Stuff you have fixed today

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This wooden box contained a nice DC and resistance meter.

I also got the leads as well.

The down side is it needs a 43VDC battery.

The box is well made, as had a varied life.

It started of as a RN CRETE box, then it was a Army CRETE Box. Then some one over painted it black.

Striped.
I wanted to try out a new type of French polish.
You get the shellac flakes and instead of using meths you used warm water.

The Metal fixings were boiled in caustic soda to remove the paint.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Part 2.

The leads have now got new cables fitted. Modern cloth covered PVC single core.

The meter is a US Army one, dates from 1950, according to the internal data plate.

I have tested the meter using a bench top power supply.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Another Record Imp Vice.

At first look it appeared to be a tidy one.

When it was in bits. it was a poor condition Imp. Made worse by a botch attempt to strip it down.

After a hot caustic soda bath, surface rust soon appears.

Gold leaf on the letters.

 

[Barking Mat]

Part 2.

View attachment 433629

The leads have now got new cables fitted. Modern cloth covered PVC single core.


View attachment 433631

The meter is a US Army one, dates from 1950, according to the internal data plate.

I have tested the meter using a bench top power supply.

How many of those do you own ?

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

How many of those do you own ?

Don't know.

 

[MattF]

How much time & energy do you have? I could only dream of being able to get through stuff at your rate.

 

[Farside]

Before...

.... and after...

alll I need now is either an oil stat (not my favourite solution) or a sock for the rad (cheap, too).

 

[qwakers]

It's out of the workshop, delivered back to dad who is delighted as it no longer struggles to start and .... no smoke under load. it scared the crap out of me by pouring white smoke out after a few mins of running, which stank of unburned diesel and continued for quite some time when driving it. it was caused by diesel in the exhaust, caused by a collapsed intake lifter that gave me a dead missfire on number 1 dumping raw diesel into the exhaust whilst i tried to figure out why i had a dead miss and was pulsing into the intake....

it was running totally clean by 10 miles.

Hopefully that is the end of the issues with it.

And yes, it has been washed....

 

[lchris21]

.......fixed the grotty wheels on my Africa twin. They suffered from poor quality anodising, and rusty spokes and nipples from the factory by all accounts. Found the spokes on mine were stainless, which Honda introduced as a recall measure, but trying to source replacement nipples either OEM or aftermarket, was impossible. All the aftermarket wheel building suppliers will sell you a set of spokes and nipples, which are not compatible. So I ended up cleaning and polishing, and home plating every single one and polishing the stainless spokes. Some of the nipples were a bit hit and miss out of the plating solution, but I'll live with that and keep an eye on them. Had the rims powdercoated and painted the hubs myself. Trying to get a local firm to anodise the rims was again impossible......anyway they look a bit more presentable now

 

[RichardM]

.......fixed the grotty wheels on my Africa twin. They suffered from poor quality anodising, and rusty spokes and nipples from the factory by all accounts. Found the spokes on mine were stainless, which Honda introduced as a recall measure, but trying to source replacement nipples either OEM or aftermarket, was impossible. All the aftermarket wheel building suppliers will sell you a set of spokes and nipples, which are not compatible. So I ended up cleaning and polishing, and home plating every single one and polishing the stainless spokes. Some of the nipples were a bit hit and miss out of the plating solution, but I'll live with that and keep an eye on them. Had the rims powdercoated and painted the hubs myself. Trying to get a local firm to anodise the rims was again impossible......anyway they look a bit more presentable now
View attachment 433781View attachment 433782View attachment 433783View attachment 433784View attachment 433785View attachment 433786View attachment 433787

Can you let me know how you got on with the powder coating for tyre fitting and putting the nipples in. I'm thinking of getting the XTs done sometime.
Thanks

 

[lchris21]

Can you let me know how you got on with the powder coating for tyre fitting and putting the nipples in. I'm thinking of getting the XTs done sometime.
Thanks

Never had any issues with this and other wheels I've had done over the years.

 

[RobCox]

Yesterdays job, replacing my wheelbarrow wheel:

New one was £11, tube and tyre included. Unfortunately the bore in the new on was much bigger, but thats what the workshop toys are for! I found a piece of 3/4" steel rod in the scrap bin, cleaned it up to 18mm ish and cut a 4" length, then drilled it to 10mm for the original fixing bolt. To fit the bore I found some delrin offcuts that were already 1" dia, so bored them for a tight fit on the steel and turned 1 end caps from more delrin offcuts as the new wheel was only 75mm wide. This is the axle:

and fitted to the barrow:

 

[RobCox]

The machinists level vials I ordered from Aliexpress finally turned up, so I got them installed. The little side to side one (non-precision):

and the sensitive one in the main barrel:

Both fitted with inkjet photo paper as a backing and spacer and sealed in with plaster of paris. These will be left to dry for a day before final assembly.

