Choices!

Hillary’s Hard Choices is a $10 Million Loss.  So paying Hilary Clinton a $14 million advance for a badly ghostwritten book about the time she did nothing as Secretary of State proved to be a really bad choice for her publisher. 

Those Americans who are still considering voting for a potential candidate who spent a lifetime in politics accomplishing nothing (other than marrying a corrupt politician), whose only virtue is being a cold fish and a little bit to the right of another potential unaccomplished candidate, Elizabeth Warren, are making a choice of being dumb. 

 

If her Majesty actually runs, and those Americans vote for her, they will make another bad choice for America – the third bad choice in nine years.  This bad choice has a real good chance of completely screwing up this country.  Therefore, let's hope that Americans will make the right choice this time.

By the way, Romney running again is another bad choice.  He lost in 2012 because he did not connect with white middle and lower class Americans, and there is very little chance that he will connect if he runs for the third time.  We need a Republican candidate that has a chance of connecting with this still important (but not for long) group.  

Choices, choices – at least we still have them!

Replacing GMC Yukon XL 2001 Fuel Pump

I just replaced the fuel pump on my Yukon XL SLT 2001. Following the procedure described in this article, I was able to replace the pump myself for $77! GM dealership wanted about $800! I hope that this will help many other Yukon owners.

Diagnosing No Start Condition

 

First let’s start with how to diagnose whether the fuel pump is the problem. The symptom would be that your Yukon does not start but your starter cranks. Of course, if the Yukon does not start and the starter does not crank, then you need to diagnose a problem with your starter.

This condition can be caused by either a fuel or spark related problem. The first thing to check is whether your Yukon has a spark in every cylinder. This can be easily done using either an in-line spark tester (such as this one sold on Amazon: Amazon In Line Spark Tester), or a simple touch type spark tester that I used (see an example: Touch Spark Tester on Amazon).  These are very useful and inexpensive tools. If either tool shows good spark in every of the 8 cylinders, then your start problem is most likely related to fuel delivery.

Fuel problem can be either related to the fuel pump (most likely) or to the fuel pressure regulator. To diagnose this problem properly, I suggest buying a simple fuel pressure gauge. There are many different fuel pressure test gauges sold on-line. I bought the cheapest one at the Harbor Freight Tools store for $20 that did the job (http://www.harborfreight.com/fuel-injection-pump-tester-92699.html).    You need to remove the engine cover and connect the fuel pressure gauge to the fuel pressure check connector. The fuel pressure connector is number 24 in the diagram of the Yukon fuel system below.

After connecting the fuel pressure gauge, turn the key one click to ON (do not crank the engine). The fuel pump should activate and raise the pressure to at least 55 PSI. If you have zero fuel pressure, then the problem is with the fuel pump. If the fuel pressure is between 55 and 62 PSI, then have someone crank the engine and monitor the fuel pressure. The fuel pressure may drop but then should stabilize. If the pressure drops by more than 5 PSI after it stabilizes, then the problem may be with the fuel pressure regulator or another fuel injection component. You will need to do a diagnosis of your fuel system -- I suggest checking this page for a full GM diagnosis procedure: http://www.justanswer.com/gmc/79k9g-gmc-yukon-denali-2001-gmc-yukon-xl-denali-4wd-6-0l-truck.html.

If you have no fuel pressure, then you need to make sure that the fuel pump is getting electricity. Check all ignition and fuel pump related fuses in the fuse box and then check the fuel pump relay. You can check the relay by pulling it out and replacing it with a similar relay in the fuse box. If all the relay and all the fuses check out, then it is almost certain that your fuel pump broke and needs replacement.

Replacing the Fuel Pressure Pump

The challenge with replacing the fuel pump is that you need to drop the fuel tank. GM’s service manual standard time for this repair is 3.2 hours. It requires to lift the car and to have another lift to support the heavy 32 gallons fuel tank in order to drop it. I was able to replace the fuel pump by making an opening in the Yukon floor as described below. I bought a cheap fuel pump on Amazon for $77 (instead of paying $400 to the dealer!). This pump had a one year warranty, and if it fails, I can easily replace it again using the opening in the floor.

