Today was a medium-bad car day

"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
10/22/2019 at 23:55 • Filed to: The Alfa Doesn't Have A Tag Yet

With convertible seasons about to pass us, I thought it was about damn time we got the convertibles out! The Alfa has been waylaid as I put it back together and the Bumblebee (cabriolet) has been... well it just hasn’t been.

With the Alfa back in one piece I pull both out of the garage, gave them a quick wash, and prepared to send them.

This, however, did not go great.

As I ran errands today, the Alfa did fine... initially. The first sign of trouble was actually at my first turn. The turn signals were out! My best bet is a bad relay, but I wouldn’t discount a bad ground either. I pull the relay and well...

... it sort of came apart.

Interesting to see an IC in there though!

Driving without turn signals is surprisingly difficult. In fact, I got in a bit of an incident because of it . As I was moving into the turning lane at a light (at the first legal opportunity) me and an Explorer that I’d passed earlier, now going approximately the speed of sound, almost had a coming together. He’d decided to ignore the lane lines and get in the turn lane while it was still a media. Of course I checked before moving over, saw him, and laid on the horn, like you do. After the light turned and we’d both made the left, he decided to stop dead in the right lane, wait for me to pass, and then shout at me to use my turn sigals.

Bitch look at my car. Do you think my signals work!?

Also: what kind of asshole (A) gets upset about that in a state where sometimes I’m the ONLY person using my turn signals and (B) stops in traffic to yell at someone because they got honked?

Assholes. That’s who.

So that “fun” under my belt, it was time for the Alfa to come over all Italian. After a bit of an Italian tune up, it started bucking and heaving as I was pulling away from a stop. This was particularly embarrassing as there were pedestrians around, but moreover I was concerned I wasn’t going to clear the intersection.

By being very careful with the throttle and clutch, I made it to the parking lot of a CVS where the problem was obvious: the crossover pipe that connects the MAF to the intake plenum had come loose. Has happened before, not a big deal.

The rest of my errands went fine, but I went ahead and took a way home that didn’t involve any turns and kept my lane changes to a minimum.

I think the Alfa deserves a country drive before the weather turns sour tomorrow evening.

As long as I don’t have to like... turn or anything.

Doggo for your time.

DISCUSSION (17)

Chariotoflove > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/23/2019 at 00:04

Don’t know if you were doing this, but good old hand signals would be your best bet in that situation

I hope it’s an easy fix.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Chariotoflove
10/23/2019 at 00:10

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah I did some but they feel... weird. I guess I need to commit and not feel awkward about... especially to avoid this situation again. (not that signaling would have prevented that guy doing what he did, despite what he may think...)

lone_liberal > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/23/2019 at 00:13

I don’t know what it is with old cars and turn signals. The first thing I do when I drive the Camaro after starting it is to test the turn signals because I’ve been caught out multiple times and it’s really hard to see the indicators on the dash.

JMordu becoming “savethemilanos” > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/23/2019 at 00:13

This sounds like my everyday with my alfas recently. The last three test drives I’ve turned around before I left the neighborhood! I know this car can be well sorted for decent stretches, but I changed a ton of parts early summer and still haven’t got it running right all the time. Electrical stuff mainly, as you’d expect. Who knows, by the end of winter most wires might be new!

Chariotoflove > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/23/2019 at 00:19

Commit is right. As a cyclist I can tell you you have to be definite and large in your motions to jog people’s memories of what they’re seeing. Super important when riding low around big cars. I’m used to doing it but not in a car.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Chariotoflove
10/23/2019 at 00:37

Agree. I’ll commit tomorrow when I go out (relay won’t be here until Friday). My excuses are they the Alfa has a very low belt line, but you also basically sit on the floorboards, so it looks/ feels a bit weird to hand signal. Also that while you and I know it is a cheap Italian car and therefore of course it has electrical problems, non-car people seem to see it as an expensive exotic (sometimes) and so I’m SUPER self-conscious when I drive it. Same problem in the Land Rover...

facw > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/23/2019 at 00:44

I’m with Chariot, but yeah I can see them feeling odd from a car.

Kinja'd!!!

Also these instructions (from the MA drivers handbook) seem wrong, I’d switch step one and two. If you check before signaling, you know someone is going to sneak in there before you go. They will still ignore your signal and sneak in there if you flip the order, but at least you’ll see before you drive into them.

Being a cyclist is good practice of course. Anything that decreases the chance of being hit, though p eople will yell at you for not signaling (they’d never do this with a car unless there was a crash or near-crash ) and sometimes will give you patronizing “thank yous” when you do signal. Car drivers also give you ample opportunities to work on other hand signals.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/23/2019 at 00:45

After-market signal controller works pretty well, once you are certain you have a good ground to the socket...

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/23/2019 at 00:46

Had the TR6 out Sunday for a nice long drive with the wife. Perfect weather if a bit cool by the end. About 45 min from home I noticed the headlights seemed awfully dim and HOLY MACKEREL only 11 volts on the panel meter! Turn signals stopped working on me too ha. I was worried about how low it could go before the ignition went dodgy. But made it home just fine.

Haven’t had time to look into it but I’m guessing all is not well with the eBay voltage regulator I put in the alternator a couple years ago.

Chariotoflove > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/23/2019 at 00:58

Roll down the top and feature where you want to go with an orange flag. While drivers are trying to figure out what you’re doing they’ll crash their explorers into someone else, clearing your right of way.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Chariotoflove
10/23/2019 at 01:08

This sounds similar to directing traffic, where almost the only thing that really matters is your body language.

I think back to the day in the police academy where they shut down one of the busiest intersections in Albuquerque for a few hours for the cadet class to direct some traffic. Just to keep things interesting, the remaining instructors get in their units and periodically run code through the intersection. Getting an emergency vehicle through a major intersection quickly that is being directed by one person adds an additional order of magnitude to the equation.

It turns out the only thing that really matters is eye contact and body language. If you make eye contact with drivers and your body language says you own that fucking intersection, driver s will do exactly what you tell them to do. I still use those skills in parking lots and crosswalks and the like today.

Future Heap Owner > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/23/2019 at 03:04

Wonder what that IC is. Would logic gates or an inverter be useful in a relay circuit? I don’t know anything about circuits that aren’t for microcontrollers.

Chariotoflove > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
10/23/2019 at 12:21

I think that’s true. There are specific signals that have standard meanings, and that everyone should use in order to be unambiguous. However, if the confidence and deliberate body language is not there, people aren’t sure you really know what you’re doing. Then they start trying to figure out their own thing.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Future Heap Owner
10/23/2019 at 12:53

Apparently it is... exactly what you’d expect it to be haha.

Kinja'd!!!

http://pdf.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheets/90/303398_DS.pdf

Future Heap Owner > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/24/2019 at 22:42

Huh , so basically a level-shifter?

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
10/25/2019 at 11:42

Kinja'd!!!

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Future Heap Owner
10/25/2019 at 12:30

More like a signal generator, I guess. It takes a “please blink the lights” signal from the indicator switch and output a blinky light signal to a relay. Sounds like it can also do fast blink when a light is out, which is interesting.