1986 Toyota MR2 - an uncontrollable evacuation of the bowels

[jimi]

Resistance seems pretty high at 92/3 ohms I'd be expecting much lower, did you check the continuity again after giving it a decent run ? as you say 2A seems pretty reasonable for it running open ended.
Be careful running oil through it, most oils are electrical insulators (not what you want in a brush motor as I'm sure you know) also if its a genuine Mr T pump then according to the BGB diagram the outlet has a built in PRV and a check valve so no point in spraying anything into the outlet, the brushes appear to be at the opposite end of the pump to the impeller.

[qilin]

I would agree with jimi as regards the high resistance. Your thought on the crusty commutator was my first thought, but looking at what you posted my second thought was there is a capacitor on the motor which will produce similar results.
Should be easy to check as to which is correct.

[Sweetpea]

Sorry for my terrible dereliction to duty and failure to reply to my thread. I've been itching to type something for a while but have been tied up creating content for the excuses thread.

I have to admit that I hadn't thought of blowing some oil / contact cleaner / WD40 into it. That's genius. I'm not a great fan of WD40. Well, I am, I use loads of it. But as a solvent and protector. I don't subscribe to the idea that one squirt will fix anything including athletes foot.
In fact there is a standing joke here at Sweetpea Towers where someone says "The door is squeaking"
Someone replies "We need some WD40."
And the whole household rolls their eyes and shakes their heads slightly because that's what I do. Except the butler, he's just no fun.

Contact cleaner... That I could go with. I might just have some.

Sadly jimi is correct in that there is a non return valve in the outlet of the pump. *** I guess that's what stops the rail pressure draining back into the tank. Anyway, nothing is going back up that hole so the only access is through the impeller. And I think it's also true that the brushes are in the opposite end of the pump to the impeller. I can squirt some in and it'll either work or it won't. Doubt it'll do any harm.

The other thing I need to say is about that resistance measurement. That was taken as I kicked the pump round manually. Depending on how I rotated the pump I was getting anywhere between 110 ohms down to about 10 ohms. That fits with the 'crusty commutator' theory because a clean part where the brushes had been sitting would give me a low resistance and the crusty parts would give me a higher one.
I do need to remeasure it now it's run for a while because if I've still got fluctuating readings and it won't become consistent then the pump is probably junk. That would mean a new pump and I'd have to fire the butler to pay for it.

Thanks for your comments though, it's definitely been food for thought.

James

Edit
*** I tested this by sucking through the pump and getting a lung full of petrol fumes. I then coughed, did a dragon impression, and set fire to the waste bin. You'd think at the age of 50 something I'd know better and get the footman to suck through the pump.

[jimi]

I spent many years working with large DC motors (1000hp+ 3.5 tons) after changing brushes, we used bedding stones to clean/bed in the new brushes. The stones are made(usually) from pumice stone dust which is (gently) abrasive. You apply the stone to the comm in front of the brush and the rotation carries it under the brush, cleaning the comm and shaping the brush.
If you could somehow get it into the motor it would certainly clean the comm, but I can't think how you would achieve it.
I agree with your diagnosis of the resistance readings, even 10 ohms is high. Contact cleaner might work if you could run the motor at the same time. Also agree with your assessment of WD40, has its uses for some things but is very poor for others not much use for your situation IMO.

[jimi]

Aug 14, 2022 12:35:40 GMT Sweetpea said:

Edit
*** I tested this by sucking through the pump and getting a lung full of petrol fumes. I then coughed, did a dragon impression, and set fire to the waste bin. You'd think at the age of 50 something I'd know better and get the footman to suck through the pump.

You must be a "Guards" fan

[qilin]

As I said before your problem is one I had many times as I was a double digit car/project owner. I lost a OE fuel pump which was £500 at the time. Because of this I came up with a number of fixes for the problem.

Sell, scrap or give away cars. This works very well, less cars less problems.
Drive the car, I drove a 30+year old car for two years without an issue.
Remove the pump (if car is off road indefinitely) I checked a pump I took out 3 years ago which I used the process of cleaning and then filling with a "WD40 type oil". Checked it because of this thread and no problems with it.

There is a solution that I would use if I was in your position and facing the cost of an expensive replacement. I have not tried it out yet so it is untested but you could try if you are at the point of getting rid of it. I may have a pump to try it on as I have one car that has not moved for 4 years.

