Feeling Recharged

Maybe its the change in seasons, but suddenly, my volume of posts has dropped off.  Sorry volks.

Is that Allergies or a Cold?
I spent the last 2-plus weeks fighting off a cold.  It seemed to have the upper hand for a while there, but a prescription for Sudafed and lots of rest has me almost completely mended.  Yes, that's right a "prescription for Sudafed.  Apparently, Oregon's version of the DEA doesn't trust us with it.  Then again, the State doesn't trust us to pump our own gas either.  Anyway, the cold plus allergies and another job shift (still @ the same place, just more work added to my plate) has had me at a desk instead of in my garage.  I'm over 85% now and I was still able to make a little headway on the bus.

Now, THAT's 12 Volts
After trickle charging the battery for the last year or so just so it could have a charge most of the time, I finally shook free $180 for a good battery last Friday.  I'm continuing to use the stock battery location, even though the TDI batteries are so much larger.  With the fuel filter and cables running around the right side of the engine bay, getting the old battery out and the new one in was quite the game of Tetris.  Still, after about 15 minutes of huffing and puffing, the new battery was in, cables nutted down and I was ready to test fire.  Switching to the run position, I could hear the typical "snap" sound of the relay's getting energized.  I turned the key to start and the engine roared to life almost instantly.  Hazah!

I gave the old battery to Les Schwab as a core deposit and they noticed that I'd had the wrong battery all along.  Nice job, Batteries Plus!  Guess I won't be going there again.

The last time I swapped out batteries (I seem to have failed to document): something is shorting across the exterior light circuit so when I turn off the key, the engine keeps running.  Yikes.  I didn't notice this when I test fired in the garage on Friday, but I couldn't kill the engine with the key in the parking lot at work this morning.  I killed it by putting it in gear, but then I saw that the headlights were still on.  I vaguely remember this happening because I did something with the tail light wires when I shook the battery into place.  I'll root around and post what the fix was.  When I test fired in the garage, I didn't turn on the lights.  That's weird, but if I remember right, this was not a big deal last time.

UPDATE (2014-06-26): the root cause is either a bad ground or a wiring funkiness in the right rear tail light.  The brake alarm light illuminates sporadically while driving with the headlights on.  I removed and messed around with the dual-filament brake/running light bulb, but I haven't yet fully fixed the issue.  More to come..

The bus starts and runs great now, with the new battery.  I swear, somehow its actually quieter and the gears are easier to find.  I'm sure I've lost weight and look more attractive now too.  Great stuff getting the right battery for your vehicle.  That's it for today.