Housekeeping

SpaceNut · 2021-02-01 21:46:26

I saw this and thought of this talk about The best--and worst--programming languages you need to know

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-02 11:34:44

For SpaceNut re #751

It's good to have a review of all (or at least some) of the languages that have come into existence over the years. You're already aware of this, but as a reminder for those in the readership who may be on the younger side, it was common for assembler programmers to develop their own "language" by developing a consistent naming convention for subroutines. The remnants of those creative days can still be seen in function names inside Microsoft DLL files, and no doubt in libraries of other languages, such as C and (I'm sure) C++.

There were no incoming messages in NewMarsMember * gmail.com this morning. Every day is a new day, with it's own promise.

The total count of Registered Users just climbed over 17,000 overnight, as the system digested your latest batch of recovered ID's.

It will be a long slog until we see 18,000 unless i (or someone else) develops automation to accelerate the rate of progress.

I heard from an inlaw yesterday ... I know he'd taken a class on Python, and wondered if he had any suggestions for the automation project. He's not far enough along in the process to be able to help, because posting data into a running window is on the sophisticated side of the ledger. However, he ** did ** remind me of Upwork. We have both used Upwork to find specialists to solve pesky problems, since the pool of talent is global. I had not considered that, but it is certainly an option.

At the moment, I'm coming closer to deciding on a system to use as a sacrificial target for the downloaded 232key software. I've had to rebuild systems so many times due to malfunctioning downloads, I'm obviously gunshy.

I did find an interesting Python script this morning. I'll have to study it later. It was advertised as able to gain access to a running process and deliver data into it. That's a pretty good summary of what I'm trying to do.

The advantage is that the script (a) runs on Linux (which I prefer) and (b) it runs on 64 bit machines, which is good, but not absolutely necessary, since the NewMars forum still runs on 32 bit machines without difficulty.

***
This post is reserved for 1739-1760.
***
Weather on Naples Pier is: hmmmm .... It's a Tuesday there ... Only on person is visible on the pier at Noonish, and no one is on the beach.
Temperature is 57 degrees Fahrenheit, and onshore breezes are strong. There are plenty of whitecaps and surfing would be good, but there is no one there to enjoy it.

A couple just came into view ... the gent is holding onto his widebrimmed hat.

The sky is blue with clouds over the Gulf of Mexico. The clouds are heading South, which is a bit surprising (to me at least).
***
ID's are ready through 1749, and it is time for a break ...
***
A freighter laden with pods is passing through the Cerro Luisa locks in the Panama Canal at 13:40 local time.
***
Skies are overcast as usual in Vancouver, at 10:35 AM their time.
***
There is still some remnant snow visible at Kitt Peak at 11:39 their time
***

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-02-02 12:41:49)

SpaceNut · 2021-02-02 13:44:51

The problems stems from existing that did not always conform with simple fields being always the same until recent with a stable php product that has continued support programming teams.

That evidence is in the old tags which were supported in the past and now not so much which has cause another layer of problems for maintaining what we have. The amount of spammers and crash have done us no favors as restored to its current condition much like the wiki.

The Marspedia is also an inherited library with which to try as its not as old with the information that it contains but even that has seen several software versions being used.

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-02 15:12:20

For SpaceNut re #753

Thanks for additional information on the history of the attempts to create a permanent repository of knowledge

We do not seem to have such a repository today. What is needed to set one up?

If the historical efforts are unrecoverable, this is a great time to start fresh.

What would it take to allow that to happen?

***
Today's batch of ID's are in the Bans table, ready for your finishing touches.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-02 15:15:36

For SpaceNut ....

I found an ID online that I recognize as belonging to one of our Russian friends!

TwilaFauld

They have not posted anything, but apparently could do so.

What do you think?

Edit#1 The mystery deepens...

Amazon owns the IP address this person is using ... I would imagine they are using AWS as a cloud resource.

# start
NetRange: 54.160.0.0 - 54.175.255.255
CIDR: 54.160.0.0/12
NetName: AMAZON-2011L
NetHandle: NET-54-160-0-0-1
Parent: NET54 (NET-54-0-0-0-0)
NetType: Direct Allocation
OriginAS:
Organization: Amazon Technologies Inc. (AT-88-Z)
RegDate: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-06-20
Ref: https://rdap.arin.net/registry/ip/54.160.0.0

OrgName: Amazon Technologies Inc.
OrgId: AT-88-Z
Address: 410 Terry Ave N.
City: Seattle
StateProv: WA
PostalCode: 98109
Country: US
RegDate: 2011-12-08
Updated: 2020-03-31

Edit#2: Thanks for posting the video of today's RUD event!

