What did you, yourself, Repair recently?

[SternWake]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, unless of course one is incapable of leaving things alone.  


Yesterday I crawled inside my dashboard to clean connectors/ contacts, and inspect/ organize things.  The chief complaints were some flickering on the gauge light dimmers, and occasionally my temp and fuel gauges would rise and fall quickly, in unison.
  I nearly ruined my OD OFF switch, but didn't.

I did cause my rear door locks to be inoperable, but addressed that today and now they all thunk open or closed with even more authority.  Many other connections were in horrid condition, and hopefully the flickering and gauge wandering is resolved.  I never opened up my gauge cluster before. I'll be removing some green filters and installing red 194  incandescent bulbs as I prefer red to green.  There is a voltage limiter inside the cluster, and some threaded studs on the fuel and temp gauges that were white with oxidation under the Nuts. 

I've got a new Blower motor to install.  My currently installed one is drawing ~18 amps at full speed.  The new one, unloaded at full speed, is drawing 2.19 amps.

I wonder how much current the new one will consume with the blower wheel installed and fighting the resistance if the Hvac system.

My New AC Delco master cylinder arrived. It is aluminum and appears well made.  Much lighter than the cast Iron Wagner which is now leaking where it mates with the brake booster

Anyway, I got things to do

 

[LeeRevell]

"Inspected glass fuse, appeared fine. Tested fuse, tested fine. Removed fuse tested fine, installed new fuse anyway, and brake lights now worked."

That is the infamous and nearly mythical "Shorted Fuse". Had one in one of my UHF radios aboard ship in my Navy days. Later I went to the "C" School on this radio. Aced their tests. They gave me the "Ace Buster", that NOBODY was supposed to be able to pass. I did. Shorted Fuse. I told them, "Hey, I saw this in the field already!" Shocked them.
Basically, a glass Buss Fuse can have it's conductor wire break but still make contact when cold, and it'll work when taken out and tested with the meter. Put it in-circuit it heats and separates to become an open circuit. Hard to diagnose.

 

[GotSmart]

Replaced a head gasket while on state land. Good thing the local LEO was nice and did not have me towed. Installed solar, Set up the house charging system and installed 12v fused outlets for a friend.

The thing I am most proud of is I built a cooking pit with volcanic rocks. Time to cook with real wood!

 

[SternWake]

"Inspected glass fuse, appeared fine. Tested fuse, tested fine. Removed fuse tested fine, installed new fuse anyway, and brake lights now worked."

That is the infamous and nearly mythical "Shorted Fuse". 

While close, my glass fise was still fine, it was the insides of the fuse holder which were so heavily oxidized that the circuit was effectively open.  I could have just replaced the tested fuse and had it work again as it would have scraped enough oxides off to complete the circuit in removal and reinsertion.

Anyway I spent a good amount of time removing all the very stubborn oxidation off of all the fuse holder clamps.

As a surfer, I hang my rinsed wetsuit from my passenger side visor and allow it to drip into a pan, and have a fan on it.  This no doubt has added to my oxidation issues in this area, but other members with glass fuses, and Dodges with the fuse panel in this area, and strange electrical happenings would be wise to check their fuse holders for oxidation.  Even if the circuit is still intact, there could be a poor connection and excessive heating in this area, which accelerates the issues.

I have run into the fuse symptom you describe, where the fuse tests fine until it is asked to carry a load. I'd suspected it this time, which is why I just replaced it and ran my errands, but it was closer inspection later with a strong light that revealed the extent of the oxidation of the fuse holder interiors.

Again the Caig Deoxit products are like magical electrical contact juice.  I likely could have just sprayed the fuses and wiggled them a little to resolve my brake light issue, but I instead removed all the fuses and went a bit nutty making the mating surfaces feel and shine like oiled chrome.

 

[SternWake]

So today, I noticed my temp gauge decided to go higher than normal, and somebody seemed to have added a few gallons of fuel to my tank, and my stock oil pressure gauge also decided to read higher than I ever seen before.

Obviously related to my tinkering behind the dashboard.

