Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Mar 04, 2019 7:02 am

It is an itinerant theory, this idyllic iteration of ideal idles of buses across this land, but we had no idle this time, I'll tell you that.

We left off that I was back at the drawing board in my last post, and I was, after our lovely heart-warming Mauling in Miami. Then I got a phone call from JR and Kit of Idle Bus Theory fame. Sunshine was not feeling well, little bucks and whatnot. After a couple of subsequent calls working through diagnostic steps, we came to the realization that the situation was not resolving. Unbeknownst to JR, he uttered the exact secret phrase that Awoke The Crazy in me and tore me away from the drawing board. Here is the phrase:
"I think we can take it to a mechanic near here."
"Not happening," said I.

We agreed to meet up at a halfway point so long as Sunshine was able to push herself along without too much of a problem. I really needed Sunshine to limp a little further so I could make it just a three-day interruption from the drawing board. Within hours, I roused NaranjaWesty, "road trip! wake up! here, I'll check your oil, OK, let's go!" and off onto I-10 went we, I and NaranjaWesty. A couple of phone stops to continue the diagnostics with JR and Kit as Sunshine faltered, and we could see that our agreed-upon rendezvous was becoming less likely. I was keeping an eye on the weather too, as a system that promised to douse us was moving in from the west. Then, in the evening, I get a text, "we're hosed". The accelerator cable had snapped, and JR had had to do a replacement "in the mud" as he put it, and the engine was just about refusing to start.

I know this moment. After all of the time sweat and expense in Miami barely a week ago, this situation just had to bleed anyone's enthusiasm down to a sodden hopelessness. Rain was beginning to pelt NaranjaWesty as I drove east, and I was getting petulant at the thought of trouble-shooting this mystery in the rain somewhere or another. So I called Jivermo to get the number to the Weisswurst Pig Goat Tow Ford Rooster Sprinter Jeep VW Diesel Emporium. Jivermo texted me the number and the proprietor/farmer/savior picked up on the second ring.
"We have a traveling couple that needs our help."
I arrived (late) the next morning to find our traveling couple airing out the discouragement of the prior day.

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They had gotten a late night tow to the farm. Weisswurst had been the model of late night hospitality, and I had been the model of Late Next Morning Delayed Departure and Where Am I Anyway, somewhere up Route 90/19. That was a fine fine breakfast with fine coffee to begin our trouble-shooting day with some fine people:

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Hello, Dottie. That is a fine kid:

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Now look at the below photograph. It is the very next photograph I took. See? Night time. Hours upon hours later. There was rain. Oh, there was trouble-shooting.

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There was a first-step valve adjustment, there was a "pull the spark plugs and clean and gap them", there was a critical compression test (115/120/120/115 ? did I get that right?), there were electrical tests, there were moments of wild panic within (clenched teeth furious whisper > "you HAVE to start")("pleeeeeze"), and we even did a NaranjaWesty distributor transplant that seems a little excessive in retrospect, but I was all over their 12 year-old Pertronix being the cause of a hot coil and an odd mis-grounding of the fuel injectors. I talked too much. I always do. I create theory stories, JR, I create idle theories of why the engine won't idle and how these parts interact to meet the symptoms that we can see and smell and feel. Then, when the engine finally resuscitates, I have to test my stories against reality. And JR, after a full day of wandering with me through muddled plots and failed takes and dropped lines, joined me in a late-hour test of our testing. So we did put Sunshine's Pertronix distributor back in the engine, and it ran FINE on our umteenth test drive through the neighborhood.

Thus, all of this, this whoOole SAGA, had to be laid at the feet of
a) a coil
b) a temp sensor 2
A) Lousy coil. Spark would break down when the coil got hot. Coil got hot because of odd internal resistance from melted internal windings? I don't know.
B) Temp sensor 2 we had to replace because of known intermittent false signals and it was not secure due to the upper cylinder cover tin not having a wide enough space around the sensor hole. It was seated only on a crescent of tin. We dremeled the tin around the sensor hole and the new sensor is fully seated and contacting only the head aluminum.

