Hapy No-Start Again

Sadness arrived again just prior to Summer Solstice: Hapy refused to start. Today's post covers the initial issue, it's resolution and the subsequent issue that arose along the way. Finally a car post! Before I begin, for my US readers, Hapy Independence Day.

Glow-Plug Not Glowing

I jumped into the driver seat to get to an appointment on a relatively cool weekday morning. By relatively cool, I mean 55*F (13*C) or so. Hapy didn't want to start, and he was throwing a code. I checked and it was the glow-plug P0380 error. Joy. Hapy had been harder to start in the mornings on cooler days, and I probably could have put one and one together, but my brain is pretty full these days. Anyway, that evening after work, I shifted into diagnosis mode. It being so close to the solstice, we have workable daylight until 830PM or so. I started with checking the resistance for the 4 plugs. I feel like I replaced these when I did the new injectors, and when I tested them (lowest resistance setting on your multi-meter, you want them within like .6 of each other)... they all came up with the exact same resistance (.8). So, not a glow-plug problem. Before tearing into the harness that Justin and I installed, I thought I would check the relay and the fuse.  

First, I pulled the relay and checked the voltage at the relay: almost 0V. I concluded it was not the relay. Recall that I just redid all the wiring a couple of years ago, so I pulled out the notebook diagramming the circuits, and found the right battery-top fuse. It's the same as the one any other TDI of this vintage uses: #2. Knowing the wire was fresh, I figured it was probably not the wire. Still, it was wise to check the connectivity of the wire: almost 0 resistance, so the wire is good. I moved on to the fuse.

original adapter

On the supply-side of the fuse, I had 12.45V. Hmm... even after all those start attempts, and there were many, I still had lots of juice. On the other side of the fuse, however, I had almost 0V. Not 0, just a shade above 0. So, the fuse wasn't blown, it was just acting like a big-ol resistor. So, I removed the nuts (10mm) and pulled the fuse. Sure enough, there was almost infinite resistance. These fuses are basically a metal bar (see picture above), but because they are exposed to the elements, they can become compromised by the weather. I do not have a replacement, so I cleaned it up with a metal file. I would grind away on the crud a bit, check resistance and repeat. Once I was able to consistently get nearly 0 resistance through the fuse no matter where I set the probes, I re-installed it. The referenced image on the top-right, shows both the result of some filing (on the ends) and the built-up crud in the center. That crud covered the entire fuse bar.

Grinding Starter

new adapter

Had I not allowed the glow-plug situation bloom into a dead-bus condition, I would have been driving that next day. Unfortunately, In my repeated attempts to start the engine, the symptoms went from won't start to won't start and now it's grinding. Neat. I was having a minor flashback to the last time the bus was stranded, and started to conclude that the glow-plug circuit was probably the originating cause then too. Anyway, I got under the bus, and noted that the starter was a little loose. I tightened everything down, and tried again. The engine tried to turn a little bit, but then returned to grinding. I removed and re-installed the starter. Same thing happened. Thinking maybe I fried the starter again, I removed and tested it. The gear popped out and ran like mad. So, nope, starter seems good. I did note, however, that some of the edges of the teeth were ground/broken off. Much of the gear, however, looked brand-new. I re-installed and had the same experience. One other observation: the addition of the rear anti-sway bar significantly impacts the freedom of movement under the bus around the starter. The bar is right where either your arm or your head wants to be for starter work. I am glad I have the bar when I'm driving, but, wow, it's hard to work around.

At this point, it was finally getting too dark to see. So, I put the tools away and thought about things. I concluded that the adapter that I bought and modified all those years ago was the true issue. Had the glow-plugs not prevented a start, I probably could have kept going for years. Instead, that weakness helped point out another one: the adapter is too thick, so the starter gear only engages for the first, maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the gear width. Since repeated failed starting attempts caused many of the tips to chip off, there simply is not enough meat on the gear to mesh enough with the flywheel to actually turn the engine. Fortunately, there are now adapters designed for the TDI start mating to an old 002 transmission. I ordered one ($89US from Dune Buggy Warehouse), hoping I would not need to replace the starter again when the only thing wrong with this one are the chipped teeth. Since the starters cost double the price of the adapter, I felt this was worth trying.

hanging adapter

In the images on the above right, you can see that the starter seats slightly deeper into the newer adapter. The actual adapters seem to be about the same thickness, but the cut-out for the nose of the starter appears to be slightly deeper with the new one. The new adapter delivered with bolts that were far too long, and includes studs/nuts rather than bolts to hang the starter. I really like the change to studs, since the installer is otherwise holding the starter in place with one hand while setting bolts. This new design means that you can hang the starter on the bolts and then set the nuts. The kit also includes a small tube of blue locktite, which is to be used to set the studs and hex bolts.

