Return of Code 31...

[ckuske]

Gotcha!  At least this problem should be fairly localized to work on so I don't affect the main parts of the site.  I'll make backups of the files etc to be able to roll back if necessary.

And separately from this, now you and Bill have my home address as collateral with respect to being able to delete the site

[Gary Lewis]

I back it up every Sunday, so if you are going to delete it maybe wait until Monday to do it?  

Anyway, I sent you and email.  Good hunting!  

[ckuske]

Got your email, and thank you!  It will be nice to hopefully give back to all of you guys!

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks!

[ckuske]

Ok, I've been on a roll in the Bullnose world this week.

A very long and sordid story short, I got to finally start my truck for the first time since November.  I fixed all the issues in the ECU wiring harness around Thanksgiving.  It took 18 different splices to get everything fixed up.  Then, life got busy as it tends to do that time of year.    

Then Christmas Eve, my garage door broke (badly) and my truck has been held hostage in my garage while we were waiting for a replacement since the old one had to be dismantled before I could back my truck out.  

It started right up and I only drove it around the neighborhood, but it drove well.  It didn't hesitate at stops either, but I am not declaring victory yet.  Hopefully this weekend I can give it a good drive and shake it out!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Chris,
What could have happened to your garage door?
Did the track fall out of the door frame?

I've been doing carpentry/cabinets since highschool in the '70's and am having a heck of a time grasping what would keep the door closed for 2 months...

[Gary Lewis]

Congratulations, Chris!  Glad it is going well, and I hope the trip this weekend goes perfectly.  

[ckuske]

Well, it’s a bit hard to explain. I’m not sure what happened exactly to be honest.

I went to go shut it, and when the opener started, it got hung up on the track on one side, and the wire spool on the other side came free.  The door got wedged half way down, and the panels warped. It got completely ruined. My truck was in the garage and I did t want to rush the top panel of tv door falling on the bed of my truck (fiberglass on the flareside). The door even though it was wedged was making lots of settling sounds and the guy that came out to try and fix advised me to not touch anything and to board everything up.
 
All in all, a total mess. I miss the old garage doors that were simple. These new ones are complicated and since they are spring loaded, things can go badly if they fail!

[ArdWrknTrk]

I have to imagine the cable came off the sheave on one* side and got jammed up in the block.
When the door got forced down it racked in the tracks and bound up.

For anyone who works on garage doors, your first move is to take a pair of vice-grips and clamp them to the flat flange of the track, so the door can't fall any farther and hurt someone.
Either try to reverse the motor, or lift/prop the low side to help straighten it out.

Pop the arm's emergency release if the motor limiting pressure switches aren't adjusted right.
Once you get some weight off you can take a closer look and figure out what happened to the spring loaded cable that caused it to bind.
I'm glad no one was hurt, Chris, and the truck is okay too.
Sorry your old door became a casualty!

[mat in tn]

those load springs can be dangerous. getting the two ballanced can be tricky also.

[ArdWrknTrk]

The REALLY dangerous ones are the torsion springs that wind up over the door.

I've had an extension spring break in the middle of the night, at the house I had in the '80's (it didn't have a safety cable strung through the middle)
That thing went right through a stucco wall and poked out in the basement!  😳

[mat in tn]

its the torsion ones im thinking of.

[ckuske]

Yep, that's the kind I have.  The guy said that if it jams or otherwise go sideways, don't touch it.  He says everything is spring-loaded and may not behave in a way you expect.  The way he said it, I'm inclined to believe him.

[85lebaront2]

Jim, since my garage doors are actually commercial (Overhead Door) the torsion springs are inside the rolls. I realized after they were up and mounted, and I closed in the front wall that the upper mounts for the doors to the tracks weren't accessible any more. I may get up there and take the sheet metal covers off and tack the nuts to the door roll end plates.

Winding the torsion springs wasn't real fun, I made a bar to rotate the wheel on the end opposite the drive sprocket so I could tension them in increments until they ran smoothly (not quietly though).

[ArdWrknTrk]

Yeah, that's a tough one.
With the door raised at all, you can't really get at the header over the door.

Commercial units usually have a chain fall at one end, in case power is lost.
Now we have to deal with every unit having battery backup to save us, in case of a power outage!  .

[ckuske]

I took the truck for a drive this weekend.  Unfortunately the hesitation is still there (I had high hopes), but the good news besides that is when I got done driving it, I ran a KOEO and KOER and both came back completely clean.  I think my wiring changes are done for now, but does anyone have a picture how the harness is kept in place?  

Right now the harness is against the firewall as that's how it was before - it almost brushes up against the kickdown rod for the AOD.  I'm wondering if the harness is supposed to go between the block and the kickdown rod instead?  I don't think it's really impeding anything as it shifts fine.  I just need to either disconnect everything (yuck) and pass the harness through there, or figure out how to affix it to the firewall.  Thoughts welcome, or if you have any pictures of how the harness is routed/attached at the rear of the engine, that would be great!

[Gary Lewis]

Bummer on the hesitation, but goodness that everything else seems to be working.  

I don't have any pics, unfortunately.  And I just looked through the 85 EVTM and didn't find any illustrations that help either.

[ckuske]

I know I have brought this up before, but as a sanity check:  

Is there any validity in thinking this is somehow tied to my transmission or torque converter?  The hesitation is really only when the truck is in drive.

[Gary Lewis]

Remind us of how hesitation feels and when it happens?  Is it in all of the gears on the AOD?  If it does it in OD then it isn't the torque converter.

And does it do it at all temps?

[ckuske]

It only happens from a stop (1st gear).  In general, the engine is responsive throughout the throttle band.  You can gun the engine while driving normally and the engine is responsive.

It does do it at all temps, but when the truck is cold (just started) the idle RPM is higher so when you press on the gas, the hesitation is much less, or gone.  Once the engine is warmed up and the idle has dropped, the hesitation is there at every acceleration from a stop.  If you give the gas pedal a little more throttle, you can feel the engine almost "drive over" the stumble and thing will go correctly.  If you give the truck just a little bit of gas (as you normally would from a stop), you will feel and hear the engine begin to die.  If you give more gas, it will recover (most of the time) but sometimes you may be too late and it will stall anyway.

My theory (which is completely unfounded, since I have no practical knowledge in this area) is that if something in the torque converter is compromised and it is taking more work to get going from the engine, then that extra load might be causing the engine to stall. Giving the engine more gas overcomes the issue of the extra load, and is able to stay running.

I just don't know enough about torque converters or transmissions in general to answer whether this is a valid theory or not...