945 Niggles

[bluebrickrick]

Thanks for the cheering experience Dave, removing the various umbilicals without damage will be amusement enough before the ring thing.

I use a ptfe loaded silicone grease known as Superlube as my universal plastics lubricant (and cut with graphite powder for much else!) a pint came over in the diplomatic bag from a colleage in the US and I'm hoping it will last me out...........

I see there is a socket wrench head for undoing the ring but a bit of wood, plastic or brass drift was my intent also.

note to self, must try to remember not to relight me pipe during this process

The safety of pressurised fuel led to the dashboard as an ongoing feature does not sit too comfortably with me but perhaps if I can gauge the normal range of pressure in use I might find a pressure switch to suit so it can light or (as a Japanese colleague wrote back in the days of Telex 'all the little lites wich were lited are now darked') the reverse an LED or bulb (Japanese = grow lumpe, this makes the resistance scale on a multimeter a 'grow lumpe tester' the grow lumpe meaning glow lamp or bulb !!)

Listen out for the Bang

[Laird Scooby]

You're welcome Rick - if memory serves correctly i didn't need to disconnect anything other than the electrical plug from mine as i was only checking the operation of the fuel sender.

Had a look on ebay for Superlube and also "silicone grease with ptfe" and "silicone ptfe grease" and this was the best i came up with :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100ml-SILI...0AAOSw-jhUKVd3

There were smaller and larger quantities but the smaller ones were almost as much and the bigger ones - you don't want to know!

If i were you i'd leave the pipe firmly in whatever you drive there in, just to be on the safe side! You don't want to become an involuntary extra member of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown! (1968 hit called "Fire")

Mentioning the pipe feeding a fluid pressure gauge on the dashboard reminded me of an incident i had many moons ago with a Mk2 Granada. That had an oil pressure gauge (OE kit, it was a Ghia when Ghia meant you got full instrumentation) fed by a capillary tube from the engine.
This tube ruptured a few inches from the gauge, cabin side of the bulkhead squirting my left leg with 80+C engine oil at a rate of knots! It also turned the nice "mink blue" Axminster a strange shade of black too!
Compared to petrol it was relatively inert but not an experience i'd want again!

As for Japanese translations, a couple of quotes from a Suzuki microfiche circa 1988 - fuel derivery hose, fuel derivery pump and my favourite - spark prugs!

[bluebrickrick]

A bit like Kroil price-wise https://www.super-lube.com/ there was some tie up with Loctite / Henkel ISTR - hence my frugal use of the remaining supply %)

It changed my life, many a time I'd get a call in bed pre 6am start up with this that or the other sensor showing faulty, mostly condensation sucked into a supposedly IP67 connector as it cooled after cleandown, with the airspace filled with Superlube the problem vanished

What a day, couldn't manage to get started to nip down for the weeks shop and in the odd dry period I nearly got guillotined by the bonnet several times as the wind (right up the tailipe) gusted.

First rev or two attempting to fire then dying away - tank pump apparently running so I decided to hunt up some fittings to check the fuel pressure - now I've a real variety of pipe thread fittings but blowed if I can match that joint on the rail, really coarse rate - after the third saturation and fingers aching with cold I gave up, hopefully theres a calmer day tomorrow.

I'm fairly sure that the lodged tree I was going to sort on Tuesday will be horizontal now, perhaps its neighbours too.

Hope Dangerous Doris has left Volvoers and their premises undamaged

Rick, who against all the odds still has 'lecktrikery and wet string internet in Bogside on Bure!

[Laird Scooby]

I've used normal silicone grease to the same effect Rick, it's also a specified lubricant for the sunroof seal, helps to keep the seal "moist" and not squeaky.

Sounds like a 2 steps forward and 3 back kind of a day Rick! Better luck tomorrow!

Dangerous Doris managed to take out all my electric and by proxy, phones and t'internet as well. Had to drive 6 miles to Mouldyhole just to get a mobile signal! Even then mobile internet was patchy to say the very least so i was as isolated as a lone amoeba on a mountain of non-amoebae in a very lonely, isolated place!

Happily back to nearly fully functional now though!

