Debugging Electrical Problem

Symptom One:

Funny thing. My wife drives the blue bomber, comes back 5 minutes later because forgot something. Back in truck and it won’t start…

What the heck? What did she do? She broke it!!

Symptom is that voltage drops to nothing when ignition is turned.

I fiddle and play around, determine that something is amiss with the glow plug relay. I buy a ford diesel glow relay and wire it up. Works great, problem solved…

 

See that grey plastic cylinder with the 4 bolts on top? That is the glow plug relay. Small amount of current goes from batter to glow button under dash. When button is pressed that small amount of current goes to the glow relay, causes it to open which causes a large amount of current to go from the battery to the glow plugs in the engine. Reason for this is you don’t want lots of current going through a little button…

 

Symptom Two:

And then about a month later a very similar symptom occurs, voltage drops to zero when you try to ‘glow’ or start the motor.

Now I’m spending hours with the multimeter, and searching the internets for advice. The best thread I can find on ih8mud is:

IH8Mud Thread On Problem Starting 3B

Previous owner was impetuous and seemed to have extra speaker wire. Lots of spare wires zip-tied together. Lots of unplugged things (mostly from auto-glow system.)

Truck developed problem after sitting undriven for a few weeks. For in-car readings I used a cigarette lighter volt meter. Symptoms were all over the map but primary problem was:
– turn key one click, inside voltage is 10.4, yet batteries show 12.5 volts.
– turn key another click, voltage drops to 6-7 or below, yet batteries show 12.5 volts. The inside voltmeter barely displays at such low voltage.
Other times (seemingly randomly over 2 hours of exploring.)
– turn key one click, 10.4 volts
– turn key another click it stays at 10.4… woo!
o Hit glow switch and voltage dives to zero. Battery voltage never changed.
o Hit brake pedal and voltage dives to zero.
o Try and crank and voltage dives to zero.

After diving to zero the truck is dead for 30 seconds or so, then voltage recovers. The entire time the battery voltage is stable at 12.5.

I measure voltage and resistance across many places in engine bay. All seems fine. 0.3 ohms from starter to battery, from starter solenoid to battery. Cleaned battery posts and all cable ends. No difference.

Used jumper cables to ground all sorts of stuff (starter, block, frame) back to the – battery terminal. Made no difference. Jumped right battery to my… other… bj60… inside voltage shows 12.4. Try to glow and voltage goes to 6-7. Try to start, it cranks! A few seconds. Almost starts. When I stop cranking the inside voltage goes to 6-7 again.

Hmm. If jumping sort of works? Took batteries in for load test, supremely uninformative test machine gave them ‘pass’ light when set to 700cca.

Figured based on this thread to just build new ground cables because the old ones were so ugly. Worst case I have nice new cables.

Nasty old cable end

More nasty cable end.

What a pair they make, more nasty old ground cables.

 

Built new ground cable from 0/1 cable I got from Napa ($7.5/foot), and some other 0/1 cable from Lowes (napa ran out). The napa stuff was flexible, lowes was THWN-2 and is much harder to bend. Expensive fittings were $2 each at Napa. I crimped the ends on using a big vice. For kicks I also replaced the ends on the hot wire from ‘+’ of right battery to alternator.

Cables replaced:
– left negative to left battery tray bolt
– left battery tray bolt to left engine block
– right negative to right battery tray bolt
– right battery tray bolt to right engine block
– ends on that alternator cable

Passenger side engine ground attachment.

New ground wire from driver side battery to body.

 

After bolting the cables on… success. Everything is perfect and back to normal.

Woo! 12.73 volts!

 

In all of this the only thing I found wrong: I noticed that the – battery terminal clamp for the right battery was quite loose. Resistance of old cables seems fine so must have been that slightly loose clamp on the right side? When playing with jumpers I only grounded to left battery (battery + are connected with cable but negative are each independently grounded to body and block.) In hindsight I’m guessing the truck would have started working if I’d just jumpered the left and right – terminals (because I believe the left ground was good.)

Advice for building your own ground cables: After building and installing the new cables I did some research. The cheap cable from lowes is made of fewer thick sold copper wires. It is too stiff and will not age well given the motion of the diesel motor relative to the body. Marine cable is zinc coated, is the most flexible and has the best temperature and chemical resistance, and 0/1 is sold locally for between $4.50 and $7/foot. If I ever do this again I’m using that stuff. Also I’m going to get some good copper battery terminals.

Building Cables:

Well, that success lasted all of a day before I realized I couldn’t live with that hard conduit cable in the truck. No way would it last, its too stiff and will break.

