Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Perc said:
Can’t trust customers to know where to put fuel
anymore?
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Apparently not! I wonder if this is a response to an incident or just some BP executive who is personally clueless and assumes everyone else is.
 
Matt2000 said:
I wonder if this is a response to an incident or just some BP executive who is personally clueless and assumes everyone else is.
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I've watched the Late Break Shown episode on the Honda Anyone (can't be assed to spell it correctly) and I just love how Jonny Smith basically made the question "WTF is this shit?" into a 25 minute video, that despite being about one of the most drab cars on the market is actually somewhat entertaining.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIB4NhE6WYc
 
Matt2000 said:
Apparently not! I wonder if this is a response to an incident or just some BP executive who is personally clueless and assumes everyone else is.
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Isnt there some rule saying you cant fill up a jerrycan that is in the boot? Therefore the attendant must be able to see where you’re putting the fuel, because a loose jerrycan in the boot can go kablooey?
 
NooDle said:
Isnt there some rule saying you cant fill up a jerrycan that is in the boot? Therefore the attendant must be able to see where you’re putting the fuel, because a loose jerrycan in the boot can go kablooey?
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I've never actually seen this but I suppose there could be. On most forecourts I wouldn't expect anyone to be watching most of the time, too many pumps and they also have to run a small supermarket. It's still common for people to fill up a can of fuel and then store it loosely in the car.
 
Matt2000 said:
You only noticed now? They told me you were a Patron so I thought you would've heard it straight away. My cryptic message in March clearly wasn't enough. :p

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Ah yeah, I've only just now caught up on my podcast backlog. Now it finally makes sense.
 
I'm quite strict on not spoiling things, so I didn't say anything else.
 
I’ve been working on the boat this week, installing a new chart plotter among other 12-volty things. Now, this is not a complicated boat and it doesn’t have a complicated electrical system.

One of the many times I switched the battery isolator off and back on this Wednesday I noticed the fuel gauge barely rising at all. It did move, but slowly and stopped half way across the red. The tank is almost full so it should go up the second the main 12V gets turned on. This was weird and in my brain, a flaccid fuel gauge means VERY low voltage. The navigation lights didn’t power on either, nor did the plotter. I turned it off and back on again, didn’t make a difference.

So what I did next was to turn the key to start without the dead man’s switch plugged in, to keep it from firing up beacuse I was on dry land. This worked fine, the engine cranked like normal and this trick made everything else come to life.

What I think happened is that the current draw from the starter caused the guts of the battery isolator to spark and temporarily make a better connection. Am I right in thinking this might be the case? I can’t come up with any other explanation.

And I guess I should add that all the 12-volty things I installed myself this week is on a new marine fuse box separate from the factory stuff, wired to the negative battery post and to the switched side of the battery isolator. I didn’t mess with anything the factory put in.

Yes, I already changed the battery isolator and terminals, cleaned everything and lubed the posts with battery grease etc. Not starting can be quite a huge issue on the sea. But I’d like to know what caused it.
 
Bad earth connections can cause all kinds of weird issues, sometimes a jolt of current can heat up connections and fix the issue, only for them to cool down again and act weird. Checking those and cleaning any connections is the first thing to do. Shit like brake lights staying on and flashing with indicators are all caused by earth faults.

I've got a weird earth issue on the bobtail that I still haven't properly fixed. Sometimes when turning the key to the start position the engine will turn once and then all the electrics shut off. Everything goes dead. If you wiggle the earth cable, which doesn't actually seem to move, it will reconnect and the chances are it'll be fine after that.

I think changing the cable will get rid of it. Unplugging to glow plugs helped because they would draw a decent amount of current. I guess something is heating up and warping/moving.
 
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