[Sweetpea]

Aug 14, 2022 15:35:12 GMT jimi said:

You must be a "Guards" fan

Pratchett?
If so, actually no. Strangely, and to the surprise of most people that know me, I never quite took to the Pratchett books. I don't understand why and I've always found it faintly annoying because everybody else tells me how good they are.
Another writer that I should love and can't get to grips with is JRR Tolkien. I think I got about a 6th of the way into the first Hobbit book and decided that I'd die of boredom before I got another 6th done.

It's not all bad from a literary point of view. I did fall in love with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (a trilogy of four books by Douglas Adams). And the radio series, and the film. But the TV series was a bit rubbish sadly. Anyway Douglas has such a sideways way of describing things that it's hard not to be sucked in.

So there we have it, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, two writers sadly taken from us before their time.



Er, fuel pump... Hopefully I'll get a chance to run it up and do some measurements on it next weekend. Then I'll do 'something' with it and put it in storage for the winter. It'll be an interesting experiment if nothing else.
I do intend to use the car on a reasonably regular basis. Indeed I was using it before I cut the wing off it. It's just that life has got in the way of welding it back on. I really need to retire. This working for a living really gets in the way of having fun.

James

[teaboy]

Aug 14, 2022 23:16:49 GMT Sweetpea said:

I did fall in love with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (a trilogy of four books by Douglas Adams). And the radio series, and the film. But the TV series was a bit rubbish sadly.

Not wishing to sound pedantic, he lied, the trilogy is in five parts with the final volume being 'Mostly Harmless'

I love the books and even forced them upon my youngest daughter as bedtime stories after having had to read the Harry Potter series to her.

I didn't mind the TV series, if I'm honest.

[jimi]

I've been a fan of both for a long time Quite surprised your not a Pratchett fan, this

then coughed, did a dragon impression, and set fire to the waste bin. You'd think at the age of 50 something I'd know better and get the footman to suck through the pump

could have come from a "Guards" novel, sounds like something Sam Vimes ( whose wife Sybil is a dragon breeder) could have said
Sir Terry can be bit marmite, he either strikes a chord right away or doesn't do anything for you, I was hooked 2 minutes after I opened The Colour of Magic back in 1985, Adams was a bit earlier IIRC. As you say both gone far to soon

[jimi]

Apr 6, 1975 21:34:24 GMT teaboy said:

Not wishing to sound pedantic, he lied, the trilogy is in five parts with the final volume being 'Mostly Harmless'

To be even more pedantic the description changed as the novels were released so your both correct

The novels are described as "a trilogy in five parts", having been described as a trilogy on the release of the third book, and then a "trilogy in four parts" on the release of the fourth book. The US edition of the fifth book was originally released with the legend "The fifth book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy" on the cover. Subsequent re-releases of the other novels bore the legend "The [first, second, third, fourth] book in the increasingly inaccurately named Hitchhiker's Trilogy". In addition, the blurb on the fifth book describes it as "the book that gives a whole new meaning to the word 'trilogy'".

[jpsmit]

Aug 14, 2022 23:44:09 GMT teaboy said:

Aug 14, 2022 23:16:49 GMT Sweetpea said:

I did fall in love with the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (a trilogy of four books by Douglas Adams). And the radio series, and the film. But the TV series was a bit rubbish sadly.

Not wishing to sound pedantic, he lied, the trilogy is in five parts with the final volume being 'Mostly Harmless'

I love the books and even forced them upon my youngest daughter as bedtime stories after having had to read the Harry Potter series to her.

I didn't mind the TV series, if I'm honest.

OTOH the movie is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

[Sweetpea]

Aug 15, 2022 18:12:08 GMT jpsmit said:

OTOH the movie is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

Oh interesting, I quite liked the film. I mean it was a shock to see that Ford Prefect had changed colour since the early 80s and that Marvin was a totally different shape. But once I'd got past that I thought it was ok.



Not wishing to risk coming over as a bigger pedant than jimi and teaboy but it doesn't end at book five. May I present to you "And Another Thing... Part Six of Three".
Apparently there were comments that 'Mostly Harmless' was a bit dour and Douglas wanted to wrap up the series with a final book. Inconveniently Douglas died before writing it, a state of affairs well known to cause writers block. So the book was actually written by a chap called Eoin Colfer whom I'd never heard of.

