[Laurence MacNeill]

My idea for next year’s meet-up: sell tickets. Some small fee like $5, or maybe even $2.50 — it’s not about the money, it’s about limiting attendance to the maximum you’re able to support on-site. Don’t let anyone attend who doesn’t have a ticket, period, end of story.

Maybe have a couple of giveaways where people can randomly win tickets by posting responses to your videos on YouTube.

Just make sure people know the total number of tickets available, and how many have been sold… And of course the date/time those tickets will go on sale. Something on your web-site that has always-up-to-date stats, and a well-publicized link to that page… Definitely have a link to that page from the home-page on EricTheCarGuy.com.

I work for a company that organizes conventions and trade-shows. We do plenty of events where people can attend for free or for a very low fee, but the show organizers need to limit attendance because of space restrictions, or for other reasons. Gotta make people pre-register, and get their ticket(s) in the mail. We even do it so the ticket itself is a name-badge that they can pin or clip to their shirt, so you don’t have to provide handwritten name-tags. Makes it look more official that way.

And, yeah, it’s *gonna* piss off some people that they have to *buy* a ticket instead of going for free — but if you give away the tickets for free, it’s gonna be a nightmare, I promise. People will register so they have a ticket “just in case”, and then not show up. Charge ’em a small fee, and they’ll only register if they *really* intend on going.

[Laurence MacNeill]

I feel kind of silly now — vacuum leaks should’ve been foremost on my mind, but I guess I was thrown by no codes showing up. Kind of expected a misfire or lean-condition code with a vacuum-leak — so with no codes, I just automatically dismissed a vacuum leak and started thinking of more complicated things. I guess the lesson is, don’t make stuff more complicated than it needs to be! 🙂

Now if I can just get my friend to bring his truck back over here, maybe I can help him check for leaks.

Thanks for all the replies.
L.

[Laurence MacNeill]

I feel kind of silly now — vacuum leaks should’ve been foremost on my mind, but I guess I was thrown by no codes showing up. Kind of expected a misfire or lean-condition code with a vacuum-leak — so with no codes, I just automatically dismissed a vacuum leak and started thinking of more complicated things. I guess the lesson is, don’t make stuff more complicated than it needs to be! 🙂

Now if I can just get my friend to bring his truck back over here, maybe I can help him check for leaks.

Thanks for all the replies.
L.

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”dtaylorh17″ post=97259]Thanks to everyone for the advice. when i tested the resistor i just checked the continuity between all contacts and they all had continuity. Then i tested the resistor contacts for voltage with it plugged in and switched on and there was none for any contact. Does that mean i have a bad resistor or an open circuit? i can’t figure out why the plug would still have power… :angry:[/quote]

I’m not familiar enough with your particular vehicle to know for sure, but if it’s switching the ground-side of the circuit instead of the power-side, the plug will always have 12V on it. So perhaps it’s the ground that’s traveling through your resistor-pack, and not the 12V?

Eric has a great video on figuring out whether something is power-side or ground-side switched:
http://youtu.be/nlS56LkAukE

Good luck.
L.

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”dtaylorh17″ post=97259]Thanks to everyone for the advice. when i tested the resistor i just checked the continuity between all contacts and they all had continuity. Then i tested the resistor contacts for voltage with it plugged in and switched on and there was none for any contact. Does that mean i have a bad resistor or an open circuit? i can’t figure out why the plug would still have power… :angry:[/quote]

I’m not familiar enough with your particular vehicle to know for sure, but if it’s switching the ground-side of the circuit instead of the power-side, the plug will always have 12V on it. So perhaps it’s the ground that’s traveling through your resistor-pack, and not the 12V?

Eric has a great video on figuring out whether something is power-side or ground-side switched:
http://youtu.be/nlS56LkAukE

Good luck.
L.

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”seeya205″ post=97310]I have a 1998 Taurus with 130,000 miles on it. Over the last couple days, when I shift to reverse. I get a loud clunk sound. Does it on downhill/uphill and on level ground. Fluid/filter changed last fall. Car drives fine otherwise. Any ideas?[/quote]

I’d bet you a large sum of money it’s one of the engine-mounts. The Taurus is known for having that problem. I owned two Tauruses and both of them had that problem.

Don’t bother replacing just the bad mount, unless you’re *really* tight on money — if one has failed, the others won’t be far behind. Replacing one mount takes pretty much the amount of time as replacing ’em all.

Best of luck.
L.

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”seeya205″ post=97310]I have a 1998 Taurus with 130,000 miles on it. Over the last couple days, when I shift to reverse. I get a loud clunk sound. Does it on downhill/uphill and on level ground. Fluid/filter changed last fall. Car drives fine otherwise. Any ideas?[/quote]

I’d bet you a large sum of money it’s one of the engine-mounts. The Taurus is known for having that problem. I owned two Tauruses and both of them had that problem.

Don’t bother replacing just the bad mount, unless you’re *really* tight on money — if one has failed, the others won’t be far behind. Replacing one mount takes pretty much the amount of time as replacing ’em all.

Best of luck.
L.

