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The Psychotherapy for Desire have been a screaming success. She is nearly back to her normal self without a sign of post traumatic disorder. I've been busy planning her social events for July and there are many so she better not pull a nervous breakdown. So far 2 events scheduled in our home track, and a multi-day event in the high plain that is ORP. We went downtown yesterday and she was sporting the ST-35 racing pads. She squealed like a hog when the pads were lukewarm. I could almost play a tune by modulating the pedal pressure.
Desire is a socialite and cannot help to attend all these functions.
She risked her hog skin and went in town again. I wonder if the failed TMAP had the effect of Desire sometimes did not run as well. It seems she drove so much better after the sensor replacement. It could just be the cooler days that we have in both occasions.
Desire parked outside of this used car lot and there is a less fortunate Mini that has lost the freedom behind the chainlink fence
the rebate for a set of Toyo R888R arrived
We have been snapping up tires with some discount or rebate. Most of these are Toyo. But boy the R888R that was on the track for 2 days are loud on the roads as they have some feathering due to very soft compound and asymmetrical design.
For street use and occasion track days here in PNW I like the Falken Azines RT615K+.
And to think, this is the extent of my digital electronic analysis tools:
Oldie but goodie...
I even have the cheap alligator clip, but it all works.
So this got a workout today chasing down an open ground in my house wiring and my 30 min job to change an outlet turned into 5 hrs as I found my old BX had pulled out of the outlet box, I believe from the house shifting over the last 80+ years. This shifting may also caused the cable to become locked in the hole into the basement. I found the issues using this little “toy”:
I used the endoscope to look inside the wall through some small holes that will be easily repaired to confirm my suspicion Then, my fix for the tight wire was to drill several holes alongside the cable. I used the endoscope to to look in the holes to see that I had not damaged the cable and to make sure the holes were co-joined so they would relieve the pinch on the cable. It worked. Back together with the proper ground.
Now, I am wondering if this “toy” would be at all useful in working on the car?
Good find. I had been wanting to get something like this a few years back. Fortunately I didn't as the resolution was very low then. Seems they have come a long way since then and the prices are so affordable. Back then it was hard to find one for iPhone due to lightning interface.
I can see many use for working on car, assuming the video taken are decent enough. I take a grain of salt of their claimed resolution and frame rate, and especially low light capability. Monitoring suspension articulates in turns is one. Looking into cylinder bore would be another. A rattling muffler with a broken weld joint on the baffle would be another. There are countless instances that I want to look at something but had to make a production to be able to stick the head in to have a view.
Can you post a few shots of image taken from dark tight places?
The connection to my iPad is by WiFi, not the lightening connection.
There are 6 LEDs around the camera lens that do really well at lighting things up in tight places. The still pictures will be great if what I see on the iPad screen is any indication. Not so sure about video; have not tried that yet.
You cannot say we are not track focused. Another set of track soles for Desire. I think Amazon is flushing out some inventory so I got a discount better than the typical tire rebates. Now only if those for the Porsche are this cheap.
Here is my communist made inclinometer. It is not too shabby from visual inspection. I immediately put it through its pace and took some not so precise measurements. As I said before I just eyeballed the rear wheel cambers and I estimate they are about 3 degrees.
all that came in the box
it is like a short torpedo bubble level; it feel quite substantial in the hand as both edges are aluminium
I took quick measurements of the rear cambers and guess what? They both came to very close to 3 degrees. I didn't break out a straight edge to span the more precise points of the wheels as this is just a cheap and quick check. My eyeballs hold calibration pretty well, I say.
The only blemish with this inclinometer is the rubber gasket for the battery compartment just falls out when you remove the door. It is very thin and is hard to tell how well it seals the moisture out. I would not want to use it in pouring rain notwithstanding the IP65 claim.
It is amazing how cheap these great tools are nowadays.
A couple of stills. First is a bit blurry as the end of the borescope was bouncing a bit:
DEPSTECH “endoscope” (borescope) WF010 still picture
Camera was on the lowest resolution.
This second still was taken inside 2 co-joined 5/16” dia holes at the lowest resolution.
Borescope with LEDs at full bright
Thanks for sharing the stills. I infer you chose the lowest resolution because it acts like digital zoom. The object of interest would otherwise be too small to see?
I didn’t give that much thought. That was was the default setting from when I bought it....
