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zero

Toyota Advanced Member
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Everything posted by zero

  1. What happened to cheap? The average person not experienced with working on AC is not even going to pass that test unless some learning takes place. Then there is the cost of Freon. Then is the risk of losing it from a small leak after recharging (very common). Hey - I like Freon and I've been licensed to service equipment with it for years. Not the point, or at least not mine. 134A overall to the average person is a lot cheaper and forgiving overall. Nothing is different in a R12 system versus a 134A system other than some changes in the evaporator. Subsequently, some original R12 systems do not work as well with 134A unless it happens to be something a bigger evaporator is available for. I'd much prefer R12 over 134A if R12 was not so expensive. But it is.
  2. Yeah, no surprise. I already mentioned I've see some sell for $20 a can. Not exactly a "glut" at that price though. Most are $30 to $40 per can and all require a license to install if anyone cares about being legal. No such license required for 134A.
  3. I suspect if someone has a fuse problem and it is OEM wiring - perhaps the wrong fuse is being used. Note that if it is a typical fuse that measures 1/4" X 1 1/4" long - there are many different replacements. A fuse in a charge circuit ought to be time-delay. In this case with the size I mentioned - with Buss/Cooper brand - time-delay is type MDL or MDA. "Fast blow" is type AGC. "Very fast blow" is type GBB. They all fit but are quite different.
  4. Couldn't be the weight load with four tires in back. What pressure did you have it at?
  5. Where is this "glut" of cheap R12? Most I see is $30-$40 per 12 ounce can and you need a license to use it (if you want to be legal). Please steer me towards any "cheap" R12. I'd love to have some.
  6. Yes, if it does not leak back out when done. I suspect with most "repair' jobs, it does. AC leaks can be pretty elusive and just because an AC system holds a vacuum for 24 hours does not mean it will not leak under pressure. Many people have stuck their $40-$50 worth of R12 in there, just to have it gone a week later. Besides - where was the leak to start with? If the system is dead - there is obvisously a leak. Might mean the rubber hoses need to be changed anyway. Typical conversion to 134A costs around $25-$30. If you do it and find more leaks to fix, you are only out $10 worth of gas and you can buy more legally and locally.
  7. My Minicruiser is wired with #2 copper from the front isolator-relay, to the back pair of house batteries. I did not do that just for better battery charging. It is also so the alternator on the engine can "help out" the 3000 watt inverter if I am using it on a heavy load. Got a 60 or 70 amp circuit breaker on it (can't remember). Never tripped. Other then that, no tests on it. Here is one thing that surprised me though. Here is a photo of the portable gas-driven battery charger I built. 6 horse engine was first coupled to a GM 140 amp alternator. Has 15 feet of #2 copper cables with 400 amp rated alligator-clips at the end. I built this with the sole purpose of charging a small solar battery bank when badly discharged and the sun was not shining for a long time. I had some surprises. #1 - the 6 horse engine could not run the 140 amp alternator. If the batteries were half-discharged, that alternator put so much load on the engine it would just stall. So, back to the drawing board. I then removed the CS144 alternator, and stuck on an older GM 12SI rated at 67 amps. Now - hooked it again to a half-discharged bank of 8 Walmart batteries via the 15 feet of cables. Now it worked - but just barely at first. The engine almost did not have enough power to turn that alternator making 67 amps. Once the batteries got a little charge in them, it tapered to 40 amps and then there was plenty of power. #2 surprise. Once it ran for an hour, the batteries came up to 13.6 volts and stopped rising. I was perplexed. I checked voltage at the output of the alternator and it was 14.2 volts. So there was a full 1/2 volt drop from one end to the other of those cables and that when only charging at 40 amps. Math says the drop should only be 1.4% or from 14.2 volts down to 14 volts. I don't know how to account for that extra loss. The cable is very flexible welding cable and not the stiffer battery cable. I do not know if that makes the difference. So to fix the situation, I had to run a third small wire for 15 feet for "battery voltage sensing." The Delco alternator has that option. So now the alternator was sensing voltage AT the battery bank. I then ran it and voltage at the bank eventually climbed to 14.2 volts and voltage at the alternator was almost 15 volts. Point of this story is - there was a lot more voltage-drop then I predicted with math. Besides the portable charger - here are some photos of the #2 cable in my Minicruiser. About 15 feet of run with a resetable 60 amp breaker on each end.