The install was very easy, and the adapter seated very well. One of my challenges with the original adapter was that it did not seat perfectly. Recall, I had to grind some of the adapter to sit against the transaxle (See TDI Install Retrospective: Primary Electrical for more details). I believe it was still imperfect, as I noticed that the starter had a slight wobble when I installing and re-installing it. The new adapter, however, sat perfectly flat, and by re-using the (8mm hex) bolts from that old adapter (with some blue locktite), it popped right on and held firm. The starter set on the studs, and the 19mm nuts threaded on without issue. The kit includes lock-washers, which I hope will help prevent the nuts from backing off. The primary electrical (13mm nut) was next and then the trigger plug.... which suffered a splicing failure and needed repair. Considering that splice lasted 12+ years and multiple starter install/removal/re-install cycles, it's failure comes as no surprise.

bolt differences

With the starter in, I hooked up the battery again and realized that I had not put it on a charger after the failed start attempts. Well.. it was at 12.45V when I did the glow-plug thing, so I figured there was enough there to start. I was right; with a turn of the key, the engine fired immediately. I mean immediately, I never heard the starter, didn't hear the engine think about starting. I turned the key and the engine was running. I cannot remember Hapy starting that fast before.

So, that's it for today. With Hapy running, he has returned to my daily-driver. I have been sitting in on bass around Hillsboro, so having a means of getting myself and my stuff to an event independently was fairly important. After Hapy, we only have ToyoTruck as a dependable daily-driver since we are unloading GoRo (per Car-Go-Round).

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Small Fence, Big Difference (Part 1)

As they say on Letterkenny, "back to chorin'". Today's post covers our building a 7 meter (20 foot) fence between our new neighbor's fence and NewOldHouse. We did this entirely ourselves with all salvaged wood. The only new materials were the gate supports, hinges and latches. Since there are only 2 of us working on this, around jobs and such, it is taking a while, so this is split into multiple parts.

before image

Before I get into it, you are probably wondering why we did this when the kitchen is non-existent. Great question. It starts with the dog, Tuukka. He is very curious and wants to be in everything. We knick-named him "pedibus" because of how much he wants to be underfoot. So, if we need to get after some serious demo, or something, we need to contain him. The backyard is big and wild.. and almost completely enclosed with fence. The space between the neighbor's fence and our house is open, so when we put him in the backyard, we find him in the front shortly thereafter.

Get Material

Backing up a couple of months, Boo was out walking Tuukka when she saw a fencing company tearing down a neighbors fence. In her usual way, she asked what they were up to and what they were doing with the remains. It turned out some of the fence was bad, some of it was good, but the neighbor wanted the whole thing replaced. So, the fencing guys put the really bad stuff in their trailer and left the mediocre to good fencing in a pile on the curb. In 2 loads with ToyoTruck, we collected enough material to build more than what we needed. The main posts were not too great, so we will probably not re-use many of them. The cross-pieces are a mix also, but mostly in decent shape; many were recent replacement boards. Last, we look at the actual pickets. This fence was at least 5 feet high, and we are building a 4-foot fence. So, any board which has limited rot on the bottom is fair game. Some boards were in good shape, but most have some rot at the bottom and the top is worn.  Again, if we can get 4 feet out of a board, it fits our purpose. Since the fence we are building will be more traditional-picket, with air space between the pickets, and the fence we salvaged was solid, we have twice as many to think about as we need for the same distance.