I have a video I put together (will put it up on YouTube) where a I upped the setting (640x480 to 1280x720) and it didn’t make much difference in the resolution on the iPad. I think the camera sees what it sees and that is what is displayed on the iPad screen. The still pictures are just a snapshot of that. It seems that the resolution setting is an after thought for video recording. It didn’t even change how it was framed on the iPad, but the picture might have been a bit clearer.
Last edited by Eddie07S; 06-27-2019 at 05:42 AM.
Reason: Corrected video settings
Oh, I should say, also, that the one picture inside the holes does not do well at showcasing how good this is. That view is no where near as good as I saw before the cable moved. When the cable moved and the hole got tighter, the focal length of the lens came into play. Things were just too close and blurred out. Before that, I could see the scratches on the cable that the drill made. I tried to make up for that lack of quality with the Craftsman shot.
Not sure if it shows all that you would like to see, but it is a real world use of it in a tight and dark place. The one thing that it does capture is a change in lighting by adjusting the LED brightness. Another thing; I used it with a USB power supply battery as I had read that its battery is marginal and have used it without the spare battery. For moderately short durations, its battery seems to be fine.
The recent episode of Desire illness prompted me to reconsider getting a DSO. One has been on the Amazon's wishlist forever. It was a 4 channel 50MHz one. This time I started to look at what progress a few years bought and found that 4x100MHz ones are not that much more money. In fact they are now in the pricing sweet spot. I had this Siglent model in my sight. Soon I found an opportunity to get one with significant discount. It is "used - like new" from Amazon so I jumped on it.
It is here.
it's an open box returned unit and I am OK with that for the saving
all the accessaries are there and no sign of abuse; we call these lunch pail scopes
powering up sequences
at first glance there seems to be something wrong with the probe or the specific channel but soon it checked out
it has the looks and feels of a Tektronix that costs significantly more
here is a Tek equivalent that costs 4x and the screen is not as good and smaller which really surprises me; it however has dedicated vertical control for each channel
Of course no one needs a 100MHz scope for automotive debugging. It is very useful if you are into electronics and the light weight and compact size just makes it very nice to put it under the bonnet to do some quick debugging. It is a great buy as it cost merely $22 more than a new 50MHz model that I didn't purchase years ago.
Not sure if it shows all that you would like to see, but it is a real world use of it in a tight and dark place. The one thing that it does capture is a change in lighting by adjusting the LED brightness. Another thing; I used it with a USB power supply battery as I had read that its battery is marginal and have used it without the spare battery. For moderately short durations, its battery seems to be fine.
Thanks for taking the time sharing the video and stills. I can see at times the image is blurry owing to the fixed focal length and it's no surprise. It is a no brainer for me to get one too. I have in two occasions trying to look for a small bolt that has fallen into the abyss and only wish I had this tool to find it and fish it out.
Nice scope. I like the pretty displays on digital 'scopes, but it seems like every time I go to use one it's a learning curve to get a trace up on the screen... or dig through menus to find some kind of "autoscale" or "reset everything" function. I'm looking at you, Yokogawa. I wish they made one that ran just like an analog 'scope.
Of course no one needs a 100MHz scope for automotive debugging. It is very useful if you are into electronics and the light weight and compact size just makes it very nice to put it under the bonnet to do some quick debugging. It is a great buy as it cost merely $22 more than a new 50MHz model that I didn't purchase years ago.
I have the Rigol 50MHz one and it has been an absolute lifesaver! Being able to see the tiniest glitches or missing pulses has made debugging various machines much less frustrating - most recently checking for missed pulses on the wheel speed sensors. Enjoy!
Nice scope. I like the pretty displays on digital 'scopes, but it seems like every time I go to use one it's a learning curve to get a trace up on the screen... or dig through menus to find some kind of "autoscale" or "reset everything" function. I'm looking at you, Yokogawa. I wish they made one that ran just like an analog 'scope.
These DSOs operate very similar to a good analog scope. There is the prominent Auto Setup button at the top right hand corner so even the clueless can get a trace up quickly - unless he does not realize there is no signal.
Originally Posted by HaltCatchFire
I have the Rigol 50MHz one and it has been an absolute lifesaver! Being able to see the tiniest glitches or missing pulses has made debugging various machines much less frustrating - most recently checking for missed pulses on the wheel speed sensors. Enjoy!
