Spray fluid film in there, living in such a dry climate, it will probably never progress.
Sure, you just have to drill all the holes out to accept M8 rivnuts.
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Also, they make a spray nozzle with a 360degree head for inside areas like that.
That sucks huge about the tensioner.
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We shall see. I bought one, but it’s pretty long. Maybe too long.
That’s it? I live in a dry climate now, but I’d like to be cleaning and protecting things as I go long between now and then, ya know? I’m not opposed to soaking everything with WD40, either. 
And thank you for the confirmation on the armor. I felt like I need to make sure there wasn’t some kind of special drill bit required to drill through the factory nut plates.
Good to know. And yes indeed.
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Fluid film sticks and doesn’t dry out. But it’s also not nasty like a petroleum based product. Get a 360 tip and a couple spray cans,
You’ll need a good drill bit, like 11/64th I think, whatever the packaging says for the outside diameter of the rivnut. You can put them right through the factory weld nuts, no need to break them off. As long as the rivnut can go past it a bit to expand. Rivnuts with little ribs on them for your first pleasure might help.
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Thank you, sir!
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Still casually playing with wheel ideas. Here’s some Toyota stockers. I could probably snag a set of these for under $400 if I was willing to bide my time…
Taco 17s. (Something about 5-spokes on 6-lugs makes my skin crawl, though.)
4Runner wheels look a bit better, but now we have 7-spokes on 6-lugs…
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I was just given (I know!) A set of those taco wheels. They’re pretty nice in person I must say although I do kinda wish they were 16s…
Inner frame rails? Rust? Where? 
So are you leaning towards 17s or 16s? At one point all our rigs had 265/75-16s. Now we have 15s, 16s, and 17s. Lol.
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Lots of good tire choices in 265/75/16. It’s the biggest common metric size before you get to the inch diameter x inch width x wheel diameter which seems to get much more expensive for some reason
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I’m not sure what size I’m after, TBH. Given the rapidly shrinking window within which I will be exploring the rocky, desert southwest, I’m just thinking about ways I might provide for more options in the future.
Plus—It’s always fun to shop for wheels!
16s would open up doors enough to be of interest, but maybe the flatter, muddier regions in my future 
will allow for a more tarmac-oriented approach. I don’t wheel very often, but when I do—down here—it tends to be pretty rough and rocky, so I’ll gladly trade a little tarmac prowess for gravel durability. Once I’m—up there—I suspect it’s going to be almost entirely flat farm roads, save a few rutted, muddy areas in the flood plain, so part of me is thinking maybe I could get away with a little less sidewall. 
And then I see something like this and thinking, what else could work? (Note the size, Rob!)
(But also: Why do I not already have these in my garage?)
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Damnit! They’re fuckin’ 6-spoke-on-6-bolt in a nice color in great condition with usable “30.5s” and a full-sized spare (on a steel wheel I might need when/if I change my mind and go steelies) for less than $90 each.
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Ugh. Too much on my plate lately. Here’s where I’m at, truck-wise.
First: TPS
It would appear I’ve collected something like EIGHT new and used TPS. I keep getting the code, my trans seems to be hesitant to downshift, and I’ve never got better than 14mpg. Considering TPS does more for gear selection than fuel trims, it’s worth a shot.
It’s just too damn hot outside right now and I don’t wanna do it.
Next: skid plates & tcase leak
I’m not doing any wheeling until I’ve re-installed my skid plates and fixed the tcase leak.
Now that I have the right drill bit, I need to drill out all the mounting point and install rivet nuts so I can reinstall the plates—with new, matching hardware. Figure this might take two hours if I take my time.
Bonus job: Replace the leaking OPSU while I’m under the front end.
I’ve got all the parts to seal the tcase, too. In fact, I’ve got two of everything, so I could give Ernest a set. Had them about six months, now. If I can get the garage cleaned out enough, I could do this (and the skid plates) in the shade, under a fan, next to an air conditioner.
It’s just too damn hot outside right now and I don’t wanna do it.
Then: brake, rattle & roll
The creaking control arm bushing continues making noise. I hate it. I need to find a spare set of lower control arms so I can do as much of the bushing swap job on the bench in front of a fan.