Plan

diggin holes

Boo and I spent a Saturday morning, wandering around with coffee, measuring tape and a level to decide where to put our fence. We have a power meter on the house, so that needs to be available to the power company. That defined the furthest towards the street it could go. Less than a foot further back, is the downspout. We preferred having that in the backyard, so the fence is going into that spot in between. There is a small flower garden there, and then open space to the neighbor's fence. We intend to put a garage in the back one day, and we would like to be able to pass through without having to open a big ol' gate to do so. To remedy, we decided to have a short section of fixed fence from the house to the edge of the flower garden. There, we would put a 1 meter person gate. The rest of the line from that gate to the neighbor's fence would be a 4 meter opening, with 2 2-meter gates so a car could pass between. The weight of the person gate should be relatively small, and with the hinge on the flower garden side, there will be sufficient ballast. The car-gates, however, cannot be free-swinging gates. I figure that no matter how deep I set the post between the person gate and the adjacent car gate, that car gate will pull on it and eventually loosen it. So, the car gates will get wheels.

Prep Material

this took a long time

Free wood is not as "free" as it sounds. Each picket needs to be removed from the cross-pieces, the screws and nails removed and then cut to length. I started simply by removing pickets and the fasteners from the pickets and cross-pieces, leaving them in corresponding piles. I spent spare cycles around work days and other commitments to collect a pile of pickets nearly 3 feet high and twice as wide. This took a lot longer than I expected. We borrowed a table saw to rip the boards down from their existing 5 inches wide down to 3 inches wide. Again, this creates an opportunity to cut off splits or bad edges. But each board takes multiple cuts (up to 4, right?) to get right. We delayed the shaping of the pickets until after we got some of the fence supports up.

For posts, we had a couple of long pressure-treated 4x4 posts already on the property. For the 3rd post, we took the best-looking, longest from the salvaged fence. It was also pressure treated and look less than a couple of years old.

Dig Holes, Place Poles

holes dug

With a rough plan in place, we got into details, marking exactly where each post would go. Once satisfied, I marked the spot with spray paint. To collect the dirt, I laid out a tarp. We had an old post-hole digger, but it would not make much of a dent in the clay soil. Instead, I started with a traditional shovel, removing the top layer, tossing the dirt under the grass-plug onto the tarp. Once I got down to the top of the shovel (6 inches?) I switched to a pry-bar to loosen the clay and then a small plastic tub from the recycling to remove the loosened soil. In this manner, I dug 3 holes 24 inches deep, each taking about an hour. While I was digging, Boo went out and got us 10 gallons (2 5-gallon buckets full) of 3/4-minus gravel.

One post at a time, we put a few inches of gravel in the bottom of the hole, tamped it with the fence post and then set the post in place. Boo confirmed vertical with a level on 2 sides while I added gravel and tamped over and over again until the post was secure. After the first post was set, we also checked that the placement within the hole was in a straight line and then followed the same vertical / gravel / tamp cycle. Once all 3 posts were in, we watered the holes to press out the air, and then added more gravel and tamped again. We topped the last 1/2 inch of the hole with soil and then made sure there was a mound around the post, again tamping. In theory, this should dissuade rain from running down along the post, weakening the foundation. We will see.

I took a few weeks of work around work to get this far. We have steel brackets for building the gates so they will not only be held together with wood 2x4's and wood screws. I will get after that assembly and more material prep in the next post.

Thanks, as always, for following along-

Car-go-round

As we hit Summer, I find my attention going in 100 directions at once. When you have many cars, each with small problems, and a house in mid-rehab, that scatter is probably that much worse. With the rehab work going on, I will have limited time to work on cars, but Boo has asked me to think about setting aside one day a week to it since I take such pleasure from it, and life can't always be about to-do lists, home construction and your job. So, today's post tries to bring some order to the car-chaos, with a hope that I will have some time to clown on one or more of these open items this summer.

Oliver

Oliver is the 1978 MGB. Some may look at Oliver like he was my mid-life crisis car. In truth, he was a car that could fit in the super-small garage I had and needed work. He was something I could work on that wasn't Hapy, the 1972 VW bus, and I could be out of the rain when I did it. Oliver definitely met that goal and I really needed something other than Hapy to wrench on for a while. The goal Oliver has not yet met is passing DEQ. So, he is not legally drive-able. Oliver's list of incomplete items is fairly short, though. I believe, he could pass DEQ today if the carb is adjusted right. He just needs another run through DEQ to see how close I am. He got a new battery for the move to the NewOldHouse, and since then he has sat under one of those 5L car covers with the battery disconnected.

