Oxidation
Well, after casually poking at the van for a month, I had it towed in. It had fuel, spark, and otherwise looked in order.
Apparently, it was a bad coil wire. I was seeing spark, but not enough to light off the fuel. Never occurred to me the coil wire could be that bad and still show me a spark.
Anyway, my trusted mechanics had an extra one lying around put it on and called the the van runs, pick it up. Free of charge. They even apologized for taking so long to get to it.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that when it was towed in, the driver secured it to the deck of the tow truck, and when we arrived at the garage, about a mile away, one of the chains was lying on the deck. It pulled out of the hole in the frame. Chunks of rust were there as well. The van's sub-frame is rusting badly.
And I drove the Dakota to Farmer Bob's the weekend before last, and the brakes went right to the floor about a mile from the farm. I called and he hooked up the car trailer, and brought me in.
When we got it up on the lift, Bob exclaimed how rusty the Dakota's frame was as well.
I may lose a good part of the fleet due to it collapsing in on itself. The Dakota is 22 years old, and the van is 18.
Pictures of the van's rust once we do an oil change in about 300 miles.
Here's a pic of the Dakota.
Those cracks go all the way through. The body mounts of the cab supports everything and is acting as the frame until metal fatigue does it in.
We've been through a lot in those 22 years. It will be hard to say goodbye.
Apparently, it was a bad coil wire. I was seeing spark, but not enough to light off the fuel. Never occurred to me the coil wire could be that bad and still show me a spark.
Anyway, my trusted mechanics had an extra one lying around put it on and called the the van runs, pick it up. Free of charge. They even apologized for taking so long to get to it.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that when it was towed in, the driver secured it to the deck of the tow truck, and when we arrived at the garage, about a mile away, one of the chains was lying on the deck. It pulled out of the hole in the frame. Chunks of rust were there as well. The van's sub-frame is rusting badly.
And I drove the Dakota to Farmer Bob's the weekend before last, and the brakes went right to the floor about a mile from the farm. I called and he hooked up the car trailer, and brought me in.
When we got it up on the lift, Bob exclaimed how rusty the Dakota's frame was as well.
I may lose a good part of the fleet due to it collapsing in on itself. The Dakota is 22 years old, and the van is 18.
Pictures of the van's rust once we do an oil change in about 300 miles.
Here's a pic of the Dakota.
Those cracks go all the way through. The body mounts of the cab supports everything and is acting as the frame until metal fatigue does it in.
We've been through a lot in those 22 years. It will be hard to say goodbye.