I head to west marine and buy 6 feet of their ANCOR 0/1 marine cable, in black. It is very flexible and has terrific fuel safe, self extinguishing insulation. Also it is tinned so corrosion resistant. I also head back to Napa for 4 more of them $2 fittings.

Lastly I go to amazon and look to see what is available in a cable crimper!

Looking at all the crimpers on amazon, and on the internet in general I realize that a simple “Hammer Crimp” is all I need. That’s what folks used for 80 years, what old service stations used forever and ever. It ought to be fine for me, and make a better fitting that what I could achieve by squishing the ends in a vice. Further benefit is that they are ~$25.

On amazon I look at all the crimpers, all look similar, can’t tell them apart. Luckily one of the crimpers is made by Temco! Temco is BAD-ASS company that builds large industrial transformers, inverters, BIG electrical stuff, stuff that architects take into account when designing buildings. Stuff that costs $50k to $500k. They make a range of crimpers from the simple hammer crimp up to $1k pneumatic/electric crimpers. These guys make crimpers because they know what they’re doing and need good crimps. Nice that they think of the little guy, take the trouble to build a cheap reliable crimper.

They even have a photo on their site of what a proper hammer crimp looks like. The crimp with hammer hits so hard that the copper strands are welded into a solid under the crimp. BAD-ASS!

Link to Temco Hammer Crimp on Amazon

I cut new lengths, put on the shrink wrap, crimp the ends on. Wow this stuff is flexible. Never thought much about ground cables before. These are sweet!

 

Blue Bomber Sag – Need Springs

Blue bomber’s rear end is sagging. Had Torfab take a look and they recommended all new everything, good nice greasable shackles, new arb springs, etc, etc. For $2400.

Yikes. Not sure I want to invest that at the moment.

They suggested I take the truck to Aalbu Brothers just up the street in Everett.

First visit, I’m in love. Looks like a 1920s locomotive factory. Heavy tools all over.

http://aalbubrothers.com/

They say the springs are stock, totally undersprung for that vehicle. Estimate $800 to re-curve the springs and add 2 new ones to the back.

Seems great, its what I need.

Guys are awesome, everything perfect, on time.

Sucker has no sag now! But need shocks now!

 

Lost Gas Cap!

Rushing through traffic to reach the ferry from Anacortes to Sydney, BC we performed a Formula 1 style gas stop. Unfortunately we neglected to re-fit the cap for the gas tank…

That night, camping… gee… do you smell diesel? I sort of did but now that we were in Kanadia there’s lots more diesels about, maybe its someone elses? Sniffing around the smell is coming from the gas fill. Bummer way to start an 11 day trip. I call around the suburbs outside of Victoria but no one has one in stop with the exception of Lordco who has a locking one for $47.

At least we’re heading north on Vancouver island and there’s a great land cruiser specialist in Duncan, BC: “Radd Cruisers.” I call them and they poke around and find one.

On arrival he hands me the cap, no charge. Its pretty rusty and sort of nasty looking but it fits! Doesn’t have the certain je-ne-ce-qua of the old one with its Japanese script DI-SO-RU but it does cut down on the scent.

After giving me the gas cap Radd Cruisers asks to see my engine, scans it over, looks good to him, approves of the hose clamps that are normally missing from the coolant lines. He points out that my block temp sender has a broke wire. Dang! That’s why the sender doesn’t work. Must have happened when the alternator was installed.

No time to fix at the moment we head out and up.

A week or so later we’re south of Powell River, stop at a service station. When I go to pay I notice the folks in there look like their real job is fixing logging trucks and I get the strong feeling they really know their stuff. I ask if they have wire crimps they could sell me, guy asks: whats it for? Oh, my temp sender wire broke, guy goes out, takes a 2 second look, heads in and comes back out with a crimp, crimp pliers, some shrink-fit tubing, he takes care of it in about 45 seconds. Yeah. I really, really appreciate meeting someone that can fix stuff. And confirms my great vides from Powell River.

A-and to make a long story short… 8 days later we returned to Anacortes, I stopped at the gas station where I lost my cap, asked if they might have it… handed me a cardboard box of gas caps… and there was my nice one! Oh the joy! So now I have a skanky backup cap.

A NICE picture of my truck!

 

Maze Vacation Pix

Water in the Maze

We explored the maze district for the next 10 days. Camped at Chimney Rock, the Wall and Standing Rock.

We biked to the Doll’s house, hiked down Shot Canyon. It snowed our second night which was beautiful. I hiked out to the Chocolate Drops.