Turns out on these older Dodges, there is an ancient solution that provided 5 volts DC to the gauges Via a voltage limiter installed in the dash cluster, and somehow I changed its behavior.

A new one costs 35$, for 1930 technology!!

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=44056&cc=1073506&jnid=475&jpid=0

Anybody recognize 5v DC as a power source?  USB perhaps?

35 freaking dollars......

I'll be providing 5.xx volts to my gauges via this solid state device.  Perhaps i can even dial it in voltage wise, so that 1/2 tank actually represents 17.5 gallons left, instead of 13.

http://www.amazon.com/Kimdrox-Adjus...r=1-50&keywords=Dc/dc+Converter+12v+Step+Down

35 freaking dollars.  They must be smoking crack.

 

[Canine]

I haven't done much this winter but sure have a big to-do list before the summer travels.Replace the pitman arm on my 97 chevy truck. Replace the brake shoes on my 71 16ft Mobile Traveler.Replace the dinky booth and table with a couple of captain chairs and a better table.Finally get around to fusing my solar set up and improve access to my batteries under the bed.I could go on and on but then I'd feel tired thinking about it.

 

[Terry]

I had to put a water pump gasket on mine. This is the first time I've ever seen a water pump gasket blow out. And a world of crap to go through just to get to where I could see where the water/steam was spewing from. Once I got to it, only 1 out of 4 bolts was more than finger tight. I've been driving this car for over a year now and this finally decides to show itself. I do have to figure out why one of my front tires is wearing faster on the outside edge than anywhere else. My bet is the upper control bushings or the ball joint.

 

[MikeRuth]

So today, I noticed my temp gauge decided to go higher than normal, and somebody seemed to have added a few gallons of fuel to my tank, and my stock oil pressure gauge also decided to read higher than I ever seen before.

Obviously related to my tinkering behind the dashboard.

Turns out on these older Dodges, there is an ancient solution that provided 5 volts DC to the gauges Via a voltage limiter installed in the dash cluster, and somehow I changed its behavior.

A new one costs 35$, for 1930 technology!!

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=44056&cc=1073506&jnid=475&jpid=0

Anybody recognize 5v DC as a power source?  USB perhaps?

35 freaking dollars......

I'll be providing 5.xx volts to my gauges via this solid state device.  Perhaps i can even dial it in voltage wise, so that 1/2 tank actually represents 17.5 gallons left, instead of 13.

http://www.amazon.com/Kimdrox-Adjus...r=1-50&keywords=Dc/dc+Converter+12v+Step+Down

35 freaking dollars.  They must be smoking crack.

That is a funny, and yeah I think there are a bunch of folks selling on there smoking crack! I saw an HP printer listed for $749.00 yesterday that has a MSRP of $199.00 LOL. 

Good catch on the VR, and a 3A variable for $7.50 is a heck of a good deal. I've been buying them from dimension engineering at $16.00. 

 

[highdesertranger]

I agree it's best to know the going price before buying on amazon. highdesertranger

 

[SternWake]

Well I got my new 7$ voltage limiter installed for the gauges.  I'll have to remove 2 screws and then the cowling to access the voltage adjustment screw.  I'd preset it to 5.32 volts, and this output was steady it both 15.3 and 12.2 input voltage, so this should really minimize needle swing induced by 1930's technology, temperature swings and gauge resistance and changing alternator charging voltages..


I've also replace my blower motor, and I could not just tolerate the stock Lossy too thin wiring.

The old motor's bushings were dry, and the felt that was designed to trap lubricant had dried out and turned to dust long ago.  The motor was in horrendous condition.  Why cant they just use ball bearings for this?

8awg wire goes from motor to speed selector switch.  The (+) runs through a 45 amp Anderson PowerPole connector, and the ground goes right to the firewall over 8awg wire too.  Unfortunately the motor leads were opposite.  Red was ground and black was hot.  The motor ran in reverse when I first hooked it up, and I had to take it back out and swap the leads. You can see the original connector that I removed entirely.  Its ground cable was 16awg.
 

 I was able to reuse the original firewall grommet, but had to ream it out to accept the much thicker cable:

 A new blower motor resistor and resistor pigtail have been spliced in.

