Hello From Canada
#1
07-09-2016
Hello From Canada
I just bough a Mazda B3000 (a Ranger in Mazda skin 
) and it has some problems, but I'll post that in the right forum later.
This will be my first ever modern fuel injected vehicle. I've always avoided fuel injection because I know virtually nothing about it.
My last truck was a very early B2200 hundred from 1987 and the frame was starting to rust, so rather then put money into a lost cause, I decided to get something a newer.
The B3000 was a city truck all it's life so there isn't any rust, plus the fact the steel that the thing is made of isn't the cheap reclaimed tin stuff that the B2200's were made out of.
It's a simple "C" frame, not like the miserable box frames of the Japanese Mazda's.
They put just enough holes in them to let in the dirt and salt so the frames would rust from the inside out.
I could never get in there to keep it clean or paint the inside.
Anyways, the B3000 looks much more Skookum then my old one.
) and it has some problems, but I'll post that in the right forum later.This will be my first ever modern fuel injected vehicle. I've always avoided fuel injection because I know virtually nothing about it.
My last truck was a very early B2200 hundred from 1987 and the frame was starting to rust, so rather then put money into a lost cause, I decided to get something a newer.
The B3000 was a city truck all it's life so there isn't any rust, plus the fact the steel that the thing is made of isn't the cheap reclaimed tin stuff that the B2200's were made out of.
It's a simple "C" frame, not like the miserable box frames of the Japanese Mazda's.
They put just enough holes in them to let in the dirt and salt so the frames would rust from the inside out.
I could never get in there to keep it clean or paint the inside.
Anyways, the B3000 looks much more Skookum then my old one.
#2
07-09-2016
Welcome to the forum
You will like fuel injection, it doesn't break or need adjustments monthly like carbs did.
Main reason DIY people don't like or are hesitant with fuel injection and diistributorless vehicles is because they don't have problems that often, lol, I know odd.
But the reason DIYers knew about carbs and distributors was because.............wait for it.............you HAD TO work on them all the time so you got to know symptoms and how to fix them.
With the new systems the breakdowns are few and far between so its like having to go to school each time there is a problem.
But no matter how much they change the outside it is still an air pump that has fuel added to keep it running
You will like fuel injection, it doesn't break or need adjustments monthly like carbs did.
Main reason DIY people don't like or are hesitant with fuel injection and diistributorless vehicles is because they don't have problems that often, lol, I know odd.
But the reason DIYers knew about carbs and distributors was because.............wait for it.............you HAD TO work on them all the time so you got to know symptoms and how to fix them.
With the new systems the breakdowns are few and far between so its like having to go to school each time there is a problem.
But no matter how much they change the outside it is still an air pump that has fuel added to keep it running
#3
07-09-2016
Ha Ha, you sound like someone else I know over at the Jag forums.
He insists too that carbed engines are more work.
He has Jag S-Type that he shoe-horned a big GM V8 into _ it's fuel injected off course.
3.8 S Sleeper bodywork almost done! - Page 3 - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
I just never found myself working on them all the time _ replacing points once a year _ more or less.
I never had to touch the carb in my B2200 _ I think I adjusted the mixture once when I first got the truck.
I have two other collector cars, both with twin SU's _ I think they are pretty trouble free.
I never really found myself having to adjust them on a monthly basis.
Not to contradict you, but they were just not that unreliable or troublesome
Hopefully when I get all these bugs ironed out that it will stay fixed.
He insists too that carbed engines are more work.
He has Jag S-Type that he shoe-horned a big GM V8 into _ it's fuel injected off course.
3.8 S Sleeper bodywork almost done! - Page 3 - Jaguar Forums - Jaguar Enthusiasts Forum
I just never found myself working on them all the time _ replacing points once a year _ more or less.
I never had to touch the carb in my B2200 _ I think I adjusted the mixture once when I first got the truck.
I have two other collector cars, both with twin SU's _ I think they are pretty trouble free.
I never really found myself having to adjust them on a monthly basis.