But WAIT! I was displeased on the victory test drive (oh NOOoooo!)
"I am NOT going back to Pensacola tonight!" No way, in fact. The steering was abhorrent, it was repugnant, it was sloppy and undisciplined and vague and the column was not even attached the floor!
I'M NOT DONE. The headlamps, the headlamps, the headlamps were utterly wall-eyed.

Weisswurst, ever the most gracious farmer host landlord goat herder hospitality director, offered me a camp site at the house down the road with a real working warm shower. I gratefully accepted, something I rarely do.
Next morning, I am driving back to the Farm/VW Urgent Care Clinic, when I see something I have never seen before and probably never will see ever again, it is in the pantheon of Random Acts of Kindness:

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Oh yes, Weisswurst Farms offers On The Fly Drive-By Coffee:

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This extra day was devoted to MY issues with Sunshine. I haven't had the time to assess this road warrior princess since I first met her, so distracted have been we by emergencies ...
1. Disassembled and reassembled the headlamps so they can be adjusted and aim straight.
2. Replaced drag link AND center pin bushings AND secured steering column AND put oil in the steering box AND adjusted the steering box AND adjusted the rear brakes:

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Then, we took a breath:

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They say joy is infectious:

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Thank-you thank-you Weisswurst and Ashraper for your hospitality and coffee and farm-fresh omelette-with-avocado, and thank-youse, JR and Kit, for muddling through the Great Wandering Diagnosis with graceful affirmation:

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NaranjaWesty hit 97,000 miles 3 miles from the driveway when the alternator issued forth such a racket of banging and clacking . . . back to the drawing board.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

Jivermo
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by Jivermo » Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:21 am

Great writeup! What incredible service you have rendered, as well as Jeff’s terrific hospitality and support. JR and Kit are once again on the 2 lane blacktop, and we have yet another example of the people who have always made America great, and who know how to deliver fresh, hot coffee.

PaducahFrank
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by PaducahFrank » Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:35 am

The Temp 2 sensor: If that sucker is suspected to be bad can you, in crises mode of course, simply unhook that sucker and run a wire from the T2 connection just unhooked to ground? My understanding, from my war with the FI system, was that the engine would start and run with T2 going to ground but just a bit rich?

PFrank
Paducah Frank

1978 2.0 F.I. Non Cali Westfalia
1974 Triumph TR6
2005 Chevy Colorado

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Bleyseng
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by Bleyseng » Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:49 am

Best to keep a spare in the bus as they are available again and easy to swap in on the road. I have had one fail once in my bus and one in the 914.
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
http://bleysengaway.blogspot.com/

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Mar 04, 2019 9:54 am

PaducahFrank wrote:
Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:35 am
The Temp 2 sensor: If that sucker is suspected to be bad can you, in crises mode of course, simply unhook that sucker and run a wire from the T2 connection just unhooked to ground? My understanding, from my war with the FI system, was that the engine would start and run with T2 going to ground but just a bit rich?

PFrank

Hello Frank, a TS2 loses resistance as it warms up.
Cold temp = much resistance = call for more fuel.
68*F = 2,500 ohms
Hot temp = less resistance (by a factor of 10) = call for less fuel

Intermittent internal shorts = sob pia wtf but-I-did-it-perfectly! fuel adjustments that flip incomprehensibly on ya, often within one or two stop sign stops, wtf AYK??

If your particular engine happens to run with a TS2 wire on ground, it just means that the fuel mixture was so rich to begin with, that it can still run with a less-fuel call.
Most engines I have met die straight away with an open TS2 circuit.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by Amskeptic » Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:09 pm

Kit Whistler wrote:
Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:37 pm
And what about that scooter coffee delivery? Just a heart of gold.
Weisswurst and Ashraper have a history of cracking the cold chambers of my bruised heart. Two of the prior times that I pulled into his driveway after fleeing terrible soul-sapping energy in Atlanta, he unknowingly restored my faith in the day. I couldn't TELL him that. I said, "thanks for the coffee."


