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Blackstone Laboratories – Oil Reports

Next time that vehicle is up for an oil change, I recommend getting the used oil analyzed at Blackstone Laboratories. “Oil analysis is a quick, nondestructive way to gauge the health of an engine by looking at what’s in the oil.” Source Located in Fort Wayne Indiana, Blackstone Laboratories provide an easy to understand report of the vehicles engine condition. The test kit from Blackstone is completely free, so there is no reason not to have a test kit laying around. Head over to this page and fill out the form to get a test kit. The process was completely Continue Reading → Blackstone Laboratories – Oil Reports

Black Plastic Restored

For longer than I’d like to admit, I’ve been trying to find a solution to the aged plastic trim on my H3 Hummer. The Trim on the vehicle has taken quite the beating from the sun, weather, and years of driving. This damage has left the plastic with this blotchy grey-ish chalk white color. I’ve tried a bunch of products that claim to restore the look, like Mothers Back-to-Black Trim and Plastic Restorer, but they barely last a few days. I can’t bring myself to use Plasti Dip or Bed Liner because it looks half-ass. The heat gun trick didn’t Continue Reading → Black Plastic Restored

CB Radio

The Citizen Band Radio, or CB Radio, is one of the most important parts to equip a 4×4 vehicle with. A CB Radio is a requirement for most organized Off-Road events. Despite its old design, a CB Radio is a very effective tool for keeping everyone safe on the trail. In an age of cell phones, Facebook Messenger, and a hundred other things you’d think that the CB Radio would be a thing of the past, but honestly, it’s just as relevant as ever. What makes the CB radio a valuable tool for communication on the 4×4 trails is the Continue Reading → CB Radio

H3 Upgraded Battery

When it’s time to replace the battery in that H3 Hummer, I recommend getting the Optima Battery 8022-091 75/25 Red Top or the Optima Battery 8042-218 D75/25 Yellow Top even though the two Optima D75/25 batteries are much bigger than the factory battery and will not fit inside that plastic box. I think that the plastic box is just there for cosmetics reasons and to cover up how small of a battery that Hummer came with from the factory. So I ditched that small battery and the cheap plastic box to install a much bigger battery in its place. The Continue Reading → H3 Upgraded Battery

Leaky Sunroof

A few months ago I fixed an issue where the sunroof on my H3 Hummer wouldn’t properly drain the water. This makes for a spectacular surprise after every single heavy rainfall. The problem was from going off-road with the Hummer and flinging mud and debris everywhere with the sunroof wide open. By design, all sunroofs leak which is why they have tubes to drain the water. If the mud and debris are forgotten about and never cleaned out, it tends to get jammed in the tubes. Once the H3 Hummer sunroof tubes are clogged, the water has no way drain Continue Reading → Leaky Sunroof

H3 Hummer PCM Programming

After some research using the internet on PCM’s and Tuning, I found out that I don’t have the latest tune / reflash from GM for my H3’s 2006 3.5 L (211 CID) L52 I5 cylinder engine. I was able to check my vehicle by using a simple OBDII sensor I have and cross-referencing numbers using TIS website by entering the VIN number. I compared the tune number from my previous post P0455 & P0442 ECU Fault Log H3 Hummer where the Vehicle Calibration ID on my vehicle as 12606370. The tune 12606370‘s description mentions that it is for “New software Continue Reading → H3 Hummer PCM Programming

Burnt Out HVAC Instrument Panel Light Bulbs

About year ago in my dashboard a light bulb for controlling the vents went out on my H3 Hummer, making it difficult to see which setting I had the ventilation on. A few months later, I had two light bulbs that didn’t illuminate on my HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) Control Panel which began to make choosing the setting on the instrument panel difficult at night. I called up GM about getting it fixed but all they want to do is completely replace the GM Part No. 15840354 CONTROL, A/C Instrument Panel, or with the part ACDelco 15-73909 GM Continue Reading → Burnt Out HVAC Instrument Panel Light Bulbs

Blu-ray to MKV (MP4) Using Handbrake

In my opinion, the movie corporation needs to wake up to the 21st century and realize that formats like DVDs and Blu-rays are dead. When it comes to Google Play and iTunes the prices these companies charge for movies is bloated at best in my opinion. I can compress Blu-rays down to 1.6GB on average with a nearly unnoticeable quality loss. As far as I’m concerned, there is no reason not to compress data. As a proof in point, the newer HBO series Silicon Valley is a company that has some extremely good compression logarithm. My final point that they Continue Reading → Blu-ray to MKV (MP4) Using Handbrake

130,000 Miles

Just the other day, while driving back from a weekend of packing parachutes at Skydive Alabama, my H3 Hummer crossed over the 130,000 mileage mark on the odometer. I think that my H3 has entered it’s proving grounds now. This mileage period from now on shows how well built the vehicle really is. With a goal of 250,000 on the odometer, I want to reflect back on the vehicle’s performance so far. While I wish I had more power from the engine, however the 3.5 L (211 CID) L52 I5 has never let me down in all those miles. The Continue Reading → 130,000 Miles

P0455 & P0442 ECU Fault Log H3 Hummer

About a year ago my ECU light came on in my H3 Hummer, noticeably after some fun off-road. I grab my cheap Chinese OBD-II to Blue Tooth scanner from eBay and open the Android application “Torque“. The scanner had no problem grabbing the code and I was able to see the error report in the computer. Fault log report generated by Torque for Android —————— Vehicle VIN: 5GTDN136X68227871 Vehicle Manufacturer: Unknown Vehicle Calibration ID: 12606370 12601134 1260 Current Fault Log —————— P0455: Evaporative Emission Control System Leak Detected (gross leak, check fuel cap, piping etc) P0442: Evaporative Emission Control System Continue Reading → P0455 & P0442 ECU Fault Log H3 Hummer

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