  8. Hey - it is you that mentioned using a load-tester. Like I predicted, no test is going to keep you from complaining. I said early-on that 10 gauge can carry 55 amps in short runs. This test, with 18 feet of wire is NOT a short run. Also note that the test with the discharged battery hooked to the alternator is not just a "purely resistive" load. It is a real-world test with a discharged type 24 DC battery. It proves a discharged battery can blow a 30 amp AGC30 fuse pretty easy.
  9. Here is a test that proves that 18 feet of 10 gauge wire carried 60 amps pretty easy. If you don't believe the photos, I suggest trying the test yourself. Note that I did this first with a battery and a carbon-pile load-tester. Ran 60 amps for almost 4 minutes before the 50 amp fuse blew. Wire was warm but not hot yet. I later hooked a discharged battery via that same 18 feet of wire to the alternator on my 1988 Toyota, hooked with a 30 amp fuse. Battery was 11.9 volts at the start of the test. I started the Toyota and ran for 60 seconds and all was fine. I revved the engine up to 2000 RPM and the fuse blew. Again, if you don't like my test and don't believe it - do your own test. I hated cutting off 18 feet of wire from my 500 foot reel, just for this silly test.
  10. Not sure what you mean. What should catch fire? I have a 0-500 amp carbon-pile load-tester and use it often to test batteries and circuits. I can put a 300 amp load on my "house" battery and all that happens is it goes dead. At 300 amps - it will stay at 9 volts for around 8 seconds and then start to drop. Only "smoke" is coming out of the adjustable carbon resistor.
  11. Gasoline is not explosive in liquid form. Hopefully if you spring a gasoline leak - you will smell it before it makes a cloud of vapor if that is possible. My 65 GTO used have the carbs flood and catch fire often. In fact, many 60s GTOs with tri-power had three little round burn marks in the hood from small fires. No explosions that I heard about. Many of the old Freon alternative fix-it cans had a lot of propane in them. Seems the propane they use is odorless too. So unlike the propane in our propane tanks (in our RVs), the stuff used as refrigerant seems not to have any odor-added. Not saying it is dangerous. Can't say I've ever heard of an AC system filled with propane blowing up either. 134A is cheap - so far. I cannot find any good reason to use an R12 alternative instead of retrofitting to 134A. I've done over a dozen R12 ro 134A conversions with few issues. My 1994 Ford F250 still has its factory-charge of R12 and over 300K miles. I hope it stays in there.
  12. How are your crank-up door motors Fred? I come across quite a few people with old Toyotas with windows that won't roll up. Both of mine were bad on my 78 when I got it. I am tempted to go back and maybe buy both doors for parts, the dash, carburetor, and the distributor. 1978 is the first year for breakerless ignition and I don't mind having spares if cheap. I just stripped a 1977 Chinook and that had points. The engine supposedly ran fine when this thing came into the yard 16 years ago. I'd be tempted to salvage it but I already have three spare 20Rs that I will likely never have a use for.
  13. R12 is usually $20 a can or more (12 oz). 134A often $3-4 a can. No high-priced vacuum pump needed to do an evacuation IF you have an air-compressor. You can buy a venturi-operated vacuum pump for $20 that works off of compressed air. Works fine as long as you don't live way above sea-level. One thing to keep in mind. Old rubber AC hoses are not made for 134A and it will leak slowly out of them. Its molecular structure is smaller then R12. When systems changed to 134A, "barrier hoses" became the norm. Now all rubber AC hoses have a special inner liner to hold 134A in. Also note that I suspect 134A will soon disappear and become as pricey as R12. Buy it while it's cheap.