Might as well replace all the front end bushings while I’m in there. And it’s been so long since I bought the new bushings I already have (seriously, like eight months now), I forget what I actually have, so it’s time to do some inventory.
I’m also getting tired of ABS engaging randomly when parking due to a sketchy sensor. Which reminds me, I have a sweet set of powder coated calipers and brackets to install. Just need new (drilled/slotted) rotors (if I can find them anywhere), pads, and braided lines.
I thought about grabbing a set of the Montero Sport brake caliper brackets so I could use bigger rotors for better braking leverage, but that would mean stepping up to 16-inch wheels and I’m not in a position to do that right now.
The gronchiness in the front end as the front end un/loads kinda concerns me. Is it simply older tires nearing the end of their lifespan? NVH transmission due to the aforementioned bushings? Or maybe tired wheel bearings? I think I’ll just get new bearings while I’m in there.
Oh! And I think I should consider POR-ing all the things before putting back together now.
And when I install the mud flaps I bought in December, I can make sure the front fenders and splash shields are installed with the right hardware.
It’s just too damn hot outside right now and I don’t wanna do it.
And then: sparkle noico
I really want to get the rest of the Noico installed. It helps with interior noise and temps. Considering that means removing most of the interior behind the first row, it’s a bit of a PITA and best saved for cooler weather (in the garage).
With the interior out, I can clean/lube the moonroof (including its ground connection), run leads for additional house lighting and accessories, and install my fiber optic, twinkling starlight headliner kit. I can also maybe fix the second row recliners that prevent me from folding the seats flat for sleeping.
I think I’ll also consider building some simple, lightweight shelves or drawers to keep my tools and recovery gear out of site.
It’s just too damn hot outside right now and I don’t wanna do it.
After all that: proper wiring
I need to design a switch panel for the dash, install it, install my “shiftpod” under the hood, and run all the wires for proper, switched installs. I need to tie all my forward aux. lighting to the factory high beam switch, while preserving the ability to turn individual lights on independently. (Think: A/B printer switch, but for power.)
- fog lights turn off with high beams
- 18" bar is lazy installed (constant hot, direct switch)
- Light Force “oscars” are still in the box
- and I’d like to add some area/rock lights
It’s just too damn hot outside right now and I don’t wanna do it.
Oh yeah, and I’m gonna need tires by fall. @Todd you still have those BFGs? I feel like planning another trip to SoCal.
So this is where I’m at with Fezzik right now. So much to do, so little time, and such an inhospitable climate for it right now. Ugh.
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This stinks.
I hate when my #todo list grows faster than I can work it–especially when it’s this stupid hot and humid.
Doesn’t matter what I do or when I do it this time of year, I sweat like a pig. Hats, bandanas, sweatbands–30 minutes in, they’re saturated, and sweat’s in my eyes and dripping from the back of the beard.
It’s why, two months and (surprisingly) 3,600 miles later, I still haven’t put the skid plates back on or pulled the console to fix the tcase leak after the last oil change in, what, April? May?
These old BFG ATs are far reaching the point where they just disintegrate, since they start cracking between the tread blocks within a year of purchase in this environment. They’re noisy, out of balance (AS ALWAYS), and almost dangerous on wet pavement–a big setback during prime storm chasing season.
The suspension bushings creak and pop worse every day. I don’t even remember which bushings I bought eight months ago to fix the problem.
Blah. It’s just too damn hot. Which makes the latest issue all the more irritating.
I planned on finishing the office so I could get something done inside. Instead, I spent the afternoon getting another case of heat exhaustion, scrubbing the carpets in Fezzik.
Apparently, the drains at the base of the windshield both started leaking last week. I thought I had something rotten in the trash, but nope. Wet carpet.
And I had that coffee spill last year. Rancid, spoiled dairy carpet. (I’ll figure out why both front door seals started leaking at the same time.)
So I don’t want to work on the truck in this heat, which made the nearly four hours I spent scrubbing carpets in the driveway all the more horrifying.
Here where I started. 99% of the stink was front passenger floor, but that side was fully in the sun, so I started opposite. Might as well do then all of I’ve got to do any of it at all, right?
Moved on to driver front. Here’s a before.
Before on passenger side, second row.
After about 15-20 minutes of scrubbing with full strength Simple Green. 
Finally, I got after the source of the rancid stench.
