One year ago today: March 22, 2020, fake calls & face masks.
Five years ago today: March 22, 2016, on building propellers.
Nine years ago today: March 22, 2012, on endothelial cells.
Random years ago today: March 22, 2014, Polish k-rations.
Living in millennial America is fixing one ornery problem after another. This may be the digital era, but the people implementing the changes are mental cave men. They have public school educations know to be among the worst in the world (and in history). They’ve never really studied history and seem to be repeating every mistake ever made—but they think it’s different because it is digital. It’s a merry-go-round and it’s probably too late for any of them to get off. One of the first things I ensure before I write any code is that I have a thorough understanding of the analog process.
Today I had the van in to find out why the fan wasn’t working. It’s narrowed down to either a broken wire or a bad PCM (our old friend, the pulse code modulator). This works off the computer, which has a harness with about 200 wires on it. If it’s the wire, that’s easy. But if not, the fun begins. You see, you cannot just take a PCM out of a similar model, it has to be specifically programmed at a Chrysler dealership and of course, they’ll be quite difficult about “updating” your file. This leaves me one choice for now. Bypass the whole computer, fuse, and relay.
This took six hours. One little wire, eight feet long. That was the day’s top event, so here goes. Start by locating an unpopulated socket in the fuse box. The only one I found with 12V was not connected to the ignition, so I had to run another wire to a switch inside the cab. I guessed wrong on the power lead to the fan and found I was out of parallel connectors. That meant a wasted hour until I finally hauled out the old club soldering iron and did the old unplug it hot and run outside. A little duct tape to keep the wiring away from things, up around the hood, past the outside mirror, and into a dongle switch just beside the air duct.
Sounds easy, huh? Nope, it involved finding robot parts and filing pins down to size. I used 22 gauge wire so it would bend around corners and stay in place. Because this is a rig-up, I had to pack all the tools needed into the van in case of trouble on the road. The shop cannot look at this repair until middle of next week. So why the priority? Because this is Florida and things like to go wrong. Murphy was from Florida. Actually, he apprenticed in Canada until he got his PhD in bothering other people, then moved to Florida.
Sony’s first product.
(A rice cooker.)
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Here’s the big picture. I have to be in Miami tomorrow for an eye test and a treadmill test. So there is no leaving the van alone. I have to meet up with Agent M around noon, see if he can fix it better, and there are some financials to go over. His son is already showing an interest in music and I am the godfather. While you can never save enough money, the act of having a plan changes the landscape if you can stick with it for around three years. For the record, Agent R has not missed a mortgage payment since that was planned out.
Next, we have news from Tennessee. It’s been a year and the Reb is understandably anxious about family. That means I am ready to head there fan or no fan on a moments notice. The switch on the fan is because it only overheats when idling, which is always caused by some other jerk when you have a fan problem. Nobody has ever explained to me why a fan can’t be left running all the time, since the temp gauge and thermostat should be regulation enough.
But, I’m not arguing with the logic, so the thermostat is my eyeball on that gauge and the switch is so that I can control it by eye. As luck would have it, that gauge is exactly in the spot that my eye is giving problems. There’s a point where anyone would begin to suspect there’s a pattern to all this. Not that a fan quits running off the computer, but that they build a vehicle where that can even happen.
