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It was the infamous Toyota Fuseable Link. I don’t know about other manufacturers but Toyota have a fuseable link in the loom. On the older cars it carries the entire load of the car except the starter (I think even the alternator runs through it). It may actually be a collection of links feeding different circuits on some cars. Anyhoo, it’s the last defence against some idiot causing a massive electrical fire and they rarely need replacing. On the NX it, or at least the one I blew, is apparently 127 Amps and is buried deep in the bottom of a fuse box under the bonnet. Basically as inaccessible as possible. I had guessed that there would be a link somewhere on the car and had tried to find it at the back where the battery is. I’d never have found it in the bottom of a fuse box at the opposite end of the car. The other thing that surprised me is that something pulled a couple of hundred amps, blew the link and didn’t expire. Hmmm, Impressive. Oh and my home made jump leads clearly have some kahoonas to pass that sort of current without blinking. James Mr T always does a good job of hiding the fusible link, just look at where they are on the MR2's Even having the electrical drawings doesn't really help in locating it, its shown as a component in circuit, but the location isn't. The SCCR of the link will be very low, so the high current would only exist for a very short time, possibly only milliseconds, not long enough to trouble your jump leads. Well done by the circuit designers, the fuse did its job Great it was only the fuseable link but why make it so difficult to access it? Surely not just to get their dealers work?
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jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,814
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No idea why Mr T makes it hard to find. I spent quite a while tracking down the one on my MK1, it wasn't easy to find. The MK2 one was easier because I knew where to look. As James said it's very rarely they blow so I can't really see it being a money making exercise, they wouldn't make much out of it no doubt it's positioning made sense to someone for some reason
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Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
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I think I was lucky that I didn't kill an ECU somewhere but, yeah, you have to appreciate the amount of work that has gone into protecting all this stuff from being reverse powered. Clearly some huge currents flow when you get the leads the wrong way round though. The problem with that is that it's hard to predict where currents will flow even in the best protected equipment. I wonder if it's those unpredictable currents that kills the ECU's when they fail. In one of the places I used to work we had several Nakamichi cassette machines. We used to do full scale generator tests so dump the incoming mains and see if the diesels would start and take the load. Something about that particular dip in the mains for that particular length of time would set up some funny currents in the machine and blow one particular transistor. Nothing else blew it. Just the generator tests. And not always, just sometimes. No idea why. We just got good at fixing them. Wonder why we never thought of running round and turning the machines off before the tests. blackpopracing , as glenanderson says they just had to refit the stuff I removed. It wouldn't have taken long but it's another job they had to do. Sorry for the confusion. Interestingly when I first wrote that line I realised that it could be misinterpreted as 'the brakes were damaged and needed new parts' so I decided to rewrite it. Either I totally forgot to rewrite it or I did a crappy job of it. Strange. James
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As James said it's very rarely they blow so I can't really see it being a money making exercise I've had at least one Toyota in the fleet all the time I've been driving. My parent's had them from the early 80's. My aunt had them from the mid 80's and still has a Yaris. My sister has had a few. In all those cars we never had one of these links blow. Until now... I suspect Toyota don't really think of them as a service part so they get hidden away where ever is convenient. I don't actually know where it is on the MR2.