As I watched, I was reminded of memories I have of video taken as Wehrner Von Braun was developing the V2 rocket. Events like that were common. One event in particular was recorded for posterity by someone on the team ... the carbon vanes (as I recall the story) were not producing the course changes needed, and Von Braun got as close to the launch site as he could and looked upward to try to see what was going wrong. The missile went up for a while, and then came back down directly toward the launch site. Von Braun had to scramble to avoid an early demise!

I did notice that #10 vehicle seemed undisturbed by all the commotion just a short distance away. Stainless steel appears to have what it takes in a situation like that.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-02-02 18:54:08)

SpaceNut · 2021-02-02 20:20:17

The unrecoverable have taken a back burner with the admin staff at this time which is why I have been reaching out to see what I can do about the files which could be restored. Thou silence is deafening to say the least.

Complete ids 1739-1760. unban and move to user list...

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-03 10:42:34

For SpaceNut re #756

Thanks for taking care of 1739-1760!

In the midst of working on today's batch, it crossed my mind to wonder if an Arduino can be programmed to emulate a keyboard. A quick search with Google revealed that there apparently ** is ** a solution ... the hardware required is a later version of the Arduino product line ... what is challenging (as I have learned from reading parts of "USB Complete" by Jan Axelson) is to write code that can negotiate with a target system to convince the target that the Arduino (or any device) ** is ** a keyboard. Apparently someone has gone to all that trouble!

I'll pursue that option later today, because an Arduino is more than capable of supporting the functions in discussion here.

On the other hand, an ordinary PC that still has a serial port should work, and I'll test that theory later today as well.

****
Raspberry Pi is a popular tiny computer that is highly comparable to the Arduino. I ran a quick Google search, and discovered that their #4 version has a capability of emulating a keyboard via the USB port. They offer library software functions to perform the negotiations over the USB cable. The local computer store has them on the shelves. I'm planning to stop in later today to see if the store carries the cable that would be needed. I'm sure you know that the two ends of a USB cable are designed to fit into a client port (on a PC for example) while the server port has a different shape. What I'll be asking the sales person is whether the new Raspberry Pi Version 4 has the server port, or if an adapter cable is available.
***
To clarify a bit ... the advantage of a solution along the lines of either the Arduino or the Raspberry Pi is that (potentially) a full feedback loop is possible.

It is one thing to send a set of characters through a USB connection to emulate a keyboard interacting with a web browser.

It is quite ** another ** thing to pull pages from the remote server to confirm that changes introduced were successfully implemented in the server database.

The book on programming Chrome is designed entirely around using a remote server as a source of data. I have (by now) scoured the book thoroughly enough to confirm that it does NOT contemplate POST operations. The closest the author came was an offhand reference to the possibility that POST might be needed at some point in the future. Perhaps that will happen in his next book!

However, what the book ** does ** do is to show in exhaustive detail how web traffic looks when it comes in from the server, and how to parse it to pull out the data that is needed for a particular purpose. In this case, the need is to confirm that updates to the NewMars FluxBB MySql database were stored correctly, so that the next step in the ID Recovery process can be executed.

Once such a feedback mechanism is implemented and tested adequately, the program could be let loose to process all the Not Verified ID's in a single continuous run. To my way of thinking, that is a goal worth pursuing.
***
ID's 1761-1782 are ready for unbanning ... we are showing 17,030 Registered ID's with 2600 (or so) to go in the current sprint.
***
https://www.yahoo.com/news/prosperity-c … 24549.html

The link above is about the impact of humans upon the environment. It's on the long(ish) side, so just for reference.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-02-03 13:20:54)

SpaceNut · 2021-02-03 19:12:46

USB has no sensing of what is on the display screen for location to make sure you are where you want to be when doing keyboard steps on a page.

unban from group 1761 - 1782 did not find 1764 and no 1774 at all but have taken care of the series... to place them all in the user list.

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-04 09:22:09

For SpaceNut re #758

Thanks for your interest in the investigation of (possible) automation of the Recovery ID's project. You're certainly right about the USB connection being primarily for transmission into the port in the present stage of conceptualization. However, as a reminder, USB is a two way traffic flow. There are conventions set in place in the industry (all this started at Intel). A keyboard is fitted into a family of devices which include mice and other pointing devices. I'd have to go back to the reference to get the exact name. There are many other families of USB devices, each of which have rules for traffic flow.

