rancherman

Probably any model year I can AFFORD!!! Actually, mid 2000's give or take, 2003 through 2007. I was hoping the gremlins VW had in their electricals from the 80's and 90's was a thing of the past... until I read your post! On the otherhand, what vehicle is immune these days to some sort of electrical snafu!?!

I started carrying one with me this week... what a great diagnostic tool! At the end of the day of baling hay... I walk around the machine with the laser, and hit up each of bearings.. takes about 2 minutes to cover the whole baler. I already found one that was 'on the way out'... I possibly prevented a fire! Just think of the applications on our trucks... U joints, wheel bearings,

Hey guys, is/was the tdi offered in any body VW makes? ( or more specifically, a 2 door?) NO BEETLES for me.. grounds are weird, sometimes it'll make an effected component ground itself back through another component... and when THAT component clicks on or off causing the FIRST component to respond in 'not too pleasant' ways... Tom, at least you didn't get the universal response in that site; "search is your friend"... or "If you gotta ask, it's waaaaayyyy beyond US explaining it to you"

HA... I can't help myself here... Like they say in the Southwest, 'yah, you don't even notice it... no humidity' (130 degrees)

ummmm, no. I haven't ever seen a ruffed up steel.. ON PURPOSE. Sheesh. Splitting the bill still isn't right.. cause he still made money on you.. just not as much! but I am afraid it's better than nothing... take the lumps and move on. you could spend more on pursuing a settlement, more than what you could gain... Just be glad it didn't puke a bunch of crap into your expensive converter!

Thinking about the space and amount of jars needed to 'put away' some dairy products, Probably the more efficient way to store 'milk' would be to turn it into a cheese... after all, milk is ~ 4-5% 'solids' and the rest water.. pioneers would just slice off the moldy part, and eat the fresh exposed cheese.. Wax coating for the rest.. I suppose you could dehydrate milk down a bunch to take out about half the water.. (just hot enough to soft steam, not boiled) then can it. since milking cows are 'daily' givers, and highly 'portable' too.. (in case you gotta bug out) might as well just use it as she gives it..

Next step is CAN, CAN, CAN. Meat, veggies, MILK yes, milk. Dehydration next, then last ditch (for me) would be immersed in lard, or salt. I agree with you, some basic skills MUST be passed on to next generation. I don't want to create a 'sh!tstorm' debate in here, just saying it doesn't hurt to have some survival skills, basic 'growing, catching, hunting, fishing, preservation of food type skills'.

I take it you've never been introduced to the 'new' high tensile barbed, or smooth wire... That crap is dangerous to work with! It's so brittle that you can't do the simple 'Bell wire' type splice, you have to use a crimper sleeve. Hang on it for dear life, cause it'll chase you clear back to the first post..

how many of us have used battery chargers (still attached and buzzing) to help start in the winter?

geez mike, just how poor of a fuel system do you have.... how long do you think it takes to flush a filter can MAYBE holding a quart of fuel with your top notch pump??? 30 seconds?? I'd say the fuel temp in the filter can is pretty darn close to everything else AFTER a heat soak, how can it not? ; 4 inches away from the side of the block, under the hood, bolted directly to the intake.. All great for wintertime no doubt. I wasn't figuring millisecond-type-shock... 30 seconds in my tiny brain is still pretty quick, especially when considering the delicacy of certain components. yes yes, then the 44 itself has tempering too... so maybe 'shock' isn't the perfect word I originally used, but 'swing' more fitting.

Then again, a new pump every 150-200k miles isn't exactly terrible either.... We'll spend more on tires in the same amount of miles

yesterday was the 'big' powerboys pull, and today was more local type guys.. Your right Dorkweed, I witnessed a fair share of fubar'd Fords, Chevys did ok, but no Mopars were harmed today! (none entered) The purpose built trucks that are reinforced to the max in the right places, pretty much were able to drive off the track... it's the trucks with license plates that bit the dust..

I'm leaning this way too Mike ^^^^^^ I'd like to interject one factor, and that's the 'shock' that may go through the pump after a good heat soak, upon restart. I'd like to think that particular cycle is perhaps the most violent in temp swings. Lets say your tank temp is 85, your pump's maxed out at 140.. fire up the engine and you are suddenly circulating (after filter contents gets pumped out) 60 degree swing downward in a minute or so. now, put this in a vehicle that's started/shut down 10-15 times a day, that's a lot of wide swings!

oh man, last night was fun! yours truly got to sit in a Lycoming powered tractor, fire it up, and crack the throttle.. my son got it on video, now I need to get it uploaded for here.

Our county fair is right now.. Nebraska Bush Pullers (easy does it Dorkweed) Hopefully we ( I'm on the board) can 'find' good hard surface We've had almost 6 inches rain this week, We'll have to skin it pretty deep with the cat!

I'll bet the guy in the ad had a lit camel in his mouth, another one behind his ear?? As for me, I'm a Conoco fleet 15w40 guy. I run it in EVERYTHING.. cars, pickups, tractors, 4 wheelers, motorcycle.. ..... I don't own anything such as my daughters' Dodge intrepid, with the 2.7 .... tiny little galleries are synthetic only.

