Re: 85 Vanagon Digijet
Posted: Sun Feb 27, 2011 6:34 pm
Anyway, on the to grand final ~ or as Colin referred to it, the "cut to the chase" visit.
First, I explained that the replacement for the distributor I order (both from GoWesty Parts) had a bad vacuum canister. Didn't hold a vacuum. Not to worry though, the original they sent me with seriously bent nipple DID hold a vacuum. So Colin tests it, and then looks at the original distributor. Lo and behold... the new one that did hold a vacuum? Doesn't spring back from the retard position. I dunno if it's too tight or what, but once retarded, it just holds that position. Not like the old, ratty, piss-covered and rusty dizzy. Nnnnnooooooo, that thing works fine. So in it goes.
Now here's where I learned something new. See, when I tried to set the timing, it still ran like crap. Consequently, I assumed the dizzy was bad. Not so Colin. He sets it to the correct timing (helps that he really understands the placement so he knows he did it right) and then starts checking OTHER stuff.
Eventually he realized something rather odd; when moving the sweep hand in the AFM, nothing happened. Even if he moved it all the way to either side. Now that's just not right. So first he tested the signal. Does it meet spec? It does indeed. Now for the wiring. Sure enough, a dead wire. Now remember, I bought a "used but working" harness and installed it. At the time, after all that work to track down the original problem, I thought, "You should really verify all the connections are continuous" but decided not to. Hell, the guy said it worked. If you can't trust anonymous people on the internet, who can you trust?
So Colin pulls down the boot on the connector to the AFM and bingo! There's a single wire not connected. What's weird is that it wasn't just pulled out. It's clearly shorter than the others, and has been clipped. Why? Why wasn't it repaired? What problem could such a thing resolve?
We push the van over to the garage to get good 110v (for some reason, Colin didn't want to do this ~ instead he tried to solder the fix in situ) by manually connecting his transformer to the alternator so I can solder. This is crazy, and in what can only be described as a gesture from the Gods, it doesn't work. I suppose the concept of pushing the van, as opposed to driving it, violates some base tenet of Colin's world view/ideology. A kind of 'sin' in the master's eyes...) and solder in the fix. The van runs nicely, a bit of adjustment and we're off for a drive. Everything goes swimmingly, and with a final adjustment of the idle, Colin is off for greener pastures.
I don't know why he does this, no greener pasture than here. You know, when he arrives we always have hot coffee, and I have to force him (force!) to eat a Mediterranean lunch of French bread, cheese (Tillamook sharp and smoked gouda, French brie) with fresh fruit (strawberries, fuji apples and grapes) and Italian bruschetta and cold cuts (the last of which he will NOT eat...).
Sheesh. Fixed the van good though.
L.
First, I explained that the replacement for the distributor I order (both from GoWesty Parts) had a bad vacuum canister. Didn't hold a vacuum. Not to worry though, the original they sent me with seriously bent nipple DID hold a vacuum. So Colin tests it, and then looks at the original distributor. Lo and behold... the new one that did hold a vacuum? Doesn't spring back from the retard position. I dunno if it's too tight or what, but once retarded, it just holds that position. Not like the old, ratty, piss-covered and rusty dizzy. Nnnnnooooooo, that thing works fine. So in it goes.
Now here's where I learned something new. See, when I tried to set the timing, it still ran like crap. Consequently, I assumed the dizzy was bad. Not so Colin. He sets it to the correct timing (helps that he really understands the placement so he knows he did it right) and then starts checking OTHER stuff.
Eventually he realized something rather odd; when moving the sweep hand in the AFM, nothing happened. Even if he moved it all the way to either side. Now that's just not right. So first he tested the signal. Does it meet spec? It does indeed. Now for the wiring. Sure enough, a dead wire. Now remember, I bought a "used but working" harness and installed it. At the time, after all that work to track down the original problem, I thought, "You should really verify all the connections are continuous" but decided not to. Hell, the guy said it worked. If you can't trust anonymous people on the internet, who can you trust?
So Colin pulls down the boot on the connector to the AFM and bingo! There's a single wire not connected. What's weird is that it wasn't just pulled out. It's clearly shorter than the others, and has been clipped. Why? Why wasn't it repaired? What problem could such a thing resolve?
We push the van over to the garage to get good 110v (for some reason, Colin didn't want to do this ~ instead he tried to solder the fix in situ) by manually connecting his transformer to the alternator so I can solder. This is crazy, and in what can only be described as a gesture from the Gods, it doesn't work. I suppose the concept of pushing the van, as opposed to driving it, violates some base tenet of Colin's world view/ideology. A kind of 'sin' in the master's eyes...) and solder in the fix. The van runs nicely, a bit of adjustment and we're off for a drive. Everything goes swimmingly, and with a final adjustment of the idle, Colin is off for greener pastures.
I don't know why he does this, no greener pasture than here. You know, when he arrives we always have hot coffee, and I have to force him (force!) to eat a Mediterranean lunch of French bread, cheese (Tillamook sharp and smoked gouda, French brie) with fresh fruit (strawberries, fuji apples and grapes) and Italian bruschetta and cold cuts (the last of which he will NOT eat...).
Sheesh. Fixed the van good though.
L.