Date:         Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:42:04 -0800
Reply-To:     Al Knoll <anasasi@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Al Knoll <anasasi@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: troubleshooting intermittency
Comments: To: Rob <becida@comcast.net>
In-Reply-To:  <vanagon%2010011800061488@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I had a used motor installed by a shop in Tacoma.  It has been a voyage of
discovery since that event.  One of the more interesting discoveries was
that the people who did the work used the venerable and inexpensive 'twist
and tape' method of joining electrical wires.  Some time later when
troubleshooting another in the ongoing adventure of vaguely discomforting
problems, it was noticed that beneath the intake manifold, was a roll of
electrical tape and a razorblade, no doubt left by the 'technician' that did
the wiring adaptation.  I have since found many other electrically
compromised connections and repaired as best I could using solder and
weatherproof connectors.

In summary, all electrical connections degrade by creeping corrosion over
time.  The amount of time to create a critical impedance to current flow
depends on the environment and the weatherproofness of the connection.
Solder is best, protected as I mentioned, by some sort of weatherproofing.

I have found it helpful to periodically disconnect and reconnect various
connectors and components.  By doing so, you 'floss' the connecting surfaces
by wearing away the accumulated spooge, not to prisitine but to operational
goodness.  If you do it one component at a time, following the current
tracks in your 'wiring' diagram and making notes of the sequential history
of your work you can generate an ad hoc troubleshooting tree tjhat may be
useful in the future.

Vital components such as ECU power and ground and fuel pump power and ground
should be addressed by preventive maintence more often than those whose
failure may be only an annoyance.  The maplight over the glovebox comes to
mind as an annoyance when it has 'issues of illumination'.

Pensionerd.

On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 9:01 PM, Rob <becida@comcast.net> wrote:

> The next time it just died I was messing with the carb drain bolt and
> I heard something, a little 'pop', maybe a 'snap'. I investigated and
> found a wire going to the coil had some electrical tape on it. Inside
> the tape the wire had been twisted together, "had been" is the key here.
>
> The tape kept it together enough to keep the bus running fine most of
> the time but a bounce or a bump might break the connection. My
> messing with the carb bowl moved the wire around and reestablished
> the connection. It would stop, I'd mess with it and it by the
> carb/wire and it would run. Blind luck that the draining the carb
> fixed it the first time.
> That was an education in troubleshooting...
>
>
>
> Rob
> becida@comcast.net
>