[Vwdiesel] road trip story, somewhat long.

[pmdolan at sasktel.net]

Now you get the "resourcefullness" badge, which is usually displayed as burned finger tips or a nasty gash or two on the back of the hand from doing this stuff at night (wiring only fails at night, and usually in rain or snow).  Just think of all the nice people you could have met and how you could have contributed to the local economy by calling a tow truck (flash: "shucks, there ain't nobody at THAT station who can fix anything, I'll have to tow you clear on over to xxxxville" (of course, where the tow truck driver happens to live).

Pat

----- Original Message -----
From: Shalyn Shourds <sshourds at flash.net>
Date: Monday, January 31, 2005 0:07 am
Subject: [Vwdiesel] road trip story, somewhat long.

>    I had a tournament in Austin this weekend, about 200 miles 
> south, so 
> I hopped in the '85 TD and went down with no problems.  About 
> halfway 
> back on this cold, dark, and rainy night, though, I had a sudden 
> engine 
> death somewhere just outside of nowhere.  All warning lights, no 
> engine 
> noise, and a few lights on the distant horizon.  I got off to the 
> side 
> of the road and popped the hood.  I spent about 10 minutes before 
> realizing that I was a few parts shy of a compleat flashlight.  I 
> gave 
> up and started checking by feel.  I had an inkling of what had 
> happened, 
> and, sure enough, fumbling around in the dark hood area proved 
> that the 
> wire to the stop selenoid had broken.   A brief moment of light 
> using a 
> pair of jumper cables and a spare turn signal bulb confirmed the 
> problem.  Not normally a show-stopper, but my crimp-on connector 
> set was 
> laying at the house, about 90 miles away--in the same room as my 
> good 
> flashlight.  I found a used connector, pried it open, stripped the 
> selenoid wire, and tried to crimp it on.  No dice, so I cast the 
> wire 
> off to the side.  I did have another piece of wire with a spade 
> connector already on it, and long enouigh to run to the battery.  
> I got 
> it on, hoppped in, and sure enough, it started.  I did a silly end-
> zone 
> dance and marveled at my good fortune. 
>    About that time, I saw the clouds of smoke coming from the 
> engine 
> and the dashboard.  For some reason, you always have brilliant 
> flashes 
> of insight that allow you to figure out what just happened instead 
> of 
> brilliant flashes of insight that pre-empt the problem.  I knew in 
> an 
> instant that the stripped end of the stop selenoid wire was now 
> hot and 
> laying against the engine.  Sure enough, I pulled the battery 
> cable and 
> the only light remaining was 3" of glowing wire. 
>    At this point, it seemed prudent to seek some help, or at 
> least a 
> flashlight.  Maybe I need to work on my legs or something, but 
> despite 
> flagging wildly, I just couldn't get anyone to stop.  I gave up 
> and 
> wished there was a tree within 30 miles big enough to hang 
> everyone that 
> passed by.  So much for the "Friendly State".  I sulked inside as 
> the 
> rain worsened.  Finally, in a slow point in the rain, I figured I 
> didn't 
> have much to lose.  I clipped the burned wire off short, re-
> connected 
> the hot wire to the battery, and started the car.  It started, I 
> didn't 
> see any smoke, and I pulled onto the highway.  In the glare of a 
> gas 
> station 10 miles away, I couldn't see any reason why a major 
> conflagration would begin, so I headed for home.  The car's 
> sitting out 
> in the driveway now, battery cable dangling. 
>    Now, I just have to pull apart the main wiring harness, 
> replace the 
> burned lead (you can see a melted trace through the whole thing 
> straight 
> to the appropriately-named firewall) and stick it back together.   
> In a 
> lot of ways, I'm really lucky: that I wasn't in a bad place when 
> it 
> died; that no one ploughed into me on the side of the road; that I 
> got 
> it fixed, twice; that the car didn't burn to the ground; that I 
> wasn't 
> doing this repair in the -30ºF that Mike has to deal with; that 
> years of 
> reading this list gave me the knowledge to fix the problem; and 
> that I 
> actually made it home.  It's hard to keep all the good points in 
> mind, 
> though. 
> 
> Whatever the case, at this point, I'm going to bed. 
> 
> -Shalyn
> 
> 
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