So, new battery, starts right up, horn works, gas gauge works...h'mm, no brake light. No turn signals or nasty beeper. No headlight -- wait, low beam works. What the dickens?
Got out the schematic, scratched my head, measured battery voltage with engine running and engine off, a mystery. No common point of failure... It's impossible!
Remember what Sherlock Homes said? "Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Or what the late Patrick S. Finnegan* told me about troubleshooting, years ago: "Start with the simple stuff and beware of pet theories!"
Checked the rear turn signals, easiest to get to: both burned out! Yep, I fried all the lights that were on, probably as the rectifier/regulator was trying to dump charge into the bad battery. And who knows if the rect/reg failed shorted -- I'll have to hang a meter on the battery and rev the engine to see.
Some of the lights are awkward to get to -- the instrument lights and headlight will require removing the windscreen and disassembling the "headset"to reach.
Arrgh.
Update: On a rough check, the rectifier/regulator seems to be regulating with varying engine speed. So that's something.
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* The best broadcast engineer I have worked for; and I have worked for some sharp guys. Pat was a no-wasted-motion man and that included his thought processes.
Very sage advice about pet theories. I fight those all the time.
ReplyDeleteI've just found out today that nobody stocks transmission cooler line anymore, so I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteI decided to swap the radiator out today, a simple 30 minute job. Open the box to find that they went down a size in hose. So I can't just add that to the parts list to install next weekend. I currently have the cooler bypassed, but that will only be good for short trips.
The b@$7@5ds decided to delete the coolant drain valve too. Why yes, it's just as easy to unscrew the coolant temp sensor and let coolant splash everywhere than to use the proper valve where I can just decant the stuff into a jug for recycling.
All this for a small crack in the plastic end-tank, something where I would just bring out the torch, flux and solder to patch on a brass radiator.
Way to turn a 30 minute job into a late Sunday afternoon scavenger hunt, Advanced-Auto!
Hey Roberta it's Mark the radio blogger guy, aka KC0RJV, I'm working up a small 2m digi-peater for my area and was wondering if I could pick your brain a bit. If you could drop me an e-mail greylocke at gmail I would appreciate it. You don't have to publish this comment.
ReplyDeleteYou could be in my foxhole anytime Bobbi.
ReplyDeleteWV: meterist Honest to God!
GreyLocke: Okay -- it may not be 'til Monday evening, though.
ReplyDelete