Another Project Completed…

The motorhome is currently parked at Mary’s home in Murphys, California. My current departure date is TOMORROW!.

Back in July of this year I wrote about relocating the TFI Module (thick film ignition…an early vehicle computer which would breakdown under heat and cause the vehicle to stop unexpectedly) on my Bronco II. You can read that blog entry by clicking this link…http://wp.me/pDCku-aC3

Unfortunately that did not cure the problem and on very hot days the problem continued. Another phone call to my good friend and mechanic Kenny resulted in his further advice to add a heat sink. He indicated I should use an aluminum finned computer heat sink coupled with a high-output fan.

So during my 65-day layover at Mary’s home to get my cataract surgery on both eyes accomplished, this project also got completed. Here’s what the heat sink and fan assembly looks like measuring about 2.5″ square…

And in the installed position…

I’ve got it wired so I can plug it into the cigarette lighter and use the fan on very hot days. That little fan pushes a lot of air and combined with the aluminum heat sink SHOULD fix my problem. Hopefully, that’s what will happen!

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

The cataract surgery of my right eye was conducted on October 9th and my left eye on November 6th. Both eyes are now at 20/20. The only remaining item left (other than eye drops until early December) is a visit to the optometrist to be fitted for reading glasses at the VA Hospital in Livermore, California was scheduled for November 25th. I made a last-minute phone call and changed my appointment to December 2nd.

Yesterday was a mostly cloudy day with rain and 51 degrees. Forecast for today is mostly cloudy with rain showers and 55 degrees. YUK!…Time to go to the sunny southland.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of California. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2014

An Electrical Modification On My Ford Bronco II…

The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails Thunderbird RV Resort along the bank of the Skykomish River in Monroe, Washington. I’ve been here a number of times over the past years and always enjoy it here. My scheduled departure date is July 8th.

Mary is at home tending to personal matters…home maintenance, family, friends, rentals, etc..  She has made her flight reservations to meet me July 29th in Bellingham, Washington.

In the early 1980’s, the first automobile computers started to appear. On 22,000,000 Ford vehicles between 1983 and 1995, it was known as a TFI (thin-film Ignition) Module. Ford initially mounted them on the backside of the distributor where they got very hot and resulted in the engine to stop running without any notice. After the engine cooled down, the engine would once again run…until the next time. It made one very hesitant to go anywhere for fear of when it would happen once again. A class action lawsuit resulted which you can read about by clicking this link… http://www.autosafety.org/ford-tfi-module-national-class-settlement

Ford ultimately relocated the unit to another location in the engine compartment to satisfy the issue. I had had the problem with my previous 1984  Ford Bronco II and knew instantly what was going on when it happen to me for the first time on my current 1986 Ford Bronco II a few days ago. After about 30 minutes of cooling I was able to restart the Bronco.

I’m lucky it happened here in Monroe because I could call my friend and cracker-jack mechanic Kenny Coleman. He came over yesterday and changed the location of the TFI Module on my Bronco. The new unit with tax ran me $96. The entire project took two hours and Kenny assured me I should have no further problems with an overheated TFI Module.

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

The TFI Module behind the distributor is very difficult to access…

Here’s the culprit. Kenny told me the brown area on the left is where it got really hot causing the internal electronic failure…

Now mounted on a piece of aluminum angle to act as a heat sink, the unit is mounted atop the air conditioning housing. Kenny said the combination of the aluminum heat sink and unrestricted air flow for cooling will resolve any future problems…

Having a vehicle that could unexpectedly stall at any given moment is not a good thing. It’s nice to nice that potential problem has been removed on my Bronco.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

Yesterday was a cloudy/sunny day at 72 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy/sunny and 79 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 500 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust