Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

cs.cmu.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 517 posts

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#271

Post by AceJohnny2 »

bombcar wrote: post #269
Tangurena2 wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work for General Motors as a field engineer. Basically, I was the "mechanic of last resort" for some issues. The most certain method of getting something fixed was to write a letter to someone at the top, or very close to the top. When the request rolled downhill to "fix this", no one knew if this was a whim or something serious (like it was the CEO's neighbor). So those service requests got absolute priori…

You soon learn at a big company that almost any expense is justifiable to the boss if it prevents his boss from asking inconvenient questions.

By coincidence, I have witnessed this just last night. No details will be provided to protect identity, I'll just say you probably heard of the company.

It's staggering.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#272

Post by bombcar »

addaon wrote: post #126
DoneWithAllThat wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have seen similar behavior on vehicles that have a dying alternator. The issue is that one vane of the rotor (or maybe stator?) has shorted and no longer functions. If when the car is shut off and the rotor stops in a particular position the alternator won’t work. Give it some time and with heating/cooling moving things around just a bit plus the act of repeatedly trying to turn it on potentially making it move jus…

Alternators aren't needed for starting. Perhaps a similar issue with the starter motor? But even then you'd hear the thunk of the starter solenoid. Any audible clue definitely makes root-causing simpler.

I have a crank sensor that is going out, and though it still works most of the time if the crankshaft stops in just the right position it becomes an absolute bear to start, and runs in limp mode when it does.

Any of the other positions it works just fine.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#273

Post by aksss »

13of40 wrote: post #173
MalcolmDwyer wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a countertop ice maker that gets jammed up and overloaded with ice on sunny days for a similar reason. There's an infrared beam and sensor. When the ice tray is full, it is supposed to block the beam, and then the machine stops making ice. On a sunny day, there's enough bright light in our kitchen to fool the sensor so it keeps making ice. We have a random magazine that we put on top of it to make it work cor…

I had a VCR back in the day that refused to function if you opened its case. It turned out that instead of using physical switches inside it used pairs of lights and detectors that would give false positive results when ambient light shined on them.

as in an optocoupler? Those are the coolest, especially for dealing with different voltages.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#274

Post by bombcar »

joshmarinacci wrote: post #25
hinkley wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned a lot of things from my father. Unfortunately a lot of them were what not to do. Don’t buy cheap tools that you’ll have to replace three times in the lifespan of one that costs 50% more. And don’t buy GM. Mechanically they may be reliable, but 90’s GM forgot how to make paint stick to metal and had to pay to repaint a massive number of vehicles that simply pealed if parked outside for too long. How? And the…

Why in the world did GM make a car with the name Citation? Are there any good connotations of that word?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Citation_family

Relatively famous business jet.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#275

Post by bombcar »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #266
taejo wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of cars that intermittently won't turn on in this thread, but I once had a car that intermittently wouldn't turn off... or at least the headlights wouldn't. I assume a relay somewhere was overheating and that was making it stay closed, but I never debugged it, and nor could my cousin who was an auto mechanic. We never tried too hard, though: I would just take the fuse out if it happened and put it back the nex…

True story: I had that happen to an airplane. I was a student on a long solo flight and on the last two legs of that flight, the engine wouldn't shut off using the usual method of pulling the throttle back to idle and turning off the magneto. It's been long enough that I don't remember what I did to get it shut off (maybe I toggled a circuit breaker?), but when I got back to base, I made a note in the airplane log ab…

Sounds like it might have been dieseling - enough carbon buildup glowing hot that even with both magnetos off it can still ignite the next rotation.

Usually there was a fuel disconnect along with the throttle that would eventually starve the engine.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#277

Post by toast0 »

dotancohen wrote: post #166
hydrok9 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation just means to be noted for something ("Cited for valour.")

But in the context of motor vehicles, the term is highly associated with infractions and monetary fines.

I mean, people like fast cars, so the Chevy Speeding Ticket should be a good seller.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#279

Post by taneq »

A couple of weeks ago I got back from a remote site, the only diagnostic info we had beforehand for one of the issues was that the mobile equipment would trip out with a CANbus error. The operator would isolate the equipment, then it'd come good. I was struggling to find the software fault since, if a simple off-and-on-again fixed it, clearly it was a software problem.

I got to site and found a loose connector on an IO module under the operator's movable arm rest. It was the connector that carried the CAN comms. I plugged it in. No more dramas.

I can only surmise that the process of them slamming the arm rest up, tromping down the stairs, flicking the isolator off and on, tromping back up the stairs, and slamming the armrest down was enough to re-seat the loose connection temporarily.

Re: Car allergic to vanilla ice cream (2000)

#280

Post by dotancohen »

toast0 wrote: post #277
dotancohen wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But in the context of motor vehicles, the term is highly associated with infractions and monetary fines.

I mean, people like fast cars, so the Chevy Speeding Ticket should be a good seller.

You do have a point!
Post reply on HN