Silverado6x6
Well-known member
Hey some of you know me and how i started with a free Goldwing this summer, and how on almost a weekly excursion at times I was bartering another motorcycle every other week until I have now 12 motorcycles. That 4 Goldwings alone. two of which are rideable, one still needing some tlc the 95 in the house for when I finish modding it and then it won't come out until spring which for Alaska may be as late as mid may or early june.
Well my wifes car had an erratic heating problem during our last cold snap last week, it was -16F and the heater blew cold air, its a 2005 Pontiac Aztek. At first I thought it was a bad radiator cap, coolant was going into the recovery tank but not returning when engine cooled down which lead to air pockets and no heat in car, replaced water pump, it was cheap and easy. Then it was dawning on me after seeing a lot of air being pumped into the coolant that I had a bad head gasket, a common problem on the 3.4 engines.
Tried a quality block sealer which was my last resort, did not work. I have about all the Snapon tools I would need and then some as I am the operations supervisor at a concrete batch plant in Alaska, one of our local members has even been to my shop.
But all this winter I have a three man crew making concrete septic tanks and so the heated shop is a bit crowded, I could work on it at another part of the site but it has minimal heat, replacing head gaskets on a V6 in this car is tight, lots of bending over and twisting engine forward.
So I casually remarked to my co workers what a POS the Aztek became what with its AWD and electrical issues, then I got impulsive, made a call to the Chevy dealership down the road and two hours later I was the owner of a 2012 Equinox. The salesman said he had possibly an outstanding deal, the 2014 models are the same as there was a revised engine available in the 2012, so in short its used with 27,000 miles but in pristine condition, has the touch screen dash panel with all the Bluetooth, XM radio, rear view camera, heated mirrors, AWD and with the 185hp variable cam timing direct injected 2.4 Ecotech engine. Paid $24,000 for and tossed in an extended 6 year warranty and a lifetime free synthetic oil change program as well. A brand new one in comparison is around $10k more.
Picked up wifey and let her drive it home, and that was wednesday, was not until saturday that I was able to drive it and I own it!
I absolutely love it! Drive it fast on some twisty turning snow over ice roads to see how it handle, was like a Finnish ice racing car I swear, engine is snappy with its 6 speed with OD, you can never feel clunky shifts, feels like an electric drive or in a different context a Goldwing with an automatic transmission. Could use some better tires but the Michelin Latitudes do a fair job for now, good traction starting and stopping but fail in sideways grip, a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks will go on sometime in the near future. And then I did my first mod, I yanked the OE hi beam halogens and installed a pair of 55 watt 6000K HID capsules, not an easy chore mind ya, off comes the tire, remove a plastic "manhole cover"in the liner, remove yet another up behind the housing and then you have it. Yes you reach up from the wheel wells, removing headlight is NOT an easy task, you have to remove the front bumper of all things. Wife then comes home complaining she almost hit a moose cause she had hi beams on, saw moose and an approaching car, dipped to the lo beam which is still the OE halogen and the difference was so dramatic she was effectively blinded, like coming into a dark movie house from a bright sunny day.
So I knew that may happen and the H11 HID with a Canbus adapter so the DRL will still work is in the mail.
And while I was following her home I also noticed that the rear tailights are not oversized, they are adequate but not outstanding, in near whiteout snow conditions we still carry on with our jobs, and my thought was this is insufficient for winter especially if it gets snow covered.
So I ordered up a pair of the latest 3157 red LED bulbs, normally I get them withought thinking of wattage but often when I use them on my bikes we get a fast flasher effect, so then I see these 50 watt osram chipped bulbs, yes 50 watts and at 900 lumens, that like a frigging red spotlight! And I also got a pair of 10 watt Cree white backup lamps, I use the 7 watt ones for the position lights on my 95 GL1500, and they are awesome, they are a projector style.
Here are a couple of google images, love the touchscreen! Whats weird is the SUV is cheaper than a new Goldwing, go figure. Its a granite color, like a dark pewter, not the top of the line LTZ, mine will have the projector fog lamps, just bought them off ebay.