The connector at the back of the speed selector switch, was compromised long ago, and no longer usable, so I cut it off and now have 4 individual wires going to it with new connectors on clean wiring.   3 of the wires to this old connector were crusty and heat damaged, and two of those had melted into the connector and could not be extracted.  One of these new wires is the red 8awg cable to the blower motor itself.  I have 8awg marine rated butt connectors and used these on the two fatter wires instead of the normal spade connectors.  I'd crimped them flat over a spade for a very solid connection with lots of thermal mass and minimal resistance. and used my hydraulic crimper over the cabling and added some solder after the fact, because I could.  Heatshrink covers all new cable ends to the base of the connector. 

I also opened up the Speed selector switch for a cleaning.  I've done this twice before in the past and it was much worse looking than this previously:

Naturally I had to polish these to gleaming, and rebent the spring to exert more pressure.  These contacts points are copper rivets, which go through the red plate and connect to to the spade terminals on the other side.  I cleaned these thoroughly and covered them with a big blob of molten solder for a much better physical and electrical connection.  Less resistance, less heat, more voltage and more current can pass.  More thermal mass means more heat dissipation as well.

The studs which originally held the blower motor to the cover were rusted, and damage was done removing the motor.
I cleaned up the receptacles and ground 3 new bolts to fit them.  Wish they were stainless but they were what I had on hand.

This was not overkill enough, So I roughed up the area and used carbon fiber saturated with superglue to hold these new studs in place, until the end of time.

The Fuse for the blower motor circuit had melted out before my ownership, and I replaced many fuse holders on this circuit since.  About 16 months ago I had to do it again and used a Maxifuse with 8awg leads and had no more issues with the circuit, but the blower motor itself started squealing and chirping when cold.

Anyway,  With the new motor and upgraded wiring, the voltage reaching the motor brushes is much higher.  It is spinning much much faster.  On 3 of 4 it moves as much or more air as it did on high speed before.  Amp draws at the same voltage are about the same as before, but much more voltage is getting to the motor. More voltage means it spins faster and consumes more current too.  So I am getting the same airflow from 11 amps as I was from nearly 18 amps beforehand, and when I crank it to the highest setting, it moves at least 25% more air at right about 18 amps.

The blower motor circuit is activated by the ignition switch.  I have not upgraded this wiring, yet.  Will probably use a relay and 8awg cable again, but not at this point in time.

The tuned up speed selector switch and its connectors now stay cool, and this problem prone circuit is now much much improved.

My Dashboard 194 incandescent bulbs were replaced with red incan 194's with  the original  green filters removed.  LEDs are too bright and do not dim on the dimmer switch. I  also soldered the pins on the  primitive circuit board to the traces, and a new ground circuit was added.   Brightness was much improved even  before I added the red bulbs.  Anyway I very much like the red glow as opposed to the green glow of the gauges. Deoxit products were used to clean and protect all connectors.

The high beam indicator and the turn signal indicator bulbs were replaced with blue and green LED bulbs and  are now much brighter
too.

Now, to replace that leaking master cylinder.

 

[SternWake]

Well I got my new 7$ voltage limiter installed for the gauges.  I'll have to remove 2 screws and then the cowling to access the voltage adjustment screw.  I'd preset it to 5.32 volts, and this output was steady it both 15.3 and 12.2 input voltage, so this should really minimize needle swing induced by 1930's technology, temperature swings and gauge resistance and changing alternator charging voltages..


I've also replace my blower motor, and I could not just tolerate the stock Lossy too thin wiring.

The old motor's bushings were dry, and the felt that was designed to trap lubricant had dried out and turned to dust long ago.  The motor was in horrendous condition.  Why cant they just use ball bearings for this?

8awg wire goes from motor to speed selector switch.  The (+) runs through a 45 amp Anderson PowerPole connector, and the ground goes right to the firewall over 8awg wire too.  Unfortunately the motor leads were opposite.  Red was ground and black was hot.  The motor ran in reverse when I first hooked it up, and I had to take it back out and swap the leads. You can see the original connector that I removed entirely.  Its ground cable was 16awg.
 