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jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,814
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We used to do weekly E/gen tests offshore, basically the same way you described, dump the feeder breaker and record the time for the the E/gen to start and go online. There were a couple of pieces of equipment that always misbehaved during this, we learned fairly quickly to power them down before doing the tests. I know of a few instances of fusible links blowing on MR2's, mostly due to reversed jump leads or the wrong type battery (opposite orientation of battery terminals) I think your probably correct in your assessment of Mr T's reasoning. The MR2 MK1 fusible link is here Linky
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Last Edit: Jan 9, 2022 0:11:51 GMT by jimi
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
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Mitigation implementing something forwards going something? I have a plan. I’ll tell you in a coupe of days. Is it a cunning plan? As cunning as a fox who’s been appointed Professor of Cunning at the University of Oxford? Or maybe I should just pretend that I’m mad. Right, here we go. I’ve bought this.  It’s a CTEK battery charger that can be left plugged in and will keep the battery topped up. After the battery is topped up it switches to float and then, after a few days, pulse charging This will live in the garage and a wire pokes through a convenient hole in the wall. Also, outside, on the garage wall will be a waterproof switch to turn the charger on and off. You aren’t supposed to disconnect it with the mains on. I suspect the little plugs aren’t rated for breaking the full charging current. In the boot of the car there is now this little doofer which is connected across the battery (via a fuse).  It has three LEDs that flash occasionally to show the state of the battery. It’s a bit tight there so next weekend I’ll reposition it slightly. The plan is that if the car is standing for more than a week or so it’ll get plugged in and left on the charger.  With a bit of luck there’ll be no more flat battery, no need to jump start it and no chance of me blowing it up again. I merely have to remember to unplug the damn thing before driving off. What are the chances? James
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jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,814
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I have one of those for the MR2, set up the same way (except its all in the garage) had it for a few years now, works great Mine is a slightly different version
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Last Edit: Jan 9, 2022 22:27:09 GMT by jimi
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
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Hopefully less chance than with my setup. I have a float charger screwed to the wall behind the car, and wired to the permanently live pins in the 12S towing socket. The number of times I've driven away, ripping the poor charger from the wall, including on one occasion breaking the PCB the charging lead is soldered to. I keep meaning to include a 'weak link' in the cable to prevent this... CTEK do another charging socket which may be of interest - you may be able to mount it somewhere more prominent and still look relatively neat. (This is on my BX, where it is the perfect size for an existing blanking plate).
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Sometimes, others may not understand why you like a car so much. Sometimes, you may not even understand why you like a car so much. But none of that matters; all that matters is that you like the car, and having it makes you happy.
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Feb 12, 2022 22:16:43 GMT
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Well, It’s been a while. Where have you all been? The CTEK charger is doing its stuff. The battery hasn’t gone flat although, to be fair, I’ve been using the car a bit recently. And most importantly I’ve not driven off without unplugging it yet. I’m calling that a win. Anyway, today I thought I’d service the lawn mower. Bear with me ‘cos this is going to be more interesting than it sounds. You have to understand that the landscaped gardens here at Sweetpea Towers take a bit of cutting. Initially I bought the gardener a pair of shears but he said he couldn’t manage being on his knees all day. Being a benevolent land owner I bought him one of those push mower things. The new gardener demanded something with an engine. So I decided to service the mower. Start by changing the oil. Yeah - changing the oil in a lawn mower. Strange idea isn’t it. Normally I treat mowers as having a total loss oiling system. You just wait for the old stuff to be burned or leak on the floor and then just fill them up. But this one doesn’t seem to use any oil. It’s been half full on the dipstick for as long as I can remember so I thought I’d change it. I took the sump plug out, oil dribbled forth and then stopped.  Well that’s not half a sump full. The drain hole must be blocked. Give it a poke. No. It’s not blocked. The sump is empty. So I wiped the dipstick and dipped it again. Half full. WT actual F? The sump plug is out and the sump is empty but the dipstick says it’s still half full. Here’s the filler and dipstick assembly.  Nothing strange there. It’s screwed in a hole in the top of the sump pan. This hole…  Now this is an interesting feature. The hole marked by the red circle is where the oil goes as you fill it. The other end drops into the oil pan. But the hole is not in the bottom of the filler opening. It’s halfway up so the filler opening has its own tiny sump (yellow arrow). The dipstick sits in this mini sump. The main crank case can be completely dry and the dipstick will still measure half full sitting warm and cosy in its own little sump. At least the dipstick stays well lubricated. Idiots. James
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Feb 13, 2022 11:45:46 GMT
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Sounds like a great way to sell more lawnmowers! 😳
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Feb 13, 2022 12:11:12 GMT
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Sounds like a great way to sell more lawnmowers! 😳 Ah….. you cynic (realist)! Just as well you decided to “change” the oil James, but in line with your earlier remarks, just topping it up would have done nearly as well! Suggest picking a new point on your dipstick that is above the weir…. My old Honda has a similarly unhelpful arrangement, but that has an early warning arrangement. When it stops smoking I know it’s nearly empty. It’s 40 years old and hasn’t missed a season. I like to get full value from my machinery….. Nick Nick
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Last Edit: Feb 13, 2022 12:12:08 GMT by vitesseefi: Unscrambling auto-scramble!