Before.
During.
After.
Barely noticable, imo.
And since the drains aren’t fixed, it will probably stink again next time it rains.
(sigh)
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23X-TBD
- replaced HVAC blower
- fixed glovebox latch
- adjusted windshield sprayers
Heywood…
I replaced the HVAC blower this morning. A couple weeks ago, it just got slower for some reason. Like 20-30% slower. Whatever, it was $30 on Amazon and lasted eight months. I threw in another (from a different seller, at a slightly higher price). Look what I found in the process.
That’s the lower heater duct under the glovebox. Note the relatively damp dust. Notice it’s blue.
With the old fan out, I can reach my arm so far back up into the dash I can feel the breeze through the vents at the base of the windshield. Seriously? It’s just open in there all the way outside?
I’m thinking we got so much rain it filled the space and using my poorly adjusted windshield sprayers—which literally spray under the wiper blade on that side no matter how I adjust them—resulted in things getting inundated.
The fan motor, as we’ll see in a moment, is fairly protected from water from above, but when said water finds its way to the wire harness, well, I guess this sort of thing happens.
Maybe. While there *was—maybe—*evidence of water mineral deposits on the cable, I also stumbled upon another issue out of dumb luck.
Knowing the second generation Montero’s (single) AC unit is barely capable of cooling such a sizable greenhouse to begin with, here in Phoenix, I’ve been wanting to dissect one of these blowers and look into possible upgrades that might move more air. Since I was already gross, I decided to try disassembling the old motor.
Wait. what? Where did this piece of wire come from? Wait. This is a single copper conductor. Did it come out of the…
Yes. Yes it did. Freaking motor windings coming loose. I have never—EVER—seen this happen in my entire life. I’ve tried taking them apart in the past just to see how much wire there is in there and had to give up because it’s so tightly wound and sealed.
Gee. I wonder what happens when an electric motor’s winding starts coming loose. Copper dust, for one thing. But probably reduced performance due to shorts in the coil. Probably not a long shot to think a short here could mean shorts elsewhere up the line, starting with the soft, plastic connector, now thoroughly cleaned and wrapped up until I redo it this fall.
Unbelievable. And yet, Amazon. New fan blows strong, though. Will be nice this afternoon on the 2+ hour drive to pick up Arlo in the east valley, then a drive to SoCal for Mom’s birthday Friday night.
Additional pictures of internals coming to a thread in cars soon for reverse engineering and upgrade purposes. I wanna run the biggest, baddest, blower motor I can find.
Honey, I fixed the glovebox!
On the plus side, we’ve been avoiding opening the glovebox for at least a year due to the sticking pin on the latch. I fixed that shit this morning by taking it off and spraying it out with MAF cleaner.
I know replacements are $20 all day long—and I’ve never locked a glovebox in any vehicle except to test that the “valet key” doesn’t unlock the glovebox (c.1996)—but something about having a unique lock makes me sufficiently neurotic enough to avoid such a fix.
Here’s what was happening. Squeezing the buttons releases the detent, allowing the box to open. When you release, a spring pushes the detent back up into place, securing the latch.
As you might infer from the scratches on the side of the detent, my issue was the detent not popping back up (enough). I’d close the door and, five minutes later, it would fall open. Sometimes I could get it back out with a fingernail, but sometimes it took the point of a knife.
In any case, I flushed it with MAF cleaner. I figured it might be a little less harsh than brake cleaner (and dry a little faster). Took a couple-three generous blasts before it ran clear.
Pro Tip: It works better clean and dry. Dry graphite gummed it up. So did silicone.
And I did all of this in one hour before work this morning.
When it was only 85°F/29°C.
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239,500-ish
- ROAD TRIP!
- new (to me) tires
- another broken hatch latch
Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess. Fezzik hauled V, P, Arlo, and I to LA this past weekend. He brought back a set of new (to me) 30" BFG ATs. Thanks @Todd !
I’m a month, maybe two, away from new wheels and tires, so these are peace of mind, given the tired state of my old 31s. Not sure what I’m gonna do yet, but I’ve narrowed it down to the following.