Edit: the class in which a keyboard is found is known as "Human Interface"

In the keyboard category, there is a great deal of packet flow back and forth between the keyboard and the connected device. From the user perspective, we only see the results as bit patterns showing up on our screens. A ** whole ** lot of activity has gone on over the USB wires to make that happen.

So that leads me to offer a report on my visit to the local computer store. I was lucky enough to catch a staff person who has quite a bit of knowledge in the specific area of microcontrollers. I was interested in a Raspberry Pi (Model 4) that (I had read on the Internet) is capable of simulating a keyboard. The sales representative thought that was overkill, so he showed me a $10 Arduino Nano clone that (he said) a friend had programmed to act as a keyboard.

This a barebones circuit board with an Atmel chip mounted with a USB mini-connector and dozens of pins.

He suggested a breadboard to hold the circuit board, and a cable to connect the device to a PC.

The device (apparently) is designed to the Arduino standard, so it **should** be possible to program it using the Arduino IDE.

I downloaded and installed the Arduino IDE on a Windows 7 system, and it seemed happy to wake up there.

The device only has 16 Kb of Flash memory. That seems paltry, but I have experience with another Atmel chip which was memory bound.

The circuit board has an impressive list of capabilities, so I expect to be able to use one of the input/output pins to tell the chip I want to send a stream of characters out the USB port to a connected PC. A typical way of doing that is to wire a momentary switch (a pushbutton) so it applies ground to an input pin that is held high by an internal voltage. The change in state of the pin causes an interrupt that initiates a flow of commands in the processor.

Edit: there ** is ** a reset button in the center of the circuit board. It is so small it would need a sewing needle sized probe to actuate it.
However, the Reset button ** is ** a time honored way to restart the program.

It ** is ** possible to divide the labor between the Nano and a human operator who would be responsible for entering the ID number for a new ID.

What I'm thinking about here is a keyboard sequence that would copy the number entered by the operator and then paste that number into the email field.

Edit: The Nano could be given a starting number at program load time. It could increment that number after it completes a posting loop.

it could pull that number from the accumulator, convert it to text, and send it to the USB port as part of the flow.

in that case, there would be no need for the operator to enter a number. The operator would push "Start" after each loop completes, and the results verified visually.

SearchTerm:ForTheRecord Specifications of Microcontroller with FT232 Chip clone of Arduino Nano (manufacture for and distributed by Inland(th)

14 digital input/output ports D0-D13
8 analog input ports A0-A7
1 pair of TTL level serial port transceiver port RX/TX
6 PWM ports, D3, D5, D6, D9, D1, D11
Using Atmel ATmega328P-AU single microcontroller
Support USB download and power supply
Support external 7-12 VDC power supply
Support ISP download

Todo: Find definition of PWM (item 6) ... Follow up ... one meaning is Pulse Width Modulation .. Is that even possible in this tiny device?
Todo: Find definition of ISP .... follow up ...

In-system programming (ISP), also called in-circuit serial programming (ICSP), is the ability of some programmable logic devices, microcontrollers, and other embedded devices to be programmed while installed in a complete system, rather than requiring the chip to be programmed prior to installing it into the system.
In-system programming - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › In-system_programming
About Featured Snippets

UPC 6 18996 73283 8

And, again for the record: 400 Tie Points Breadboard

UPC 6 18996 73605 8

***
I found a Raspberry Pi Model 2 left over from another project in my stash ... It is a full computer, with Ethernet, HDMI, and multiple USB ports. It runs Linux.

It would be a lot of work to program that to handle HTTP interactions with a web server, but it is definitely an option.
***
Our count of Registered users is up to 17,073. Target is 19,673. Slow and steady. That's the game right now. (and for the foreseeable future)
***

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-02-04 12:49:26)

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-04 12:02:18

For SpaceNut .... I found 1774 in the Bans table this morning. It had not been finished, so I finished it.

That was in yesterday's batch, so clearly I missed seeing the error during visual verification.

In any case, I'll use this post for 1783-1804 since the previous post is pretty well filled up.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-04 12:52:59

The following would fit into a Tutorial on USB if we had one:

Reference: USB Complete Fourth Edition Jan Axelson

From page viii

Defined classes:
Audio
Communications
Content Security
Device Firmware Upgrade
Human Interface
IrDA Bridge
Mass Storage
Personal Healthcare
Printer
Smart Card
Still Image Capture
Test and Measurement
Video

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-02-04 12:53:47)

SpaceNut · 2021-02-04 18:08:37

Todays group of new ID's have been taken care of....

