poll - Don't know what I did, but it works!

How many of us, who repair things, can say we always knew just what we did?
I asked a friend recently what he found with an electrical issue he had been working on. After he hooked and unhooked, wiggled, checked, and prodded, it went back to work. He couldn't tell me what he had done. That got me to thinking. It has to happen to all of us at some time. The most common in my memory was tractor carburetors. Many times I poked, soaked, blew, etc. and they always went to work, and I didn't see anything!

I do it all the time. I manage to keep everything going around here,but I don't have the first clue about any of it when it comes right down to it. lol

Does that apply to marrages ;-)

I've told my wife may times when I "fixed" something that I had no idea why it started working, that it just needed "a good looking at".

Too many times to remember them all.

Tom in TN

A couple of years ago there was a treadmill along the road close to my house with a (free) sign on it, and I like free stuff! I had a heck of a time loading it in my truck, really heavy. When I got it home I plugged it in before unloading it, it wouldn't turn on or do any thing! So, I thought I will roll it in the shop and tear it apart for scrap. It hit the edge of the apron and stopped with a big bang, twice! When I finally got it in I plugged it in again, worked fine! Should of sold it for scrap, I never use it.

Friend of mine uses one for a conveyor for his splitter. Just an idea...

Its a pretty good thing for everyone that I'm not a doctor, and we will leave it at that.

Mark

Remember years ago when I sent one of the maintenance guys to repair a machine I had built. When he returned I asked "What did you do to fix it?", He told me "I don't know, but I sure fixed it". Really filled me with confidence---NOT!!

Knotters on my NH 276 were a nightmare, missed 1 of every 10 bales. In frustration I ripped the knotters apart, made lots of adjustments, bent, emory clothed, filed, adjusted, moved every bolt, screw and washer.

That was 5 years ago.

Baled 3000 bales last year with maybe 5 broken bales. I have no idea.

I think that is standard for little single cyl engines whose carbs have hair size passages. he he he!

Happens too often for my comfort. Lol Nothing bothers me quit as much as not knowing.

(quoted from post at 19:20:08 01/13/14) How many of us, who repair things, can say we always knew just what we did?
I asked a friend recently what he found with an electrical issue he had been working on. After he hooked and unhooked, wiggled, checked, and prodded, it went back to work. He couldn't tell me what he had done. That got me to thinking. It has to happen to all of us at some time. The most common in my memory was tractor carburetors. Many times I poked, soaked, blew, etc. and they always went to work, and I didn't see anything!

Click to expand...

the problem will likely be back.

Remember: Doctors are just "practicing". Sometimes their practicing is right but sometimes it's wrong.
I would like to find a doctor who doesn't have to practice anymore and knows what he's doing.

Dick

(quoted from post at 00:02:29 01/14/14) Remember: Doctors are just "practicing". Sometimes their practicing is right but sometimes it's wrong.
I would like to find a doctor who doesn't have to practice anymore and knows what he's doing.

Dick

Click to expand...

Yeah and politician lawyers just practice law too
Why they all want to practice on us?

Reminds me of the time a friend who was a pretty fair tinkerer brought his riding mower in on the back of his pickup. Motor had locked up solidly & nothing he tried helped or explained why it had suddenly locked up sitting in the garage. He wanted to unload it but I told him to leave it there as I was sure I couldn't help. I went over everything he'd done, then all that I knew: didn't change the situation at all. Finally I reached under the deck & grabbed the blade & yanked on it. KER-WHANG! My hand came out of there when I heard that, faster than I could think of doing it, for I was afraid the engine might start if I did something. Whatever I did freed the engine but we never did figure out what happened. He wanted to pay me but I told him I'd be glad to charge him if I had any idea of what I'd done.

The worst for me is getting into something and finding something wrong, then fixing that problem only to find another wrong, and then often finding still more problems as each of the others is fixed. If it's on a project where you can check to insure that what the breakdown the customer called about was fixed after each repaired problem, it's not so bad. What I hate is when you've got to get every problem corrected before trying the machine again, and, as you said, not having a clue which of the small problems was really causing the BIG one, or was it a combination of one or more of the little ones together doing it.

Went through similar today on the engine that runs the hydraulic system on my service truck. A while back I had a no start/no turnover issue with the starter so I had it gone through to insure I didn't have to go through the effort of moving everything in the bed and pulling the panels off the engine for another 10 years. At the time the starter checked good, and the 'slave' solenoid that sends power to the solenoid on the starter itself appeared to be bad. Shortly thereafter I began having a problem with it not starting when hot. This morning it wouldn't start cold so I knew it was starter time. Pulled the old one off and went to swap over the slave solenoid and the crimp on end fell off the wire running between it and the solenoid on the starter. So, that loose wire could have very well been my problem, BUT, it was still in the connector so it 'should' have been making contact. The hot cold deal usually turns out to be a bad spot in the starter windings that opens when hot and closes when cold.....but the starter still checks good...... I also discovered that the cable from the battery to the engine had been getting hot on the end where it attached to the battery.

In the end it got a new starter, a new wire between the solenoids, and a new, larger guage wire from the battery to the engine. Now when you hit the switch the engine practically runs away as fast as it turns. Never turned that fast, that I can remember, since day one.....and on day one the starter that I replaced today was brand new also. Which of the three things I did actually fixed the problem, I don't know. Will it still start when need to let it run for several hours and then shutdown and restart a little later, who knows.....What I do know is that at least one of the three things I did seems to have fixed the problem and given me great results that I really didn't plan for... YEAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My experience has been if you don't know what you did to fix it, you didn't.

One time I worked for a very large machine shop as a mechanic. The boss met me as I come in for the
night shift. He said the 6ft.chuck lath is down electric we need it asap. I'm a mechanic Not an electrican I said. Do what you can your can your all we got. We had two electrical services here all day and they quit as they could find nothing wrong electric.
The electrical box was about 12ft.square I was looking for a broken something. F- this I say to myself and I tried to close the big door on the box. It pushed hard then went easy so it slammed shut, shook every thing.
You Got! shouted the operator It's working great.
Later in the shift the boss came to me and said you are getting a .50 cent raise. You really saved the day. I went from $4.00 to 4.50 that was in 1972

Last week my old (1977) Dodge pickup quit in the driveway while I was running into the house for something. I walked back to the farm and finished the project I was doing on my newer truck. the next day I spent all afternoon fiddling and checking, Had fuel for sure, a squirt of ether down the carb, but no spark. The ballast resistor, first thing you check on those old Dodges was good, voltage to the coil, check, distributor actually turns, check. Disconnect coil, flash it with jumper wire, no spark at the end of the coil wire, spark at the coil itself, coil wire tests good, plug it back in park, hook everything back up, and boom, off and running. The only thing I can think of is a poor connection at one of the poins where I disconnected/reconnected something. Now I'm just waiting for it to quit on me again.

About three weeks ago I noticed it seemed kinda dark outside at night. After a week I realized my outside pole light wasn't working. Was going to tell the boss about it Monday morning, got out of bed, and the thing was on! I had a 3-way light bulb fix itself here last fall, too. I swear I didn't put a new bulb in that lamp, and know darn well I didn't shimmy up that pole to replace that bulb, either.