- wheels
– 16-inch steelies
– 17-inch aluminum - tires
– Cooper Discoverer ST MAXX
– Toyo Open Country
– Fallen Wildpeak
More than likely, I’m going to copy Todd’s style. Just not sure about the color. I really like the teal, but would go orange or neon green. Took me a couple pictures for reference.
My biggest concern about the drive was baking, driving into the sunset. Fezzik may blow ice cold at highway speeds, but quickly warms up at extended idle in the heat of the day. Everything just heat soaks, to the point the AC shuts down completely, usually not long after the exterior temp reads 157°F/70°C and the CLT sees 230°F/110°C.
Wet got lucky though. Drove into a monsoon storm a couple hours before sunset. Rain shade Temps dropped. And then we stopped.
It took us about 2 hours to do the 40 miles between us and Indio. This turned our 5-hour drive into a 7-hour drive. If anyone knows of exceptionally comfortable OEM seats from another vehicle that might fit in a Montero, phase LMK.
We stopped at the dinosaurs in Cabazon. If you didn’t know, they’re the ones from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. We’ve been stopping here for years
Back in Phoenix, I unloaded four tires through the second row doors because the handle broke. Again. And then I stopped myself falling out the back when I opened the door from the inside by putting my left hand down.
What’s in the bag? 30 inches of San Pedro I’m going to be planting very soon.
Fortunately, I’ve got another handle ready to go. I’m gonna try reinforcing this one before installing it. Thinking about some metal flashing, but I’m going to take some measurements and see if I can’t replace the plastic piece with something metal
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240,249
- new battery
I wasn’t planning on spending on spending three hours steam cleaning the mattress topper yesterday, but spills happen. I wasn’t planning on replacing the hose bibb on the back patio after dinner either, but the damn thing was making a mess of the patio. And I certainly wasn’t planning on rearranging a quarter of the garage while I was “in there”, but sometimes there’s a really big cucaracha.
Which made the two phone calls and three trips to two different Pep Boys locations to get a battery replaced under warranty all the more grating. I mean, here it was, 7:30PM and I hadn’t been back to my desk since stepping away to pick up P after the first day of Third Grade at 2PM. (sigh)
Pro Tip: Get yourself one of these USB booster packs. They won’t jump a dead battery, but it’s the easiest jump you’ll ever get when the car won’t start in the Homie D parking lot. They’re like US$40.
Long story short
- I bought a Group 24 Bosch Platinum Series AGM in October 2019 @ 217,255 miles.
- It came with a 3-year free replacement warranty. (See install pics, above.)
- It died less than two years later, in August 2021 @ 240,249 miles.
I remembered having to go well out of my way to get this battery, but didn’t have any paperwork or emails for it. Ended up having to check my timeline in Google Maps for 2018-2019, looking for outlier stops in the far southwest valley. Nice to see my data being useful to me once in a while, eh?
I called the nearest Pep Boys location…
- They told me I had to call the location where I bought the battery.
- That location told me I had to call corporate since they no longer do retail sales.
- Corporate told me they no longer carry Bosch, so I would get a Champion equivalent.
- They emailed me a document to take to any location for the free replacement.
- I went to the nearest location the Pep Boys site said had the battery. They didn’t.
- A very nice dude named Johnny printed a report of all AGM batteries in-stock in AZ.
- I went to the next location, five minutes down the road, where they had a Group 34 AGM.
- Dude at this store told me it wouldn’t fit and he’d have to see the dead battery.
- I went home and pulled the dead battery.
- Back in the store, dude told me they were different size and would not fit.
- I pointed out the Group 34 is identical to the 24, but 1/2" shorter. It fits.
- Register would not accept return.
- Dude got fancy, told me it would be $68. Fine. Register would not accept return.
- Dude moves to other register. Now says it will be $14. Register would not accept return.
- Other dude, tired of bullshit, walks up, flippantly dances on the keyboard, scans my return, scans the new battery, and prints a receipt showing a 100% even trade. Tells original dude, “We owe him a battery. Just give him the battery.”
I picked up Carrabba’s takeout on the way home.
Boom. New Group 34 AGM. 740CCA and 115min reserve beats the 710CCA and 60min the Group 24Bosch had. And I’ve got a receipt showing I’ve paid for it, so maybe I’ll get another one free from Pep Boys when this one fails in a couple years. Then again, maybe not. What a PITA.
Edit: Transaction notes/details, should this come up again.