For a long time Rigol 50MHz was the benchmark. I resisted countless time when the price dropped to $350 temporarily on Amazon, knowing something better should just be around the corner, and now here it is. I am very impressed of how refine it is, and the screen is so crisp. It has 14 vertical graticules and an inch bigger than the 100MHz Tek.
Similar thing happened for the second time after I retype a ton of text and upload the photos with remarks again. All vanished into thin air. Yes. It happens quite often with long posts with a lot of photos. I was quite sure I didn't accidentally highlight them that cause them to be cut and replaced. The post as it stand now does not have the debug story that I wanted to tell, but you can infer from the photos and the surviving remarks. There were two faults but only one was the cause of the intermittent no start and run/stall. Only by using the 4 channel scope were I able to catch it in the act and fault isolated it to the fuel pump relay.
I service all my vehicles and my debug and repair record had been 100% successful to date. Had I take the van to a typical service garage I have little doubt it would cost thousands and with many expensive component replaced for no reason. The total cost of this DIY repair was under $5 but with dogged tenacity.
Relying on the wiring diagram in Bentley I worked from the ECU connector pins to identify the components and circuit subsections a 80s Bosch ECU that is rather primitive
all through hole components
I found a cold solder joint but I had repair this before; it was caused by poor thermal design of the PCB that the power FET for the injectors got so hot that it melted the solder on its own pin you can see the power FETs along the back fastened to the heatsink I suspected the fuel pump relay so I removed it to perform bench tests however it tested fine on the bench and I flexed it to look for intermittent fault
the fuel pump relay and the ECU own power relay were both suspects
without a helper I rig up a monitor lamp trying to catch the intermittent malfunction
I needed to reverse engineer more of the circuits to know where to solder the flying leads as well as did as much fault finding as possible
the flying leads soldered and the ECU is ready to be connected back up for monitoring the nodes of interest
the ECU connected back up but without the enclosure ready to be connected with the scope probes
without a helper I oriented the scope so I could see it from the driver's seat; eventually I caught the fuel pump relay red handed
it was indeed the same fuel pump relay that I suspected and bench tested pass; this time I know for sure it fails rarely intermittently without a doubt so I dissect it to prove
even by dissecting it was very difficult to see the failing magnetic winding that is hair thin as it has a lot of epoxy securing the inside
here is the happier time using the scope to help develop a home made smart multi-function automotive gauge using a game joystick for user navigation
Last edited by pnwR53S; 06-28-2019 at 06:53 PM.
Reason: lost a huge amount of text and many photos while writing it
Today the idea came to me that I can play with the hybrid module of the failed TMAP sensor. May be in the process I can find the cause of failure even without a high power microscope.
Despite I chipped the ceramic substrate while removing it from the transducer plastic housing the circuit on the substrate is intact enough that I can access all the node that corresponding to the external pins of the manifold absolute pressure sensor. The T function is just a simple thermistor and it does not even enter the hybrid.
When I conducted the tests with this transducer in situ I confirmed the failure was intermittent.
the first step is to carefully determine the pin-out and the orientation of the hybrid
next I map the connections to the opposite side of the hybrid where I can observe and access the piezoelectric sensor and the ASIC
I have the three connections wired up with flying leads - +5V, GND, and pressure output; the red arrow is the ASIC die with 7 gold bonding wires all potted in a glob of RTV silicone; right of it is the piezo element cover also in RTV silicone but much softer jello like density
I use a lab power supply to provide it the 5Vdc. I monitor the current as I powered it up. There were no current being drawn. I carefully check all the connections at the mini test clips as well as at the solder joints on the hybrid and all seemed well. I also monitor the pressure output of the hybrid with a DMM and it registered nothing (no DC voltage). I thought it is likely in the stuck at fail condition. I decided to apply light pressure on the silicone of the ASIC thinking that may be one of the 7 bond wires is severed. While I could see through the translucent silicone I could not see if the welded joints are intact.
I thought it is a good chance a light pressure on the silicone potting can force it to make contact so I pressed lightly while keeping an eye on the DMM. Sure enough I read between 1 and 2 volts as I pressed on it. I tried to capture all this in a video with the iPhone. Alas I could only do this a couple of times. As soon as I tried to find out where and at what angle and pressure I could see the voltage on the DMM it ceased to output anything. It does not take much to damage the microscopic gold bonding wires on a bare die and putting pressure onto the silicon potting proved to be too much.