Step-by-step instructions of making the opening and replacing the pump are as follows:

1.     Disconnect the positive terminal (red terminal) from the battery to avoid the risk of spark when you remove the fuel pump. 

2.     Remove the long rear bench.  There are four bolts that bolt the bench to the floor, but also note the two bolts that connect the long bench to the remaining one seat bench as shown in the picture below. 

3.     Remove the carpet and insulation and mark the opening with a marker on the floor.  Please refer to the photo below for recommended opening location (which is a little different than the opening I made).  I recommend cutting along the solid red line shown in this photo, and then making a light surface cut of less than a millimeter deep along the dotted line to allow for bending of the metal.  Please note the spot welds above the dotted line indicated by the white arrows.  There is a box welded to the floor below.  Make sure that your bent along the red dashed line is about ¼ inches before the spot welds.
 

The following photo shows the suggested opening location as opposed to the one I made.

 

 

4.     I cut the floor using a simple Dremel tool with 406 15/16” cut-off wheels.  I used about a dozen wheels to complete the cut (they break easily), but they come in a 36 pack.  You can use any metal cutting wheel that is not larger than 2 inches in diameter (there is a little over an inch between the floor and the fuel tank in the narrowest gap location on the left side of the opening).
 

5.     After you cut the three sides of the floor and make a surface cut of the fourth side, you can bend the metal to expose the fuel pump below as shown in the following photo (note that I recommend to bend the metal in a different location as discussed in the previous step).

6.     Removing the fuel pump is straight forward.  You need to remove the cover first, disconnect the fuel lines (be careful not to break the fuel line connectors) and wires, and then turn the ring that holds the fuel pump.  The only tricky part was to disconnect one of the wire harnesses.  You need to insert a flat screw driver to disconnect the clip as indicated in the photo below.  The new fuel pump typically comes with a spare harness – you can see how this harness connects to the fuel pump.

7.     After inserting the new fuel pump and connecting the fuel lines and wire harnesses, I suggest reconnecting the battery and testing the new fuel pump before proceeding.
 

8.     If the new pump works, reinstall the fuel pump cover/cap.  Now you are ready to close the opening and complete the installation.  I sprayed paint on the opening edges to prevent rust and taped the edges of the bent portion with Duct tape to prevent rust and make sure that there is no metal-on-metal rubbing once the metal is bent back into place. 

 

I then bent the metal back and taped it with Duct tape as shown in the photo below.

 

I hope that this blog helped you to deal with your Yukon fuel pump problem.

Reflections on Yom Kippur

As I fast and reflect on Yom Kippur, couple of thoughts came to my mind I would like to share.

I did not vote for Obama in the last elections – so at least I do not have to worry about this sin – but those who did, should ask for double forgiveness.

If anyone had doubts that we elected an incompetent leftist ideolog for President, should have no doubt any more.  Putin Checkmated Obama and Kerry over Syria, U.S. was humiliated and embarrassed thanks to those two nincompoops.  I guess our community organizer learned that peddling dirty politics in Chicago and playing the race card does not make him qualified to play on the world stage with ex-KGB agents.  The only sad thing is that there are still many Americans who just do not pay attention enough, naïve enough, or just stupid enough to believe that Obama did well.

It has been 40 years since Yom Kippur war and 20 years since the signing of the Oslo Accords that brought the Palestinian terror organization into Israel.  The political and military leaders who botched the Yom Kippur war and betrayed their people were rightfully held responsible by the Agranat Commission in Israel, and were thrown out of office.  The leaders who were responsible for the failed Oslo Accords – those leaders who equally betrayed their people with poor judgment and misinformation were not held responsible – no commission has ever been formed.  The main gang leader of the Oslo Accords – Shimon Peres – is now holding the honorary post of President of Israel.   This reminds me of the old adage that God works in mysterious ways – one more thing to ponder during Yom Kippur.

Gmar Chatima Tova – May you be inscribed (in the Book of Life) for Good!