Not to contradict you, but they were just not that unreliable or troublesome
Hopefully when I get all these bugs ironed out that it will stay fixed.
#4
07-09-2016
I don't know, a 30 year old carb with 350k on it don't tend to be to reliable, might as well have monkey sitting on the hood pouring gas down the hole, probably get better MPG.
First 100k they were fine....mostly, but for fuel injection that's the first 300k, lol
Distributors..................don't get me started, GM had a nice Coil On Cap unit for awhile
Can't recall a good Ford distributor.
When distributors went "pointless" I thought they finally found a good name for them...............
Mostly joking.......mostly
But fuel injection is very much next generation better than carbs, and no distributor is just one less moving part to fail
First 100k they were fine....mostly, but for fuel injection that's the first 300k, lol
Distributors..................don't get me started, GM had a nice Coil On Cap unit for awhile
Can't recall a good Ford distributor.
When distributors went "pointless" I thought they finally found a good name for them...............
Mostly joking.......mostly
But fuel injection is very much next generation better than carbs, and no distributor is just one less moving part to fail
Last edited by RonD; 07-09-2016 at 10:24 PM.
#5
07-10-2016
I'll say this, there are good and bad designs _ FI or carbureted.
The synchronizer on the 3 litre Ford has no way to get lubrication to the upper sleeve bearing, there's all sorts of posts about this problem in many forums.
The synchronizer is basically a distributor with a set of missing points with a tooth that goes round and round so the magnetic sensor can tell the computer where the cam shaft is.
The problem is that the grease cup is missing, one has to remove the sensor every now and then and put a bit of lubrication down there.
We all know what happens to them when the bearing dries out.
My first B2200 had over 500,000 KM on it from driving back and fourth to work and I never touched the carb _ it still ran like a Swiss watch _ you couldn't tell it was idling.
I had to stop driving it because the frame was totally rotted out.
There had to have been wear on the butter-fly shaft and some minor vacuum leak there, but it must have been minute because I never really noticed my fuel economy going down.
My biggest pet peeve about FI is the false positives that the error codes give, my truck is the perfect example of this _ telling me that the PCM was shot and all it was, was dirty contacts and a bad ground or so it would seem at this point.
One has to be smarter then the computer.
The computer says "this is broke" replace it when it reality it can be something quite simple and less costly.
I guess it's just a matter of experience.
A bad carb design were the Zenith Stromberg's in the TR7's, not so much the carbs, but the California ones with the automatic choke.
I think the auto choke worked once, it never started right away, I eventually swapped them out for a set of carbs with a manual choke.
My neighbor had a little 4 door Fiat sedan (many years ago now), it was the most temperamental thing, it never stated right away and it was always on the garage.
I believe it was carbureted.
I hope my Ranger in Mazda clothing proves me wrong what I think about FI.
Once I get through all these annoying problems, I don't expect to do much more then routine maintenance.
Even if part of that maintenance involves oiling the synchronizer now and then.
And don't forget the "Sea Foam"....
The synchronizer on the 3 litre Ford has no way to get lubrication to the upper sleeve bearing, there's all sorts of posts about this problem in many forums.
The synchronizer is basically a distributor with a set of missing points with a tooth that goes round and round so the magnetic sensor can tell the computer where the cam shaft is.
The problem is that the grease cup is missing, one has to remove the sensor every now and then and put a bit of lubrication down there.
We all know what happens to them when the bearing dries out.
My first B2200 had over 500,000 KM on it from driving back and fourth to work and I never touched the carb _ it still ran like a Swiss watch _ you couldn't tell it was idling.
I had to stop driving it because the frame was totally rotted out.
There had to have been wear on the butter-fly shaft and some minor vacuum leak there, but it must have been minute because I never really noticed my fuel economy going down.
My biggest pet peeve about FI is the false positives that the error codes give, my truck is the perfect example of this _ telling me that the PCM was shot and all it was, was dirty contacts and a bad ground or so it would seem at this point.
One has to be smarter then the computer.
The computer says "this is broke" replace it when it reality it can be something quite simple and less costly.