Oh, I got 'lost' in his explanation of certain 'tuners' will cause ALL the work to be computed in the '44's computer, (creating even more heat where we don't want) while other programmers will only modify the ecm.. and not create more heat.. anyone else catch that?

heres a link to one of their articles http://www.bluechipdiesel.com/VP44INFO.html They figure a tuner will hold the solenoid shut a 'tic' longer for more fuel, which increases duty cycle, and solenoids make heat. Me, I have trouble seeing a tiny solenoid making that much.. but that's just an opinion. next, they said flow through the pump ceases when engine is off, negating a 'cool off period' with lift pump, after shut down. (this is for the guys who are considering a timer for lift pump) All I can come up with on that is the fuel travels through the vane pump... and if that is not turning, makes a pretty good shut off valve! Reading between their lines, it appears they have settled on short trip, many engine on/off cycles per day is the hardest thing on the .44 Chip is pretty 'pro' keep the pump as cool as possible WHILE it's running, and heat soaks will not be as bad... NOW, My question to everyone with an electronics knowledge: What's harder on electronics.... a constant temp, whether its hot, or cold... or many many cycles up and down????? I was taught 15 years ago to just let the ol desktop grind. frequent shut downs and heat up cycles would crack the motherboard solder... Keep it @ working temp. soooooooooo... whatcha think???

so, if we are 'returning' ~75 gallons per hour, or 2 tank turnovers, and if we are adding ~ 20 degrees everytime the tank is turned.. (better figure SOME cooling in the return) Safe to say it takes about 15-20 minutes after cold start to see returning heat to tank.... an hour trip on a hot day could see 140 fuel in the tank???

Mike, for giggles next time, throw that gun at the tank itself, or maybe the filter intake side so you can see the gain in T between the filter and overflow.. Just a shot in the dark here, but wouldn't the 'cooler' be better placed on the return side.. so we are not building a ton of heat within the tank in the first place? a little powersteering type radiator in the 'wind' should do the trick.

under my seat...is a collection of anything that's gone awol. It's a magnet for everything. This is why I refuse to buy an extended cab, cripes, I wouldn't 'make weight' with the stuff that would accumulate in a large cab! far as at least changing a tire, I'll have somewhere in the truck a good jack, shovel for when the jack won't fit under the truck, tow strap and/or chain, maybe some ratchet straps, Tools of many types are usually on-board for fixing anything around the ranch.. so usually can finagle simple fixes needed on the truck.

Some things can't be taught.. but still, must be learned (usually the hard way) ^^^^^^ is priceless!

Well, on one hand Tom, it'll still be clean and bolts wont be too bad to break loose! Hope this helps! edit, now I see you already have it on the ground.. you suppose they just impacted any ol bolt.. whether it fit or not?? I'd be kicking rocks all over!

Just another thought, is it ALWAYS heat that's causing problems?? Where's the proof that it's not? The impact vibrations within any plunger pump has to be insane. When you hold your hand on a running engines' injector line, it sure 'snaps' in your hand.. well, multiply that times 6 and anything electrical mounted directly, no matter how 'isolated' , surely is affected. heat, vibration, dirt... all foes in the electronic world. Katoom, how can you think a cooler is needed, especially when you don't even know what temps your fuel is in the first place?

I've got algae problems.. you bet! It starts in our fuels that are carrying more suspended H20 these days. I'll say it rears its ugly head on my tractors... the ones that are running balls hot all day, and are shut off, with very little fuel in the tanks.. when they cool off, it'll draw cooler moist air during the night, which of course condenses even more water in the fuel tank... I'll 'shock treat' my fuel 2x a year, and it plugs my tank filter immediately.... but haven't had problems downstream since. going on 5 years now. I was told that the algae grows along the lower part of the tank, part way up the side. (during the summer) winter rolls around, and it breaks it loose... guess what? yep, nightmare from hell. My 1000 gallon tanks are not isolated from atmosphere either, they are wheezing outside air day after day... they are above ground, in the sun. you guys are buying fuel from underground storage, and should be minimal temp swings.. great for you! It's good practice to top off the tank at the end of a long run, before it cools down, no matter what the vehicle. I'm lazy, too tired, or too far from the barrel to do it all the time! I'm in an area where humidity isn't too bad.. western guys are even less prone to this problem. As far as cooling the computer on the '44, one needs to isolate where the heat is coming from first. Heat soak from the engine, the high pressurization of the fuel itself, the computer itself??? Or all of these compounded?? I have many tractors with bosch inline style pump I CAN grab the individual lines in my hand... so I can't think the injection pressurization is building very much heat...In fact, I'd rather touch the lines before putting my hand on the side of the block! Perhaps the computer is covered too well, and that alone is holding heat? Maybe the bad heat is coming AFTER shut down ?? everything heat soaks?? besides my injection lines, the pump itself doesn't 'feel' as hot as the engine block. I'll borrow my neighbors temp gun, and point it at various spots, anyone else out there can sure report findings too!