Thoughts for Passover

Passover is a Jewish holiday that symbolizes freedom.  Jews came to Egypt on their own free will and prospered for many years, but then their fortunes turned, and they were enslaved by the Pharaohs.  It took a strong leader, Moses, with the help of God to gain their freedom.  This is indeed a powerful story. 

Unfortunately, our nation had experienced many times the loss of freedom and even risk of annihilation.  The Spanish Inquisition, the pogroms in Russia, the Nazi Holocaust, the refusal of the Soviets to let Jews exit the Soviet Union (the last struggle experienced by my family and many of our friends). 

When I was preparing to conduct the Seder this year, few thoughts came to mind.  We celebrate Passover every year to remember our national history and to pass these lessons to our children.  But given the fact that our nation experienced these problems repeatedly throughout our history; did this mean that our traditions of celebrating Passover were not successful?  Were we not successful in avoiding the same mistakes when we did not follow our traditions and forgot these lessons?  Or perhaps we celebrated Passover too mechanically without making the effort to understand its true meaning.

Now that we have our own nation, Israel, does this protect us from the faith of our ancestors?  Indeed, prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, many times Jews became comfortable in foreign lands (Spain, Germany, Russia, etc.), and felt protected them from the same faith of Jews in Egypt.  Only after the Holocaust and the second exodus (exodus from Europe to re-establish the state of Israel) that the Jews applied some of the lessons of Passover.  However, we cannot rest on our laurels since threats to our Jewish nation did not disappear.  Many threats to our existence exist today -- from the threat of Arab/Muslim terrorism to threat of annihilation from a potential Iranian atomic weapon. We must stay vigilant.

Those of us who live in United States of America feel that no harm can come to us in this great nation that was build on Jewish values – values of freedom.  Founding fathers of United States of America understood the true meaning of freedom and the balance between religion and the rights of individual.  They understood the power of economic freedom and the balance between the responsibilities of the individual to the state versus their right to make their own economic choices.  America’s founding fathers understood the balance between our obligation to support the less fortunate and the loss of freedoms by the state taking away hard earnings of its people to serve its own purpose. 

Recent history showed that even those freedoms are not guaranteed in America.  New administration came to power that has a different interpretation of the American core values and does not understand these core values.  Our economic freedoms are threatened by high taxes, high budget deficits, and income redistribution policies.  These new government bureaucrats seek to enslave us economically by taking away an unfair share of our earnings and our wealth.  They believe that others are entitled to share in our success without making the same effort to earn it.  They pass laws and make policies that make it harder and harder for honest people to succeed and for others to be more dependent on the graces of their government and its handouts.  As it happened in Egypt, our freedoms are slowly lost without us even noticing.  Even more surprisingly, this is done with support of some of us that for good intentions or by simply for being foolish and allowing themselves to be influenced by the popular media. 

The same powerful administration also makes foreign policies that weaken both our host nation – America – and our homeland – Israel – and make both more vulnerable to attack by our enemies.  They foolishly believe that modern day Pharaohs can be and should be appeased rather than confronted.   They go through the motions of celebrating our cherished Passover holiday for political reasons without bothering to understand its true meaning.  These people confuse good will with weakness, and they do not believe in the righteousness of the values of American founding fathers.

So lessons of Passover are as relevant as they have been for ages.  When we celebrate Seder this year, it is important not only to mechanically read the Haggadah, but also reflect on its meaning and its implications to our lives today.   We need to seek strong truthful leaders who are capable of leading us to freedom and avoid slavery and defeat.   I am not sure these leaders exists today both in United States as well as Israel, but I stay optimistic that, God willing, they will be found!

The Zen of Mountain Biking and Political Expressions

One of my favorite pastimes is mountain biking.   My mountain biking companion is Mansi (my dog).  Yesterday, we went to one of our favorite local places – the Marsh Creek Lake Park. 


My loyal mountain biking partner, Mansi, next to my Cannondale MTB



My favorite playground -- Marsh Creek Lake Park
 

I was flying down a single track trail on a nice fall day with the landscape around me presenting the beautiful fall colors of north east Pennsylvania. Mansi was running ahead or next to me (except for real quick down hills) effortlessly showing a muscular body of a magnificent looking animal full of confident strength. I enjoy watching Mansi’s muscles displaying a symphony of purpose during a full speed gallop and fast trots reminding videos of wolves during a hunt.