We played a lot of poker in our “Poker Pits.”

We even went down into the Maze, and explored the ridges that reach so deeply into the maze. Lovely little rock gardens, plants and formations.

We didn’t run out of food or water, or poop bags. Kids loved comparing the weight of their daily “produce.”

 

Looking back toward Standing Rock from Chimney Rock.

 

Crypto in the Snow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Standing Rock from the Chocolate Drops

 

 

Trail from Chimney Rock into the Maze.

Cairn in the Maze

Descending trail from Chimney Rock into Maze.

 

Staying Hydrated

 

The Sheep Steps into Shot Canyon

Our Old Friend Chimney Rock.

 

 

 

 

Maze Part 2

Wake to a lovely sunrise. We enjoy coffee and wait for the kids to wake, then introduce them to the “no stepping on crypto” game.

Crypto

On the way to the rough part of Teapot Canyon.

The desert soil sustains a mat of organisms that themselves hold the sand and prevent erosion, its called “crypto” because early biologists weren’t sure what it was (fungus, lichen, etc).

The game when hiking in the desert is to never disturb crypto. A wide wash is full of sand, no crypto, its fine to walk on it. Solid slickrock (exposed sandstone) is also fine to hop around on. But in between there are weird brown and black towers 0.25 to 6 inches high which are crypto formations. A single footprint in old crypto can last for many years.

The rule is that, if you need to step on crypto then you’ve messed up and need to instead turn around and find another way.

After breakfast we’re back in the car for what should be the most difficult driving on the trip, Teapot Canyon, which is just ahead of teapot rock campground. The road hugs the short cliffs and skirts the top of a shallow canyon. This area is the roughest part of the road but the lifted truck has no problem. Really the only time I need help is with steep rises where I can’t see the track ahead. Teapot itself is a doddle, the only real work is kicking stones off the trail that previous folks have placed. So, OME 2.5″ lift and stock wheels makes the bj60 much easier to drive into the maze than a stock ford explorer. The only damage was a dented exhaust tip. The 3 bikes on the back were no problem.

Awesome Rocks!

I do notice that the idle rpm is still creeping up, is now at 850 or 900rpm…

Amazing Rocks, these were once tree roots.

 

After teapot canyon the road is significantly easier, we continue past the wall to lunch at standing rock where the wind picks up and becomes furious, whistling loudly and causing largish rocks to fall and explode around the base. We continue on to chimney rock and our first night in the maze.

Stormy weather at Standing Rock.

 

That evening we spend a few hours exploring the maze rim until we see a snowstorm hurrying toward us from across the maze. We run back to the tent just in time for a hailstorm.

On Chimney Rock (its bigger than it looks)

Boys hiding from the wind.

Snowstorm Coming from across the Maze!

So cold… we’re cooking in the vestibule. Good tent!

Post Snowstorm Sunset at Chimney Rock

 

Into the Maze

After a few more days climbing and mountain biking in moab I drive back up to SLC to pick up the fam-damily. Do the final gear sort, etc, fill the water tanks, some last minute grocery shopping, etc, etc.

One thing I don’t have is a spare fuel/air diaphragm for the engine. For a few weeks prior to the trip the idle speed has been creeping up. First it was 700rpm, then 800rpm. The engine sounds smoother at that rate but its not supposed to idle there. Problem is most likely an issue with a leather diaphragm that is responsible for the fuel flow to the motor. If the leather is torn it will slowly continue to tear and eventually the motor will be idling at max rpm, blowing white smoke, etc, etc. Its something that needs fixing. After the long driving to Utah the idle is now at 900rpm.

I’d tasked my lovely wife with obtaining one in seattle but it was not to be. I just need to hope it doesn’t deteriorate on the trip. Probably wouldn’t be fun to drive out of the maze with a 3000rpm idle…

Load the kids up and leave early the next morning with our goal the campsite at teapot rock. We drive south on 15 to prove, take a left at hwy 6 until we reach Green River, then maybe we tank up on Ray’s Burgers (a maze tradition of old that the kids might appreciate.) Finally we take a right on hwy 70 for 10 miles or so, then a left at Hwy 24. After 50 miles or so its a left turn on E Lower San Rafael Rd which is a dirty road and easy to miss, especially at night. There is a sign at the turn off indicating this is the road to Hans Flats Ranger Station.

We do in fact miss the turn off, pull a U-turn 1/8 mile later and are bumping through the dust. On previous trips this road suffered from terrible washboarding but this time the road was very smooth.

Small sign for turnoff to Hans Flats (and Maze). We’ve now missed this turnoff on 3 different trips.