2016 fifth photograph (actually, the whole thread is a good one):
https://itinerant-air-cooled.com/viewto ... 69#p218720


2018
https://itinerant-air-cooled.com/viewto ... 65#p228421

Image
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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BusBassist
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by BusBassist » Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:22 pm

This community of kind-hearted, caring people is very inspiring. These acts of selfless service and human to human support gives me hope and brings a little cheer to my (and I’m sure other’s) heart(‘s).

Thank You.
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

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tommu
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by tommu » Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:35 pm

BusBassist wrote:
Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:22 pm
This community of kind-hearted, caring people is very inspiring. These acts of selfless service and human to human support gives me hope and brings a little cheer to my (and I’m sure other’s) heart(‘s).

Thank You.
Time to head over to free speech and start an argument. :flower:

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by Amskeptic » Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:02 pm

tommu wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 4:35 pm
BusBassist wrote:
Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:22 pm
This community of kind-hearted, caring people is very inspiring. These acts of selfless service and human to human support gives me hope and brings a little cheer to my (and I’m sure other’s) heart(‘s).

Thank You.
Time to head over to free speech and start an argument. :flower:

Lo, and the Fearful were afraid of Love and thus, the self-fulfilling prophesy of the imminent destruction of the human race began its inexorable march to the great Nuclear War of 2020.
Thanks Obama.
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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BusBassist
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by BusBassist » Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:44 pm

Time to head over to free speech and start an argument. :flower:
HA! OK - let’s duke it out!

Somehow I wish we could have an IAC (re)union. We’ll pick a spot somewhere in the country, converge in our busses, cook food, hang out, have a ‘make Colin his ultimate cup of coffee’ contest, and fix/upgrade/maintain our VW’s. Kind of a VW Woodstock.
Late 73 Bay w/a transplanted 914 Engine.

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weisswurst
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by weisswurst » Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:08 am

Great write-up, there was time for a little fun, and we had another bus visitor from Maine too! :flower:
IMG_1360.JPG
IMG_1412.JPG
IMG_1357.JPG
IMG_1358.JPG
"I drink, therefore yes ma'am..."

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Amskeptic
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Mar 06, 2019 10:27 am

weisswurst wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:08 am
Great write-up, there was time for a little fun, and we had another bus visitor from Maine too! :flower:

There were kids, kids, and kid, too. How do we flip those two photographs 90*? This archive is viewed by millions.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by asiab3 » Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:37 am

BusBassist wrote:
Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:44 pm
Somehow I wish we could have an IAC (re)union. We’ll pick a spot somewhere in the country, converge in our busses, cook food, hang out, have a ‘make Colin his ultimate cup of coffee’ contest, and fix/upgrade/maintain our VW’s. Kind of a VW Woodstock.
Sounds like you need to come to Maupin!
Robbie

https://itinerant-air-cooled.com/viewto ... 77&t=13649

https://itinerant-air-cooled.com/viewto ... 073#p71073
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by Amskeptic » Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:48 am

asiab3 wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:37 am
Sounds like you need to come to Maupin!
Robbie

You going to be there?
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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asiab3
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Idle Bus Theory

Post by asiab3 » Wed Mar 06, 2019 1:15 pm

Amskeptic wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:48 am
asiab3 wrote:
Wed Mar 06, 2019 11:37 am
Maupin!
You going to be there?
Colin
WIth 99% Certainty. Last year I was in Minneapolis on Monday and found myself pulling into the campground on Thursday afternoon. Who knows where I'll be this year, but I wouldn't enjoy missing the coffee, (thanks Niel,) Raineer Beer (thanks Kirk,) "orange juice" (thanks Xevin,) or all the other wonders of the PNW Volkswagen world.

I'll just be prepared with provisions this time, now that I can prepare more than 4 days and 2,200 miles in advance.
Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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