On a single track mountain biking trail one has to occasionally overcome obstacles. I typically scale fallen tree branches or negotiate my way over larger rocks. The technique scaling larger branches has to be fairly precise – getting enough speed, I lift my front wheel barely hitting the branch and then pull up on my pedals just in time for the rear wheel to go over the branch. This way I almost jump over the branch with minimum impact (or ideally no impact, but I am not that good).

Yesterday, however, it took me some time to warm up and perfect my technique. Jumping over first couple of tree branches my timing was off, and I hit the branches with my wheels harder than I hopped. My Cannondale Lefty’s shocks did their work and I stayed on the bike. Every time this happened I thought to myself “well this was not optimum need to improve next time.”

After thinking this in my head, I instantly remembered the same expression Obama used as a response to Jon Stewart: “Here is what I will say, if four Americans get killed it is not optimal.” Really?! I thought. Even if I really mess up on the next obstacle and take a fall, I would not call this “not optimum,” I would think something like “this was really bad”or “shit, I hope I was not hurt too badly.”

Obama’s use of this word to describe the death of four Americans in the hands of Jihadists was not only a bad use of words; it was a window into his thought process. The same time he said “you did not build it”referring to people who built their own businesses. Well Mr. President, their deaths was not only“not optimal”, their death was a result of your attitude towards the war on Jihadists Islam and terrorism – of course, you do not recognize that there is war and this is a big part of the problem. The attack on the Benghazi consulate did not fit the Obama administration campaign narrative, so they tried to cover it up and make excuses. Now there is a growing mountains of evidence that they even refused to provide help to the attacked consulate in a hope that this is just a minor skirmish not wanting to attract attention.

So let’s hope that this incident was more than “not optimal” for the Obama campaign. That as the American people learn more facts, they conclude that Obama not only failed in his domestic economic policies, but in his handling of foreign affairs and our security as well, and in November the American people send this President permanently packing to his home in Chicago. Let’s elect someone who is capable of handling our economy and foreign policy more optimally, while preserving the American values.

Shocking New Revelation of "The Uniter In Chief"

Not long ago I had a discussion with one of my relatives.  She told me that she is leaning to vote for Obama again because he seems as a nice and intelligent person and that anyway no one can do anything to improve the current economy -- so the logic goes, if Romney cannot do anything anyway, then why not vote for a person that seems nice.  Obviously, I disagree with her.  I know that her opinion is based on lack of understanding of the differences between Romney’s principles and Obama’s in managing the economy and that there is plenty of historic evidence that point to assured success of those economic principles that Romney/Ryan advocate.  I have no doubt that once Romney is elected, the economy will significantly improve and United States will return to its glory both from economic and international affairs perspectives within several years.  But this is not the subject of this message (I will do what I can to educate this person on why conservative principles were and will be more successful for our well-being in America).  I would like to address the premise that Obama is a nice person.

I would like to bring your attention to the recent uncovered video by The Daily Caller of Obama’s speech at Hampton University in Virginia, where Barack Obama gave a speech to an audience of predominately black ministers INCLUDING his pastor of twenty years, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  The video which captured his pronouncements is stunning for two reasons: 1) It shows Obama (fake accent and all) stirring racial unrest, and 2) It proves that the media won't cover the real Barack Obama. In this video then-presidential candidate Barack Obama tells an audience of black ministers that the U.S. government shortchanged Hurricane Katrina victims because of racism!  The racially charged and at times angry speech undermines Obama's carefully-crafted image as a leader eager to build bridges between ethnic groups. For nearly 40 minutes, using an accent he almost never adopts in public, Obama describes a racist, zero-sum society, in which the white majority profits by exploiting black America. The mostly black audience shouts in agreement. The effect is closer to an Al Sharpton rally than a conventional campaign event.  I highly recommend to refer to the following link for a full story which includes the link to the full video: http://www.gopusa.com/theloft/2012/10/03/shocking-video-reveals-the-real-barack-obama/?subscriber=1

So, Barack Obama is not such a “nice guy” as my relative, and many other naive people think.  Barack Obama is the most divisive President in the recent U.S. history.  Many experts say that he is a great politician.  I do not agree that he is a great politician.  A good politician (Democrat or Republican) would have the skills to unite the nation around him.  A good politician would know how to compromise for the benefit of the nation.  Barak Obama may be a great dirty politician in a sense of knowing how to lie, deceive, and use divisiveness to promote his far left ideology.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are two honest people that have the best plan to save this nation.  But if you think that Barack Obama is a “nice guy” – you better think again.  Anyone would be a better president than Barak Obama. 

