Tool Review: Inductive Reading Tachometer

Recent work on Thing Two's pickup truck led me to wonder if the idle was set too high on the engine.  The truck didn't come with a tachometer however.

My mind then thought to get a tachometer that wasn't tied to a specific vehicle so I can use it to determine RPMs on any gasoline/two stroke or four stroke vehicle.

A little googling and I figured I'd try this one:

Link to product on Amazon

It's made in China by an outfit called Bohisen and cost me $15.43.

I thought it would work like a similar tachometer I'd used on my motorcycles previously.  You coil the far end of the wire onto one of the spark plug wires and when the engine is on, it tells you the RPMs.  Simple.

Well, this one is "mo better".

It takes inductive reading a step further and comes set from the factory to read four stroke engines and I imagine car engines.

The first step I used Yagi, my TW200 as test subject as Thing Two has retried the pickup truck for use.  I clamped it onto the spark plug wire and it worked.  Easy Peasy.

The instructions also say you can just hold the meter close to the spark plug wire and get a reading!  Yep.  No need for the clamp or wire if you don't want to use it. 

Not a bad tool for when working with a gas engine vehicle with no tachometer.

Update: Thing Two came home this morning so I was able to use the tachometer tool on the truck with the engine still warm.  The idle must have been in the 2000 range before the accident!  It was reading 1680 rpm when I first checked it.  

I lowered it to 1420 rpm and it sounded a bit better.  Sadly, at "full seat" on the idle screw, its still in the 1200 rpm range.  Oh well, something to research for another day.  

Update:  turns out I had the tachometer in the motorcycle mode versus the car mode, hence the high RPM reading. Once I put it into the right mode it's now idling nicely at 1000 RPM. I believe the manual says between 950 and 1000 so I think we're good for now.

Fixing a Snow Day Accident

One of the reasons, heck, the main reason I came home earlier than planned was to bring the Honda CR-V home so that Thing Two had transportation.  Thing Two had been driving home work in the 1990 Toyota Pickup, lost traction on snow and hit a tree.

The good news was that Thing Two was unhurt.

It was either that tree or a building near a school, so good choice on Thing Two's part.

Here's some pics sent from the scene from Thing Two's phone:

Not sure how Thing Two managed it but the truck was driven (slowly) home, about 8 miles in crappy weather.  The truck was left in the driveway to await mechanical inspection by yours truly.   

I failed to take pictures of how wedged into the driver side front wheel well the bumper was driven.  Suffice to say I'm not sure how it was driven home at all, the tire must have rubbed on it when making turns!

Here's the main damage area after I pulled the bumper off.

Some judicious hammering/pulling and crowbar action later, I would end up removing the damaged grille and fender in order to assess things.

Over the last week or so, I managed to bend/hammer/force the fender onto the truck.  I used lots of safety wire to cobble together the grille and attach it to the fender and front of the truck:

Then, I decided to hammer/unbend the bumper and mount it back onto the two main supports at the front of the truck.  It hangs pretty secure actually.  Of course, not exactly DOT standard but....

A new bumper costs about $100 but the left side secondary support mount for it was crushed rearward and not usable.

BTW, Thing 2 had caused that dent previously

near the right side headlight.

Although a replacement grille isn't expensive, I'm not sure a new one would be mountable given the underlying damage.  The fender though, was available via Amazon and for less than $100 so I got it.

Right before the new fender was installed.

The fender, after many hours of creative fastening efforts, is on pretty securely.  It came painted in primer black and so it will remain I think.

There's also a metal valance that I could mount under the bumper but not sure it's needed or worth the effort as it was damaged as well.

Let's see, in order to hopefully remedy a slow brake fluid leak, I replaced the master brake cylinder as well.  A messy job but if it fixes the slow leak, I'll be happy.

The truck is drivable now, all the lights work, brakes work and she doesn't pull when driving or coming to a stop so a wheel alignment can wait.

The 22RE Toyota engine, famed for reliability, wasn't damaged and continues to run strong.  

Future work:

Patch holes in the muffler.  Perhaps she'll run quieter once I do this.

Drain/Refill gear oil in the front and rear differentials.

Change Engine Oil and Filter.

Replace air filter, it's filthy.

At 182K, drain/refill transmission fluid.  It was done at 152K Miles by Parker Automotive and they replaced the filter at that time.

Thing Two, in the meantime, has discovered that taking the bus from apartment to work and back is not the travail it was believed to be.  There's no rush to get the truck back apparently.

Still, there's transportation if wanted, so Martha and I can go camping again while towing the Honda CR-V.  More on this in about a week or so.