Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2016 13:57:39 -0700
Reply-To: Scott - IMAP <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott - IMAP <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Now: Vanagon Passion. Was: ... Brake Drum:
In-Reply-To: <2124827315.1215790.1467318303795.JavaMail.yahoo@mail.yahoo.com>
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I see your point quite well..
However...
here's a perfect example....a woman driver calls me up ...'got a
horrible noise in my engine' ...
I say bring the car in.
I open the hood.
What do I see ? ..a big ole fat air intake hose fell off something and
is tangling up with the fan belts.
It does not take a car-tech person to notice such a thing !
I don't know much about the internal workings of computers say ..
but I sure can spot corrosion or burnt things.
And it never hurts to just look, usually anyway.
Things to fall off, burn through, get loose etc etc.
since you read one , maybe you'll read another one from me..called
'diagnostic mind' ..
there is a process we automatically go through that we don't often even
relaize we're doing.
what we do is
1. observe a symptom...say tail light out.
2. Then we think 'what could cause that ? ' and our mind runs over the
usual things that many people know ..in this case 'burnt out bulb' and
'fuse'.
3. Then we Test for whatever theory/hypotheses we came up with.
RIGHT THERE is where a LOT OF PEOPLE ..this really bugs me ..what SO
Many people do right there is figure it must be the bult, so before they
LOOK or TOUCH or inspect or test or anything ..they run out and buy a
bulb. < and half the time it wasn't that anyway ! >
had a perfect example in a parts store the other day ..guy comes in to
return a fuel pump ...says found a loose screw on his old one when he
went to install his new fuel pump..waste of everyone's time because he
didn't just LOOK as a first step !
I estimate that about 2,500 fuel pumps are sold unnecessarily per DAY in
the US ..., exagerating only slightly >
since so many people have a car that won't start, and they feeble brains
come up with 'maybe it's the fuel pump' ..so first thing ..they go out
and buy one.
Maybe it's that people are not used to actually FIXING things ..
I've been taking things apart to fix them since I was 5 years old ..not
joking either ..
I Modified my tricycle before I went to kindergarten ..
and really ..when something doesn't work ..
so very often it's a connection, a loose something, a clogged something
etc..
all fixable with Hands On and a few tools.
Back to # 3 ..that's what ya do to fix anything ...you just keep coming
up with things that could cause the symptom, and you just keep testing
those until you find 'it' or multiple 'it's.
I just had a typical example. My # 1 good Van suddently didn't run the
fuel pump when I turned on the key. Hmm...that's weird. < pump has been
in the van 'forever' ..since before I got the van I think >
so I tap on the fuel pump , Van starts right up. OK ...we'll
see....could be a one time anonomaly.
Does it the next day.
So I check fuel filter ..it's due, replace that, and not tiny metal
particles in what comes out of the fuel filter ( ALWAYS empty out fuel
filters backwards to see what's in them...look for dirt, rust, water,
and tiny metal particles. )
I put on a new fuel filter and one of my used back-up pumps ...and a few
others.
None of them want to really run smoothly and consistently ...so I got a
brand new Bosch one the next day.
AND ...here's my point about this incident ...in the process I
discovered the ground connection for the fuel pump was iffy ..
I discovered that the wire for the plug-in junction in the right forward
corner of the engine compartment was weak ....the female connector got
shoved out of place further back in the plastic cover ..making it seem
connected but it wasn't.
I've also seen this exact thing happen on a plug for a 1.9 waterboxer
Igniter ..I swap in another igniter ...van won't run.. The white wire
..the one that tells the ecu the distributor is turning and firing..got
pushed back in the connector plug ..so watch out for that one.
oh..this is really funny ...the fuel pump relay..
it gets it's power , unfused btw , from the 12volts Battery Termnial in
the black junction box in the engine compartment ..
I'm testing ..the wire is only 12 inches long ..there is not power to
the fuel pump relay ...power 'here' but not here one foot away.
that turned out to be a slightly friend connection at the Battery
terminal in the junction box.
so 3 places in that circuit were all weak or dodgey.
Was my old pump still OK perhaps ? ..I'll be testing.