Thank you President Obama!

Yes, I know what you are thinking, the economy is in shambles, billions of our tax dollars were wasted, and EPA and many other government agencies are enacting nonsensical business regulations that further suffocate the economy. Our President does not seem to understand the American values that worked for this land for so many years, and instead of being a unifying force is a divider pitting those who were successful against those who were not, blacks against whites, etc.  So, what is there to thank him for?  The answer is related to my family history.

After we struggled for many years to leave the Soviet Union, my family finally succeeded to immigrate to Israel in 1971.  My grandfather was a very special man.  He was a natural entrepreneur, and he has done very well financially in Russia, but he wanted us to live where we could be free – to live in our homeland – Israel (but this is an interesting subject for another series of blogs or a book).

Israel in the 1970s was a socialist country still influenced by the Jewish socialist ideology that established it.  Taxes were high; the government bureaucracy was unbearable; healthcare was free, but in order to get quality care, people needed to go to private doctors. In order to create jobs, the Israeli government invested in industries that did not make much economic sense – textile and orange plantations.  As a result, the country was stuck in anemic growth.  My grandfather wrote many newspaper articles about the power of free enterprise. He wrote about how limiting the role of government in the economy and unleashing the Israeli ingenuity and creativity will create an economic miracle (and indeed when Netanyahu deregulated the economy in the late 80’s Israel has experienced this economic miracle and became the most innovative economy in the world).

In the late 70s my father had a successful dental practice, but he was frustrated with the high taxes and with the mentality that if you were successful, the Israeli government would pursue and harass you (Israeli IRS was constantly harassing my father at the time).  My father had a dream of building a business, which was very hard to do at the time in Israel.  My grandfather suggested that he go to America.  America was the only country in the world with a free economy.  United States of America had a tradition of true freedoms that were embedded in its DNA since its founding. 

Following my grandfather’s advice, my parents came to United States in 1981.  But American was not itself at the time.  After almost four years of Carter administration, the American economy was savaged by out of control government spending with low growth and high inflation.  It was a hard start.  Luckily Ronald Reagan was elected in 1981 and brought United States back to its greatness both economically and in foreign affairs.  Upon completing my military service in Israel, I joined my parents in the US in 1982.

I guess I took for granted the greatness of the American values, the genius of those American founding fathers that founded the greatest nation on earth, the sacrifice of so many Americans who gave their life to guard these freedoms and these principles. 

This is what I thank President Obama for – for reminding me what my grandfather understood many years ago.  Since President Obama took office, the contrast between his ideology and policies and traditional American values has become so clear.  The values that my family and I, as many other immigrants, came to United States for.  It reminded me the America in decline during the Carter years – except now the risks are even greater and the stakes are higher.  Obama made me appreciate again the greatness of these American core values that founded this great nation.

Obama is an ideologue – the problem is that his ideology is a one of resentment of American values.  He does not understand that what made America the greatest nation on earth are the values of limited government, of individual success, the Judeo-Christian moral values, that the federal government has an important but limited role in its citizens’ success, that basic individual freedoms and responsibilities of our constitution are so centric to our greatness, the values of celebrating success of others rather envying and taxing this success, and that we are proud of our exceptionalism not apologize for it.  Many of us also cherish the values instilled in us by our fathers and grandfathers, but we came to this great land to fulfill and celebrate those values – not to be ashamed of and change them.

Now is the time to rebuild the United States of America.  It is time to go back to principles and values that made this nation great, and it is time to elect a leader that understands these values so that this United States of American stays the greatest nation on earth!