superj
Active member
what a morning. i was cruising along, heading to rockport, to check out a possible new front bumper for 50 bucks. took the scenic route through port aransas and along the coast, 0800, enjoying the lack of traffic and the cold air conditioning, you know how it is, nice.
well, i get to rockport and i am driving through town trying to find the place to meet and suddenly i notice something smells like its burning!!!!!
what the heck, smoke is filling the cabin!!!!!
i scan the gauges and notice my volt gauge is dead in the red so i flip the ac off and roll the window down while searching for somewhere to pull over. i am thinking "oh god dang! i leave for six flags tomorrow morning at 0700 and have to go to work in 5 hours and i am over an hour from the house, what is going on!"
i pull into a gas station and pop the hood. nothing fried, everything is hooked up and what is supposed to be turning is turning and stuff thats not supposed to isn't. good so far. i check under the dash and everything is good too. no fried wires, nothing hot to the touch, everything that is supposed to be there is there and the right colors. hmm, whats going on?
i check hte gauge and still nothing on the volt meter.
i decide that since i am over an hour from home and on a schedule, keep going. what have i got to lose? if i am running on the battery, any distance i go is less walking then i have to do from here, so i get in and hit the road back. no radio, no ac, no smile, enjoyable morning gone.
cruising along though, i notice none of the normal signs that you are running on battery only, the jeep is still going strong. boy am i glad i put a new batter a few months ago, maybe i will only have to walk 20 miles instead of 40.
i remember the girl i am supposed to meet so i text her and she is right up the road. i had passed the meeting point because she is not from that town and gave less then good directions.
i pull in. the jeep wasn't dying, i was almost out of gas. DOH!!
i see a blue toyota with a very good lone girl in it and think "hey, this must be her, and wow, she is a good looking girl." at least if i am stuck somewhere, i get to talk to good looking girl. i check my last text and the girl i am meeting is in a blue mazda, what?? i turn around and the girl i am meeting pulls up in a blue mini station wagon mazda looking deal with a larger friend and a back seat full of kids that are all from different dads and ethnic background.
DAMMIT!!!! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS??!!
oh well, she was still pretty and a very nice girl too. at least she was cool. no cool things you see only on tv happening here though, luckily for me. Cristina would've karate chopped me if any funny stuff happened. thank god for watching over me.
i check out the bumper and its prerunner style bumper but it won;t work. its from a pick up truck and too wide. the tabs are odd and it would've been more work then i wanted for a bumper that i am not sure i like the looks of yet. i pass.
the chick jumps in her wagon and cruises off and i fill up the jeep. i ran the ac this whole tank to see if i had a significant change in gas mileage from the compressor turning the whole time. no change. 11.8 mpg instead of 12.x that i have been getting while driving in town all the time. good for me.
i pay and jump back in the jeep and it starts right up, like always. i am cruising along thinking of what could have fried and caused all the smoke and am just driving and thinking and not really concentrating on anything in particular when i notice the oil pressure gauge and the volt meter bounce around really funny. the oil pressure has always been a steady gauge, volt meter too. they don;t bounce like the fuel gauge does. hmm, what ever happened affected both of those gauges. the clock died in the big freeze over winter and its still doing nothing and the temp gauge is still reading 1/4, like always. i wonder if that crappy paper circuit board on the back of cluster might have fried? it would explain the gauges acting all weird but then, why do i still have the temp gauge?
no idea, no idea. oh well, at least i am not walking home.
i get home and everything is running like normal, no odd sounds or strange vehicular actions. i leave hte ol jeep running and grab the multimeter and pop the hood. i check the volt meter, still reading in the red, check! put the meter on the battery and am getting 13.6 volts. look back at gauge, red. meter 13.6. hmm, gauge is bad it appears.
drove hte jeep around some more, no trouble. the volt meter works when it wants and bounces around, the oil pressure bounces around but never goes below 40 (it never read below 40 anyways). the ac is still leaving the vent at 40ish and the radio still works.
i am heading out to six flags at 0700 still. bringing along a light packet of tools though. well, more tools then i normally have.