 

[m_c]

More yellow

Shims finally turned up on Friday for the main pivot, so thought I better remove the lower trunnion outer bearing races while I could still tip the axle over.


Quick zapp with the mig to shrink the race, and it dropped out with a little bit leverage.
(That weld is obviously porous because of contamination, and not because I forgot to turn the gas on )

Didn't take any more pics, but axle is now back on with only minimal play, and new remote grease hose installed.
Steering re-assembled with all new pins and bushes.
One wheel bearing/hub/wheel is on, with just the other wheel bearing to change before reassembling the other hub.

Still need to drop the oil cooler off to be repaired, as I can't start it until that's fitted (or I find a 5/8" bsp nipple to join the hoses, but nobody local has one)
Then I can get it moved and start reconstructing the front bucket.

 

[Keithmac]

Rolling frame arrived for the Kawasaki H2 750.

Taped and wrapped the frame and then got his rebuilt engine back in without scratching anything!.

Start putting it back together tomorrow but got the nasty bit out of the way..

 

[Smouser]

Today I decided I cannot live with the ABS issue I have been intermittently experiencing on my Ford Ranger.
Here is the truck (older photo).

Problem
The ABS light on my Ford Ranger has been coming on intermittently. I have changed a few sensors before during the life of the truck as the Rangers seem to eat sensors somehow.
It is really annoying when the ABS malfunction light comes on because: not only do you not have ABS, you don't have hill start /hill decent assist, the Electronic Stability Control (ESC) does not work, and finally, the parking sensors don't work either

I don't know what the ABS has to do with the parking sensors, but when the ABS light comes on, it also disables the parking sensors


Symptom
ABS light would come on but then normally it would 'fix itself' in a few minutes while driving. At first, it happened rarely but has been becoming more common over the last two weeks where the ABS light would come on, on every journey.
The main fault code was 'Code: C003A'.

There were other codes too, but they all relate to the rear right wheel speed sensor not working correctly.

Normally, when previous sensors have gone bad, I get an error something along the lines of 'invalid data received from X sensor', this time I got 'Circuit Short or Open'.

On Sunday, the ABS light came on once again, but it did not fix itself. After resetting the code with Forscan, it came back on without me driving/moving the vehicle. At last, the problem was present while parked on the drive. It was time to try and figure out what the problem was.

Diagnoses
Because the sensor was fairly new, I did not expect the problem to be the sensor. The sensor checked out when measured with a multimeter. Besides, it 'fixed' itself regularly and my suspicion was a broken wire/continuity problem somewhere.

My plan was to check for continuity from the rear of the vehicle where the sensor plugs into the harness to the front of the vehicle where the connector connects to the ABS module.

I found the pin layout for the front connector and identified pin 17 and pin 29 to be the right rear wheel sensor.

I simply bridged the two pins with a piece of fire and then used my multimeter to check for continuity at the rear right speed sensor's connector.

Nothing. Open circuit.

At least I identified the problem I thought.

Just to make sure I was doing everything correctly and had the correct pin layout for my vehicle, I checked continuity from the left rear wheel sensor to the front ABS connector and that all worked.

The ABS wiring diagram is pretty simple on paper.

The rear right speed sensor plugs into connector CA426. The cable then goes to connector C3047B and then to C210 and finally, it terminates at C136 (the connector going into the ABS module).

The plan now was to establish where the continuity problem lay in the three pieces of wire/cable/harness.

The first problem was to identify where these connectors were and then to get access to them.
Luckily, I found the wiring diagram for those too.

Connector C3047B is on the left-hand side of the vehicle behind the mudguards. While it is probably possible to get access to it with the wheel on, it would be difficult so I took the wheel off.

I checked the continuity between connector C426 and C3047B - all good.

I then checked the continuity between connector C3047B to C136. Nothing.

It was time to find connector C210 to check continuity from there to the front and also to the rear.
I came across a diagram that indicated connector C210 is on the left-hand side of the vehicle by the passenger footwell. However, I could not find it.

Later, I found a diagram that indicated it was on the right-hand side of the vehicle by the driver's footwell.

I checked the continuity between C210 and C136. All good.

I then checked the continuity between C3047B and C210 but could not get it.
It was late and dark and I had to use the vehicle the next day so I got everything back together.

Today I had some time to continue to try and find the problem. However, now I had continuity from the rear of the vehicle all the way to the front

I hooked up Forscan to monitor the wheel speed sensor outputs.

