Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 04:56:56 -0800
Reply-To: "Charles \"Luke\" Lukey" <luke@SEANET.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Charles \"Luke\" Lukey" <luke@SEANET.COM>
Subject: Re: Toyota Woes
In-Reply-To: <4.2.2.20000221204401.01769780@127.0.0.1>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
David:
Why isn't the replacement part adjustable like the original? I've made these
kind of decisions for a construction equipment manufacturer. Here's three
possible reasons:
1. Manufacturability - an adjustable anything is harder to build than a set
anything.
2. Warranty claims - manufacturers watch the failure rates of parts very
carefully. If this part develops a bad reputation, and these days it
doesn't take much, that part is evaluated, changes are made.
3. Dumb luck. After purchasing a million dollar computerized machining cell
to handle a major problem, you discover that there is capacity available to
handle minor problems, like building non-adjustable widgets that work
better.
The biggest shift in thinking I had to make in this job was a reverse of E
Pluribus Unum. Instead of looking at one failed part, I had to consider the
economics of many identical parts.
Happy Motoring!
Charles "Luke" Lukey
Seattle, WA
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of David Beierl
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2000 6:01 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Toyota Woes
Our Toyota Corolla wagon just broke down with only 122k on the clock. Oil
light at hot idle, oh dear. This required me to stop my continual working
on Dutiful Passage (required VG content <g>) to attend to the failure. It
was a bad sender -- as usual the diaphragm was leaking oil into the upper
part of the sender. Cost $3 at the FLAPS. The engine itself had close to
20 psi at hot idle.
The reason I'm mentioning this other than to lampoon (lambaste?) our
beloved beasts, is that when I cut the top off the old sender to verify the
cause of the problem (yep, oil in the upper chamber), I noticed that the
terminal on top of this OE sender screwed off, and underneath it was a
screwdriver adjustment to set the trigger pressure over a fairly wide
range. You can bet that the replacement didn't have this little
refinement. But I'm surely wondering why Nippon-Denso or whoever bothered
-- do they make one sender and adjust it at the factory for whatever
pressure the customer desires? They could do it with a robot easily
enough, no need to involve a person. It would save stocking different
strength springs. But...butbutbut...why? A robot would cost more than a
whole lot of springs, and doing it by hand would be ferociously
expensive. I'm sure their spring-making industry keeps close enough
tolerances for this job. Just machining the hex and screw threads on the
terminal didn't come free.
Anyone have a notion? I don't belong to the Corolla list <g>.
d
David Beierl - Providence, RI
http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
'84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
'85 GL "Poor Relation"