[bluebrickrick]

And lo, finding no suitable fittings to add a pressure gauge and about to ring up for a CPS 'just in case' when lateral thought resulted in progressively tightening a mole grip on the overflow hose with no noticeable effect (just in case it was the regulator) cracking the inlet union produced at best a dribble rather than a spurt so donning snorkel, mask & flippers I jacked 'er up and dove underneath for a look at the pressure pump, no activity but clear signs of a previous cut & shut hot wire job (presumably why the relay shunt is still needed even with a working relay)

Couldn't get the two plug connectors out of the motor due to unreasonably large fingers without universal joints so out with the three bolts to lower the platform. Now one of the two red bodge wires teed into the pump feed cable coming through the floor grommet, two wires into one end of a crimp, the other the short wire to the pump, which came off in me hand guv, in fact it looked as if the metal part had barely been crimped and it was holding in by the insulation crimp.

A bit of a cleanup and properly crimped back in, came up for air, turned on the ignition to a bit of a scream - fuel squeezing past the mole grip on the overflow which I had forgotten to remove.

READ THIS BIT LADS & LASSES, IF YOU AIN'T GOT A PRESSURE GAUGE TRY BRIEFLY CRIMPING THE OVERFLOW HOSE NOT QUITE CLOSED AND LISTEN FOR THE RESULT, NO RESULT PROBABLY MEANS NO PRESSURE - MY PUMP AND PIPING DIDN'T BLOW APART BUT YOURS MIGHT.........

Certainly accounts for the intermittency all the way through this saga, the inconsistencies when focussed on the relay and why the blunt end of an axe got me going again Tuesday, also explains the periodic grey outs.

What I don't get is why the darn fault logger didn't report it.

Anyhow, many thanks to all who have contributed suggestions and experience towards this fix, if fix it be, fault finding and fixing (in the open air) has been gradually loosing its appeal but with the teamwork here and looking at the absence of alternative newer vehicles it looks like I'll be carrying on while I can

Rick, just outside a celebratory Kit-Kat and thinking about a beer!

[Laird Scooby]

Glad you got to the "underside" of it in the end Rick!

To the best of my knowledge there isn't a fuel pressure switch in the system so lack of fuel pressure won't show up as a fault in any way, shape or form.

On the upside, even if you haven't found the fault (although all the evidence says you have now) at least you've ruled out a few other problems and probably prevented a fire starting on the main fuel pump!

[bluebrickrick]

It explains why the continuity has measured out OK Dave, but I've seen somewhere it wants all of its fused 20A - maybe vibration helped and as it is a regulated fuel line a 'PWM' feed voltage may have been OK with the regulator acting as a 'tank' capacitor (groan) for the fuel.

Thinking further I guess I had best check out where this piggyback wiring goes as there are two separate fuses for the pumps (1 & 11 IIRC) I suspect they may have teed into the high pressure pump supply to feed the tank pump, one of the red wires disappears up around the gearstick and the other runs further forward so probably both end up in the rats nest under the relay board.

I thought I'd seen fuel pressure as one of the fault codes, dunno, mind still in a whorl as I'd gradually been building up to panic mode.

As you say, even if it is not the cure, it is one variable less to confuse, It was the first repeatable incidence, previously I had managed to restart after a few minutes wait.

Glad your Dorising got back to normal, I was amazed that we didn't loose power or twisted pair, we've had so many power failures over the years I can generally tell them which fuse on the post is down by the combination of houses out!

You are in the right place for a long outage, the commissary on the base keeps enough warehoused that they will be OK long after the 2 weeks sustainability most of the UK faces, in fact they could keep their neighbouring villages and probably most of Newmarket well fed for a good while - all you need is a wirecutter on each wing and one on the roof, CD plates and a stars n stripes mid bonnet

BTW I nipped down to Coltishall to fill me tank and then to Hoveton to pick up Kim & the shopping, several stop start cycles negotiated OK

Cheers & beers

Rick - now brave enough to hitch up the trailer to pick up some giant pallets (for shed walls) nearby and a Holmans air compressor from Lowestoft, the compressor has a similar engine to the Fordson tractor but if the air side is not too far gone may allow some serious sandblasting

[Laird Scooby]

Hmmm............PWM fuel pump supply, that would be a novelty!

Wise move checking where the feed wires go to inside the car, if the standard of their electrical work is consistent it's probably piggy-backed off a 5 A circuit with a 30A fuse installed to cover the pump and the original circuit!

