The Day The BobD Died

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Amskeptic
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The Day The BobD Died

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Apr 02, 2018 9:28 am

Yesterday, the BobD up and died dead dead dead. I had to walk two and a half miles back to the house.
OffToJacksonvilleNOWColin

yeah, THIS one, the one with the freshly painted wheels and new bumper bolt caps:

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BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

71whitewesty
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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by 71whitewesty » Mon Apr 02, 2018 12:06 pm

Oh this is good. What in the heck could it be that would make you walk!
:scratch:

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cheesehead
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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by cheesehead » Mon Apr 02, 2018 6:03 pm

Is this an April Fools joke?

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asiab3
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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by asiab3 » Mon Apr 02, 2018 6:29 pm

Waiting with bated breath, because Colin taught me how to spell that properly. :drunken:

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Ronin10
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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by Ronin10 » Mon Apr 02, 2018 8:33 pm

*insert silver liner here*

At least you got some exercise.

/silverlining
Oscar: 1976 Sage Green Bus, Stock Motor, Solid Lifters, Manual Transaxle

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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Apr 02, 2018 8:54 pm

I had driven the BobD 367 miles down from Atlanta with not so much as a screwdriver. And it was rainy. And I had supreme trust in that car.

So, on my way down to the Law Firm and a quick stop scheduled for AutoZone thereafter, do you think I was going to load up with tools? or a cell phone? Pshaw, of course not.

Honestly, no air-cooled Volkswagen of mine has ever stranded me ever never since I was eighteen years-old, nope. The only air-cooled Volkswagen that ever did strand me and my poor hapless customer was rallybug in Salt Lake City in 2013 (time flies!)

https://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/vi ... 23#p201296

Pulled up to the traffic light 2.6 miles from the house. Idiot lights on! Utilized the remaining 2 mph to blow through the red and start looking for a pull over spot. The downhill was a luxury and gave me the second driveway, a U-Haul lot. Pulled next to a box truck and dang it, the lousiest part of the asphalt and dirt and oil and sand. "BobD", I sez, "I was just thinking of selling you, I didn't say I was GOING TO."

No tools, not good. No cell phone, not good. Schedule jam #3 in a series, I had no time for this sh*t. Having just spent a phone day helping exoticdvm extricate himself from a no-start, I used exactly the same diagnostic track. Wiper movement with ignition on did not yield a pump sound. Ripped the wires off a tank-style fuel pump just sitting there on the ground next to the garage door, honest, it was just sitting there and I needed a jumper wire. I couldn't even cut it with anything. What was I going to use, my keys? Found a mirror bracket on one of the trucks and jammed the wire between the bracket and body, and "spliced" the wire ends. Pulled left side double relay plug and stuck my new jumper wire between 88Y and whatever it is for the pump (look it up in double-relay article! you got a computer or a PHONE). Could not hear anything over the traffic and leaf blowers and drones overhead, but I saw sparking at my jumper wire. OK. Pump is suspect. Locked the car. Walked home. Gloried in the modest propulsion system of two legs. Looked at everybody's houses. Thirty minutes in, I am bored with just walking while all of these cars keep whizzing by. Man, I have done this commute many many many times, it is a stretch while hoofing it. I plan my solutions, A and B:

A) if my spare fuel pump spins over at the house, I drive NaranjaToolsBazaar down to install the new pump, drive the BobD home, walk back to get NaranjaWesty.

B) if my spare pump is frozen, I bring down NaranjaWesty, take the pump out of NaranjaWesty and stick it in the BobD after I pull its dead pump, drive the BobD back to the house (and make sure to bring tools), take the NaranjaWesty pump out of the BobD and bring it back and install it in NaranjaWesty and drive it home.

Now seriously, if you think I would go through all of that rigamorale in Plan B . . . . . . . . you'd be right.

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NaranjaWesty's pump is my loyal loyal friend after eating a quarry's worth of graveled varnish all across the country. It started the BobD right up and got us home. And it fit back in NaranjaWesty with nary a problem.

I was not ready to call BobD's pump dead. Are you kidding? It looks brand-new under there with original cosmoline wax still on it, fresh beautiful boot-protected spade terminals, why did it die? The suddenness of the failure made me think that the rotor got stalled out by a piece of junk. What junk, you ask? I know, I asked the same exact question. We ALL know that the BobD fuel tank is immaculate inside.

Well, I could hear the filter element inside the fuel filter r-a-t-t-l-i-n-g. Rattling. See the note on the fuel pump in Sharpie Marker? Last replaced at 103,900 miles:

Image


You know that every time the pump would turn on it would suck that rattling filter bang into the inside of the filter housing. Time and time again.

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Something must have shredded off. See that little mouse poo thing? I think that was the sort of contaminant that stalled out the pump. This filter was not one of our usual MadeInIsrael filters, it was a "Hastings" and I do not trust them.

Image


I ran test wires from the pump to NaranjaWesty's battery and reversed polarity a couple of times. It was a touching tender joyful moment when that beautiful fuel pump coughed and vomited fuel all over NaranjaWesty's battery like a dead drowning victim sputtering back to life. I shouldn't even be here typing . . . but there was no explosion because I had sprayed WD-40 up both ends of the BobD fuel pump and shaken it and tapped it before test-powering it up. Reinstalled BobD fuel pump in BobD and all is well.

