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Zapping a gremlin
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The little truck suddenly would buck, spit and backfire. Dashboard “idiot lights” would flash on and off. The gauge needles would flip up and down.
Sometimes it would just as suddenly go back to running just fine. Sometimes when it died, you’d open the hood to look for something —anything — that caused the problem. Disgusted with finding nothing wrong, you’d slam the hood shut. And… this is the weird part: Nine out of 10 times it would crank over and run just fine. Until the next time it would go crazy.
Our resident history buff called it a gremlin — an invisible creature World War II pilots blamed for mechanical mysteries.
Everyone had a theory. A loose ground wire. A faulty ignition key. A failing fuel pump. Something loose in the carburetor or fuel filter or tank was blocking fuel flow now and again. A carburetor float sticking open. Or closed. Something breaking down in the solid-state ignition system. Maybe a vacuum leak.
One morning it wouldn’t crank because the lights were left on overnight. We had an old but freshly charged battery on the bench. To save time, we installed that and put the truck’s battery on bench-charge. Then we spent a little time fixing the loose battery mounting holder.
And from that day forward, all the problems went away.
The truck had a year-old battery, still under warranty. We brought it to the dealer for a new one. He said the manufacturer had a bad batch of battery plates slip into production. The loose battery mount allowed excess vibration that let one internal battery plate slip out of place. This turned the six-cell, 12-volt battery into a five-cell, 10-volt battery that didn’t supply enough energy to run the ignition system, the electric fuel pump and the various gauges and sensors. The dealer showed us a test for this problem. With a voltmeter in place, tip the battery and tap with a hammer. Try all the angles. If the meter bounces, install a battery you trust and then start your diagnosis.
This episode reinforced a basic rule of diagnosing mechanical problems: Start at the beginning of a faulty system, and assume nothing.
We made the most basic error in our diagnosis — we failed to start at the beginning. If a problem might be electrical, you start troubleshooting the battery, because that’s where the electricity starts. The battery looks like a solid block, but it’s got lots of internal parts, and if they move, it fails — producing a gremlin that we accidentally discovered and zapped.
John Deere Commercial & Consumer Equipment Division has announced the internal realignment of three business units: John Deere Landscapes, John Deere Golf & Turf One Source and the company’s professional mowing segment. All three entities will now reside under the direction of David Werning, president of John Deere Landscapes and now senior vice president, commercial segment, John Deere C&CE. A 30-year veteran of John Deere, Werning has held a variety of positions at the company, including a division sales manager, overseas operations manager and business development director. Gregg Breningmeyer will continue in his role as director of sales and marketing for One Source and commercial segment marketing. |
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