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Date:         Wed, 20 May 2015 16:48:20 -1000
Reply-To:     "SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Organization: Cosmic Reminders
Subject:      Re: Start up,back fire?
Comments: To: Dennis Jowell <dennisjowell@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <745C2128-2FD0-4615-96D9-EF6AAA044DC4@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed

It's one thing if someone is working on their own van , and they're are not a full time professional car repair person .. and they forget something or make a mistake. Very common and it's how we learn.

it's entirely another situation if someone is charging good money professionally to do good work. Sadly ...poor professional car work is all too common. I probably never will, but if I ever wrote a book on all the bad professional car work I have seen in a several decades career ... it would go on for volumes, like an encylcopeida. Seriously.

I would say that under no circumstances can a professional engine installer allow themselves to make a sloppy fundamental mistake like not installing a spark plug correctly. no exuse for that..not 'it was late in the day' . no 'we have way more work than we can handle' .. 'it was almost closing time' etc. there is just nothing exceptible about that.

I had some people have a shop ...this guys' 'friend' at a real car shop.. install a GW engine .. then an internal part broke on that engine .. so they had me work on it.

there were honestly about 8 serious workmanship mistakes on that waterboxer engine installation. ..such as ...dipstick bracket left off or bent .so the oil couldn't be checked through the license plate door. and other real mistakes. An embarrassing number of mistakes .

I could tell 20 stories just like this. some of my ( not-really ) Joke Sayings...

"it's not possible to fix a car right and perfectly by closing time at 5 PM."

"It takes 3 times as long to do it right."

"it's not just 'installing a part' ..it's installing a part and fine-tuning the entire associated area' .. of course that takes time .

Another of my sayings from decades of car and van repair ...

"The car is just whatever it is ..whatever is worn or broken is just what it is. It's *the people involved* that is the tricky part... the owner/driver ... and then the people that work on it....and right there is where there are the most opportunities for sloppiness and being in a rush, making mistakes etc.

last little story.. woman customer shoes up in an older Mercedes having just come from a front end alignment at a tire shop ... I jacked up the front end for some reason and find the right outer tie rod end has a fat 1/2 inch of slop and play in it .. in other words that part is totally shot .. and they charged her for a front end alignment.

it's not possible to align a front end with a badly shot tie rod end of course. all too common .. and yeah ...it's sad for me to see people getting bad work ..in some cases REALLY bad work .

Just remembered 'rebuilt' 2.1 waterboxer.. which was puking oil badly in about a year after they rebuild .. The driver lugging it severely was a big factor there.. and when I got into the engine I would all kinds of things done sloppily.... like a nut injested into a cylinder. This is the funny part ...The onwer's wife said 'but how could that be, the guy who build the engine is trained in Germany and has been doing VW' for s 40 years ? "

Right, like that is supposed to make him a perfectionist. Far from it.

I'll tell you this ...if I can not truly ..............actually........... clearly........... recall tightening something .. I check it . Really good technicians lay awake at night thinking about that stuff sometimes.

don't mean to go on .. mistakes are forgivable for sure. They happen.

When the person who made the mistake gets all defensive and acts like YOU have a problem ... ...man ...I wish humans did better than that let's say.

On 5/19/2015 4:22 AM, Dennis Jowell wrote: > Exactly my point. I am tired of incompetent beings. I have many stories of this experience of the last year which will not change anything. Onto another chapter. > > Laters > > Dennis Jowell > Scotch Hollow Farm > Newbury, Vermont > > >> On May 19, 2015, at 10:16 AM, <mcneely4@cox.net> <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote: >> >> >> ---- Dennis Jowell <dennisjowell@GMAIL.COM> wrote: >>> Decided to change spark plugs on my new GOWESTY engine and found out that #1 cylinder spark plug was loose. The compression washer on the plug was not compressed and was on an angle with dirt between the washer and plug. Could this have caused my backfire issue? >>> Plugs where installed by the mechanic who installed the engine. Disappointing ! >>> I also changed the distrib cap and rotor. >> I would be paying a visit to that mechanic. Disappointing? Truly so. I would also be concerned about other mistakes the incompetent mechanic made. >> >> mcneely >> >>>> Right, but it saves time to first learn if there is a fuel system problem at all. If there is, then you can pinch off the fuel hose to the left injector bank and determine which side is leaking, and pinch off the pressure regulator vacuum hose to test it. I hate taking things apart unnecessarily! >>>> >>>> Stuart >>>> >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Larry Alofs >>>> Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2015 10:10 AM >>>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM >>>> Subject: Re: Start up,back fire? >>>> >>>> It seems to me that if the fuel pressure leaks down too quickly, the cause could be an injector, the fuel pressure regulator, or the fuel pump. The first case is more serious than the last two. You need a way to tell which it is. >>>> >>>> Larry A. >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 11:35 AM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Easiest way to do the fuel leak down test is with a fuel pressure gauge. >>>>> Bentley says system should hold pressure (30 psi or so) for several >>>>> minutes after shutdown. If your gauge comes with an open hose >>>>> adapter, slip it over the fuel tap near the distributor, and use a >>>>> clamp. Otherwise cut it and splice it with a brass barbed coupling >>>>> for other cars. Get the type that drains any residual gas out a >>>>> separate line. Instructions here, including safety procedures: >>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsqBJxKj1KQ >>>>> >>>>> Do it soon, backfires are hard on the AFM. I've used mine many times >>>>> over the past 40 years to diagnose fuel system problems. >>>>> >>>>> Stuart >>>>> >>>>> -----Original Message----- >>>>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On >>>>> Behalf Of Dennis Jowell >>>>> Sent: Saturday, May 16, 2015 3:19 AM >>>>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM >>>>> Subject: Start up,back fire? >>>>> >>>>> Question on why do I sometimes get a backfire from my 2.2 GOWESTY WBX. >>>>> yesterday I drove the 88 gl Westy an 1.5 hr pulled over to check my >>>>> GPS, shut the engine off. Then 2 minutes later started it and "bang" >>>>> it backfired, it did start. Shut it down and tried again same thing. >>>>> Drove home it didn't occur again. Any thoughts of what is going on? >>>>> The new Engine has about 5000 miles on it. Maybe to many mice running >>>>> around in there. >>>>> >>>>> Dennis Jowell >>>>> Scotch Hollow Farm >>>>> Newbury, Vermont >>>>> >> -- >> David McNeely >> >>


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