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-04 19:25:27

For SpaceNut re #762 - Thanks for taking care of the half-batch completed today.

Local chores took over the schedule. Will try to catch up tomorrow.

Its encouraging to see some really interesting conversation going in in the forum.

I'll received two files from GW Johnson, and hope to be able to offer you a proposal for a tutorial on mission planning, or whatever GW Johnson is willing to support. The idea I have in mind is to create a topic for a tutorial that would be supervised by GW Johnson, and a parallel Peanut Gallery topic for questions and comments and even the occasional digression that may happen.

Accurate mission planning is going to be necessary for success of RobertDyck's Large Ship flights, as well as the cargo missions we can expect to develop from the Ballistic Delivery topic.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2021-02-04 21:30:52

Got a response back from James. It looks like I have more homework to do with topic summaries if we want to make use of the home page. Of course the content will be approved first before placing it there....

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-05 06:35:54

For SpaceNut re #764 ... Congratulations on receiving a reply and guidance!

I read the entire Spinoffs article you linked in the Spinoffs topic. There is a lot there that may be of interest to forum readers.

It's good to see so many on-Earth applications of NASA developed/inspired technology!

***
The Arduino web site includes a library of software that can be included in projects. One library component is described as the code needed to simulate a Human Interface Device (such as a keyboard). In thinking about that overnight, I realized that a keyboard is (or can be depending upon the design) a two-way communications device (separate from the two-way communications that USB uses to send packets back and forth). What I'm thinking about is that keyboards are available with display lights. Some are barebones and have no lights at all. Others have a full suite of lights.

What I'm thinking about is (possibly) sending a signal from the browser back to the "keyboard" to confirm that a particular phase of the update process is completed successfully. It may be possible to do this using the Chrome App book as a guide. In other words, what is evolving (in my thinking at least) is a hybrid of automation tools, starting with the Arduino Nano (if it can be programmed to do this with only 16 Kb of Flash memory) and including an implementation of the Chrome App service.

What I'm worried about is the HID interface library component may consume the entire 16 Kb all by itself. The library of software is (no doubt) intended for use with much larger Arduinos.

Edit#1: I checked topic titles and found none/zero which contain the word Arduino.

I then checked all 49 titles in the Education Index level, and found nothing that even remotely suggests learning about computers, let alone the Arduino.

Edit#2: I found a web site [leapwork] that (apparently) offers a front end for Selenium (with a 14 day free trial)

It is remotely possible the entire Recovery ID project could be completed in 14 days, with a bit of planning.

***
This post is reserved for today's batch of Recovery ID's
***
yesterday's batch is now complete. 1794-1804.

Today's batch is in the Bans table: 1805-1826

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-02-05 11:53:17)

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-05 10:22:08

For SpaceNut .... this could be included in a tutorial about programming the Arduino, if we ever decide to create one.

This is what the IDE for Arduino looks like when someone is starting a project.

Since this is intended to be a Human Interface Device (simulation of a keyboard) it will include the HId library.

sketch_feb05a Arduino 1.8.13

#include <HID.h>

void setup() {
// put your setup code here, to run once:

}

void loop() {
// put your main code here, to run repeatedly:

}

That <HID.h> library could be a deal breaker.

The Nano only has 16 Kb of Flash, and so far, I've not found a way to expand it.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2021-02-05 19:01:02

yesterday's batch is now complete. 1794-1804.
Today's batch is in the Bans table: 1805-1826

There was a bit of an issue for id 01795 as it got entered as IID, then while trying searching for email I found another duplicate but all is well now and coverted one of them to 01827 to round things out.

edit
found 016665 but we were missing 01328 so changed that one, I think I've got them all now.

edit
nope found we missed 01404 and 01665, added 01829 as well

edit double checked my work an 1827 1828 are missing....

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-05 19:07:39

For SpaceNut re #767

Thanks for catching 1795 ... I thought I had fixed it, but now realize I fixed it in the Bans table, and not in the User table.

Tomorrow's run will start at 1828.

***
I'm looking forward to testing the little Arduino Nano to see if the HID library is going to take up too much of the tiny RAM available.

A much larger Arduino is available for a modest jump to (about) $25.00, so it the Nano is too small, no harm done.