This is what I found.

The pink line is the rear right and as you can see the line is not smooth like the others. It has got some weird drops.
Maybe the sensor was bad after all (pretty bad going for less than a year old).

I had a spare left rear wheel sensor but the cable on the left rear sensor is a little too short to fit on the right-hand side.
A quick extension of the cable and I fitted it to the rear right.

This is what I got.

Much better and no more ABS light!!!!!

It is working!

For now.......

I have done about 30 miles since I changed the sensor and all is good for now. I still don't know what was up with the continuity problem, maybe there is a damaged wire somewhere and it is back to its working position now or there was a poor connection at connector C210. I just don't know

I hope I don't have to post in the 'Today I broke' thread soon

Wish me luck!!

 

[m_c]

I don't know what the ABS has to do with the parking sensors, but when the ABS light comes on, it also disables the parking sensors

The parking sensor system uses the wheel speed sensors to improve accuracy.
Modern wheel speed sensors can detect what direction the wheels are turning, so that information is fed to the parking system so it can use it to calculate distances and where objects are.
The information allows it to calculate things like whether an object is behind the vehicle, or at the side. If something is parallel to a corner sensor, and the vehicle is still moving, the distance remains constant, so the parking sensor system can discount it as being behind the vehicle and silence the alarm.
It's also pretty good at ensuring things like bollards don't end up in the undetected spot between sensors, as it can 'follow' the object as it gets nearer, then using the wheel movement to keep the distance warning active, even once it's entered the blind zone.

If you've also got front sensors, it'll also make use of the steering angle in the detection algorithms.

<snip>

Those traces are indicative of a wiring/connector issue.
If the fault returns, have a very good look at all the connector pins for corrosion.
If they're ok, then bridge the wire pair at one end, attach a multimeter on ohms to the other end, and then get somebody to watch for the reading varying as you shake/wiggle/push/pull the loom, so you can narrow down which area of the looms needs split open.

 

[Smouser]

The parking sensor system uses the wheel speed sensors to improve accuracy.
Modern wheel speed sensors can detect what direction the wheels are turning, so that information is fed to the parking system so it can use it to calculate distances and where objects are.
The information allows it to calculate things like whether an object is behind the vehicle, or at the side. If something is parallel to a corner sensor, and the vehicle is still moving, the distance remains constant, so the parking sensor system can discount it as being behind the vehicle and silence the alarm.
It's also pretty good at ensuring things like bollards don't end up in the undetected spot between sensors, as it can 'follow' the object as it gets nearer, then using the wheel movement to keep the distance warning active, even once it's entered the blind zone.

If you've also got front sensors, it'll also make use of the steering angle in the detection algorithms.

Those traces are indicative of a wiring/connector issue.
If the fault returns, have a very good look at all the connector pins for corrosion.
If they're ok, then bridge the wire pair at one end, attach a multimeter on ohms to the other end, and then get somebody to watch for the reading varying as you shake/wiggle/push/pull the loom, so you can narrow down which area of the looms needs split open.

Great explanation about the relation of the ABS and parking sensors, thank you very much. I didn't realise the parking sensors also rely on the vehicle/wheel speed to make them more accurate.

 

[bricol]

Think yourself lucky – when the ABS on my 89 Lancia through up the warning light on the outside lane of the M1, it didn’t immediately let me know quite what it then intended to do . . . not only did it disable the ABS, it actively fought me applying the brakes! Literally would not let me press the pedal down – took two feet!

That too was initially random – tracked down to a front sensor where the plastic tie-wrap around the front right CV boot had worn through the corner of the end of the sensor can, letting water in.

Of course, hindsight tells me simply pulling the fuse would have made the journey home much less interesting.

 

[droopsnoot]

Of course, hindsight tells me simply pulling the fuse would have made the journey home much less interesting.

The first time I tried setting the tracking on my TT, I ended up with the wheel off-centre because I'd ignored it when getting the wheels lined up and it was too dark to finish the job properly. I drove home, then had an awful grinding and pulling along with the ESP warning light as I got into the first proper bend, so I pulled off the road to see what was stuck up a wheelarch but couldn't see anything. I drove home slowly and got there without incident. It wasn't until later that I remembered I could just have switched the ESP off with the handy switch on the dashboard (the "why would I ever want to turn it off?" switch) and not had to crawl along.

Of course, the issue was that the steering angle sensor thought I was either massively understeering or massively oversteering as soon as I got to a certain speed, and tried to correct a problem that wasn't there. Once I re-tracked it with the steering wheel centred, it was all fine.