Date:         Fri, 28 Apr 2006 02:14:49 -0500
Reply-To:     Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: battery going?
In-Reply-To:  <vanagon%2006042723061198@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Thanks Dan, and everyone else who replied on this topic.

Matilda hasn't had any problems since Monday - either because I got more
competent at starting her in the morning, or because I got down below an
elevation of 5000 feet and she's happier with more oxygen in the air.  (So
am I.)  So I think it was a non-problem.

There is some evidence that I'm incompetent, though.  Having FINALLY, after
several stays in the body shop in Phoenix, dealt with the scrapes on her
side that I put there in Oregon last fall, Phoenix, today I put a scrape on
her sliding door trying to take too tight a turn around a pole in New
Mexico.

I have a history with motor vehicles and poles - in fact, every vehicle I've
ever owned, I hit a pole with in a parking lot within two weeks of getting
it.  (Today's run-in was Matilda's third experience with a pole under my
watch.)  My only consolation is that - knock on wood - I have never had any
kind of accident more serious than hitting a pole in a parking lot.



Joy


****************************************************************
Joy Hecht
and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon

For musings about life and the vanadventures:
http://www.joyhecht.net

****************************************************************

:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
:::Of Daniel L. Katz
:::Sent: Thursday, April 27, 2006 10:05 PM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: Re: battery going?
:::
:::joy:
:::
:::i noticed a number of posts sugesting that the coolant #2 sensor may be
:::at
:::fault. not likely, but symptom of easy cold start and subsequent
:::difficulty starting warm/hot could be explained by disconnected #2
:::sensor.
:::essentially, the resistance of the sensor tells the computer the
:::temperature: in ohms, roughly 250 operating temp, 2000 room temp, several
:::thousand below freezing. so the ecu treats a disconnected sensor,
:::infinity
:::ohms, as reporting very cold temps, and she starts just fine cold, but
:::not, subsequently, hot. badly corroded sensor/connector contacts, or a
:::broken wire, might produce similar symptoms. checking for voltage at the
:::connector, and measuring sensor resistances at various temps, is very
:::easy
:::with a multi-meter.
:::
:::dan