What have you done to your wagon lately? (Let's keep the thread going!)

Thank you sir, I'm trying my best anyway. Drag week is taking place in your neck of the woods. Starts in Atlanta, Georgia. Day 2, Darlington SC. Day 3, Charlotte NC. Day 4, Bristol TN. Day 5 is back to Atlanta to wrap it up.

 

1984 Chevy Caprice wagon. All new door seals,window wipes,rear window seal,added foam to drivers seat. We good to go!

 

Where did you get the door and window seals?

 

Off E Bay Motors. Seal for the back window was hard to find. I picked up two of them. See previous thread for info. The wipes were more work than I thought. You must take the glass out to get to the screws. Same out back. Worth it though, Looks like a new car around the doors and windows.

 

I began tearing into the dash to get hold of the blinker relay and to find the electronic box which controls the Diesel feed. The fuse box was easy to get to. Everything else is an unnecessary pain:





Here's where they house relays. I pulled the one which takes up 2 old-fashioned relay places and typed the numbers into a search engine, only to find out it's a relay block for the wipers:





The blinker operates part-time on both sides and all bulbs function. It could also be a corrosion problem. I ironed out a similar problem, at the left-side taillight, a couple years ago. The blinker relay clicks somewhere behind the A/C louvers or radio. I either had to call it quits, for today, or use brute force and risk devaluing the car.
It starts hard when both cold and hot. Computers work best around 70°F. So, I suspect the chip controlling the fuel feed. I read in a forum that it's also somewhere where the blinker's at. The bright side of it would be to access both at the same time. As soon as I find it, I'm bringing it indoors, to warm up and then bring it outside, to see if it starts cold. If I can, I'll try by-passing the gadget, so that it'll start up on the glow plugs

 

By blinker relay I assume you mean the flasher. I don't know about Audis, but on other cars you have to locate them by feel as they are usually tucked up behind the dash. Usually held in place by a spring clip or push-in knob. Since yours is working, just turn it on and blindly feel around in the general vicinity until you can locate it by feel. Then pop it out and pull it and the wiring down as far as you can. Then unplug it and replace. Let it hang as you'll never get it back in its former location. (Keep in mind I haven't changed one since I closed my shop in 2000 so I don't know how they do it on modern cars.) Also, there should be two of them, one for the turn signals and one for the 4 way (emergency) flashers. They are both the same part, but located in different places.

PS, if all else fails, make sure to change the blinker fluid.

 

The car is only one year older than the closing day of your shop. The 4-way flasher is located within the same vicinity and functions without fail. I can hear them both. But, can't grab them. There's too much crammed in the way. In that small space, they've got an airbag, A/C and the hi-fi packed in there. I've got a hunch that if I can get that hi-fi out of there, both devices should hang there like a set of a dog's naughty bits decorating the bull's eye

 

Newer vehicles are now getting relays that handle both functions, My '97 Exploder is one of them. And wouldn't you know it, Ford pulled a fast one--the relay for Explorers is yellow and for Rangers is blue, but neither will fit in each other's place. Almost like a way to make more money.

 

Heard a rattle underneath the Way Back Machine while I was driving around today. Didn't hear it on the first part of the drive, to where I made my first shopping stop. So something happened during the next phase. Waited until I got home to check it out. Muffler and tail pipe are hanging low, and the end of the tail pipe is hitting against the underside of the rear bumper. Time for a new exhaust system.

 

Ha,ha! Good one. Ford should put something like that into mass production. That should sell well to Saudi funders of terrorism

That wouldn't make sense. To not standardized should be more expensive. It's probable, Ford had a supplier change, if they had outsourced harnesses. German Fords were notorious for having frequent production changes, in the 70's, if that's any clue

 

I've read about that. Japan had a worse time with it, but they sure learned their lesson, finally.

 

We did a timing gear change on a German built Capri and had to order the parts from overseas because neither the dealers nor the aftermarket had the parts available.

 

Strange, it's. The '79 Mustang used the same basic engine. Only 200 cc's larger. The Mustang gears should have fitted. You can get them online, these days, without any problem:

https://www.carid.com/1979-ford-mustang-engine-parts/

 

Update:
Got the Way Back machine over to a muffler shop. Everything's shot from behind the cat converter. Shop's estimate $230, without putting in a resonator, $285 with. Seems a bit high for a single-pipe system, so I'm going to check another place.

 

I don't think that sounds too bad to have a shop do it. Do you know if they are going to bend the pipes up there or just install pre-bent pipes? To buy the pipes and muffler aftermarket (Walker with resonator delete) would run about $100 not including hangers or clamps. I would personally go without the resonator. I do not think the sound level will be unacceptable without it.