  14. I worked on one Dometic RV generator and that had a very common Tecumseh engine. If that is what you have, parts should be easy to get unless Dometic made a few changes. Post a photo of what you need. I might even have in some of my old Tecumseh/Lauson/Power Products parts.
  15. This thing is SO bad, even I did not buy it. I WAS going to buy it and scrap it. Decided too much work for too little gain. Nothing much work taking except maybe the 20R engine and some door hardware. I've never seen a RBR Mark 5 before. Probably a cute little rig at one time. 1979 motorhome on a 1978 truck. Nice day to be in a country junkyard though. Had a whole bunch of sandhill cranes watching me.
  16. You are certainly correct that I used the word "prove." I certainly did not say it was something I could prove via some silly Internet forum, did I? And yes, with equipment in hand, it IS very easy to prove. Again - to do so on some forum to someone like you? Not something I'd try to attempt. All you need is a Denso 60 amp alternator in a Toyota RV. 15-20 feet of 10 gauge wire, a 30 amp fuse and a run down "house" battery. Sorry, but other then the way Captain Kirk might do it by having Scotty beam the stuff up - I cannot do it via the Internet. If you do not understand Ohm's Law, it not my problem. If you do not believe Ohm's Law, it also is not my problem.
  17. Looks like one heck of a deal for someone who wants a V6. If it was a few hundred miles closer, I'd buy it just to resell it. NOT a scam. I spoke to the sellers. Pretty low price unless I am missing something here.
  18. I am not even sure where this discussion is at anymore. My comment to the original poster had little to do with full alternator output however. It was about how half the output could blow his 30 amp fuse and it very easy to send more then 30 amps down a long 10 gauge wire.
  19. ???? Hey, maybe my memory is getting like Hillary Clinton's. Just exactly where did I use the word "prove? Either you are having fantasies, or I am getting senile. Even the Electron Theory has never been "proved."
  20. On the subject of 10 gauge wire being the main charge-lead to a rear battery. Let's say it's something like a 17 foot run. And let's say a rectifier-based isolator is used. Alternator sends out 14.2 volts and sticks with that since it is what it senses. By the time that gets through the isolator and 17 feet of wire, that 14.2 volts drops to 13.2 volts and that if only charging at 5 amps. That is a p*ss-poor setup in my opinion. Who, in their right mind - would design such a system on purpose? The one variable here is where the alternator senses voltage. I guess there are ways to "trick" it and sense voltage at the output of the isolator. Then alternator output would rise to 14.9 volts and voltage leaving the isolator would at least be 14.2 volts. But now we are getting complicated. Lot easier just to wire it all correctly. I am dealing with this sort of issue right now. I built a gas-driven DC battery charger. It has 15 feet of cable but it is #2 copper, not # 10. Even so, the voltage difference between the alternator output and the batteries being charged is kind of amazing. A full volt drop and high charge rate (maybe 60-70 amps). Math said the drop should of been less. I ended up running a third wire the full 15 feet as a remote "sensing" wire. Now - the alternator charges at over 15 volts and the batteries at 14 volts.