Drive to Hans Flats is longer than I remember, but just as barren (and awesome!)

Yay! Almost in the park!

Kids doing their job.

We stop at the ranger station to check-in and verify our permits, purchase a new copy of Desert Solitaire and start on the more seriously bumpy track to the flint trail. Lots of side roads and the drive to the flint trail is longer than I remember. Can’t believe we drove this before in an overloaded Volvo Wagon!

Stop at the flint trail overlook for a snack, watch a tiny vehicle wend its way up, and then we’re heading down ourselves.

Flint Trail from Overlook. A vehicle is visible if you look closely.

About to begin the descent! Kids are nervous. Fully loaded with 10 days of food and water (and poop bags!)

Kids are anxious but it really isn’t so bad. I remember it being bumpier and narrower. The low range was great, just idled down the trail in Low Range 3rd gear.

At the bottom we came to a fork whose left branch went along a wash. I remember this shortcut from before and take it, against the wishes of the wife. This short cut cuts a lot of unnecessary distance, meets up with the trail to the maze in 1/4 mile or so.

Kids are antsy, we stop and take out their bikes and they ride ahead on the road. Lots of places are too difficult for them to ride.

Finally we arrive at Teapot Rock campground. I don’t remember ever noticing this site before. My father and I once slept on the trail because it got dark before we reached the site.

Teapot Canyon Campsite

Teapot Rock campsite is a little northeast of teapot rock, on the south side of a lovely gully. Terrific views, fine sunset, gourmet indian food.

Yay! We did it!

Camped at Teapot Canyon.

Castleton Tower

Camped for 2 nights at Castleton Tower.

Wyoming friend brought the Wyoming goods. Meat, hash browns, a proper grill, fresh eggs. He knows how to eat!

Check the Sweet Saab 9-5 Aero. This is a rare car, perfect for a euro climber (its owner is vacationing from Poland.)

Castleton’s Kor Inghals was a lot harder than I expected. 5.9 from the olden days when there was no 5.10. Didn’t help that its all off width with slippery calcite. Sheesh. I was a hurting unit the next day. Fortunately Ancient Art on fisher towers was pretty easy. The next, while my mind was willing my bones were in no condition to climb Castleton again. The bruises from all the horrible knee jams took more than a week to fade. I need to practice my off-widths!

Hobo Alert!

Welcome to the West, Part Deux

Arrive in Twin Falls at around 10pm in seriously sad shape. Sick to fucking death of driving. In pain. Whole body vibrating. Wanna collapse into bed. I might have trained for climbing but not for sitting still in a car all day, worried about all the vehicles that are passing me.

Next morning I pack up at 6:45 and drive to the front desk to turn in my key. I’ve scouted local eaterys, have an idea where I’ll go but decide to check the local knowledge.

Pimply kid at the counter suggests Shari’s. Oh, and Idaho Joe’s. And Perkins Family Restaurant. I can see the manager in the back doing paperwork. I ask: “how about Norm’s?” Kids, uh, oh yeah, Norm’s. Uh… I’ve never eaten there. Its really hard to find. Manager pops out of his office: “Norm’s is Fantastic, you should definitely go there.”

I tell him I’m not going to eat at a francise. Will Norm’s sell me a real twin falls style breakfast? “Heck yeah.”

Norm’s delivers. Highly recommended! Here are yelp reviews:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/norms-cafe-twin-falls

I filled up and felt fantastic. French toast, eggs, hash browns, bacon and sausage – and a bunch of coffee. There’s a room in the back for the old timers. Cool as anything.

Walking around the neighborhood after breakfast, enjoying the morning light I find this fantastic tableau:

Somebody has a heart and a dream. Bitchin!

Several folks in Twin Falls have asked if I went to see the falls. Nope, I did see the sign though. Apparently its a can’t miss and on the way out of town.

I turn off the hwy back to the interstate and am on small roads:

Going to see the Twin Falls from Twin Falls

And then… I start to go past these horrible houses. I guess you get money and you wanna build something fancy? What are people thinking? Who are these space aliens? Are they locals gone bad? There’s not just a few, the place is littered with them.

Love the Adam’s Family Gate that doesn’t surround the property. Why?

You can’t legislate taste.

Is this willful? Are they trying to fuck up the world? Who the fuck builds an ugly house on the river? Sorry, it wasn’t what I was in the mood for that morning. Sorta makes me dream of that scene in “Operation Arrowhead”? Where there’s a nuke on the way to slc? Do the world a favor and turn this place and its shitty mansions into glass. The basalt will thank you.

