[NAC] ... some people ...

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

Well, I got to broaden my horizons a bit yesterday ... but I guess that
since GM and Audi have been known to use each other's parts I suppose its
related experience ... :-)

My parents had a pickup truck and travel trailer that they used to take
camping.  After my father passed away last year my mother decided that she
wouldn't be needing them any more.  She has gotten a real education in the
process while trying to sell them.  The trailer was sold someone who turned
out to be a self-proclaimed gypsy who cleaned it up a little and turned it
around for a tidy profit.  She is now trying to sell the truck, which was
running pretty well, but at some point got to where it would no longer
start.  The engine cranked fine after she replaced the battery.  A family
friend in the area tried to help, but he didn't have that much familiarity
with the newer electronic gizmos.  Knowing that there might be some trouble
codes that would tell what the problem was I offered to go up there and try
to figure it out before Thanksgiving.  There were no trouble codes, but we
confirmed that the engine was getting spark, and we could hear the fuel pump
running, but no gas was coming from the _huge_ injectors on the throttle
body.  I didn't find that much useful documentation to do any more poking
around, so I told her to have it towed to a dealer for further diagnosis.
When she did this the dealer told her that an electronic module had failed
and that it was going to cost $420 to replace it.  I found I could get the
module for $50, so I told her to have the truck towed back and I'd do the
swap.  Thank you AAA+!

Natalie and I had a nice drive up there in the V8 yesterday.  She hasn't
seen her grandma in a while, so they both enjoyed that.  I figured I could
swap the module fairly quickly as it was mounted to the distributor, right
under the cap.  The original unit was looking a bit corroded, so I figured
that the dealer was right and installed the module.  Cranked the truck ...
still no start!  I didn't want to go home without fixing the truck, so I
decided to try to do a bit more troubleshooting.  I managed to find a
diagnostic section hidden in the manuals for the truck (Bentley isn't the
only one that does this :) and followed the flowchart, which indicated that
the module I just replaced was bad.  They had a diagram there that showed
that one side of the injectors was supposed to be connected to +12 ... which
I tested for and found not to be present!  The diagram showed that there was
a fuse in the line, which I found was in the fusebox right below the
steering wheel.  When I opened the box I saw what looked like a slot where a
fuse was supposed to be.  I confirmed that the empty location was indeed the
one that supplied 12v to the injectors, so I got a 10A from my glovebox,
installed it and tried starting the truck.  Surprise, surprise the truck
started right away.  So ... apparently what happened was that while my mom
was distracted the guy popped open the fusebox and pulled out the fuse!  He
said that he was willing to take the truck as is, but fortunately my mom was
wise enough to tell him that she'd have the truck fixed, and he could check
back later if he wanted to.  

I'm sorry about the off topic post, but the thought that someone would do
something like this to be able to try to get a better deal on the truck
frosts my @$$ so much I had to tell someone!  The funny thing is that my
mom's neighbor said that he thought he saw the guy monkeying with something
but she didn't believe that anyone would do that ...

I wasn't actually planning to post an ad ... but if anyone might be
interested, the truck is still for sale, and is an '89 Chevy 2500 (3/4 ton)
pickup with something like 48,000 miles (!).  It is in excellent mechanical
condition, my father really was good about having the regular maintenance
done.  It has a camper shell and what I think is an upgraded stereo,
otherwise it is a basic truck.  The light blue metallic paint has suffered
some sun damage on the top of the cab and the hood.  I haven't run the KBB
on it, but she's asking something like $8900 OBO.  It sounds like there is
someone in the neighborhood that is interested in buying it, but if there is
anyone on the list that might be looking for a truck to tow their Audi parts
around in please contact me off line ...

... moral of story ... the first thing to check when a problem appears
suddenly is that the fuses are OK!

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)