[DeTomaso] Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water...

[Christopher Kimball]

Hi all,

I'm writing from a hotel computer because I'm at a conference in Hawaii, so 
I may not be able to respond for a week or so, but I want to cover two 
things:

I ran the power wires for the two, original radiator fans from the new, 
Dakota Digital fan relays directly from the alternator side of the ammeter, 
with very heavy-duty wire (two solid-core, 12-gauge wires twisted together), 
but I used in-line fuse holders with glass tube fuses.  When I replaced the 
fuse holders with 40-amp rated holders using 30-amp spade fuses, the fans 
worked fine again.  Then, instead of simply tapping in to one of the 
original fan's wires to power the third fan (which I tried and it resulted 
in the first fuse meltdown) I ran a third relay off one of the original 
fan's wires.  Then, I ran the power wires to the third, sucker fan through 
that new relay directly to the same ammeter location as the other fans.

The result, after finally test driving the car in very hot weather downtown, 
was that the temperature remained stable at just above the 190 degree mark, 
so the plan seems to have worked.  Sort of...the only problem now, is that 
when idling at low speeds, the ammeter reads a slight discharge which 
indicates the three fans are putting a pretty big load on the alternator.  
Once I get above about 1100 RPMS or so, however, the ammeter happily sits 
right where it should--the middle of the gauge.

ON A DIFFERENT SUBJECT WHICH I ALMOST HATE TO BRING UP:

I've noticed that occasionally my car will pop out of second gear, back into 
neutral, for no apparent reason.  The throw of the stick shift is set OK, 
because the stick shift stops before hitting the guide, and reverse and 
fifth seem fine.

Please tell me this isn't one of those "I need to spend $$$$$ to have my 
transmission rebuilt" situations!  The car has 59,000 miles on it.

Thanks!

Chris


>From: "Larry - Ohio Time Corp" <larry at ohiotimecorp.com>
>Reply-To: larry at ohiotimecorp.com
>To: "'Al'" <chelini at cox.net>, <MikeLDrew at aol.com>
>CC: SOBill at aol.com, teampantera at yahoo.com, detomaso at realbig.com
>Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Just whe I thought it was safe to go 
>backinthe	water...
>Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:15:46 -0400
>
>Hi Al,
>
>What was being done is that there was a single wire power source that was
>split into two loads (fans). The two fuses are not in parallel so it will
>work fine as long as the load from each fan does not overload the single
>power wire. I think he put in two 30 amp fuses, so possible max load on the
>single feed wire could be 60 amps. I bit high for me.
>
>Larry - Cleveland
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
>Behalf Of Al
>Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 12:00 PM
>To: MikeLDrew at aol.com
>Cc: teampantera at yahoo.com; detomaso at realbig.com; SOBill at aol.com
>Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Just whe I thought it was safe to go back inthe
>water...
>
>Mike,
>
>  From what I remember, one can't parallel fuses to increase the amp
>rating; i.e., due to "skin" effect, you can't put 20 amps thru (2) 10
>amp fuses wired in parallel .
>They are either the correct rating for the amp load, or they are not .
>S O Bill?
>Don't ask me why deTomaso chose to wire that way.
>Al
>===========
>
>MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote:
>
> >In a message dated 7/7/07 21 33 53, chrisvkimball at msn.com writes:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>However, why would both fuses be blown (which is what I found)?  
>Shouldn't
> >>it only have blown the fuse to which the piggy-backed fans were 
>connected?
>
> >>This makes me think maybe the other fuse was already blown and I didn't
>know
> >>it, and that's why I had an overheating problem.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >>>>Coould be, although presumably you would have *looked* before buying a
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >third fan. :>)
> >
> >If you look at the wiring diagrams, and/or inspect the back of the 
>fusebox,
>I
> >believe that you will see that fuses 11 and 12 (where fan power comes 
>from)
>
> >are actually connected together for some strange reason.   So, the two
>fuses
> >share the load between all the components which are on what you would 
>think
>are
> >separate circuits.   (Bill Taylor, please confirm or deny).
> >
> >Presuming this is indeed the case, then by dramatically overloading the
> >circuit, you could have blown both fuses at the same time.
> >
> >Yes?   No?   Maybe?
> >
> >Mike
> >
> >
> >**************************************
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