- original purchase
– 10.03.19, store 1049, transaction 079332
– Bosch Platinum Series AGM (Group 24), SKU 0844459
– paid $151.24 - warranty swap
– 08.09.21, store XXXm transaction XXXXXX
– Champion AGM (34-740CHAGM, Group 34), SKU 2071624
– paid $0.00
240,256
- TPS replacement
- muttering of swear words
Okay—first of all—this is bullshit. I have a persistent P0120 TPS code. I clear it. It comes back. And has been coming back for at last a year. I’ve tried replacing the TPS twice with new sensors purchased from Amazon. I paid $25 for the first one, $35 for the second.
This should be a VERY simple fix. Two 8mm bolts. One chunky connector. 15 minutes TOPS.
Why did I wait a year to do this simple job?
Twice, now, I’ve installed new TPS sensors that either read 40%—99% or 0%—74%. Like this one, the most recently purchased unit. At $35, I’m sure it’s not as good as the $420 item my local Mitsubishi dealer would have to order in, but these are simple variable resistors. How far off could they be?
Step 1 - Mark/index the known good functional TPS sensor so you can put it back and drive the damn thing when the new one inevitably doesn’t work for some reason.
Step 2 - When new TPS doesn’t read correctly, use scribe to mark range in the hopes there will be some obvious variance between the two sensors.
Step 3 - When this still doesn’t work, grab the first new TPS, mark it accordingly, install, then remove and take pictures of nearly $50 worth of defective Amazon merchandise discovered too long after delivery to be returned. Vow to write scathing, 1-star review after updating build thread.
Step 4 - When even THIS doesn’t work, grab the old, dusty, used TPS sensors Josh gave you nearly two years ago that you didn’t try yet because you had new sensors. Set them all out for a nice picture.
Step 5 - Marvel at how easily the first one you grab immediately dials into a 0—89% range like the dodgy one that’s been shifting your Aisin automatic like a right moron and works perfectly the first try in less than five minutes.
Step 6 - See if anyone on the forum— (ahem) @MrGalantguy —might have a spare TPS screw/bolt lying around to replace the one that disappeared into the engine bay but did not fall out the bottom on that final try.
Fezzik now seems to be running well. Acceleration feels more brisk; gear changes more crisp. Time will tell if I see better than the 14.3mpg (16.4L/100KM), if the code comes back, or the TPS just falls off the throttle body because Murphy showed up.
On the plus side, the number of things I’ve got sitting around waiting to be disassembled so we can figure out how they work is growing nicely. I’m looking forward to figuring out why these new sensors were defective—and how they really work.
Next time this happens, I’d like an option somewhere between $30 parts that don’t work at all and $400 parts that aren’t worth the asking price. I mean, again, these are simple resistors.
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Saving for later.
I’ve seen this stuff before, but never knew the name. Looks like I might be able to make a basic roof rack for under $100 with this.
I just need to mount an awning, maybe a hot water tank, and the eventual Thule box.
Customer Service 101 right here. ^
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Row52 did it’s job.
First Montero to hit a yard within 50 miles of me. A teal 1995 SR. The alert came in Friday afternoon. The yard opened at 0730. I got there at 0900. Another Montero guy was already rolling the rear axle (locker) out the door.
I didn’t expect to get as much as I did, nor did I expect to, but it was a decent haul. Still had the key tucked into the headliner. No pictures of the truck, but here’s what $180 gets you at pull n save.
And I’m not the only one who uses stereo wiring to bundle up parts, right? This was all one trip, plus my tool bag.
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241,763
- re-sealed tcase
I think it might have been April when I discovered the tcase leak. Ernest said there’s a gasket on top where the lever goes in that’s almost always cracked and he didn’t think mine was that far gone.
What followed was a good four hours of careful disassembly, cleaning, and resealing. Took me so damn long I forgot where a couple electrical connections went. (Seriously. No idea. Just gonna wait until something doesn’t work.)
Look how much cleaner and tidier!
(Didn’t have time to clean further.)
Here’s a couple shots of the cut and fix I made to get the tcase sealing boot over the fulcrum. Das Boot just has to keep the elements out of the cabin. In the spirit of British auto manufacturing in the 90s–That’ll do.
#ziptie
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