And even if you don't know a lot about engines ..
one can still get a feel for what looks right .
and remember ...'It's a blockage or leakage of fluids or electrons...
or multiples of those, and 'fluids' include gases like vacuum, air, and
exhaust."
it's always that ...just gotta find 'em ..
and develope you're own test methods and systems..
having known-good units like distributor , ecu etc is a good place to
start.
Hard for me to imagine that most people don't have 'some' basic savvy
about car things .
To my amazement I have seen two adult licensed male vanagon driver's
that could not figure out how to use the stock vanagon jack ..
that's really hard for me to imagine ..how someone could not figure out
such a simple basic thing.
Just seems nature to me to study stuff and learn how to figure it out.
I do that with everything I get into ..photography ...biking, kayaking,
rock climbing etc...
I get a new car ..
I get the manuals. I study online....... that is THE BIGGEST help in the
world ! ...there are countless things that were not obvious ..I go
online about it, and in a minute I've got the answer
anyway ...it's fun to 'have a handle' more or less on anything one is
involved in.
Vanagons especially are a good place to understand some basics.
I do see that the world just throws a lot of things away and replaces
them with new things .
I get most of my stuff used or free .
Scott
On 6/30/2016 1:25 PM, Mike Miller wrote:
> Haven't responded to Scott's posts for a few years but this one I want to.
> Scott,
> You have to know what you're looking at to have looking at things be the first step. You've been working on these vehicles, and others, for so long that you don't remember what it's like to simply not know anything about how the things work and what they look like fixed, or broken.
> Some of us don't.
> If you don't believe me ask BenT what I know about engines and brakes and tires and wheels, etc.
> Mike
>
> On Thursday, June 30, 2016 1:18 PM, Scott - IMAP <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM> wrote:
>
>
> Funny you should say that about posting right away.
> I see that quite frequently ..
> like people will ask about what can cause a symptom and they havn't
> LOOKED at anything ..
> like not even remove the engine cover and just LOOK in there ..even for
> obvious stuff.
>
> ( I figure they 'just want to post' ...or they're too lazy or don't
> trust themselves enough to actually LOOK at the thing or system to
> start with. )
>
> I posted a Friday question once..'What is The First Step' in any
> diagnositc procedure.
> The very, very first step.
> i got answers like 'get out the Bentley Manual' and things like that..
> seems so OBVIOUS ...
> or maybe it's Too Obvious ..but ...jeez ....when a vehicle doesn't work
> like it should ..
> for gosh sakes ..LOOK like with yer eyeballs and hands and fingers at
> the affected area of the vehicle.
>
> and sure ..if people want to post before they do that ...fine ....kind
> of a waste of everyone's time tho ..
> if they look ..
> then they can at least show that they are doing something ....did not
> see anything obvious ..
> or maybe a question about something that may not look right...
> to post without even looking or checking ....
> hmmmmm...
> ....I think some people just want an excuse to post sometimes.
>
> hey ..by the way ..
> One of my vans doesn't run exactly right ..what do people think could be
> causing that ???
>
> < example of a really useless question lacking Any info to go on. >
>
> it's all good,
> Scott
>
> On 6/30/2016 12:36 PM, Neil N wrote:
>> Hi folks.
>>
>> I'm doing my best to be careful with my work. Work "slower", think more.
>> One bad habit of mine is posting too quickly on an issue or potential issue.
>> Hopefully though, what I ask and-or show in images, might be something someone
>> else has run across or wondered about.
>>
>> My Vanagon Passion may be out of balance these days but I'd suggest that
>> most if not all folks on this list are VERY passionate about Vanagons/Buses,
>> and want to keep them running properly or help other folks to same.
>> That passion can see different forms I guess.
>>
>>
>> Neil.
>>
>> ---------
>>
>>
>>> Just use yer brains and do careful work, and for sure..
>>> expect that on most jobs that the very first time you do it ..
>>> it will be a learning experience and may not 'automatically' work out
>>> perfectly the first time.
>> --
>> Neil n
>>
>> Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>
>>
>> 1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>
>>
>> 1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
>>
>> Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>
