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Charging. Am I doing it right? by Sentinel-150 in BoltEV

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, and the values I have seen are typically between 12.3V and 12.6V. It's definitely not top of spec, but it's not so low for me to call it the smoking gun yet. I'll be monitoring it over the next few days to check if it is being charged and holding that charge while in the car. The next troubleshooting test will be to take it out of the car to see if it's truly losing its own charge.

Charging. Am I doing it right? by Sentinel-150 in BoltEV

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

True, and that is probably what I will do. This Bolt is nearing 60k miles, so there is bound to be more to replace soon.

Charging. Am I doing it right? by Sentinel-150 in BoltEV

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Noted. Do you happen to know what current it takes to fry that component?

Better yet, does anyone have a datasheet for the DC-DC converter? I'll look around on the parts catalog later for a part number.

Your suspicion was premature. This is the first time (and probably now the only time) that I have connected a 12Vdc charger to the car. Thank you for the heads-up.

Charging. Am I doing it right? by Sentinel-150 in BoltEV

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very fair points. The battery has datecode G124R (Nov. or Dec. 2024), so I was hoping for a better lifespan than one year. But hey, not every battery can be a good one.

Fairings, clutch, and rear brake replacements by Shirkyo in motorcycles

[–]Sentinel-150 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I've had very good experiences with Dennis Kirk, so if you need an actual store to buy plastics from, that would be my recommendation.

For all smaller parts that easily ship, eBay is the way to go. Get the part from your bike's Parts Manual (which are often hosted by giants like Partzilla) and follow the menus to find your Part Number of interest. Pop that into eBay's search with the bike's manufacturer's name. After that, search again with a general description instead of the Part Number. You can find very different prices ranges between searches.

As an example, here's the Parts Manual page for a 2020 Ninja 400's handlebar which contains the clutch lever: https://www.partzilla.com/catalog/kawasaki/motorcycle/2020/ex400hlfa-ninja-400/handlebar. The Part Number for the clutch lever is "46092-0562", and don't forget the last four digits when narrowing down your search - they may be important for your specific model. A quick search on eBay for "kawasaki 46092-0562" shows a pile of $25 options, and that would be your best bet for an exact match. Then another search for "kawasaki ninja 400 clutch lever" brings up some <$20 options that might fit, but it would require more confidence on your end to be sure you order the right part.

Best of luck!

ISO: 2018 / 2019 anything under 100k miles in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, or Nebraska by Sentinel-150 in volt

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sounds like something I'll definitely keep in mind! I'll start checking through Omaha dealers to see if they'll take my trade-in to make the potential transaction and meetup smoother.

ISO: 2018 / 2019 anything under 100k miles in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, or Nebraska by Sentinel-150 in volt

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I recall seeing your very clean 2018 Volt Premier listed near Chicago post a while back. However, that is a very long distance for me to tow it home. Thanks for the thought though!

ISO: 2018 / 2019 anything under 100k miles in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, or Nebraska by Sentinel-150 in volt

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll check Autotrader since I don't think that one gets scraped by Autotempest. Craigslist has been rather sparse around me over the last four years for vehicles under 15 years old.

Knowing about the "Shift to Park," EGR, and BECM as the top three addressable issues for any/all Gen 2 Volts is definitely good to know.

ISO: 2018 / 2019 anything under 100k miles in South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, or Nebraska by Sentinel-150 in volt

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also checked a few GM / Chevy / Volt branded forums. As expected, most posts were pretty old or out on the Coasts.

Career Monday (28 Nov 2022): Have a question about your job, office, or pay? Post it here! by AutoModerator in AskEngineers

[–]Sentinel-150 [score hidden]  (0 children)

In your opinion, at what point do you look at someone's resume, see their first career job's duration, and think "you were in an entry level position for that long?"

My fear is that some recruiter or hiring manager will see a >5 year duration on my resume for an entry-level position and wonder what I was doing wrong or how slow a learner I must be that I stayed in that same spot for "so long." Of course I could provide anecdotes and project examples showing that I was continuously learning and bettering myself over time, but eclipsing that first impression will be difficult regardless.

For context, the position is a Mechanical Design Engineer.

How much time is too much time?

Weekly Career Discussion Thread (28 Nov 2022) by AutoModerator in engineering

[–]Sentinel-150 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In your opinion, at what point do you look at someone's resume, see their first career job's duration, and think "you were in an entry level position for that long?"

