for my driver was 3/32 which is maybe too big and probably would require glue to keep the shaft from falling out. In my mind gluing the shaft defeats the possibility that I could replace the rivet in the future if it failed. Drill size is not critical, just a nice press fit is what you want, without making the plastic too thin.

I put the 0.078 inch bit in a pin vise for the final hole. IF I had a electric driver compatible drill bit of that size I would have used that, but I think this size is not common in those driver kits. The size of final bit may vary depending on what shaft size your rivets use.

I used a small electric screwdriver since it would turn slowly and allow me better control than a potentially dancing high speed bit. You could also use the appropriate size bits in a Pin Vise, but it would be slower. You could also use a regula slow speed drill if you don't have a pin vise. The pilot hole makes it safer to drill the final hole at speed.

I used the 1/16" pilot bit to drill as deep as the bit would allow. You MUST Keep the bit in line with the latch material so it stays centered. Drill both sides. MAKE SURE IT IS CENTERED WITH PLENTY OF MEAT TO SUPPORT THE SHAFT.

Then I took my 0.078 and finished the hole.

Before you insert the pop rivet shaft, I recommend shortening it a bit so that the two rivets don't interfere. Also you probably should use a Dremel tool sanding disk or stone to flatten the collar of the rivet so it doesn't interefere with the mounting slots of the latch in the console cover. Half moon grind is about right. Depending on how long the rivet is, you might also need to shorten one of the rivets to fit the shorter mounting slot in the console cover. Test fit to be sure.

The shaft of the rivet was a press fit that took some decent finger pressure to press into the hole but it was a perfect fit. It is easily removable too. Be sure to orient the flat side of the rivet so it doesn't interfere with the mounting slots of the console cover. You CAN do the grind after pressing into the latch and test fitting to the cover if you like, or twist to correct rotation.

Once it fits in the slot, just screw the covers back in place and Viola!. It should all work and as long as you didn't drill the hole out to too thin a wall, the latch should be stronger than original.

I would guess this fix cost me maybe 10 cents and required the use of a drill driver, and two bits that either mount in the drill driver or a pin vise to hold them. No glue is needed unless you were forced to use a larger bit than the shaft. All the screws are Torx head, forget size but the same. Removing the cover from the console allows easier work and trial fitting without body contortions. You will need to remove the console cover plate and the smaller latch cover plate, then the latch should just fall out. Also note the tail of the latch goes under the cover rather than over as might seem logical. If you get it wrong, you will know since the latch cover won't screw down otherwise.

A cheap easy fix. I am cheap and love cheap fixes that work, especially for the LS parts hog. You could also just use a nail or wire instead of the rivet, but the rivet with the shaft looks cooler, and the diameter of the rivet fits better.

Jim Henderson
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I used a nail and super glue! Cut in two pieces and drilled about 1/2" on each side. Did it in May 2013 and still going strong.

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/fo...Broken-Center-Console-Latch-Gen-2-replacement
 
BigRigLS said:
Had been too long in between starts, battery run down, actually left one interior overhead light on last I was in it. .
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My lights turn off after half.an hour, inside and out.


PSA: trim quoted posts down to just the relevant parts or trim it down to the gist of it. Keeps the clutter down, especially in picture threads haha
 
LSFrank said:
Come on, you can't spot my blunt personality when I disagree with taste? My profile picture is related to the one here (Optimus Prime). My name is Francis and I got screwed over by FB anti-spam name detector and can't change it to Frank... It's been years since I made the switch

It's kinda weird matching up FB names to LvC usernames... I basically picture all you guys here *as* your car. The only person I picture here as a person is NateEff or something, because he has the same haircut as the only other Nate I know.

Speaking of which, n8bachelor and nastynaters, do you guys have Beiber bowl comb overs?
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Don't bother trying to match me with anyone on Facebook, I never use the thing.
 
Received an installed my ebony rear surround. It does wonders to get rid of the chrome. Now I just have to find the ebony grille.

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Can I say what I did to the BMW (my wife's LS hasn't been driven in almost 2 weeks...)?

Sent a slew of addresses from Google Maps to the car's NAV. That was fun!!
 
Today, I finally got around to fixing my wobbling power steering pulley.
 
LS4me said:
Can I say what I did to the BMW (my wife's LS hasn't been driven in almost 2 weeks...)?

Sent a slew of addresses from Google Maps to the car's NAV. That was fun!!
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How come all the addresses from one's phone book don't just automatically transfer over via Bluetooth when the phone connects? It seems like that should be common on all car navigation by now...
 
joegr said:
How come all the addresses from one's phone book don't just automatically transfer over via Bluetooth when the phone connects? It seems like that should be common on all car navigation by now...
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It would..... If I had any in my phone.... Maybe I'll get to that as I never had a reason before.