I did confirm that there is no way to increase memory in these tiny devices. They are intended for dedicated Internet of Things level activity, not for use as a web automation device.

(th)

SpaceNut · 2021-02-05 19:54:57

James got back to me on clearing house checking before posting to home page content of which I noted G.W's blog. with this response.

I am not sure I will have time to review those (especially this year -- I have Marscoin, MarsVR, Mars.University and all my other mars society duties, plus two conferences to organize!!) I trust you and the other mods to pick & choose good content.

Well we knew he was busy.

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-05 20:25:06

For SpaceNut re #769

Thanks for the update on Mr. Burk's heavy work load!

The Society is indeed fortunate to have a person in that position who can ** do ** all those things!

***
I'd like to remind you of post http://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php … 99#p176499

You ** too ** have a lot going on, and it is easy for me to imagine things having to be priortized.

However, I'm hoping you will start to think about my suggestion for an activity to build up a tutorial based upon Dr. Johnson's years of work in space related fields.

I'll let him know this evening of the idea, because he may not be reading the Housekeeping topic.

Edit#1: The gent who wrote this is an Admin/Editor of a tech web site ... I take care to read his editorials every day, because they are consistently worth reading. It's difficult to come up with something that hundreds of readers around the world would find worth there time, but he seems to be doing it.

The topic in the case of the quote below was the difficulty of hiring personnel in the particular tech field, but I suspect it is true for almost all tech fields.

It struck me as appropriate to think about the NewMars forum as we make the transition to a new period in the history of the group.

Finding a great candidate for your organization is hard. It doesn't matter if you are looking for junior people that can grow, or senior ones to lead. Often interviews result in an impression that is a bit of a coin flip. After a year you may or may not have been right.

Everyone here now (except for me) ** may ** have arrived as a volunteer, interested in the Mars enterprise.

I was recruited/invited by Terraformer, who persuaded Dr. Dartnell to grant him admission to the Knowledge Forum, which was closed to free membership at that point.

We have barely started reaching out to the world at large, seeking folks to help with the Large Ship.

I would like to find folks to help develop the work of GW Johnson into a tutorial worth study by an advanced high school student or early college level student.

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-02-05 20:56:52)

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-06 10:46:34

For SpaceNut .... today's batch is in progress ... I was surprised to find that at least one ID was already present...

TestID01829
Updated 20210111 by moderator

I wonder if there are more strays out there !!!

***
The first half of today's batch are in the Bans table, not including 1829, which was created in January.
I did a quick look to see if any ID's are missing in the 800 series, but didn't find any.

This incident reveals another opportunity for web site automation, and this time the book by Marc Rochkind (Programming Chrome Apps) would be perfect ... the book is ONLY concerned with downloading data from the target web site, (there is mention of POST as an option).

In this case, I can imagine a program that opens NewMars and runs a lookup in the Users Table, for ID's that begin with "TestID".

The GET results would be compared to a running counter, and any missing ID's would be reported on the screen.

That might be a (comparatively) simple exercise to carry out to gain some experience with Chrome App Developer.

***
I went to developer.chrom.com/apps and found this message:

Caution
Important: Chrome will be removing support for Chrome Apps on all platforms. Chrome browser and the Chrome Web Store will continue to support extensions. Read the announcement and learn more about migrating your app.

Apparently the capabilities described in Rochkind's book are still available in the beginning of 2021, but not for long.
****
The snippet below seems to indicate that the current version of Chrome includes functionality to deal with a variety of USB HID devices.

I'm not sure (at this point) how this might apply to the Recovery ID project, but it might ...

https://blog.chromium.org/2021/01/chrom … dware.html

The inability to access uncommon or unusual HID devices is particularly painful, for example, when it comes to gamepad support. Gamepad inputs and outputs are not well standardized and web browsers often require custom logic for specific devices. This is unsustainable and results in poor support for the long tail of older and uncommon devices.
With its origin trial over, WebHID is enabled by default in Chrome 89 on desktop. To learn how to use it, check out Connecting to uncommon HID devices, and see demos in Human interface devices on the web: a few quick examples.