I guess it's just a matter of experience.
A bad carb design were the Zenith Stromberg's in the TR7's, not so much the carbs, but the California ones with the automatic choke.
I think the auto choke worked once, it never started right away, I eventually swapped them out for a set of carbs with a manual choke.
My neighbor had a little 4 door Fiat sedan (many years ago now), it was the most temperamental thing, it never stated right away and it was always on the garage.
I believe it was carbureted.
I hope my Ranger in Mazda clothing proves me wrong what I think about FI.
Once I get through all these annoying problems, I don't expect to do much more then routine maintenance.
Even if part of that maintenance involves oiling the synchronizer now and then.
And don't forget the "Sea Foam"....
Last edited by Jeff R 1; 07-10-2016 at 12:41 AM.
#6
07-10-2016
Well the 3.0l synchro is a problem child, much like TFI spark system.
Funny thing about it is that it is exactly the same lower housing as the 3.0l distributor, which never had the bushing issue, so go figure.
All computers do the same thing, not just car computers, they have "error" codes and when translated to DIY english we assume things that are simply not true, like the computer knows anything about the outside world.
It is a high speed calculator, and not even that high of a speed for car computers, lol.
"PCM failure" means just that, PCM can't function with current hook up, doesn't mean PCM is bad, that's just what we assume because we think in those terms.
"O2 sensor high", just means O2 sensor voltage is high, doesn't mean O2 sensor is bad, WE assume things that are way to complicated for a computer to detect.
Computer codes are a tool FOR diagnostics, they can't do diagnostics.
Like a vacuum meter or a volt meter are tools for diagnostics.
No absolutes involve, low vacuum just means low vacuum, doesn't mean rings are bad or valves are bad, doesn't work that way, up to the DIYer to do the thinking.
Car computers make it much easier to diagnose, its like having a volt/ohm meter hooked up to all the sensors at the same time, because thats all the computer really is, a multi-meter and calculator, it reads voltages and has ranges it compares them to, then lets you know if something is out of range, but thats all it can do, let you know, there can be no "why" it is out of range.
Like expecting a vacuum gauge to tell you "why" the vacuum is low, lol, simply not going to happen.
Computers in the movies are smart, in the real world they are not, they are fast and they are accurate like "rainman", but they are not smart.
Funny thing about it is that it is exactly the same lower housing as the 3.0l distributor, which never had the bushing issue, so go figure.
All computers do the same thing, not just car computers, they have "error" codes and when translated to DIY english we assume things that are simply not true, like the computer knows anything about the outside world.
It is a high speed calculator, and not even that high of a speed for car computers, lol.
"PCM failure" means just that, PCM can't function with current hook up, doesn't mean PCM is bad, that's just what we assume because we think in those terms.
"O2 sensor high", just means O2 sensor voltage is high, doesn't mean O2 sensor is bad, WE assume things that are way to complicated for a computer to detect.
Computer codes are a tool FOR diagnostics, they can't do diagnostics.
Like a vacuum meter or a volt meter are tools for diagnostics.
No absolutes involve, low vacuum just means low vacuum, doesn't mean rings are bad or valves are bad, doesn't work that way, up to the DIYer to do the thinking.
Car computers make it much easier to diagnose, its like having a volt/ohm meter hooked up to all the sensors at the same time, because thats all the computer really is, a multi-meter and calculator, it reads voltages and has ranges it compares them to, then lets you know if something is out of range, but thats all it can do, let you know, there can be no "why" it is out of range.
Like expecting a vacuum gauge to tell you "why" the vacuum is low, lol, simply not going to happen.
Computers in the movies are smart, in the real world they are not, they are fast and they are accurate like "rainman", but they are not smart.
Last edited by RonD; 07-10-2016 at 12:57 PM.
#7
07-10-2016
Well the 3.0l synchro is a problem child, much like TFI spark system.
Funny thing about it is that it is exactly the same lower housing as the 3.0l distributor, which never had the bushing issue, so go figure.