Talking of 30A fuses, on previous 740s i've owned i uprated the 20A to 30A on the main pressure pump feed to reduce the risk of the fuse getting hot and melting the fusebox (had that happen on a couple of them) and give a bit more leeway when the pump was working harder than usual.

We get more power cuts in my little cul-de-sac than the rest of the village as there is an underground link in the pavement opposite me that periodically burns out, resulting in a loss of power for several hours - usually at the most inconvenient time! On average it's been dug up once a year (usually early-mid spring) so far since i've been here.
Similar problem exists on my phone line which runs under the pavement where my front garden ends - that's also been dug up about 3 times in my residency! Somehow water is getting into that phone line joint so when the rain comes down, the internet generally follows some time later. It also drops speech out on the phone at random which isn't good either!

Maybe i could just tunnel into the base and raid their food store instead!

Good news on the start/stops etc, at least now you have a full tank the pimps won't be working so hard for a while. Good luck with the pallets and the compressor, thinking of "borrowing" your idea about an old Suffolk Punch and an alternator - got a nice 90A Honda alternator floating about somewhere!

PS - have you looked into soda blasting? £1 for 1.5kg of blast media from Wilkos - washing soda is great apparently!

[bluebrickrick]

Sorry to hear about your supply probs, I tend to expect it with overhead lines through trees but I guess underground has its issues too - my brother recently moved to Horstead and was cut off for over 24 hours, they brought in gennies before fixing the underground fault, they got a not to be sneezed at compensation cheque for the problem so might be worth your checking.

Can't see any signs of heating on either fuse or relay boards but will be following the extra wires with a view to returning to standard.

I noticed another intermittent, when I switch the ignition off with the headlights on sometimes they go out and sometimes they stay on that will do another day

Another Bogside Donkey - that would be good, you need to watch what rotation the fan is set for otherwise it might cook if loaded with around a horse out of a SIF engine 90A might be optimistic, I used a belt drive to give a slight speed increase but in practice this was not needed so I shall rejig using a rubber star element type coupling, although I will need to sort the fan out as it reverses the rotation for me. It sits on a trolley with room for a battery, Brilliant idea, have just downloaded a pdf posted some years back for a Raynet exercise - see below.

You will note it has been upgraded with an ATCO speedster tank from one of my racers

Cheers & beers

Rick

[Laird Scooby]

The main cause of the power cut on thursday was Doris blew a tree that inconsiderately fell onto some power lines, took most of the area out!

I keep thinking about getting a genny so i can still run certain things here but to do it the way i'd want would be prohibitive on cost.

When you say you switch the ignition off the headlamps stay on, what exactly do you mean? Literally just switching the ignition off (accessories still on) or completely returning the key to position "0" and removing it?

If it's the former, all of mine have done the same, except one and that did it too until i renewed the ignition switch.

There's a "grey area" of changeover within the ignition switch between positions 1 and 2 (Acc and Ign) where some circuits still remain live where others are disconnected. It's all down to wear within the switch when some of those circuits remain active even though the position of the key/switch says they aren't.

If it's not that then i expect you'll be looking at a sticky headlamp relay, if it is the ignition switch then it's a case of either live with it, deprive FJ (but that's another old switch already) or take a deep breath and phone Volvo!

There are some pattern versions out there at a slightly cheaper price than Volvo but................

................. they're not universal. Some models have different ignition switches (i think Volvo refer to them as starter switches) and it's not just a petrol/diesel difference, it varies across petrol models etc as well.
If you're lucky and don't plan on keeping the car for long, you may be able to get a pattern switch. If not then it's got to be Volvo - the pattern ones last ok but not as long as Volvo OE switches and if a pattern one isn't available for yours then it will have to be Volvo in any case.

The fan rotation is clockwise as viewed from the pulley end on this alternator but that's a bridge i'll cross when i get a suitable drive unit (engine/mower) as some had self-propulsion built onto the mowers and some of those were on the right hand side giving the correct direction of rotation for the alternator.
The ultimate plan is to have a battery and an inverter on it as well so i have a complete stand-alone generator, battery charger/jump starter and mains power source. If i'm lucky it might even have enough grunt to power my baby compressor!