I may actually buy another in a couple of months, just for me! at 32mpg in ECO mode it sure beats my 8.1 Vortec in my Silverado6x6.
Well my wifes car had an erratic heating problem during our last cold snap last week, it was -16F and the heater blew cold air, its a 2005 Pontiac Aztek. At first I thought it was a bad radiator cap, coolant was going into the recovery tank but not returning when engine cooled down which lead to air pockets and no heat in car, replaced water pump, it was cheap and easy. Then it was dawning on me after seeing a lot of air being pumped into the coolant that I had a bad head gasket, a common problem on the 3.4 engines.
Tried a quality block sealer which was my last resort, did not work. I have about all the Snapon tools I would need and then some as I am the operations supervisor at a concrete batch plant in Alaska, one of our local members has even been to my shop.
But all this winter I have a three man crew making concrete septic tanks and so the heated shop is a bit crowded, I could work on it at another part of the site but it has minimal heat, replacing head gaskets on a V6 in this car is tight, lots of bending over and twisting engine forward.
So I casually remarked to my co workers what a POS the Aztek became what with its AWD and electrical issues, then I got impulsive, made a call to the Chevy dealership down the road and two hours later I was the owner of a 2012 Equinox. The salesman said he had possibly an outstanding deal, the 2014 models are the same as there was a revised engine available in the 2012, so in short its used with 27,000 miles but in pristine condition, has the touch screen dash panel with all the Bluetooth, XM radio, rear view camera, heated mirrors, AWD and with the 185hp variable cam timing direct injected 2.4 Ecotech engine. Paid $24,000 for and tossed in an extended 6 year warranty and a lifetime free synthetic oil change program as well. A brand new one in comparison is around $10k more.
Picked up wifey and let her drive it home, and that was wednesday, was not until saturday that I was able to drive it and I own it!
I absolutely love it! Drive it fast on some twisty turning snow over ice roads to see how it handle, was like a Finnish ice racing car I swear, engine is snappy with its 6 speed with OD, you can never feel clunky shifts, feels like an electric drive or in a different context a Goldwing with an automatic transmission. Could use some better tires but the Michelin Latitudes do a fair job for now, good traction starting and stopping but fail in sideways grip, a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks will go on sometime in the near future. And then I did my first mod, I yanked the OE hi beam halogens and installed a pair of 55 watt 6000K HID capsules, not an easy chore mind ya, off comes the tire, remove a plastic "manhole cover"in the liner, remove yet another up behind the housing and then you have it. Yes you reach up from the wheel wells, removing headlight is NOT an easy task, you have to remove the front bumper of all things. Wife then comes home complaining she almost hit a moose cause she had hi beams on, saw moose and an approaching car, dipped to the lo beam which is still the OE halogen and the difference was so dramatic she was effectively blinded, like coming into a dark movie house from a bright sunny day.
So I knew that may happen and the H11 HID with a Canbus adapter so the DRL will still work is in the mail.
And while I was following her home I also noticed that the rear tailights are not oversized, they are adequate but not outstanding, in near whiteout snow conditions we still carry on with our jobs, and my thought was this is insufficient for winter especially if it gets snow covered.
So I ordered up a pair of the latest 3157 red LED bulbs, normally I get them withought thinking of wattage but often when I use them on my bikes we get a fast flasher effect, so then I see these 50 watt osram chipped bulbs, yes 50 watts and at 900 lumens, that like a frigging red spotlight! And I also got a pair of 10 watt Cree white backup lamps, I use the 7 watt ones for the position lights on my 95 GL1500, and they are awesome, they are a projector style.
Here are a couple of google images, love the touchscreen! Whats weird is the SUV is cheaper than a new Goldwing, go figure. Its a granite color, like a dark pewter, not the top of the line LTZ, mine will have the projector fog lamps, just bought them off ebay.
I may actually buy another in a couple of months, just for me! at 32mpg in ECO mode it sure beats my 8.1 Vortec in my Silverado6x6.