All computers do the same thing, not just car computers, they have "error" codes and when translated to DIY english we assume things that are simply not true, like the computer knows anything about the outside world.
It is a high speed calculator, and not even that high of a speed for car computers, lol.
"PCM failure" means just that, PCM can't function with current hook up, doesn't mean PCM is bad, that's just what we assume because we think in those terms.
"O2 sensor high", just means O2 sensor voltage is high, doesn't mean O2 sensor is bad, WE assume things that are way to complicated for a computer to detect.
Computer codes are a tool FOR diagnostics, they can't do diagnostics.
Like a vacuum meter or a volt meter are tools for diagnostics.
No absolutes involve, low vacuum just means low vacuum, doesn't mean rings are bad or valves are bad, doesn't work that way, up to the DIYer to do the thinking.
Car computers make it much easier to diagnose, its like having a volt/ohm meter hooked up to all the sensors at the same time, because thats all the computer really is, a multi-meter and calculator, it reads voltages and has ranges it compares them to, then lets you know if something is out of range, but thats all it can do, let you know, there can be no "why" it is out of range.
Like expecting a vacuum gauge to tell you "why" the vacuum is low, lol, simply not going to happen.
Computers in the movies are smart, in the real world they are not, they are fast and they are accurate like "rainman", but they are not smart.
Funny thing about it is that it is exactly the same lower housing as the 3.0l distributor, which never had the bushing issue, so go figure.
All computers do the same thing, not just car computers, they have "error" codes and when translated to DIY english we assume things that are simply not true, like the computer knows anything about the outside world.
It is a high speed calculator, and not even that high of a speed for car computers, lol.
"PCM failure" means just that, PCM can't function with current hook up, doesn't mean PCM is bad, that's just what we assume because we think in those terms.
"O2 sensor high", just means O2 sensor voltage is high, doesn't mean O2 sensor is bad, WE assume things that are way to complicated for a computer to detect.
Computer codes are a tool FOR diagnostics, they can't do diagnostics.
Like a vacuum meter or a volt meter are tools for diagnostics.
No absolutes involve, low vacuum just means low vacuum, doesn't mean rings are bad or valves are bad, doesn't work that way, up to the DIYer to do the thinking.
Car computers make it much easier to diagnose, its like having a volt/ohm meter hooked up to all the sensors at the same time, because thats all the computer really is, a multi-meter and calculator, it reads voltages and has ranges it compares them to, then lets you know if something is out of range, but thats all it can do, let you know, there can be no "why" it is out of range.
Like expecting a vacuum gauge to tell you "why" the vacuum is low, lol, simply not going to happen.
Computers in the movies are smart, in the real world they are not, they are fast and they are accurate like "rainman", but they are not smart.
I used to help people on the HP forums with their computer problems and one of the first plans of action was to do a hard reset of the MoBo _ that solved allot of problems.
Maybe there was a "spiral" on the shaft that would allow oil to work its way up into the bushing.
Perhaps Ford did away with that save a bit of money.
Allot of the Lucas distributors didn't have a grease cup and I don't remember them giving any problems, eg. my old TR7 (good riddance !)
All the Delco Remy ones had a grease cup _ the old ones any way.
#8
07-12-2016
#9
07-17-2016
Hey there !
Las Vegas, I've never been there or any place for that matter _ I hate to travel and I can't afford to.
I had one experience on a slot machine once and I'll never go back.
It was eating my money and I quit.
Shortly there after these elderly couple were playing 1 dollar tokens and the second time around it coughed up a 100 bucks.
After that, I vowed never again.
I am sure there are other things to do Las Vegas though, but gambling comes to mind first thing. :-)
Las Vegas, I've never been there or any place for that matter _ I hate to travel and I can't afford to.
I had one experience on a slot machine once and I'll never go back.
It was eating my money and I quit.
Shortly there after these elderly couple were playing 1 dollar tokens and the second time around it coughed up a 100 bucks.
After that, I vowed never again.
I am sure there are other things to do Las Vegas though, but gambling comes to mind first thing. :-)
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