1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend) 1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing) 1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
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Feb 13, 2022 12:14:25 GMT
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I seized a Briggs & Stratton 12.5 hp engine several times, which would free up when it cooled down. It was like that for several years, until one day it snapped the Conrod instead. Strangely, cooling down didn't fix that.....🤔
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Feb 13, 2022 23:44:32 GMT
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My old Honda has a similarly unhelpful arrangement, but that has an early warning arrangement. When it stops smoking I know it’s nearly empty. It’s 40 years old and hasn’t missed a season. I like to get full value from my machinery….. Nick Nick That sound like the legend of telling how a landrover is out of oil. "it stops leaking" That doesnt seem to be the case with a spare RRC v8 i have sat on a shelf though, its a dry bare block and yet there is still an oil stain underneath it.
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Feb 14, 2022 14:24:00 GMT
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That sound like the legend of telling how a landrover is out of oil. "it stops leaking" there's a tenuous link between land rover and lawn mowers. qualcast (iron foundry) made the cylinder heads full circle. you're welcome
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My mower seems to be running dry on electrics, and I'm wondering if it's worth getting a new battery, or just getting something that has real power. It goes ok, but it barely mows the nature strip before it runs out of go. (For some reason the grass on the nature strip is super thick and it really struggles with it. Probably help to sharpen the blades I guess...)
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Feb 18, 2022 21:12:06 GMT
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Landrovers don’t leak. They just mark their territory. varelse , sounds like you need an Allen Scythe. Cool machines. I remember trying to get one going when I was a kid, almost literally in a field. The valves wouldn’t seat due to rust. The only thing I could get my hands on to lap them in was Jif - the old gritty stuff. Worked though. Spent a happy afternoon cutting a small meadow. Anyway, I thought I’d give you the next instalment of ‘mowergate’. After getting some oil in it I tried to start it. It hasn’t been used for well over a year so it’d be interesting. After a few pumps on the primer bulb it ran for a few seconds and then stopped. A few more pumps, a few seconds of running. But it wouldn’t keep going. So I rebuilt the carb which was full of junk. Not much better to be honest. Cleaned the tank. Not much better to be honest. Put new fuel in. Not much better to be honest. On the last pull of the evening two things happened. Firstly it started and kept going. Secondly…  That’s why it was the last pull of the evening. No problem, I’ve got more string hanging about. Actually it is a problem because I absolutely hate these springy things.  If you aren’t very careful they just seem to explode and hack your appendages off. Hang on, I’m just going to count my appendages. Good. Ten fingers, ten toes, one… er… You probably don’t need that level of detail. Some time later it was back together and I gave it a slow pull to settle the string.  OH COME ON! It’s not that old a piece of string, it can’t be rotten. What’s wrong with it? Well it appears to be rubbish. Normally you’d have a central core of threads over wrapped with a braided protective cover.  The core appears to be almost like rolled up tissue paper. It has no strength. All the strength is in the braided jacket and it’s not that strong. The black threads you see in the photo are black accent in the jacket. What pointless string. I have some proper pull cord coming. James
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Feb 18, 2022 21:29:21 GMT
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Those things always seem to go when you need it to work in a hurry, think an outboard when you need to get out of the way of something. There is something to be said for the simplicity of the old seagul groove you wrapped any old bit of rope around.
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jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,835
Club RR Member Number: 40
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Hear you on the springy things that explode everywhere. Then you can multiply that by cheap rip off parts that flatter to deceive and you have a spares and repair just take the bloody thing away situation. Use branded superplus petrol in it to stop some of the curse word in the carb. At least you know it runs though… James
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Feb 19, 2022 20:50:27 GMT
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Use branded superplus petrol in it to stop some of the curse word in the carb. Or Aspen, ideally. It's far too expensive for me to run all year round, but I can just about stretch to using it for the last fill of the season, or on kit which isn't started frequently like the generator. I'm sure Sweepea Towers' maintenance budget could accommodate the extra... Actually, it's nicer stuff to burn if you're breathing in the fumes, so worth considering if they bother you.
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Sometimes, others may not understand why you like a car so much. Sometimes, you may not even understand why you like a car so much. But none of that matters; all that matters is that you like the car, and having it makes you happy.
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Feb 20, 2022 16:24:16 GMT
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My dad recently spent £££loads on a ride-on mower because he's old and has a big garden. It's so finicky that if it's left for anything more than 3 weeks it refuses to run on any fuel left in it, regardless of grade. The Suffolk punch he used to have would run on absolutely anything. What price progress? 🙄
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