While setting out to play with it, I was hoping to be able to apply pressure on the jello-like silicone of the piezoelectric sensor and see the corresponding voltage changing at the output. Unfortunately the module happen to be stuck at the failed state. What this exercise told me is the TMAP sensor begun to fail at the track. The intermittent failure was not frequent initially but soon became quite ready - likely aggravated by the vibration of the engine. It is very likely the failure is at one of the 7 gold bonding wires that connects the ASIC die to the ceramic substrate.
For the brief moment when I observed the pressure output voltage, the power supply current meter showed about 3 mA of current draw, which is a reasonable number for an IC of this complexity in the era (circa year 2000).
While I am on the subject of the MAP and TMAP sensors, on R53/52 the TMAP is more critical over the MAP. The former is the one the ECU relies on to measure the manifold pressure which includes the compressed air pressure done by the SC. It exposes a greater dynamic range and transients. The latter measures the atmospheric pressure which tends to be more static (most of us live in near 1 atmosphere plus or minor a bit). However the ECU relies on measurements from both sensors to calculate the instantaneous air mass in order to determine the fuel rate.
The ASIC is to ensure every sensor provides a linear and accurate transfer function through out the intended temperature operation range. The temperature sensor on these devices (on both TMAP and MAP) just come alone for the ride. Its connection does not enter the hybrid but just a part of the packaging.
Doing a bit more reading on piezoelectric devices it occurred to me they are not suitable for use in MAP sensors. They behaves like voltage source, when subjects to pressure differential. However they are not suitable for static or slow changing pressure which manifold input (atmosphere side) and the forced induction side is as far as piezoelectric elements is concerned. The reason is the built up charge will dissipate and this will lead to decaying voltage while the pressure remain constant (or near). A most common piezoelectric device is the push to ignite BBQ ignitor. Piezoelectric transducers are also suitable for measurements that involves rapid (high frequency) dynamic changes.
There is another type of transducer more suitable for this and it is micromachined piezoresistance devices. Piezoresistor's resistance changes under pressure but since there is no charge involved the value does not change during static condition. It is also much more suitable to be configured into a bridge with resistors.
Desire's future is up in the air, literally. Will she has a future keep doing what she loves? It all depends. Next social function for her is only days away and she does not feel she is ready. Must be the PTSD she is suffering from the recent nervous breakdown at the track.
The reason Desire is up in the air is we are trying to chase down a case of very subtle and elusive knock. It only occur going over slightly uneven road surface like expansion joints. The knock is from the left side and is very hard to pin point if it is from the front or rear. For a while I thought it might be the front strut's pinch bolt has came loose. That wasn't. I then thought may be the inner ball joint is slightly worn but I do not think it should occur at 50k miles. I then thought may be it is shock knock cause by the rear Koni Yellow's top adjuster coming into contact with the chassis. While I paid a lot of attention when the left front wheel going over uneven surface that leads to the knock, it does sound it come from the rear. Strange.
The other possibility is the left rear muffler hitting against the aluminium heat shield. There is very little space between them.
I decided to remove the left rear Koni damper to investigate. If the adjuster is hitting the chassis inside the top mount there should be a little bit of mark left behind.
no shock, mom
there is no sign of the adjuster hitting the chassis inside the cavity of the top mounting perch
if one over-tighten the nut that holds the washers and the rubber bushing the shaft would be pulled up too hight and cause the adjuster to come into contact with the chassis
since there is no sign this is happening I gave the Koni a good cleaning and reinstalled it
Next I set out to try to create a bit more clearance between the left rear muffler and the heat shield. I adjusted the two hanger to lower the muffler slightly. I still cannot ascertain the origin of the light knock.
The set of Raybestos ST-47 finally arrived. It took a while and evidently Raybestos factory relocation is completed and they are back into production. The box that contain this set of front pads is huge, and the pads rattle inside. It comes in a large container which is different from all the previous orders. It was still shipped out from California like before, but soon I can infer where the factory relocated to.
a big box with the 4 pads held down by a sheet of plastic film
I went and grab the box that came with the ST-45 that I bought before the factory move; it is the smaller box on top; note it was made in USA while the new pads I just received was made in Mexico
Also the texts in the round box has changed from "fromulated & pressed in USA" to "formulated & pressed in North America"
So there you have it. Raybestos relocated their brake pad factory from US to Mexico. That was the reason for the months of back orders.
06-25-2019, 03:57 PM