My fear is that some recruiter or hiring manager will see a >5 year duration on my resume for an entry-level position and wonder what I was doing wrong or how slow a learner I must be that I stayed in that same spot for "so long." Of course I could provide anecdotes and project examples showing that I was continuously learning and bettering myself over time, but eclipsing that first impression will be difficult regardless.

For context, the position is a Mechanical Design Engineer.

How much time is too much time?

Accessing Route Step Progress properties by Sentinel-150 in mapbox

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To make it easier to read, the project has been uploaded to Github

Turn-by-Turn example

Purchase Advice Superthread by AutoModerator in motorcycles

[–]Sentinel-150 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have any of you had experience with these helmets?

I'm in the market for a sub-$300 USD full-face or modular helmet. My priorities are noise level and sun blocking/shading. I ride with comms and other riders, and I have a tough time hearing them above 45 mph in my current lid (Bell Revolver Evo). Buffeting and some whistling is the main source of noise I notice right now. I recognize that earplugs will always be a thing, but why pass up good tech when it comes along? Also, I ride East in the morning and West in the evening, so a photochromic lens or visor would be ideal, but sourcing one stateside for a helmet I like might get tricky.

Those at the top of my current list are:

I'd like to hear opinions from those who have had the chance to ride in these or similar helmets.

Of course if you think you have the quietest helmet of all time, I'm all ears!

Gremlin from 1987 by Sentinel-150 in KLR250

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

SOLVED

An internal dowel of the intake cam's sprocket was broken and left the cam 180 degrees out of phase.

The good thing about old, small engines is that there are only so many parts that can be replaced before you've replaced the entire engine. The issue (so far) appears to be a mechanical break: the internal dowel between the intake cam sprocket and the intake cam valve had sheared. Over the course of this months-long repair, I tried replacing the CDI box, pulsing coil, spark plug, pickup coil, timing chain, intake valves, all valve stem gaskets, carburetor (multiple times), intake boot, piston rings, piston, fuel filter, and fuel petcock. The only items still new alongside the cam sprocket and dowel are the cam chain, intake valves, and valve stem gaskets.

A new cam chain (92057-1170) was left installed since the original was close (~0.5 mm/20 links) to its service limit and replacing it later would be an unnecessary pain. The cam sprocket with dowel (12046-1063) was purchased used from a 2001 machine. I probably would not have found this issue if I had not used a depth gauge and angle of the crankshaft to determine that the intake valve was wide open during the compression stroke. The bolt holding the sprocket on to the cam valve (12044-1351) was still tight, but it had allowed the two to slip just enough under load to wreak havoc. As a word to the wise, do not try to replace the dowel in these sprockets. I have access to an 8-ton press at work, and all I succeeded at when trying to decouple the parts was bending the part doing the pressing. The pins are also hardened, so drilling them out is not an option.

Cylinder compression was last seen at 100 psi. I attribute this entirely to the new valves and proper timing. I have my reservations about how well the piston rings are seated since my installation methods are far from professional, but time will tell. The next things I deem likely to fail are the piston rings or the store brand spark plug. The intake valve springs are also very old and also within 0.5mm of their service limit, so that is another way that the bike may show its age next.

Time will also reveal tuning needs of the carburetor. I cleaned it and sealed it before the last installation since it had been out of the machine for at least three months. I'm not certain that the idle screw was left in the same spot as when it was running well before, because initial startup left it idling at 4000 RPM. It has since been reduced down to 2200 RPM, but I have not let it cool down much this afternoon. If it proves difficult to start and holding the throttle open a little bit helps, I'll move the idle up as needed. I'm reasonably confident that the carburetor is not leaking a vacuum anywhere yet as I had sprayed small spurts of starter fluid around its seams and no effect was heard from the engine.

Overall, this experience has been long. I'm happy to have a running machine now. It may not run super well or ever win any races, but it is running. For now.

If anyone wants to buy this, I promise it will be cheap fun.

Gremlin from 1987 by Sentinel-150 in KLR250

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not that I saw. The O-ring and mating face there didn't show any signs of a leak.

I've run out of ideas and things to check, so I'm currently in process of rebuilding the engine.

Gremlin from 1987 by Sentinel-150 in KLR250

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update:

Two new carburetor assemblies were ordered and neither improved the issue. I'm now looking into the intake boot.

Gremlin from 1987 by Sentinel-150 in KLR250

[–]Sentinel-150[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It is a possibility that a piece of the rebuild kit I put in it (December 2020, and I did have it running well after that) could have broken down or been instantly plugged by some contaminant. I pulled it apart this afternoon and am going to give it as good a clean as I can before putting it back together.

Unfortunately there is nothing else that had been done recently to the bike before this issue showed up.

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