Passed!

Yes, I passed my fitness test. A failure indication would have been Mike telling me that maybe I should give up on this whole bike racing thing. I will continue riding and racing . . .



Music please . . .

Vehicle diagnostics took a step in the direction of higher technology last night. The '85 F-150 actually has a "computer" which "controls" the fuel/air mix at the carburetor through a mixture control solenoid. In theory when this system is working, the computer sends varying voltage to the solenoid, resembling a square wave to maintain the proper fuel/air mix. When any single component sends signals outside the range the computer knows what to do with, it goes into "limp home mode" essentially dumping ridiculous amounts of fuel into the system so that it will run and make it home. We have graduated from simply whacking things with a hammer . . .


The automotive world has moved onto OBD (on board diagnostic) II, this here is an OBD I scan tool for Ford vehicles from 1981-1995. There are a few scan functions you can go through on the truck. The first is the Key On Engine Off (KOEO) . . . it is supposed to pull codes on problems current at the time of the test. We sacrificed a live chicken and continued with the rest of the instructions to perform the test. That gave us code 23 - Throttle Position Sensor signal out of range . . . uh, ok . . . we can replace that.


Done and done. A quick trip to Checker Auto and a couple screw later, we were ready to retest. This time, the test spit out the code 11 - system OK. The TPS was one of the items we thought could be suspect based on our driving around and other testing. With the KOEO test passed we can move onto the next test which is to check the ignition timing to make sure it is set properly and that it is advancing as it should. This little gem off of eBay should help a big . . .


So far, I have learned a fair bit about the truck and vehicles in general. I still wouldn't say I have a great understanding at least when it comes to fine detail, but I have moved beyond, "The truck's broke." Once we have verified that timing is what it should be, we can do the Key On Engine Running (KOER) test which will let us know everything else that is going on in the eyes of the computer. We'll find out how many of the sensors and additional emissions goodies are shot. At this point, we could go for emissions testing, but there's a decent chance we have faults in the system which cause the computer to dump in way more fuel than normal. Under said condition, we'd fail miserably.


Kind of sad that there is an entire volume dedicated to Electrical and Vacuum troubleshooting, but I think were gonna need it . . .