From: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net (diesel-benz-digest) To: diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Subject: diesel-benz-digest V1 #687 Reply-To: diesel-benz-at-digest.net Sender: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Errors-To: owner-diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Precedence: bulk diesel-benz-digest Thursday, December 20 2001 Volume 01 : Number 687 Forum for Discussion of Diesel Mercedes Benz Automobiles Derick Amburgey Digest Coordinator Contents: from ditches to Diesels... Re Glow Plugs and Battery RE: Re Glow Plugs and Battery crosswind susceptibility RE: crosswind susceptibility Feb 2002 issue of Four Wheeler Diesel Benz Digest Home Page: http://www.digest.net/diesel-benz/ Send submissions to diesel-benz-digest-at-digest.net Send administrative requests to diesel-benz-digest-request-at-digest.net To unsubscribe, include the word unsubscribe by itself in the body of the message, unless you are sending the request from a different address than the one that appears on the list. Include the word help in a message to stag-digest-request to get a list of other majordomo commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 21:39:07 -0800 From: john Subject: from ditches to Diesels... re: flooding caused by paving contractor disturbance of a 20 year old culvert... met with a number of folks today about the flooding problem that eroded the wife's garden, our driveway, field and undermined the concrete slab on my carport/shop... seems that everyone agrees that the paving contractor created the problem by messing with the culvert. He shouldn't have, had no reason to and claims to have done nothing that would have created the problem, even threatened me if I called him again. (a variety of pictures and movies at: http://www.wagoneers.com/tmp/hillside-flood-Dec17-2001/ for you high speed connection types, all the jpgs in one html file: http://www.wagoneers.com/tmp/hillside-flood-Dec17-2001/ALL-jpgs.html http://www.wagoneers.com/tmp/hillside-flood-Dec17-2001/concrete-bridge.jpg the box the paving contractor installed is at one of the high points on the drive and serves no purpose... all the folks that look at it ask, why was it put there? nothing runs into it... turns out it allowed water to come up under pressure and flow into our garden, down our hill and even eroded under the pavement... http://www.wagoneers.com/tmp/hillside-flood-Dec17-2001/drainproblem.jpg you can see the carport off to the right down the hill, and further over the top of my neighbor's barn... http://www.wagoneers.com/tmp/hillside-flood-Dec17-2001/drainproblem2.jpg ) - ------------------- Went over to my neighbor's farm and worked on his little Diesel Tacaguchi or whatever it's called, tracked excavator... it wouldn't start... they've been trying for a week... I need it to excavate that messed up culvert... so I drove down in the WJ with tools in back and some serious rubber boots. The mud down there was ankle deep. :) I felt like I was in Elbonia. (a mythical country that is part of the Dilbert cartoon strip) :) Troubleshot the systems, it's a little Yanmar 3 cylinder Diesel, one glow plug on the air intake. Glow plug checked out good, and so did power going to it. Had fuel going into the pump, but none coming out of the injector lines... so we started talking about a shutoff solenoid... All I could find was a cable going to the back of the pump that appeared to go to a solenoid... pulled it off, moved the lever and it lit right off. :) Of course my neighbor, who is 70 years old, wasn't interested in the idea of driving it around that way... in order to shut it off he'd have to hop off, "run" around back, lift up the engine cover, reach behind the injection pump and turn it off... So he's chasing parts tomorrow. I thought about taking the solenoid and little gear box apart... but my experience with such systems, like a tailgate motor or rear wiper gearbox, has been less than enjoyable, and standing in 5 inches of gooey mud makes it difficult to retrieve parts and tools... so... we'll see how long it takes him. :) It's a good thing I had Quadradrive on the Grand Cherokee... I could tell it was working... :) that mud was deep... and made worse because of the flooding... I was directly below my shop... :) My neighbor pointed out that a lot of my runoff debris was all the way across his field... Of course I also had to dodge a few llamas... they didn't just move out of the way coming down either... :) should have looked for some of the parts I was looking for to fix my daughter's car... they were on my bench before it got toppled over and washed down the hill... :) Hopefully we'll see a few dry days later this week and we'll get the part to fix the little backhoe, open that culvert back up and connect those two pipes properly. Then figure out what to do with the rest of the carport. We measured 3.5' of concrete hanging out in free space... holding up part of the carport even. I may just cut a groove along the edge just past my support posts and then try to fill and support that over hang, if it does break off it'll hopefully snap clean. The other thing I'll have to do is sink some posts to hold the roof up off of the slab. It's that or tear the whole thing down and break up the slab and start over... :( I just had it all set up nicely too... it was clean and organized... It took me all summer and many loads to haul parts and scrap metal off... :) I should join packrats anonymous... :) Actually, I shouldn't do any repairs on it until I talk to an attorney... :( the repairs could run into the thousands if I have someone else do it... (read: do it correctly ;) Which is what I should do, I didn't create this