and if you see a black wrangler on the road between san antonio and corpus with two guys and two kids sleeping under it, its probably us trying to stay cool so stop by and say hi. hopefully it doesn;t happen but we will see.
well, i get to rockport and i am driving through town trying to find the place to meet and suddenly i notice something smells like its burning!!!!!
what the heck, smoke is filling the cabin!!!!!
i scan the gauges and notice my volt gauge is dead in the red so i flip the ac off and roll the window down while searching for somewhere to pull over. i am thinking "oh god dang! i leave for six flags tomorrow morning at 0700 and have to go to work in 5 hours and i am over an hour from the house, what is going on!"
i pull into a gas station and pop the hood. nothing fried, everything is hooked up and what is supposed to be turning is turning and stuff thats not supposed to isn't. good so far. i check under the dash and everything is good too. no fried wires, nothing hot to the touch, everything that is supposed to be there is there and the right colors. hmm, whats going on?
i check hte gauge and still nothing on the volt meter.
i decide that since i am over an hour from home and on a schedule, keep going. what have i got to lose? if i am running on the battery, any distance i go is less walking then i have to do from here, so i get in and hit the road back. no radio, no ac, no smile, enjoyable morning gone.
cruising along though, i notice none of the normal signs that you are running on battery only, the jeep is still going strong. boy am i glad i put a new batter a few months ago, maybe i will only have to walk 20 miles instead of 40.
i remember the girl i am supposed to meet so i text her and she is right up the road. i had passed the meeting point because she is not from that town and gave less then good directions.
i pull in. the jeep wasn't dying, i was almost out of gas. DOH!!
i see a blue toyota with a very good lone girl in it and think "hey, this must be her, and wow, she is a good looking girl." at least if i am stuck somewhere, i get to talk to good looking girl. i check my last text and the girl i am meeting is in a blue mazda, what?? i turn around and the girl i am meeting pulls up in a blue mini station wagon mazda looking deal with a larger friend and a back seat full of kids that are all from different dads and ethnic background.
DAMMIT!!!! WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS??!!
oh well, she was still pretty and a very nice girl too. at least she was cool. no cool things you see only on tv happening here though, luckily for me. Cristina would've karate chopped me if any funny stuff happened. thank god for watching over me.
i check out the bumper and its prerunner style bumper but it won;t work. its from a pick up truck and too wide. the tabs are odd and it would've been more work then i wanted for a bumper that i am not sure i like the looks of yet. i pass.
the chick jumps in her wagon and cruises off and i fill up the jeep. i ran the ac this whole tank to see if i had a significant change in gas mileage from the compressor turning the whole time. no change. 11.8 mpg instead of 12.x that i have been getting while driving in town all the time. good for me.
i pay and jump back in the jeep and it starts right up, like always. i am cruising along thinking of what could have fried and caused all the smoke and am just driving and thinking and not really concentrating on anything in particular when i notice the oil pressure gauge and the volt meter bounce around really funny. the oil pressure has always been a steady gauge, volt meter too. they don;t bounce like the fuel gauge does. hmm, what ever happened affected both of those gauges. the clock died in the big freeze over winter and its still doing nothing and the temp gauge is still reading 1/4, like always. i wonder if that crappy paper circuit board on the back of cluster might have fried? it would explain the gauges acting all weird but then, why do i still have the temp gauge?
no idea, no idea. oh well, at least i am not walking home.
i get home and everything is running like normal, no odd sounds or strange vehicular actions. i leave hte ol jeep running and grab the multimeter and pop the hood. i check the volt meter, still reading in the red, check! put the meter on the battery and am getting 13.6 volts. look back at gauge, red. meter 13.6. hmm, gauge is bad it appears.
drove hte jeep around some more, no trouble. the volt meter works when it wants and bounces around, the oil pressure bounces around but never goes below 40 (it never read below 40 anyways). the ac is still leaving the vent at 40ish and the radio still works.
i am heading out to six flags at 0700 still. bringing along a light packet of tools though. well, more tools then i normally have.
and if you see a black wrangler on the road between san antonio and corpus with two guys and two kids sleeping under it, its probably us trying to stay cool so stop by and say hi. hopefully it doesn;t happen but we will see.
