Hot mess, a 1967 CJ-5 restoration

[bmorgil]

Well we did get off track. Good deviation from the grind there. I do enjoy these "wanders"! It is the things our elders leave us, that brings us so much to do.

David, get us back on track how's that project update coming?

[davide]

I'm so sorry I went awol on you all. It was not intentional. I do enjoy hearing of others situations, even if it doesn't directly apply to our Jeep's. Keeping things human is a good thing and, for me, therapeutic. I've not only been overwhelmed with the probate process the state of CA puts folks through, but I have been working on an engineering project that is (hopefully) wrapped up. If you ever hear me say I will work pro-bono on another engineering project again, please knock some sense into me!!

So back to the brake light switch...Bob, that Volvo write up was great and right up my ally, electrical engineering. I was aware of how the switch worked from a mechanical aspect, but found the failure analysis part of it interesting. I was shocked to see that enough current could be generated from the worn contact to actually melt the plastic switch housing.

I wanted to show you how I went about testing the new switch and still feel that it is defective. I performed the test two different ways. The first was using a punch with a diameter nearly as close as the switches fluid opening. When pressing the punch inward, I could feel the tension of the spring plate and the contact being made on the inner terminals. With my DMM showing an electrical open (both continuity and ohm), I depressed the punch. I could feel the contact being made inside the switch, but the DMM showed no continuity or registered any resistance (ohms).
I then took an air blow gun (with a rubber tip) and set the pressure regulator to 60 psi. Same result as with the punch. I increased the compressor regulator to 100 psi. Still nothing.

I have yet to get back to the manufacturer (Standard) with my test data. Maybe it will mean something to them, maybe it won't. I will head to Napa tomorrow as they have one in stock (from Echlin) and will let me test it first.
IMG_2863.jpg

[bmorgil]

Always good to have you back David! It definitely looks like the switch is bad. All the importing that is going on now, you don't know where things are coming from or what their quality will be. Our import laws do little. Some boxes and/or products are unmarked as to where they are coming from. "Made in USA" may or may not mean "Made in USA". It could mean a few things. It isn't all China anymore. Some really poor quality coming in from India and other third world areas. If you have ever seen some of the "re-manufacturing" videos from around the globe, it's terrifying!

[davide]

I'm striking out on every switch I test. The probability of all these switches being defective is next to zero and I have to assume that my testing methods are inadequate. I have reached out to the manufacturer with my test procedures and look forward to what they say. I will pass along anything I find out. I can only conclude that a fluid pressure test is required....

I still owe an update on a couple other things and will take some more pictures to help tell those tales.

[51 CJ3]

Just a thought… I have had batteries go bad in multimeters. The results can be rather interesting and unpredictable. The first one showed 250v on a nail in the siding of my house. It turned out the nail wasn’t touching a wire at all. Not even close. I have also had some failed continuity checks that were fine with a fresh battery.

[davide]

Hi Jeff. I appreciate the suggestion and will double check.

[davide]

I'm going to turn the clock back for a bit and get back to the master cylinder. Yes, we're going to kick this dead horse some more...

Recall that KW sent me a new master to put in. I put it in a couple months back and now I don't have fluid shooting out of my cap like I did previously. Well, I know why it was happening.

When I took the suspect MC out, I found a shiny disk in the reservoir and thought it was some internal backing plate to a piston. It ended up being the "fountain diverter" on the backside of the MC cap. Without it, the fountain of fluid had a direct path to the vent hole in the cap.

Now I know everyone is saying that a huge fountain is not supposed to pop up when the pedal is applied. I'm starting to think that maybe it does on this style, hence the "diverter".
I bench bled this newest MC on my bench, after bolting it to the frame and as part of bleeding all wheel cylinders again. With the MC cap off, I still have a fountain when pressing on the pedal, but the "diverter" keeps the fluid in now.

Now that I have to bleed it all over again after removing the brake light switch, I'm going to use a new compressor assist bleed tool, I just got from Amazon.

With "diverter" out
IMG_2865.jpg

With "diverter" in
IMG_2866.jpg

[davide]

And while I'm turning the wayback machine on, I also brought up cleaning the rust off my t-case so I could get some primer on it.

I did end up using my sand blaster to get the nooks and crannies clean, but I sealed it up very well beforehand and also kept clear of those sealed areas. It actually turned out really nice and I got some primer on it before the weather went into the negatives.

IMG_2867.jpg IMG_2868.jpg

[56willys]

To add to 51 cj3s theory. A while back my multimeter was screwing up. On continuity test it would constantly beep weather there was continuity or not. Every other function worked fine. The problem was one of the fuses inside blew. Somehow only affecting the cont. testing circuit.
A cheap fuse at the hardware store had me back up and running. Not saying you have a tool problem, just sharing whatever info I have.

Also, the switch on my jeep. (I reused the one I had, now I'm glad I did) I tested it by pushing a dowel into it. With rounded end so not to damage the seal. And just gently applied pressure and that was enough to make it work.

That t case is looking great! Also glad you finally got that master cylinder issue figured out. One mistory solved!

[gmwillys]

If LarrBeard wasn't sitting on a beach in Florida, he would chime in about the greatness of the Simpson Volt/Ohm meter, (probably the best meter ever made). Fluke are good, but LarrBeard has proven time and time again how good the old meters really are.