Let me get this straight, you build your dream home in twin falls? Are these failed spec houses? Retirement opportunity?

Finally I arrive at an overview of Twin Falls. This is a great place for teaching geology, a breach in the basalt.

Maybe also a place for teaching sociology. Who is building the houses on the other side of the river?

Twin Falls wasn’t so special, but the perverse houses got my blood flowing. “This is Idaho, we mess it up on purpose to make a political statement.”?

The days drive was quite nice. Flat and fairly empty roads. Through Pocatello and onward through SLC, Provo and down to Moab.

The Norm’s breakfast treated me well and drove the rest of the day with power coming from my belly! That’s the power of a good breakfast.

Hitting the road out of Twin Falls Idaho.

Being Passed by another Big Vehicle (I’m slow).

The Honda in this picture was upset by the silver pickup, so repeatedly “Brake Checked” it. Establishing dominance? Yeah baby!

Cool light in Provo, but really not my sort of place. Interesting Billboards. “Land of Opportunity” for the land owners.

Pride!

Wind farms outside provo on the way to moab.

Down off the plateau.

West to Moab

Woo!

The last stretch to moab (where I take a left to Castle Valley).

Parked in Castle Valley

Setup and waiting for my friend to arrive.

Castleton Tower.

 

What its all about, The Drive P1.

Back of my head when I got the truck was that, finally, I had something I could drive into the Maze district in Utah. Primarily ground clearance and enough room for the fam-damily, but also reasonable fuel economy to get there.

Despite doubts from The Wife about the ability of the rig to reach Utah we purchase plane tickets so the family can meet me in SLC.

The Drive:

My usual MO on a long trip is to take side roads and sleep when I’m tired. I love sleeping in the country, waking in the desert in the pre-dawn then stopping at a small-town diner for a proper country breakfast.

This time the family + extended family pressured me to avoid this. The world is a dangerous place now, need a hotel, you’re too old for that, etc, etc. So I belatedly agree and book a $35/night room in Twin Falls, Id.

What I didn’t know is that Parent Teacher Meetings were scheduled for the morning of my departure and I wasn’t able to leave town until 10am. That’s 4hrs of driving time lost. Uh oh…

Heading out of Issaquah on I90, out of western Washington. Cascades, doug-firs and lots of moisture.

Truck has a great ride when full of stuff. Those heavy springs finally make sense.

Outside Cle-Elum, the start of eastern Washington. Dry and a long flat descent to the Columbia river.

Its a little spooky being the slowest vehicle on the road. 62mph seems like the best speed to drive which means I’m passed by pretty much everything.

Still in Eastern WA: A hundred-so miles out from Prosser.

Given my slow speed it actually makes sense to take the slowest route. I short cut outside of Prosser through the beautiful Horse Heaven Hills, the breadbasket of Washington.

Horse Heaven Hills – seriously beautiful country.

Round 2pm my neck gets a crick. My ass starts to hurt.

Descent to the Columbia and the Oregon border through Umatilla.

At Umatilla I get onto Hwy 84 and see a sign that makes the hair on my neck stand up: “Twin Falls – 384 miles”

Holy shit. 384 miles? Its 3pm and I’m cruising at 62mph…. uh… I’m not going to arrive until 9:30pm. I’m tired, I don’t want to drive that far!

Calcium Phosphate from the I90 pass is all over the truck. This stuff rusts metal like nobody’s business. Also makes it hard to see but protects from sun-burn?

Need to be careful being the slow vehicle. Everyone’s in a hurry, resents me (not that I blame them.) :

Example of the sort of vehicles that are passing me.

The hills outside of La Grande are pretty, its wet again, lovely country.

Grande Ronde River, outside of La Grande, OR. Eastern Oregon is big!

5:45pm, I’m still in Oregon. Dang it.

And 6:28pm, sun is starting to set. Not in Idaho yet. Back aching, foot on the dash, shoulders hurting lots! Cramping.

And then the sun sets. I’ve got 3hrs to go, in pain. Jeese I wish I could just stop and sleep! Lots of great remote places. But no… I paid my $35, Im going to sleep in Twin Falls. Stupid hotel.

 

Cigarette Lighter Repair

My cigarette lighter was coming loose from the dash. Kids were giving me heck because their devices wouldn’t charge reliably while on long trips (like to school, or 10 minutes to the store.) I tried to fix it from the drivers seat but no go. Really I tried but something wasn’t right.

Finally took the dash plate off and took the thing out. It had simply unscrewed itself. Reassemble and install, it is as good as new now.