Those addresses were vacation destinations.
 
joegr said:
It seems like that should be common on all car navigation by now...
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agreed, were just now getting to the point where everybody (except the real cheap garbage companies) supports phonebook profile (PBAP). I just feel like we should have been to that point 5 years ago and by now, everything should be able to be accessed from the phone (well everything that should safely be able to be accessed) hopefully over the next year or two as Apple CarPlay and Google's Android Auto will be able to pull off.



I fell like google is extremely close to getting there, especially since Google Now is really getting integrated well into everything. I love that I can be in my office and I will be searching on Chrome for a place looking for the address and a map to see where it is, then go get in the car and if I open Google Now, the top card or two is usually the place I have just been searching, and it gives me the phone number, the address and the option to press "navigate to" and let the phone GPS guide me.


if google is smart about it and pulls this off right (which being google, shouldn't be too hard), you should be able to hop in the car and the Android Auto screen should offer you the exact same options since it is supposed to be heavy on the Google Now look with the card system. it should also be a no brainer at this point to also have all the access across any of the other official google apps for the same information (IE: having somebodies address in the Contacts app gives the option to route in the Maps app)


the silly part is having to plug in for this to work, by now, these controls should already be baked in and being used by BT.
 
Izzy, I was wondering about that surround in your senior citizen doppelganger post. It really makes me want to stink up the house and paint mine indoors :/ If you get the grille chrome, I'd recommend getting the baleen teeth as well and either painting them black, having someone paint them, or try out some of the blackening stuff for faded trim. It makes a big difference on a black car.

I wish I could find my emblem with the blue crest, though.

Telco said:
Don't bother trying to match me with anyone on Facebook, I never use the thing.
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I'll be sure to not keep an eye out for any Telco-related names, if that is your real name. I'm not looking for LvCers on FB, just recognizing certain FB names for being similar to LvC names. Izzy was a given with him probably being the only Izzy with an LS. Andrizzle posted something about his plastidipped car. I assume I've seen Bullschmidt, too
 
LSFrank said:
Izzy, I was wondering about that surround in your senior citizen doppelganger post. It really makes me want to stink up the house and paint mine indoors :/ If you get the grille chrome, I'd recommend getting the baleen teeth as well and either painting them black, having someone paint them, or try out some of the blackening stuff for faded trim. It makes a big difference on a black car.

I wish I could find my emblem with the blue crest, though.
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The surround I have on my car is black from the factory. It was never chrome. The reverse lights are tinted a slightly darker shade as well. It looks like it is original instead of plastidip which looks like, well, plastidip. I'm going to be patient in waiting for the front grille if I can find it in ebony before going the route of having a shop paint it. I have a fear if I do it myself it will end up chipping or something and that would just piss me off. LOL.
 
izzy said:
The surround I have on my car is black from the factory. It was never chrome. The reverse lights are tinted a slightly darker shade as well. It looks like it is original instead of plastidip which looks like, well, plastidip. I'm going to be patient in waiting for the front grille if I can find it in ebony before going the route of having a shop paint it. I have a fear if I do it myself it will end up chipping or something and that would just piss me off. LOL.
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Same here...but come this spring, I'm going to give it a go.
 
Today I took out the under seat climate control filters and washed them with mild soap and water. I was really surprised they were not that filthy. I thought I might have to replace them. I guess there is some advantage to not smoking or eating in the car.
 
I got my replacement 01-02 cup holders. Now I can get rid of the ninjas tomorrow. They have attacked me twice in the past week. And at least once a week before that. Fvckers.

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LSFrank said:
My lights turn off after half.an hour, inside and out ...
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Sure mine did/does as well,
just that when I boosted it I realized I had left the passenger side overhead light on. Power back to the car, overhead light = ON.

Yes it goes into sleep mode at the 30min mark, I know it wasn't the overhead lamp that ran the battery down. Mine has this thing of sitting for longer then two weeks it doesn't have enough on the battery to turn it over, battery is new couple seasons ago. Didn't have the little battery tender on it this winter, still don't.

Something is running the battery down over a span of two+ weeks, possible drain somewhere, I have no idea! Not uncommon though.
 
Still, my lights turn off, even with the button pushed. I know this because a few times while doing interior work (particularly the radio), the light turned off, leaving me in the dark
 
Yes Frank ... I know it shuts off and that's not what ran down my battery. I fully understand it turns off by it's self like yours does.
When I restored power, only then I noticed it was on so therefor I must have forgotten to turn it off last I was in it.
 
Yesterday I ran through very high water (by mistake ). Now, having CEL but slowly getting better. I'm chasing the problem trying to find the wet spots. Any suggestions?
 
Ohhh, so just a coincidence? I thought you were saying the bulb killed the battery. Nevermind. It was a speed read while at work
 
what is the CEL? that would probably give you the best starting point.
 
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