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=86275]I didn’t think it would be as easy as shoving a resistor in there. Thanks SO much for keeping us up to date on this. I learned quite a bit. The next time this comes up I’ll be a little more prepared because of it.

Great idea on selling the old controls to make up a little cash.[/quote]

Yeah, I figured I couldn’t possibly be the only person who has to deal with this — I think it’s good that it’ll be here on this site for people to find when they search for this kind of info.

Thanks to everyone for the help and suggestions.

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=86275]I didn’t think it would be as easy as shoving a resistor in there. Thanks SO much for keeping us up to date on this. I learned quite a bit. The next time this comes up I’ll be a little more prepared because of it.

Great idea on selling the old controls to make up a little cash.[/quote]

Yeah, I figured I couldn’t possibly be the only person who has to deal with this — I think it’s good that it’ll be here on this site for people to find when they search for this kind of info.

Thanks to everyone for the help and suggestions.

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”tonyroc14″ post=86164]You can sell the controls you had originally and then be ahead of the game banana:[/quote]

You know — that’s actually not a bad idea… Doubt I’ll get $500+ for a 20-year-old set of hand-controls, but I’d bet someone would be willing to pay a hundred or two for ’em.

Thanks!

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”tonyroc14″ post=86164]You can sell the controls you had originally and then be ahead of the game banana:[/quote]

You know — that’s actually not a bad idea… Doubt I’ll get $500+ for a 20-year-old set of hand-controls, but I’d bet someone would be willing to pay a hundred or two for ’em.

Thanks!

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”Raistian77″ post=86150]That is a nice set of controls, and very well installed.

Yeah it looks like a resistor only on your system would have not worked, if I am reading the wiring diagram right your airbags actually have a small processor that talks back to the SRS control module. This allows the SRS to actually change the deploy rate and force based on impact criteria.[/quote]

Yeah — they definitely did an excellent job. As I would expect, considering they’re professionals, and charge as much as they do. 🙂

[Laurence MacNeill]

[quote=”Raistian77″ post=86150]That is a nice set of controls, and very well installed.

Yeah it looks like a resistor only on your system would have not worked, if I am reading the wiring diagram right your airbags actually have a small processor that talks back to the SRS control module. This allows the SRS to actually change the deploy rate and force based on impact criteria.[/quote]

Yeah — they definitely did an excellent job. As I would expect, considering they’re professionals, and charge as much as they do. 🙂

[Laurence MacNeill]

Ok. As promised, here are some pics.

Here’s the original location of the knee airbag:

Here’s the lower dash-panel and airbag after removal from the vehicle:

Here’s a lower side-view of the hand-controls after installation:

Here’s a driver’s seat view of the hand-controls after installation:

Here’s a view of the hand-controls to the right of the steering wheel looking down towards the floor:

Here’s the airbag-plug with the ‘shunt’ (that’s what they called it) installed:

Here’s an end-view of the ‘shunt.’ As you can see it’s not just a simple resistor:

So, for that silly little ‘shunt,’ which you cannot get unless you’re licensed by the Feds apparently, I had to pay for a full install of a brand-new set of hand-controls. Admittedly, they look way nicer than my old set of controls that I installed in my ’09 Ford Flex Limited AWD (the vehicle I traded in to buy this new Focus.) And Ford Mobility will pony up $1,000 out of the $1,548.74 that I had to pay for the install. So, all in all, not too bad…

Thanks to everyone for your replies and suggestions.

Attachments:

• KneeAirbagOriginalLocation.jpg
• Airbagandlower-dashpanelafterremoval.jpg
• Hand-Controlsinstalled1.jpg
• Hand-ControlsInstalled2.jpg
• Airbagplugwithshunt.jpg
• End-viewofshunt.jpg
• Hand-ControlsInstalled32.jpg

[Laurence MacNeill]

Ok. As promised, here are some pics.

Here’s the original location of the knee airbag:

Here’s the lower dash-panel and airbag after removal from the vehicle:

Here’s a lower side-view of the hand-controls after installation:

Here’s a driver’s seat view of the hand-controls after installation:

Here’s a view of the hand-controls to the right of the steering wheel looking down towards the floor:

Here’s the airbag-plug with the ‘shunt’ (that’s what they called it) installed:

Here’s an end-view of the ‘shunt.’ As you can see it’s not just a simple resistor:

So, for that silly little ‘shunt,’ which you cannot get unless you’re licensed by the Feds apparently, I had to pay for a full install of a brand-new set of hand-controls. Admittedly, they look way nicer than my old set of controls that I installed in my ’09 Ford Flex Limited AWD (the vehicle I traded in to buy this new Focus.) And Ford Mobility will pony up $1,000 out of the $1,548.74 that I had to pay for the install. So, all in all, not too bad…

Thanks to everyone for your replies and suggestions.

Attachments:

• KneeAirbagOriginalLocation.jpg
• Airbagandlower-dashpanelafterremoval.jpg
• Hand-Controlsinstalled1.jpg
• Hand-ControlsInstalled2.jpg
• Airbagplugwithshunt.jpg
• End-viewofshunt.jpg
• Hand-ControlsInstalled32.jpg

[Author]

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