Sweet Victory

Do you smell that? Those are exhaust fumes, in other words the smell of victory. Some say it is napalm, but I am pretty sure it is exhaust. Today I got elbow deep into the ignition system of the cruiser and I found a crappy ground on the starter. After tightening that up and shining up every other contact point I could find the cruiser finally started. I was too stoked to get a video of the actual ignition but I got some other sweet videos so check 'em out.

Mood: 11
Optimism: 12
Needing to get out more: 8
Work still ahead of me: f-ashitload-ive

An Emotional Rollercoaster

Hey, listen I know it's been a while since we have talked, but seriously baby it's not you....it's me (sad puppydog eyes). Ok, now that we are on the same page I have some great videos for you. You know, like buying flowers for your girlfriend because you forgot to call her for a couple months. So here you go.













It makes noise but doesn't start, hopefully soon it will.

Mood: 10
Optimism: 10
Sad Puppy dog eyes: 12

Hey, a sacrifice to volvo

I have been really busy with work, so I haven't had a lot of time to work on the truck. I did manage to order a new set of plug wires though. I thought that maybe if I gave the ol' FJ40 a small gift it might start for me, similar to praying Volvo the Norse god of cars. With my twenty five dollar sacrifice to Volvo secured I hooked up th main ignition wire, no dice. The bootie on the wire that that keeps water out of the ignition coil was a bit too small and kept slipping off and certainly would not stay on while the engine is running. Thinking perhaps the Norse gods were a step in the wrong direction I muttered a small desperate prayer to Subaru the Shinto god of all wheel drive. With my fervent love for Subaru's I thought that the blessed Deity might be able to pull a few strings for me. Sadly I was mistaken, the old gods are truly dead, or maybe I need to buy a fifty dollar set of plug wires. Volvo's are pretty expensive.



mood: 5
optimism: 6
faith in old dead gods: 2.5

Let there be light

Today was a fun filled adventure involving some wires and electricity. The wires, unfortunately, are color coded. Being colorblind I find this to be quite a challenge. Crippling disabilities aside, I have been learning to use a Multimeter. It is a handy device that tells you various information about the wires you hook it to.(multimeter info). I spent a great deal of time debugging the ignition system because I feel that is where the problem lies....since the FJ40 really doesn't start, or go.

With the help of the multimeter and wiring diagram I figured out that the wiring to the starter is one of the big problems. Either I am not getting any power to the main coil, or there is something wicked funky in the main trunk of wires that I have dubbed the umbilical. I have decided to strip the electrical tape off of the umbilical to further investigate the problem.

Again, using the diagram I sorted out the lights and interior doodads. Check out the video below for more information.

Here is the time it didn't work

So with the lights mostly out of the way I should have no problem sorting out the ignition system. I wish i could convey the sound of the sarcastic exhalation I just made, it was pretty powerful. For those of you who would like to play along at home I have uploaded my wiring diagram.

If you are following this blog just because you think my dog is cute here is a picture of him in a polo shirt. He got a haircut and he was cold, so....polo shirt.

Mood: 10
Optimism: 10
Stinky Polo Shirts: 1
Electrical Prowess: 3
Happy that putting the battery in backwards didn't screw anything up: 10

Battery Maddness

I finally got a battery and i am wicked stoked. I can finally start to really figure out what is making this truck not run. The following series of videos should give you a glimpse into the glory that is my auto-mechanical prowess.














So it didn't start, but at least thats a start...I guess.

Mood: 8
Optimism: 6
Number of times shocked: 0 (whew)