So there's the question, should 'And Another Thing...' be considered part of the Hitchhikers Guide? Is it any good? Is it a worthy final chapter? You'll have to make up your own mind.
I have the book, I've read it, it lives on the shelf next to the other five parts of the trilogy.
One things for sure, not everybody was happy. Arthur Dent was apparently angry at the news that he had been brought back from the dead. It says so in Wikipedia so it must be true.

[nickwheeler]

Anybody who thinks the film is bad should read And Another Thing - the sixth book in the trilogy which exists only to make film seem better. That is the only reason it exists, given just how terrible the book is.

[teaboy]

Aug 15, 2022 21:35:09 GMT nickwheeler said:

Anybody who thinks the film is bad should read And Another Thing - the sixth book in the trilogy which exists only to make film seem better. That is the only reason it exists, given just how terrible the book is.

I ignored it for a long time before I eventually bought it.

I just couldn’t get on with it and it remains, somewhere on a bookshelf, semi read.

I have gone back to ignoring it again.

I’m not a fan of the film either.

[glenanderson]

I always thought that “Mostly Harmless” having Arthur and Fenchurch getting separated was a real shame.

That said, I loved Douglas Adams’ writing and humour.

I’m another Pratchett fan, starting with a random rainy day purchase of “Mort” in a Crayford newsagents, around 1988.

Milligan and The Goons are another favourite.

[jimi]

Aug 15, 2022 23:00:51 GMT glenanderson said:

Milligan and The Goons are another favourite.

When I was growing up it was well into the sixties before we got a TV, before that the radio was always on. Sundays was a favourite day, The Navy Lark, Round the Horn, The Goon Show, The Clitheroe Kid, to name a but a few, also remember I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again (look up the cast list), Dick Barton, Hergé's Adventures of TinTin and many more shows that I listened to every week. Later on I graduated to listening to Radio Luxembourg while I was doing my homework and even later listened to HHGG on the radio

[westbay]

The Navy Lark {sigh} - "left hand down a bit " ...

[Sweetpea]

We start todays post with ‘Fuel Pump News’ your One-Stop-Shop for news about the, er, fuel pump…

It sat in the tank for a couple of weeks doing nothing and yesterday I hooked the battery to it to see if it still works.
It still works! So that’s good news. I ran it for a couple of hours to, hopefully, clean it up a bit more.


Part of the new plan was that, while the tank is off the car, I can sort out a few rust spots on the floor pan.

Nothing serious, we’ll knock this off lickety split.





It’s just a few spots where the sealer has chipped and water has got underneath.
The first stage is to attack it with a knotty cup brush in the angle grinder. That cuts back the loose rust and takes the sealer off. The only slight problem is that it turns the sealer into something like candy floss. Not as tasty though. It’s a bit gritty.
Once I’d found the edges of the rusty bit I cleaned it up with the Powerfile fitted with a very tired belt.





Then a couple of coats of Hydrate 80 to take care of any remaining rust.





At some point in the near future I’ll get a coat of paint and some more sealer on it.
Easy eh? Let’s move onto the next one…





Hang on, that’s a hole!
A hole in my floor pan!?
Nah, don’t worry, it’s only a hole on this side. It won’t go right through. It’ll be pristine if we look at the inside.





OH MY GOD! IT’S GONE RIGHT THROUGH! IT’S A HOLE ON THIS SIDE AS WELL!

I’m forced to resort to quoting Victor Meldrew and say “I don’t believe it”. It’s an ’80s Toyota. Who’s ever heard of an ‘80s Toyota rusting?
The real problem is that I’ve totally run out of that fibreglass body filler stuff that you use to bog up holes ‘80s cars. If I can’t use the proper stuff I’m going to have to do a bodge job, cut out the hole and weld a new bit in.
“Cut out the hole”? Is it actually possible to cut out a hole?

Anyway…





Rusty bit removed, new bit nearly ready for the very hot glue gun.
And I agree, I could have cut a bigger piece out and sorted out the back side of that bracket that caused all the trouble in the first place. But the reality is that I didn’t. What really needs to happen is that I need to take the bracket off bottom of the car and sort it out properly. But that’s definitely not happening now ‘cos if I fall down that rabbit hole I’ll be too old to drive the damn thing before it’s done.

Oh and there’s another three holes to do so plenty more practice.

James

[jimi]

Your images on here have the OBJ icon next to them as well, must be something to do with your uploads

[Sweetpea]

Can you take a screen grab? I'm not seeing that.
To upload them I'm just dragging them onto the post so they are hosted on RR.