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Death Valley Stuffola – Trip No. 16, Jan. 2024
#11
(2024-02-01, 08:43 PM)Beardilocks Wrote: PPS:  no more 5VZ no starts?  😬

Taco, if Beardy is offering you advice about a 5VZ issue you're in good hands, he knows a ton and has been a godsend for keeping my 4Runners happy. But also feel free to pick my brain as well about 5VZ issues just in case it's a quirk I've dealt with. Arguably my closest relative is a 5VZ 4Runner, confirmed by the fact that my long-lost birth certificate was found many years later in the same envelope as its original window sticker 😆
Link to my DV trip reports, and map of named places in DV (official and unofficial): http://kaurijacobphotography.yolasite.com
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#12
Hey Kauri, Have you ever had your 5vz give you a crank-no-start, like it’s vapor locked? Only ever happened to with mine in DV. Same with Taco here. Guessing it’s heat/rapid elevation change? Very odd.
Check out my travel blog: www.pocketsfullofdust.com
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#13
(2024-02-01, 09:37 PM)netllama Wrote: The last time I was camping with a fridge was Mozambique, and we all know how that turned out...

LOL!

Great story, Taco, enjoyed the narration and the pix, and thanks for the alien vid, I was wondering what that was about when you talked about seeing it. In about 1990 I went up to those towers (in a sedan!) and with my ANALOG cell phone got a strong signal, probably the only place in the whole park, really amazed me.

Sand Canyon is in the north part of the Owlsheads. I think it is north of the Amargosa crossing but I could be wrong on that, might be soon south of it. The name comes from some high hanging sand dunes up at the upper end. Pretty cool. Steve Hall used to do a good job documenting all those Owlsheads canyons, that area was one of his favorite haunts.
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#14
(2024-02-01, 10:00 PM)Beardilocks Wrote: Hey Kauri, Have you ever had your 5vz give you a crank-no-start, like it’s vapor locked?  Only ever happened to with mine in DV.  Same with Taco here.  Guessing it’s heat/elevation change?  Very odd.

TBH I don't know what vapor locked sounds like, but the only times I can remember having a crank-no-start sort of issue were when the starter was going out (2006 and 2013 so my memory could be off since that was a while ago, and as I remember the first time it went out it didn't sound unhealthy but when it failed it was stuck on) and when the negative terminal connector was loose from far too much DV washboard (which I'm sure has already been checked). Huh. Odd that your 5VZ did it too in DV then nowhere else. Would be interesting to see if Taco's does it again, or if only in DV then yeah maybe low elevation or heat or something. Trying to think if there's some sort of computer sensor that could be thrown off by that change too.
Link to my DV trip reports, and map of named places in DV (official and unofficial): http://kaurijacobphotography.yolasite.com
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#15
Definitely a fuel/air issue. Happened to me a couple times around DV but only that motor and only here.

Me being me, it could be a personal curse. Who knows.
Check out my travel blog: www.pocketsfullofdust.com
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#16
(2024-02-01, 10:20 PM)Beardilocks Wrote: Definitely a fuel/air issue.  Happened to me a couple times around DV but only that motor and only here. 

Me being me, it could be a personal curse.  Who knows.

Gotcha, I'm now trying to think what it would be if it were a carbureted engine and then try to translate that into the 5VZ's EFI system. Always trying to help and then end up realizing just how ignorant I am.

OK now I'm thinking I *don't* want to meet you in DV because I don't want 3rd gen to have a crank-no-start issue if you are indeed jinxed 😆
Link to my DV trip reports, and map of named places in DV (official and unofficial): http://kaurijacobphotography.yolasite.com
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#17
I’m cursed but I always get out.

Until I don’t..
Check out my travel blog: www.pocketsfullofdust.com
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#18
Yikes – that's a lot of replies, thanks!

This was only our second real trip in the Tacoma and it's a huge upgrade after ten years in a 3rd gen 4Runner. Having a camper I can stand up in, and keep all our gear separate from the cockpit, is a total blessing on par with the separation of church and state. I've got a grocery list of work I want to do on the Tacoma yet, but nothing pressing and it only has 134k miles so there'll be plenty of time to work on it before it goes out to pasture.

Seven balloons smashed my previous record of three. We also rescued two balloons driving back via Owl Hole Spring. There were three others we saw when we were driving that same route out to Lost Lake, but they were a ways off the "road," it was raining pretty decent, and way finding was a bit of a clusterfsck, so we were unable to grab them. On the bingo front, I found a happy birthday one on my 39th birthday in the Park.

For my 40th birthday in the Park my friend made us steak frites (awesome) while my 4Runner was bleeding out differential fluid (not awesome). For anyone wondering what to get me this year, I'll gladly take balloons over a crippled truck. Thank you!

Brice, definitely check out Sand Canyon sometime. It's a nice hike with a really cool rock section early on where enormous boulders have filled the entire canyon which makes for some great (not sketchy) rock climbing / route finding. And if you push on through to the top you're treated with a nice view of Owlhead (dry, most of the time) Lake. I've always wanted to do a loop hike up Sand Canyon and back down a different one to Harry Wade.

Great story, Kauri. Finding your birth certificate in the same envelope as the 4Runner window sticker just about sums up how I feel about Toyotas and what role they've played in my life. Beardilocks definitely gave me a lot of good advice while putting the fear of god in me that my Tacoma will catastrophically fail at any given moment and then I'll be stuck living in the parking lot of an Autozone for a month or two. Good times!

And, yeah, FOOD. Came to the personal conclusion many, many years ago that cooking from scratch while camping in the desert is a PITA. We cook full-blown meals every day at home and make sure to freeze portions of soups, stews, etc., that reheat well while out adventuring. Still in shock & awe at how amazing having an onboard fridge is after decades of carrying multiple coolers to get through 7-10 day trips in the desert.
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#19
Only 134k??? Damn. My 5vz had 400k on it last time it was in DV. Lol. Yeah, I think you'll be ok for a while.

That's really odd. I found a happy birthday balloon on my 38th birthday hiking in DV. Really weird for it to happen to both of us like that.

On my 40th birthday in DV I had a bit of a near death experience in a canyon doing some stuff I shouldn't have been doing solo. Other than living through that, that birthday didn't have the awesome balancing out the not awesome. Haha.

Do you have solar up top for the fridge?
Check out my travel blog: www.pocketsfullofdust.com
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#20
Had 113k on it when I got it April 2021. Unfortunately was forced to do 18 months of significant commuting for work that really racked up the miles. The camper has a built-in solar panel that's flush with the roof. Charges a National Luna power pack in the bed.

Your biggest mistake on your 40th was not having a personal-size bag of Kettle Korean BBQ chips in your medical kit. That would have made everything better.
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