Driver's Education
Club Racing
Member List
RSS
Help
08-05-2010, 10:39 AM
So the we packed for the Watkins Glen very normal routine trailer, truck, race cars, supplies etc. Embarked on the turnpike at a reasonable hour to meet up with some friends for dinner in town. We passed Lansdale climbing a typical turnpike hill then suddenly every light on the dash of my Nissan Titan lit up saying "see service shop soon!" . At that point all went dead no power brakes, steering, anything, no engine. Towing a 24ft trailer that now has no brakes with a truck that now has at best manual brakes I managed to pull over without an accident. We were stranded and climbing under the truck could not find the major malfunction.
I called a friend Darren Mingis to go over options of diagnosis. He relayed to another club member Jason Mahoney who also has a Titan. One by one we went through repair procedures: Flywheel sensor, computer resets, reading codes, checking the trans etc. In the meantime, a turnpike service truck pulled up so we thought they may offer assistance. The only thing they were doing is dropping off a guy near an exit gate to go home and they chewed me out for being to close to the gate as it is an emergency vehicle entrance. ( good to know that thanks, but were stranded). After an hour we determined a bullet was in order our weekend was shot. At this point Darren offered to trade positions since he was not going to the event ( one that he always had attended in the past). Wait, let's trade? You give me your working truck and I give you a broken one on a wrecker only to have them drive you back to my house and pick up one or our cars? Darren saw it from his perspective of looking forward to a track weekend and then not be able to go so if we could still go it would make one situation better.
So we continue on, Darren did not get home until very late and we made it to Watkins Glen at 1am. Next morning we made it to the track very tired, but a bunch club members had learned of our fate and helped us get settled in. Larry Herman assisted with the car setup along a bunch of others making it easy to settle in. All seemed well, but come Saturday the car died on track second session as the fuel pump stopped working. Back in the pits again Larry came over and so did Steve Timmons, Jeff Haas, and Glen Crawford. Main supply fuse had popped. Odd, but changing the fuse and driving around it was all good again. Shannon went out for her session and it died again climbing the essess. Jeff Haas came over along with more support and the deductive reasoning was a faulty fuel pump overloading the circuit. Of course who would have a fuel pump in stock? Jeff Haas of course, brand new top of the line. An hour later and help from more support, Jeff under the car, Larry again, Trevor McNeil, Nick Betegh, Nick Benz, and like the Oscars all those I forgot to mention. I swapped out the pump and drove it around good as new................ Not. Larry had it die on him. Now we knew only one option remained wire chaffing in the harness. The chasis must be flexing enough somewhere and the wire has lost insulation to the point that the pump shorts momentarily. A re-wire ensued. This took awhile and we circumvented any circuitry that could cause it to go again using the Porsche shop manual. In the end the car ran flawlessly all day Sunday. I have managed to fix my car at the track almost everytime a small mechanical has happened, but not without the support of the community which includes some very special people.
To give you an idea over the past 10years: defective shift rod repaired, CV joint repaired, wheel bearing replaced, broken sway bar link, bad temp sensor, bad dist cap/rotor, intermittent ODBII ECU. Loose toe link.
I must also mention Dougherty Automotive has always been there to support a stranded motorist and many times Bill has accepted "thank you" as form of payment.
This group rocks and don't be afraid to ask or offer help to anyone you share the track with in RTR.
I called a friend Darren Mingis to go over options of diagnosis. He relayed to another club member Jason Mahoney who also has a Titan. One by one we went through repair procedures: Flywheel sensor, computer resets, reading codes, checking the trans etc. In the meantime, a turnpike service truck pulled up so we thought they may offer assistance. The only thing they were doing is dropping off a guy near an exit gate to go home and they chewed me out for being to close to the gate as it is an emergency vehicle entrance. ( good to know that thanks, but were stranded). After an hour we determined a bullet was in order our weekend was shot. At this point Darren offered to trade positions since he was not going to the event ( one that he always had attended in the past). Wait, let's trade? You give me your working truck and I give you a broken one on a wrecker only to have them drive you back to my house and pick up one or our cars? Darren saw it from his perspective of looking forward to a track weekend and then not be able to go so if we could still go it would make one situation better.
So we continue on, Darren did not get home until very late and we made it to Watkins Glen at 1am. Next morning we made it to the track very tired, but a bunch club members had learned of our fate and helped us get settled in. Larry Herman assisted with the car setup along a bunch of others making it easy to settle in. All seemed well, but come Saturday the car died on track second session as the fuel pump stopped working. Back in the pits again Larry came over and so did Steve Timmons, Jeff Haas, and Glen Crawford. Main supply fuse had popped. Odd, but changing the fuse and driving around it was all good again. Shannon went out for her session and it died again climbing the essess. Jeff Haas came over along with more support and the deductive reasoning was a faulty fuel pump overloading the circuit. Of course who would have a fuel pump in stock? Jeff Haas of course, brand new top of the line. An hour later and help from more support, Jeff under the car, Larry again, Trevor McNeil, Nick Betegh, Nick Benz, and like the Oscars all those I forgot to mention. I swapped out the pump and drove it around good as new................ Not. Larry had it die on him. Now we knew only one option remained wire chaffing in the harness. The chasis must be flexing enough somewhere and the wire has lost insulation to the point that the pump shorts momentarily. A re-wire ensued. This took awhile and we circumvented any circuitry that could cause it to go again using the Porsche shop manual. In the end the car ran flawlessly all day Sunday. I have managed to fix my car at the track almost everytime a small mechanical has happened, but not without the support of the community which includes some very special people.
To give you an idea over the past 10years: defective shift rod repaired, CV joint repaired, wheel bearing replaced, broken sway bar link, bad temp sensor, bad dist cap/rotor, intermittent ODBII ECU. Loose toe link.
I must also mention Dougherty Automotive has always been there to support a stranded motorist and many times Bill has accepted "thank you" as form of payment.
This group rocks and don't be afraid to ask or offer help to anyone you share the track with in RTR.
hock:
) 
