thats just shitty gas
dont take anything with e85 through mt evans.
thanks for updating the thread.
it being a mechanical overlook is definitely a great update.
Yeah, I was just surprised that that much bad gas had held on in the filter for that long. The fuel that ran out of both lines smelled fine, and it came from a high volume Maverik, but what I shook out of the filter smelled like what I got out of the fuel rails when I jumped the pump and bled them out before I started it on its own fuel system for the first time in 9-16 years last fall. And the filter acted plugged, a lot more ran out of the inlet even though I tried to pour the gas out of it through the outlet side for a minute first.
I've been just down the hill from Idaho Springs since August of 2021 and I still haven't made it up that mountain. I've looked across at it from the top of Bierstadt though. And I've been up Pikes Peak down near Colorado Springs three times in my life, twice in rental vans right before my two Philmont trips and then once via the cog railway a couple of years ago.
It isn't politically correct to call it Mt. Evans anymore. Colorado decided to rename a bunch of stuff a few years ago and that's now "Mount Blue Sky."
Chinaman Gulch was also on the renaming list. My suggestion was that they name it after the mortar-like stuff that you put in the gaps between the logs in a log cabin, since it was originally named in honor of a Chinese guy that used to cut railroad ties up there and he presumably would have had a cabin, but for some reason that didn't fly...
@Things2do
I have had great results using the Felpro Blue valve cover gaskets...they are the only gasket I'll will buy or recommend
That's what I put on it and so far they're doing great. I'm still losing oil from somewhere, to the tune of 2 quarts in the last thousand miles, but it's not coming out there anymore. I know my pan and my filter adaptor thing are both leaking.
Glad it's fixed...ish... 4.0's are tough engines.
I hate that section of I-70. I had a bag of chips explode from the air pressure while I was sitting in traffic going west one time... then on the return trip it was snowing and getting passed by people doing 10+ over the speed limit while dodging pot holes going east was just a real treat. I try to take alternate routes now.
I'll say, especially this poor one. I've overheated it enough to theoretically blow the head gaskets at least a half a dozen times before I figured out that it was actually getting that hot. I've even had the temperature needle all the way to the red at least twice, and somehow they're both still holding on. For now. But I think my intake is starting to seep coolant at the front, which fits with my usual luck since I just replaced the valve cover gaskets and those are included in the intake gasket kit. So with the way my luck runs if I replace the intake gaskets then the head gaskets will spontaneously blow shortly after.
I've only popped one bag of chips going across there so far. Some of those potholes in the eastbound right lane just before the tunnels are wicked. I hit one in my roommate's Chevy 2500 last month and the back end pogo sticked over enough that I had to counter steer. Luckily the road was dry, and that told me to avoid that lane entirely in my Ranger on this trip. Especially since I blew out all 4 of my ~25 year old shocks on trails in Moab.
The vast majority of the cars that I've seen passing people in the snow up there have Florida tags.
Somehow I got nearly 22 MPG between Grand Junction and Denver. Even if the pumps filled the tank a little different that's still not bad for a 195k mile truck hauling 2 guys, tools, camping equipment, and a camper shell over that stretch of interstate.