mess... and punitive damages would seem appropriate in this situation because of the threat he made. We'll see... I just want my yard and drive and carport back to normal... I didn't ask for all this trouble... My insurance company is going to contact all county paving to see who their insurance company is... haven't heard back from the adjuster, but we did expect an interesting conversation. :) The state confirmed that there is nothing they can or will do. They route the runoff into a 12" culvert at the top and it's our problem from that point on. Unlikely that any permits were issued for the job. Not much I can do other than complain to the better business bureau and talk to an attorney... :( One sort of good thing is that we won't be parking the WJ in that carport until it's solid again... which works out good as I bring home the '77 Cherokee on Sunday... I'll park it in there because it'll hold up the carport and I'm not worried about it as much... :) thanx for all the ideas and suggestions... While the damage is expensive and a pain, it could have been worse... I just want to get that culvert fixed and the driveway regraded right away... then I'll figure out what to do with my shop... john - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.WAGONEERS.com/ Snohomish, WA - where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... jesus, don't leave life without him, please! - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 21:05:19 +0200 From: "Matthew and Kristl Kirk" Subject: Re Glow Plugs and Battery I'm afraid I don't know much about the old style glow plugs, but a good battery is definately necessary for good starting. Mine is okay in summer but can't handle cold temperatures, (sometimes -18 degree's C). So I'm curious. Does anyone know what is the correct amp rating, I am told 88 - 120 amps is sufficient? Also what does cold start charge mean and what is a decent cold start charge rating? Matt MB 100 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 12:46:34 -0800 From: "Dan Jacobs" Subject: RE: Re Glow Plugs and Battery What year of MBZ diesel are we talking about here? I forgot. The battery is _THE_ thing to have in excellent condition in the cold weather, everything starts with it: Glow plugs, starter, and don't forget, the starter is also (by extension) running the fuel injection pump when starting, and weak battery = not enough heat from the glow plugs, not even engine speed, and not enough fuel pressure for starting. > I'm afraid I don't know much about the old style glow plugs, but a good > battery is definately necessary for good starting. > > Mine is okay in summer but can't handle cold temperatures, (sometimes -18 > degree's C). So I'm curious. > > Does anyone know what is the correct amp rating, I am told 88 - 120 amps is > sufficient? > > Also what does cold start charge mean and what is a decent cold start charge > rating? Is that the same as Cold Cranking Amps (CCA)?? Diesel Dan http://DieselD ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 20:05:54 -0600 From: "Alec Cordova" Subject: crosswind susceptibility OK. Is it just me, or is everybody's W124/W124c quite noticeably affected by crosswinds? I love my 89 300CE, but I fear that the definite push from crosswinds is simply a result of the steering/suspension geometry that I otherwise am so fond of. Or do I again need to start budgeting for major suspension rubber replacment (had an 85 300D before this, and we all know what happens to their front end over time). Been kind of windy lately, and I'm just wondering. Regards, Alec Cordova Taylor, Texas 95 C280 89 300CE ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 21:30:51 -0500 From: "Menefee, Dennis" Subject: RE: crosswind susceptibility My 124 and 123 are pushed by crosswinds. But I though it was just me as everyone says I'm overly sensitive to it. Dennis M. 78 240D 92 300D 2.5 Turbo ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 23:36:53 -0800 From: john Subject: Feb 2002 issue of Four Wheeler Just got the latest issue of Four Wheeler, look at that, the WJ is the FWOY for 2002. :) (they still haven't put a Diesel in the states in either the ML or the GC... :( I'm enjoying our '99... soon to be "hers", as my '77 Cherokee shows up Sunday. Hopefully that'll hold me until SuperDawg is done... not sure when that will be right now... :( And WHO is that guy on page 28 in picture #11 anyway? ;) Totally unnatural for three reasons: 1) he's on the wrong side of the Jeep 2) is that a MAP??? (what were you thinking??? sheesh... ;) 3) he's not holding a camera (or a reuben ;) The only battle of the bulge we're fighting richard is in our midsection... :) Nice pictures... I didn't realize Patton was buried there. Didn't he die in Heidelberg or was it Frankfurt? Interesting that he'd be buried there. One of my uncles (still alive) marched across Europe with Patton. - ------------- BTW, Beware of the latest virus coming in the form of a Christmas animation: http://update.internetweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eFS30BihTo0V30BEmu0Ax - -------------- later, john meister ----------------------------------------------------------- john-at-wagoneers.com http://wagoneers.com '99 Grand Cherokee Ltd (WJ) - http://wagoneers.com/WJ '83 J10 stepside (SJ) - http://wagoneers.com/SuperDawg '77 Cherokee (SJ) - http://wagoneers.com/FSJ/rigs/johns-77-cherokee (son's collection: '67 J-3000, 67 Fairlane, 68 Montego) trailers: '74 datsun longbed, building '75 J10, selling '54 Chev stepside bed... http://wagoneers.com/johns-vehicles.html Snohomish, WA, where Jeeps don't rust, they mold... ----------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of diesel-benz-digest V1 #687 *********************************