***
The following inquiry was sent to O'Reilly support:

Please let Mr. Rochkind know that I ordered his book on Programming Chrome Apps because a non-profit I'm supporting has a need for web automation.
Web automation we are thinking about would include POST commands to deliver data to a web page, and GET commands to confirm the desired end state is achieved before proceeding to the next phase of a multiple step process.
The Chrome app site indicates it is discontinuing support for Chrome apps but has not yet done so (as of February 2021).
Is there another book that would assist with developing a browser automation procedure?
I am aware of Selenium, but was intrigued by the potential of a capability built right into the Chrome browser.
The situation to be dealt with is described in detail in the Housekeeping topic at NewMars.com/forums.
I am posting there as tahanson43206.
Thanks!(th)

***
The Recovery ID process reached another mini-milestone today: DABMilan81
The Not Verified query has exhausted its supply of "C" Usernames ...
****
Today's batch are in the Bans table ...
****
It's time to ask how the Suburu is coming along?

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-02-06 13:20:01)

SpaceNut · 2021-02-06 14:23:21

Subaru engine is awaiting car lift bay to be available for a day to put it back in to the car.

2005 escape front wheels were getting loud at 50 mph and higher. The wheel bearings for both were gone along with both cross arms with bushings plus balljoints being in need of replacing. As luck had it the bay was empty for the 4 hrs to jointly do all of it this morning so long as I bought the parts. It still was cheaper than paying to have the work done by a non friend but business garage.

The stays did show up for TestID01827 and TestID01828 in the ban table so I must hit the flood control for posts being to quick.
I did scan all id's and found cosmetic differences.

user ID setup email
TestID00291 test00291
TestID00371 testid371
TestID00511 testid00510
TestID00531 testid00532
TestID00558 testid0558
TestID00644 testod00644
TestID01213 testid011213
TestID01438 testid0438

Will take care of them and todays list ending in TestID01848

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-06 16:15:43

For SpaceNut re #772

Thanks for updates on the two Suburu's! Glad to hear the engine is finished and ready for re-installation!

Impressive (to me for sure!) repair of the front end on the Escape!

***
Thanks for running the review of the Recovered ID's ... I'm glad there were so ** few ** missed pairs, but regret even those!

Automation would change that ... there will be fewer errors, but when errors do occur, there will be many more of them << grin >>

During the election last year, an operator of a local mail sorting/inserting machine put a switch in the wrong position when starting a run, and 50,000 people got the wrong ballots. That was mighty embarrassing for everyone concerned!

(th)

Last edited by tahanson43206 (2021-02-06 16:16:24)

GW Johnson · 2021-02-06 19:39:08

Spacenut:

I haven't followed your difficulties in detail, but it sounds like you wore out your Subaru engine, and proceeded to rebuild it. Was this the horizontally-opposed 4 cylinder that I have seen in some other Subaru's? Up to the end of its expected life, Subaru's seem to be fairly reliable. I see very few of them in the repair shop here. If I have guessed correctly, then be sure you put a new timing kit in it. Those kits come complete with all the gears, guides, idlers, and belt.

The front end on your Escape sounds like a total front end rebuild. I do hope your tie rod ends were something you rebuilt. They do wear out, before the ball joints, in some other makes and models. The other thing to evaluate is the steering box or rack-and-pinion. Those wear out, too. Most seem to spring leaks before they show other troubles. Steering boxes are an older technology, and show less troubles with age than rack-and-pinion rigs. I've replaced several rack-and-pinion rigs for various customers.

Watch your radiator carefully. The modern ones are lighter-built, and tend to spring leaks that leave discoloration traces you can see. If the radiator has plastic tanks, and the car is aged, I'd just replace the radiator pre-emptively! When that plastic gets old, it tends to suddenly crack or blow out a chunk, dumping all your coolant in only a few seconds! Most of the associated modern engines do not survive the overheat event. A blown head gasket is minor compared to some of the damage I have seen, up to and including junking the engine completely, because part of the block crumbled away from the overheat.

GW

Last edited by GW Johnson (2021-02-06 19:42:42)

tahanson43206 · 2021-02-06 19:52:06

For GW Johnson ... SpaceNut described his "adventures" with a "new"(used) Suburu in some detail earlier.

I'll try to summarize to bring you up to speed, although I may have a detail or two wrong.

SpaceNut bought a used Subaru off the lot, and (like many of that particular year) it had a problem with leaks in the gasket between head and body. SpaceNut tried some less expensive remedies, and then decided to remove the head, smooth it as necessary, and replace the gasket. It is that work he completed. Prior to that, he replaced the radiator and several other components.

The problems with the Escape are "new" in the sense that I don't recall SpaceNut mentioning them before.

In any case, he has demonstrated a level of understanding of automotive repair that sounds (to me at least) in the general ballpark with you and kbd512.

(th)

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