Does your iPhone battery not last all day?

Via DF, of course:

The Ultimate Guide to Solving iOS Battery Drain:
http://www.overthought.org/blog/2014/the-ultimate-guide-to-solving-ios-battery-drain

'98 Ford F-150 won't start, part II

Yesterday my truck wouldn't start again. All the lights would come on, but it would just do a heavy "click" when I tried to start it.

Going through the steps from last time, I quickly narrowed it down.

Bad starter.

A few tips for those trying to change a starter on this type of vehicle:

• This is not an easy job -- maybe 3x harder than changing a battery. If you have the right tools, though, it's a lot easier. You'll need:
  • jack and jack stands
  • pneumatic socket wrench (otherwise you'll loosen and tighten the nuts one 16th of a turn at a time)
  • regular socket wrench (since pneumatic ones can't fully torque the starter bolts (at least mine can't))
  • 13mm socket (for the starter mounting bolts)
  • 13mm DEEP socket (for the starter mounting bolt that has the ground attached)
  • 10mm wrench (for the relay lead)
  • 8mm socket (for the battery -- yours may be different)
  • 3" and 6" socket extensions
• Be sure to disconnect the battery first.
• The starter is wedged up to the right of the oil pan, and looks sort-of like a large soda can with a large spice container attached.
• There are two bolts that you can't see, and that are very hard to get to. Use the standard socket wrench with 13mm socket on a 6" extension to break those loose, then use the pneumatic wrench to get them out.
• The rest is fairly intuitive...
• Except don't tighten the nuts on the leads too tight when installing the new one! I snapped off the back of the new starter relay and had to start the whole process over again!

Hope someone benefits from my experience.

'98 Ford F-150 loose gear shift and gear indicator

The gear shifter in my truck was a mess. The whole mechanism was sloppy, and it was almost impossible to get it to go into the right gear without overshooting the one I wanted. And the indicator was always pointing half a gear to the right.

What gear is that? I was sure it'd be very expensive to fix.

But while I was in checking out the ignition switch problem I decided to see what I could do about this shifting problem.

Looking under the dash, here's what I saw:

Not the best picture, but see the brass-colored plate with the pin and two torx screws? Those two screws were horribly loose, by at least 1/2"! I tightened them back up, and the shifting now as tight as it was the day I bought it.

Success!

And the gear shift indicator? Check out what else I saw under the dash:

Turning that wheel adjusts the position of the gear shift indicator, left or right. A half-turn later and the indicator is in the perfect spot.

More success!

Total cost to me: $0, plus a few minutes finding a torx wrench, and several months of irritation not knowing the fix would be this easy.

Not everything is this easy to fix, but some things certainly are. Hope someone finds this useful someday.

'98 Ford F-150 won't start

Last Tuesday I went out to start my truck, turned the key and nothing. Lights all on on the dash, but no clicking or anything when I turned the key.

I learned a few things about how to troubleshoot the problem in the process, here's what I learned, i.e. what I'll do next time:

1. Battery terminals? Battery terminals get corroded and end up with weak connections. If they look corroded, clean them (google is your friend here).
2. Dead battery? Get your battery checked out. They go bad every few years, so this is a common problem.

In this case I learned that it wasn't the battery, so here's where it gets interesting.

3. Bad starter? To check your starter, connect the two big terminals on the ignition solenoid with a screwdriver:
   
   (Watch out for sparks close to the battery.) If the starter turns over (acts like it wants to start), you know the starter's good.
4. Bad ignition solenoid? To check the solenoid, disconnect the rubber coated solenoid wire off the solenoid (small wire attached in the center above the main terminals), then take a length of wire (#12 or bigger, maybe a coat hangar?) and connect the positive (+, red) post on the battery to that solenoid terminal. If it tries to start, your solenoid is good.

My solenoid was fine, so on to the ignition switch itself.

5. Bad connection in the ignition switch? There's a hole underneath the ignition switch on the steering column that leads to the release pin.
   
   If you push that pin up (with a pen or coat hangar) while you turn the key to the "on" position the whole ignition mechanism will turn and then you can pull it out. Check the electric connections on the sides and make sure they're not loose/broken.

In my case, I pulled out the ignition switch then reseated it and the truck starts fine now. Loose connection in there I suppose.

I'm sure there are other things that can go wrong, but hopefully that'll help someone.