Quote:
Originally Posted by Low Elco
Hey, I heard that someone's been out prowling the streets! We need an update! How's the debugging going?
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Yep, been doing some short, around town test drives... but not without a few hiccups. Took Kathy for a ride last Friday and it was pretty ugly. Started off by backfiring when I first cranked the engine. Tried again and it started normally, but as we went down the road, it was banging and popping. Pulled over and found that the backfire had blown the cap off of the port meant for a vacuum brake booster. Thankfully we live in America where there’s no shortage of trash alongside the road so I was able to find a plastic cap off a water bottle and used it to temporarily plug the humongous leak. However, before we made it home, I noticed the radio and the gauges both went dead and then came back on a couple of times. The 200 amp circuit breaker between the alternator and the battery was partially tripped. Apparently, they’re polarity sensitive so that may have been the issue – I’m not sure. Regardless, I ordered and installed a fuse setup to replace the breaker which took care of the problem. The Painless wiring kit for high amperage alternators uses a fuse, but I did my own thing with the breaker and as usual, over thought the process.
When I drove CRLS home last week from the shop that did my alignment and inspection, it felt like the trans slipped a little on the 2-3 shift a couple of times. The fluid on the dipstick showed it was maybe a half quart low, so I topped it off but I didn’t think that small amount would cause a problem. When I went to Vintage Fabrication yesterday to have the AC serviced, it did it again a couple of times on the way home. On LS1Tech, there were several posts about how low fluid level could cause that. Posters also stated that a lot of the aftermarket dipsticks can't be trusted. When I rechecked the level it was in the middle of the hashed marks, so I added another half quart. I didn't detect the problem again, but I may not have driven it enough either.
Other folks also said putting the trans in tow/haul mode eliminated the problem. So, I pulled the console back out and located the plug that has the wire for the transmission A/B switch. Found out that if you ground that wire, it will change the shift calibration from soft to firm, probably the same as tow/haul on the trucks. I installed a couple of rocker switches into the tray in the console. One is for the tranny shift selection and the other is for a hack to allow me to send the video from the HD camera to the Pioneer screen while driving which is normally blocked.
A test drive with the increased fluid level and then with the shift program in the B (firm) mode did not exhibit the "flare" that was present before. Will keep an eye on it, though.
Crappy weather has its advantages sometimes as I can dink around with little stuff. I ordered an upgrade for the navigation system and got that installed as well as a four channel ground loop isolator on the amp for the front/rear speakers. There's some intermittent background noise coming from somewhere, but I haven't found it yet. The isolator wasn't much help, but the noise isn't noticeable going down the road.
And speaking of noise... even with all the sound proofing I did, it's extremely loud in the cab at times. Apparently, I'm now the subject of the saying that, "If it's too loud, you're too old." Even with resonators ahead of the mufflers, there are conditions where the sound really reverberates inside the cab. In fact, it was so loud that when Vern went on a ride along with me and a friend called on his cellphone, he couldn't hear what he was saying. So... I have an appointment on Tuesday at a custom muffler shop near me to have the exhaust revised. You can see what I mean in the video below.