Beyond DEQ, the heated seat circuit did not get completed, and there remains a leak under the windscreen on the passenger side. Perhaps most importantly the brakes are still spongey and I think it is because the brake master cylinder was not bled prior to install. I asked the guys at Les Schwab to do it when I bought a set of tires from them. They sold me the tires, failed to bleed the brakes, and that's why I now buy tires at Firestone. Anyway, I bought a brake bleeder kit, (and will document my process) and hope to get him to DEQ before this top-down season has really started.

Zed

Ah Zed, the 1978 Datsun 280ZX. After a spring and summer of bodywork, Zed still needs a lot. I won't rerun that history, but there was a lot of sanding and shaping. Then, I had that heroic drive from oldHouse to NewOldHouse, sitting on a toolbox for a front seat (See Zed Moves). Once parked, he got a 10x20 to sit under while we worked on the house. Well, the weather had other plans, lifting and tossing the canopy multiple times, putting multiple rubs and deep scratches into the paint (See Hello Windstorm, My Old Friend). So, Zed will need another round of sanding and painting. Now that I have seen the Eastwood 9mm in the sun, I am not as enamored with it. I see a slight olive green in that dark grey and the pitted finish is not to my liking at all. So, I will probably sand down below the paint to some degree, re-shoot the black primer and shoot a different color. Of course, the body kit is installed and it's not coming off. So, I will need to get creative to get good coverage down low. Now parked next to Oliver with a matching 5L car cover, they are twins. I do not expect to do much of anything on Zed this Summer.

 

Hapy

In the Phil and Friends post (See Phil and Phrends Road Report), I mentioned a few things that needed attention before the next drive in Hapy, the 1972 VW camperbus. The most glaring was the loss of the brake booster. I removed the hose from the booster and tested the vacuum on the booster unit. I applied 15 pounds of vacuum and over the course of a few minutes, it decayed a couple of pounds. To me, that is satisfactory. Then, I tested the vacuum on the hose I had just removed. It held no vacuum. So, I acquired and installed Gates vacuum hose. One quick test drive later, the brakes are good. I installed the cage for the stereo so it is well locked into the glove box install location. I also affixed a mount for the UltraGauge on the steering wheel support so the UltraGauge is directly below the speedometer now. I do not expect Hapy will have meaningful work done to him for the rest of the Summer. Instead, he will be set up for DrivewayFest between trips so we can enjoy our clubhouse-on-wheels. Hapy has been used a few times since we moved as my daily-driver when Boo needs to take Toyotruck somewhere. Every time, since we moved to the NewOldHouse, he has started right up. I mentioned the saga about towing him here. The starter swap-out was easy and the right fix (See Hapy Lives Again).

Nemo

Nemo (1997 Audi A4 Quattro) has left the fleet, enjoying a new lease on life in Idaho. See Fare Well, Nemo.

GoRo

GoRo (2009 Audi A4 Quattro) had a series of issues appear over last winter. First, the outer driver handle stopped working. So, to get in, you needed to reach through either from the passenger side or from the rear seat to get the door open. What a pain. Then, the battery started to misbehave, not holding charge. While looking for the charger studs, the hood latch broke. So, GoRo sat for most of the winter, until Boo got the hood latch repaired (she hired our friend Courtney at MobilePDX). Even Courtney doesn't want to touch the outer door latch, so we're not sure what we are going to do about that. I need to get the battery replaced, and then maybe I'll take it on. Either way, we are going to sell GoRo. We figure it hasn't been driven since last December, and we have been just fine without it.

ToyoTruck

Recall that Boo and I bought ToyoTruck (2005 Toyota pickup) from her sister. We had agreed to the price before the ice-storm sent the truck into a pole, damaging the passenger front corner. I replaced a bunch of things, but did not shoot the paint. The top of the truck has suffered sun, wind or seaside damage to the paint as well, so when I paint the replaced bodyparts, the top half of the truck (at least) needs paint as well. This truck has minor dents on a few panels as well, so before I shoot anything, I'll work those dents out first. ToyoTruck is our true daily-driver. I hope, once GoRo is gone, and Oliver is legal, perhaps we will drive Oliver and Hapy around, leaving the truck home more.

When I can get away from house construction projects, I will be getting after this stuff, starting with Oliver. He is such a fun ride, and it would be a shame to lose another Summer to something like DEQ. I know I have not been posting much, basically since we bought this house. That day, car work mostly came to a halt, and house construction is much slower and frankly less interesting to post on. I will make me next post a catch-up on what's happened here since my April post.

Thanks, as always, for following along-