Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 07:09:20 -0800 (PST)
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Beth Young <young@sherlock.sims.berkeley.edu>
Subject: RE: Where can I rent a CO meter in East Bay (CA)
I finally broke down and went to a local "German Auto Repair" shop.
I explained what I needed (timing, idle speed, idle mixture) and he
pretended to look up the shop time this job would take in one of those
big thick book, then hit his calculator a few times (I could see he
wasn't really calculating anything) and then announced the job would
be $46.
It took him 15 minutes to get his Sun analyzer working, then he shoved
the sniffer up the tailpipe. When I told him the manual said to make
this test in *front* of the catalytic converter, he looked startled
but then recovered by saying that the smog emission folks check after
the converter (I told him I had to have the bus smogged soon) and besides,
in his experience, "everytime I've tried to remove the bolt from the
exhaust, they end up breaking."
When he checked the timing he said it was OK (I knew that - I set it
myself!) but explained that since I didn't have an idle stabilizer
the timing was moving around. (The timing, when I set it, was rock-
steady; and I know that the idle stabilizer works by *adjusting* the
timing!)
While he was working we yacked a bit and he deliverd all sort of
dubious (to me information); don't use Shell gas, always use super
premium gas, etc., etc.
I left the shop $46 poorer, convinced, once again, that I knew more
about my bus then the German-car "pro" I had just dealt with.
I see that JCW has a CO tester in their catalog for $150; all I have to
do is go to this guy twice more and I've paid for it!
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Tom Young young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
Lafayette, CA 94549 '81 Vanagon
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On Wed, 20 Nov 1996, Will Wood wrote:
>
> CO Meters are expensive and hard to come by. In the early eighties, I =
> had two 911s in California and always had trouble with shops incorrectly =
> setting the idle CO. To correct this I looked into buying a meter (big =
> bucks). However a friend directed me to the local Heathkit (Zenith) =
> dealer who had a CO meter that you could build. Yes, it takes a couple =
> of hours but I still have it and it. It has always checked out against =
> all smog tests in CA and Utah where I now live. It cost about $150.00 =
> but it is still a wise investment for EFI or Carbs (I use it to dial in =
> my Webers on my 2 Liter Type IIs)
>
> Hope this helps
>
>