 I was able to reuse the original firewall grommet, but had to ream it out to accept the much thicker cable:

 A new blower motor resistor and resistor pigtail have been spliced in.

The connector at the back of the speed selector switch, was compromised long ago, and no longer usable, so I cut it off and now have 4 individual wires going to it with new connectors on clean wiring.   3 of the wires to this old connector were crusty and heat damaged, and two of those had melted into the connector and could not be extracted.  One of these new wires is the red 8awg cable to the blower motor itself.  I have 8awg marine rated butt connectors and used these on the two fatter wires instead of the normal spade connectors.  I'd crimped them flat over a spade for a very solid connection with lots of thermal mass and minimal resistance. and used my hydraulic crimper over the cabling and added some solder after the fact, because I could.  Heatshrink covers all new cable ends to the base of the connector. 

I also opened up the Speed selector switch for a cleaning.  I've done this twice before in the past and it was much worse looking than this previously:

Naturally I had to polish these to gleaming, and rebent the spring to exert more pressure.  These contacts points are copper rivets, which go through the red plate and connect to to the spade terminals on the other side.  I cleaned these thoroughly and covered them with a big blob of molten solder for a much better physical and electrical connection.  Less resistance, less heat, more voltage and more current can pass.  More thermal mass means more heat dissipation as well.

The studs which originally held the blower motor to the cover were rusted, and damage was done removing the motor.
I cleaned up the receptacles and ground 3 new bolts to fit them.  Wish they were stainless but they were what I had on hand.

This was not overkill enough, So I roughed up the area and used carbon fiber saturated with superglue to hold these new studs in place, until the end of time.

The Fuse for the blower motor circuit had melted out before my ownership, and I replaced many fuse holders on this circuit since.  About 16 months ago I had to do it again and used a Maxifuse with 8awg leads and had no more issues with the circuit, but the blower motor itself started squealing and chirping when cold.

Anyway,  With the new motor and upgraded wiring, the voltage reaching the motor brushes is much higher.  It is spinning much much faster.  On 3 of 4 it moves as much or more air as it did on high speed before.  Amp draws at the same voltage are about the same as before, but much more voltage is getting to the motor. More voltage means it spins faster and consumes more current too.  So I am getting the same airflow from 11 amps as I was from nearly 18 amps beforehand, and when I crank it to the highest setting, it moves at least 25% more air at right about 18 amps.

The blower motor circuit is activated by the ignition switch.  I have not upgraded this wiring, yet.  Will probably use a relay and 8awg cable again, but not at this point in time.

The tuned up speed selector switch and its connectors now stay cool, and this problem prone circuit is now much much improved.

My Dashboard 194 incandescent bulbs were replaced with red incan 194's with  the original  green filters removed.  LEDs are too bright and do not dim on the dimmer switch. I  also soldered the pins on the  primitive circuit board to the traces, and a new ground circuit was added.   Brightness was much improved even  before I added the red bulbs.  Anyway I very much like the red glow as opposed to the green glow of the gauges. Deoxit products were used to clean and protect all connectors.

The high beam indicator and the turn signal indicator bulbs were replaced with blue and green LED bulbs and  are now much brighter
too.

Now, to replace that leaking master cylinder.

  I edited and uploaded some more photos of my blower motor circuit/switch upgrade.

Here is the back side of that switch shown above:

These copper 'rivets' are the now polished contacts on the other side. They were loose on the output spade terminals.
So I cleaned them a bit more:

And gave them a nice thick blob of solder to give a much better mechanical and electrical connection.

I have more pics and comments that I added, but had to delete as only 10 are allowed per post, and If I try a new post without an intervening post by someone else, then I just waste even more time.






 

 

[LeeRevell]

As to why the auto companies continue to use the inefficient "1930's" tech....... Money. Service and repair is their dealer's bread&butter, not vehicle sales. I learned this in regard to motorcycle dealerships, but it applies equally to car/truck dealers too. All the good loyal customers bringing in their cars, trucks and vans to be fixed at the dealer are cash cows. We DIYers are the rogues.

