From: Ronzo (rojoha@attbi.com)
Date: Mon Nov 25 2002 - 09:47:45 PST
I used to love the old '12 O'Clock High' and the 'FBI' series with their
EPILOGUE at the end. Always wanted to use it....
Many, many thanks to all who sent in comments, thoughts on the problem,
general thoughts of support and even heckling/flames (I'll get you my pretty
and your little CUCV, too!!) plus grammar correction.
Special thanks to John Hutter (Deltec) for some cogent thoughts and who
hit the problem squarely on the nose.
The Grand Prize goes to (tympani please.....) the man who nailed it on
the head AND provided a fix, the mystery man known as:
" NCC1701Spock @aol.com"
His message bears repeating here to eliminate future head scratching of
others who may be afflicted by this weird (wired) malady. The problem was
solved by a 75 cent part ( typical of a Government system....the transistor
blows to protect the fast acting fuse designed to protect the transistor ).
His message....:
" The horn button in the steering wheel completes the ground side of
the circuit. All wiring up to the contact is "hot" until button is pressed.
"Rectifier" and "diode" are two words for the same thing. The function of
this device is to prevent a large reverse voltage spike when the horn turns
off; the horn itself is a big inductive load, and it will generate a counter
EMF because it acts like a generator as it keeps vibrating after the voltage
is no longer applied. The diode bypasses this reverse voltage harmlessly to
ground. It appears that this diode is shorted. It can be replaced with a
Radio Shack part; get about a two-amp, 200-piv diode and you should be back
in business unless the harness has fried. Good luck.
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from poor judgment. "
So, armed with a new horn and button and wire and connectors and a new
relay and foreboding when the register rings up a total of $69.69
(oh,oh...no kidding) off I go to Hankies.
Hankie takes pity on me along with getting laughs watching me TRY to fix
things. I had a motorcycle accident eons ago that left me with severely
limited motion in my hands and wrists, so something like taking the fan off
the water pump pulley of the deuce takes me 45 minutes and through some very
strange positions laying on top of the engine, radiator and fenders while
trying to emulate the motions of normal folks wrists that still bend and
flex. Hankie will watch for a while and then step in, removing and then
reinstalling the fan in ten minutes, with pithy comments like "Hire the
handicapped, they're fun to watch" and such.
It takes me ten minutes or so to wiggle under the dash and get situated
while having to pull on one arm with the other to force it under the dash,
and then get hung up in the harnesses and such. Then since my gripping
ability leaves a little to be desired since the accident, Hankie roars with
laughter as he listens to my screams of outrage as I drop pliers and parts
on my face or on the floor where I can't reach them since I no longer bend
that way, forcing me to uncoil back out of the truck to get at what I
dropped on the floor. Picture the "Alien" from "Alien" in the cockpit wiring
of the Nostrodamus trying to get at Ripley, except I can chain together foul
words into never before heard combinations as I get my clothing snagged on
screws and projections and frustration wins out over cogent thought. It
ain't pretty.
So Hankie ( a BIG BOY with back problems) gets under there and meters
the horn relay socket and does a little cutting of the harness wrap and low
and behold, finds a toasted diode on the back of the socket. Problem is that
there is NO slack in the harness due to proximity of the fuse block, and the
diode is crimped in the socket, so working in place is (almost) impossible.
Hankie thinks a bit and hacks out the shorted diode and then using a new Rat
Shack diode (BTW...piv stands for Peak Inverse Volts...impresses the hell
out of the Rat Shack clerk who only wants to sell you batteries and an RC
toy), a new Horn relay, 3 pieces of wire, 3 female flag connectors and 3
male flag connecters, He fabs a new harness and remotes the relay to a more
convenient location, while still using the original horn relay socket in the
main harness. Very Elegant.
I provided a very important function while Hankie was under the dash.
Seems like he couldn't get traction with his right foot on the dirt driveway
due to his body angle under the dash. His left leg was flailing around in
the vicinity of the drivers door window trying to get a purchase to cram his
body further under the dash. That's where I came in. I held onto the drivers
door while he planted his size 15 XXW in the middle of my chest while he
wormed under the dash. We all have our place in the great scheme of things.
If anybody is interested, I'll post a couple of photos of the lash up on
my web shots site in a while.
FWIW....the 'rectifier' is shown on FIGURE 41. INSTRUMENT PANEL WIRING
HARNESS in the -34P as items 4 or 15.
Bottom line, at 1347Z251102, I exited Bay 3 with a 2003 Mass inspection
sticker prominently displayed on the right lower corner of the windshield,
making the M1010 fully street legal according to the laws of the
Commonwealth. (Point of interest...the Comm of MA inspection computers Would
NOT accept the fact this vehicle was a 6.2 l diesel with dual, 2 inch
exhausts. It wanted a single 4" on a Chevy or GMC with the 6.2 l as the only
option, so the inspector said, "OK, that is what you have." Wink, wink...)
Thanks to all !!
Ronzo
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Wed Apr 23 2003 - 13:37:54 PDT