  21. We drive a lot from our main home to the our place in the Michigan UP. We need an AWD quite often. The problem has been - near every used SUV I look at has a big engine (by today's standards). The Vibe/Matrix is one of the few that can get 29-30 MPG, so we'll see. My Chevy powered Suzuki XL-7 SUV with a 3.6 V6 can squeak out 19 MPG if I creep along at 55 MPH. More like 16 MPG in normal highway driving. I test drove a RAV-4 at a used-car dealer and it did not handle as nice as the Vibe. Also - the hood would not open, direction signals dead on one side, rear window did not work, crack in the windshield, muffler was broken off (expensive muffler too), and felt like the trans slipped a little between 1st and 2nd. Yet the dealer wanted $3200. I'm glad I found this Vibe. We'll see how it goes. Feels pretty quick to me for a 1.8 liter engine. Just before the Vibe, I found out a "little old lady" has her 2005 Subaru Outback for sale locally. I went over and looked it over. She told me she was the original owner and the car was super maintained by a mechanic she really likes. Car has no rust and only 140K miles. I drove it and noticed right-away - the check-engine light was on and the cruise-control light was flashing. When I got back, smoke was coming out from under the hood. The lady told me her mechanic says a little smoke is "normal" and it does not use any oil. Hmmm. I opened the hood and found both CV shafts to the front wheels had broken boots and all the grease was landing on the exhaust. She said "oh" and promised to get it fixed if I bought the car for $3000. I then asked about the lights on the dash. She said her "mechanic" says that because of California emissions, means nothing, but would cost $2500 to fix !! So the plot got deeper and deeper. I then drove 20 miles over to see her mechanic. Ends up he has never done anything to this Subaru since new other then oil changes. So it was due for a new timing-belt and idlers and tensioner at 104K miles and was like a time-bomb ready to go off as far as I am concerned. Also never had head-gaskets. Subaru 2.5s have head-gasket problems just like the Toyota 3 liter V6s. Usually must be done by 150K miles. Mechanic said the "California emission" problem is the need of two new converters (he thinks). Oh well. I walked away from the deal. I don't want any more big projects. At least this Toyota Vibe has no head-gasket engineering issues and has no timing belt. I find the hardest part of buying a used vehicle is getting people to tell the truth. Not so bad when it's local. Really upsetting when you drive 300 miles to look something over.
  22. When the water-pump went on my 88 Minicruiser - it wound up costing over $2000 to get fixed. The irony is - I had a brand new water-pump on-board along with a complete engine-gasket set. Breakdowns out on the road can pretty easily turn into little disasters.
  23. Thus my point about the Winnebago system working better with a relay instead of a couple of rectifiers. No voltage-drop across the relay.
  24. The 3.9 in the Dodge van I had was the same as used in the Dakota. I always heard they were gas-hogs but never owned one. The van was a conversion but with a standard roof (not raised). Also did not have a full-floating rear although it was 3/4 ton. Only had 15" tires too. It showed up here in Michigan from Texas and had zero rust. I bought it thinking of making a camper out of it. But after several "test" runs on a flat highway at 55 MPH and only getting 18 MPG, I gave up on the idea. Note the van was empty too. I took the electric bed out of the back and it had no cargo in it. Nice running rig and kind of drove like a 318. I was hoping for at least the same MPGs as my Dodge Grand Caravan AWD. but nope. So, I sold it. "Still better then my 1979 Chevy van with a 350 that was only a 1/2 ton rig and never got better then 11 MPG.
  25. Prove what? I cannot make such an attempt unless you focus on something specific. Generalizations don't work well in technical discussions. I have no idea what your point is - nor do I understand what it is exactly you do not agree with? Ohm's Law? The Hole Theory? That a 30 amp fuse hooked to a power source with 60 amp capability via a 10 gauge wire cannot blow a 30 amp fuse when hooked to a run-down battery?? If that is what you are trying to argue - it tells me you lack the level of understanding to the point that any answer will not make sense to you. Or you are just arguing because you enjoy it. As I said earlier - one case-in-point is my IH tractor with a Denso 60 amp alternator. Output runs through an amp-gauge on to the battery. 5 feet of 10 gauge wire total run. It pegs at 60 amps every time I start the tractor and does that for a second or two. Tractor has just one small 80 AH battery (not the correct battery in there). If I had a 30 amp fuse in the circuit it would blow. If I had a 30 amp slow-blow circuit-breaker in the circuit it would be fine since the surge does not last long. If you feel the need to use your truck as proof that all what I say is "wrong" - some specifics might help. "150" amp alternator is not useful. Not unless you are saying it is rated 150 amps at 3000 engine RPM and you rev your engine to 3000 RPM every time you start it. Does your factory wiring use a relay? Does it have a current limiter? Does it have a fuse or a circuit breaker? What is the total length of the wire run? What is the usual state of discharge of the trailer-battery at first engine start?
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