 

[SternWake]

As to why the auto companies continue to use the inefficient "1930's" tech.......   Money.  Service and repair is their dealer's bread&butter, not vehicle sales.  I learned this in regard to motorcycle dealerships, but it applies equally to car/truck dealers too.  All the good loyal customers bringing in their cars, trucks and vans to be fixed at the dealer are cash cows.  We DIYers are the rogues.  

True indeed.  the bottom line is always a huge factor, and even more so in modern times.  I take issue with many who believe the OEM did it as best as can be done and the best repair is using overpriced OEM parts and methods.

Not to say that the aftermarket part quality is any good.  They seem engineered to fail one day out of warranty.  This whole bottom line/maximum profit mentality stokes the fires or my misanthropic tendencies.

Here are some more pics of components in my blower motor circuit.
Why I did not use the original Speed selector switch connector:

The dark green wire is the direct feed to the blower motor, and was addressed by the previous owner.

I did not have any spade terminals on hand that could handle 10AWG, much less 8awg, so I used these 8awg butt connectors.

So 4 individual wires go right to the Switch.

And it no longer gets hot passing nearly 20 amps.

Here is my new instrument cluster voltage limiter soldered to the circuit board in place of the 1930's technology:

 

[SternWake]

This is my old blower motor resistor. The rusted tang would not allow medium high speed to work.

I should probably just have gotten a 40 amp PWM motor speed controller, but sometimes DC motors audibly whine to human ears when fed pulses of Juice slower than 15Khz.

 

[highdesertranger]

very nice stern that switch looks awesome. so did you replace that resistor or clean it up? highdesertranger

 

[SternWake]

very nice stern that switch looks awesome.  so did you replace that resistor or clean it up?  highdesertranger

I got a new resistor and new resistor pigtail, though i certainly could have made the old ones work with some lovin, and a dremel.  I did have all 4 speeds on the motor before I removed the resistor connector and found it all rusty and took a portion of that terminal with it.

It also worked with a minor cleaning and reinstalled, but soon the medium high speed was non responsive due to a gap between spade terminal and compromised connector receptacle.

I could have just bought a new speed switch and connector too for not very much money, but my Soldered tangs along with the 8 awg butt connectors are better  electrical and mechanical connections than stock.

 

[vanguy]

well i wouldn't call them repairs, but preventive maintenance for my van.  fuel filter, full tune-up, oil change, still want to replace the transmission fluid and filter (but that job makes me a little nervous,  :s). 
something related to the rear heater is leaking too, so i have to add coolant from time to time but thats rare.

 

[Magicwolf]

Replaced a fuse, a headlight, both power window switches, the stereo and amp and the washer fluid pump. I re-wired some connectors attached to the battery that had broken off due to brittleness/age. I unbolted the seat-belt and fixed a twist (irritating as heck). Have been slowly reconditioning interior wood (conversion van - I like the wood) with BLO (boiled linseed oil) which helps any dried, finish-faded or scratched pieces. And I glued some cracked trim pieces back together. I applied some window-seam sealant to the upper skylight windows.

I would like to buy a repair manual for the van also. Googling info for the van has been difficult.

 

[SternWake]

I cut off these gross, rusted, inadequate,  stamped steel POS ring terminals, that come on autoparts store premade battery cables. These were bought in 2007, before I knew better

I used my hydraulic crimper to install the nice thickwalled tinned copper ring terminals shown on the left.

Also inspected and cleaned the bulkhead connector which was in good condition, and also cleaned all the underhood electrical connectors exteriors with spray silicone,  and the electrical contacts within them got treated and polished with with Deoxit D5. Deoxit shield was used to protect and Dielectric grease smeared after reconnecting, to keep moisture out.

The Firewall got a new 8awg ground directly from the alternator (-), and this same 8awg cable also reaches my headlamp grounds, blower motor ground,  and original firewall grounds, as I don't trust old welded metal to act as a good path to ground.  I prefer an all  copper path back to the battery.

 

[highdesertranger]

I hear you on the iron terminals. I to didn't realize they were using iron until a couple years ago. I now take a magnate with me when I buy any electrical terminals. highdesertanger