Drove NaranjaWesty 376 miles from Pensacola to Jacksonville at no less than 65 mph after the above. Just got here an hour ago. Filthy Dub appointment tomorrow morning.
Colin

Image
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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wcfvw69
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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by wcfvw69 » Tue Apr 03, 2018 4:29 am

I know I've said this to you before. I'm amazed that all your cars you have in storage come back to life after extended periods of idleness with usually no parts needed. Odd to me in that your fuel doesn't go bad or your fuel pump diaphragms don't harden up and rip after you start the engines. Or what about rear main seals or other seals that also can harden from non-use?

There are so many threads on The Samba about all the 'proper' steps that should be taken when you put a VW into winter storage. Then, what steps you should follow when spring arrives.

I really try to drive all my VW's at least monthly. I'll run them around a freeway lap of 15 miles to get them to operating temperature and burn off any moisture in the case. This also gets everything moving again as well.

Maybe you're just lucky.
1970 Westfalia bus. Stock 1776 dual port type 1 engine. Restored German Solex 34-3. Restored 205Q distributor, restored to factory appearance engine.

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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by Jivermo » Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:38 pm

“ drones overhead”...funniest line in the story, by gum!

“By gum”, euphemism for 'By God'. Still used in the north of England, but archaic everywhere else. Except, of course, for aficionados of the air cooled Volkswagen, for whom archaic is a state of being.

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whc03grady
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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by whc03grady » Tue Apr 03, 2018 8:50 pm

"Died"? C'mon...the Road Warrior died. My '73 Fastback that sent a rod through the crankcase back in 1991 died. The BobD was briefly inconvenienced.
Ludwig--1974 Westfalia, 2.0L (GD035193), Solex 34PDSIT-2/3 carburetors.
Gertie--1971 Squareback, 1600cc with Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection from a '72 (E brain).
Read about their adventures:
http://www.ludwigandgertie.blogspot.com

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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by zabo » Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:21 pm

Click Bait
60 beetle
78 bus

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locoqueso
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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by locoqueso » Wed Apr 04, 2018 4:42 pm

Oh my. I thought the BobD was Dead, dead.
1978 VW Campmobile (P-21) Westfalia - T2 2.0L F.I.- 151,000m
1982 Mercedes-Benz Estate Wagon (300TD-T) - S123 3.0L T.D. - 142,000m
1993 Dodge Maxi Van (190 SLF) InterVec Falcon - B350 Magnum 5.9L F.I. - 70,000m

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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by Curtp07 » Wed Apr 04, 2018 6:24 pm

We just went through the same thing at my place didn’t we? Oh wait that was almost a year ago :)

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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by asiab3 » Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:57 pm

Mitch and Zabo, you guys made me spit out a little of my drink. =D>

Colin, what do you use to cut open the fuel filters without leaving residue/dust that I get that interfere the visual inspection?

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Amskeptic
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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:02 pm

Look people, I am precise with my language, and I am not at all prone to baiting people with click bait headlines.

To whc03 grady and zabo:

We of the automotive arts use the term, "die," died," "will die," "might die," "done did dumb dead over thar, it done did too," to describe the sudden loss of momentum, loss of rotational inertia, loss of function such as all electron flow through headlamp filaments, or any sudden loss of any vehicular function, to wit:

" I was listening to tunes and the stereo (phone) just up and dies."
"I was driving along at 65 mph in a heavy rain and the headlamps just DIED on me. I almost DIED."
"The heater blower motor must have died, I almost froze to DEAD."
"I was driving the BobD and pulled up to the stoplight and the engine just up and DIED on me, it was dead dead dead."

Go to our own Troubleshooting Forum Glossary! Here it is:

Die - cleans and cuts damaged male threads
SEE?

Wait, I meant go to the Online Dictionary:
die1
[dahy]
Spell Syllables
Synonyms Examples Word Origin
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object), died, dying.
1.
to cease to live; undergo the complete and permanent cessation of all vital functions; become dead.
to cease to run; undergo the complete and permanent cessation of all fuel pressure; become motionless.
The BobD died on the way to the Law Firm.
2.
(of something inanimate) to cease to exist:
(of naive trust) to cease to exist:
"The laughter died on his lips (when the BobD died on the way to the Law Firm)."
3.
to lose force, strength, or active qualities:
"Superstitions die slowly, at least, until the BobD died on the way to the Law Firm."
To asiab3:

To execute an uncontaminated forensic dissection of a fuel filter, use a Dremel to score a groove all the way around the plastic housing near the perimeter seam. Go back and carefully look for an almost transparent thinning just before grinding disc breaks through. You can then break it apart.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: The Day The BobD Died

Post by ruckman101 » Tue Jun 12, 2018 8:31 pm

Jivermo wrote:
Tue Apr 03, 2018 3:38 pm
“ drones overhead”...funniest line in the story, by gum!

“By gum”, euphemism for 'By God'. Still used in the north of England, but archaic everywhere else. Except, of course, for aficionados of the air cooled Volkswagen, for whom archaic is a state of being.
The drone onslaught hasn't even hit yet. If I recall, I think Amazon has been exploring airborne floating warehouse bases out of which drones will be delivering packages to customers. Eh, until then, the USPS, and maybe a fleet of "storm trooper"esque design sensibility electric semi's before the motherships are launched, and drones drop off that supply of kitty litter you ordered. By gum!

Speaking of euphemisms, in the past I have been know to utter the phrase, "Dad gum it!". Not quite the same sentiment as "By gum".


neal
The slipper has no teeth.

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