Spinnin' Wrenches - Taurus, 4th Verse
Ok, so it appears that the Taurus has a bent valve, from back when it jumped time.
This is not yet positively confirmed, although all available evidence points that way:
- It jumped time. Prime candidate for a bent valve.
- It runs like crap. Just as a bent valve would cause it to.
- (Real evidence) - Intake manifold vacuum bounces between -10 and +2 - it should be somewhere around -30, and relatively steady. The low vacuum # could be due to any number of vacuum leaks, most of which Cap'n Mo and I have eliminated as possibilities. The +2, and the bouncing, on the other hand, indicate a bent intake valve. This allows the compression and exhaust strokes of the piston to pump air back into the intake... thus the low overall intake vacuum, and its bounciness, and it's negative vacuum (positive pressure).
Yesterday, I borrowed a leakdown tester from Uncle Alex. Later this week, I'll use it to tell me exacly what's going on with these valves... maybe bent, maybe just not enough clearance after the machine shop shaved .080" to make the head flat again. We'll see...
Did I mention I HATE borrowing tools?!?
Sometimes it's necessary... like now. Buying one for myself from Matco would be $117. From Snap-On, it's about $300. Incedentally, the one Uncle Alex loaned me is a Snap-On. Yeah, he buys good tools; always has.
And I'd likely only use it once every few years, if I bought one for myself. So it makes sense, financailly, to borrow it.
BUT I HATE BORROWING TOOLS!!!!
AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!
I hate not having the right tool for a job. I hate having to be supremely careful, since this tool isn't mine. I mean, I take pretty good care of my tools... (Dad taught me that, sometimes at the end of his belt when I didn't)... but this isn't mine, so it requires extra care. Not to mention, I have to find SOME way that Uncle Alex left the care of this tool lacking, so that I can give it back better than I got it... and with Uncle Alex, that's DAMNED TOUGH!!
Did I mention that I HATE BORROWING TOOLS?!?!?
But... in this case, for something I might use every couple of years, I simply can't justify the expense.
Further updates to follow... Now it's time for 24 and dinner.
This is not yet positively confirmed, although all available evidence points that way:
- It jumped time. Prime candidate for a bent valve.
- It runs like crap. Just as a bent valve would cause it to.
- (Real evidence) - Intake manifold vacuum bounces between -10 and +2 - it should be somewhere around -30, and relatively steady. The low vacuum # could be due to any number of vacuum leaks, most of which Cap'n Mo and I have eliminated as possibilities. The +2, and the bouncing, on the other hand, indicate a bent intake valve. This allows the compression and exhaust strokes of the piston to pump air back into the intake... thus the low overall intake vacuum, and its bounciness, and it's negative vacuum (positive pressure).
Yesterday, I borrowed a leakdown tester from Uncle Alex. Later this week, I'll use it to tell me exacly what's going on with these valves... maybe bent, maybe just not enough clearance after the machine shop shaved .080" to make the head flat again. We'll see...
Did I mention I HATE borrowing tools?!?
Sometimes it's necessary... like now. Buying one for myself from Matco would be $117. From Snap-On, it's about $300. Incedentally, the one Uncle Alex loaned me is a Snap-On. Yeah, he buys good tools; always has.
And I'd likely only use it once every few years, if I bought one for myself. So it makes sense, financailly, to borrow it.
BUT I HATE BORROWING TOOLS!!!!
AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!
I hate not having the right tool for a job. I hate having to be supremely careful, since this tool isn't mine. I mean, I take pretty good care of my tools... (Dad taught me that, sometimes at the end of his belt when I didn't)... but this isn't mine, so it requires extra care. Not to mention, I have to find SOME way that Uncle Alex left the care of this tool lacking, so that I can give it back better than I got it... and with Uncle Alex, that's DAMNED TOUGH!!
Did I mention that I HATE BORROWING TOOLS?!?!?
But... in this case, for something I might use every couple of years, I simply can't justify the expense.
Further updates to follow... Now it's time for 24 and dinner.
posted by Aaron Neal at 10:17 PM
4 Comments:
Hate borrowing tools. Yes, we should all hate borrowing, tools or anything else.
Here's a solution. A semi-formal association of shade-tree mek-a-necks would pool their tools and some $$ and set up an association tool crib.
Whattaya think?
That might work for some things, like high-dollar analysis equipment.
Seems like fertile ground for arguments and/or bent feelings, though.
Dude, a leakdown tester costs $12 to BUILD. Nobody should NOT have one.
http://www.xs11.com/tips/misc/misc3.shtml
As far as the diagnostic tools are concerned?
http://www.scantool.net/products/elmscan_5.htm
Man, I cannot imagine not having this stuff in your shop.
Funny you should mention that, Og... I actually came up with an idea for pretty much that same thing, but the gauge was to be mounted on the tool, rather than the compressor (just to make it easier to read while using).
Oddly enough, for once, I didn't think about using Google to find plans someone else had developed... and it was more expedient (if far less satisfying) to borrow one from my Uncle.
As for the diagnostic... I bought my OBD-II code reader the FIRST time Lisa's Mazda Millenia threw a "Check Engine" light that I couldn't readily figure out what it was. Figured our daily drivers from now on will be OBD-II compliant (as is everything made since 1996 on, for those of you who don't know), so I didn't mind kicking loose the $$ for a diagnostic tool which would probably (and, in fact, has) be used quite often.
And as far as the first link goes... I'd like to know where the author can find leakdown testers regularly. Even NAPA (my go-to parts store when the common chains don't have what I want/need) couldn't find me one. I was faced with going to MATCO or Snap-On as the only ready source if I wanted to buy one.
But, thanks much for the link! Now that I've seen confirmation that the idea I had has been done before, successfully, I'll probably build myself one before long... one of these days when I don't have too much else to do (currently somewhere around February 31st, 2023).
Post a Comment
<< Home