Archive for June, 2008

Check Engine Trouble Codes Explained

When you plug your OBD II scan tool in and get a reading each separate character has its own meaning.

B 1 3 0 0

Assuming that the example above is your OBD II readout you can decipher to a close degree where your trouble is located.

The first letter in this case the “B” indicates a problem in the body of the vehicle. There are four possibilities in the first digit of the readout:

1) “P” for powertrain problems

2) “B” for body related problems

3) “C” for chassis problems

4) “U” is undefined by any of the three, P, B, or C. So you would have to rely on the following digits to hone in on your problem.

The second digit tells you whether the problem is generic “0” shared by all vehicle manufacturers, or a “1” for a manufacturer specific code.

The third digit helps you fine tune your troubleshooting by telling you what sub section of the vehicle the problem may be in:

1) “1” is for emissions management either fuel or air

2) “2” is for an injector circuit, either fuel or air.

3) “3” is for ignition misfire.

4) “4” is for emission control.

5) “5” is for Vehicle speed or idle control.

6) “6” is for Computer or output circuit.

7) “7” is for transmission.

“8” is also for transmission

The last two digits identify what specific section of the system is malfunctioning.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Swimming Pool Filters, Sand or Cartridge Filters Which Is Best

When you are trying to decide between whether to buy a sand swimming pool filter or a cartridge type you have to determine the amount of debris falling into your pool daily.

A year ago I had my old swimming pool sand filter start to leak for no other reason than age and sitting in the sun for twenty years. I had no complaints with the sand filter.

I went to the local swimming pool supply company and they convinced me that a Hayward Cartridge filter would be superior to the sand filter and would make the water clearer because of the finer filter elements ability to take out smaller size water contaminants. After buying and installing the new cartridge filter there were no problems and the swimming pool water did seem clearer. One week later we had a wind storm and a lot of tree debris got blown into the pool. The debris that was small enough to get by the skimmer got trapped by the filter cartridge and within hours almost completely clogged the cartridge.

This happened on a regular basis because my pool is surrounded by large trees so I ended up cleaning the filter cartridge every other day. So if you have a swimming pool surrounded by trees and anything else that may add large debris to the pool water, a cartridge filter may not be right for you, unless you want to clean it every other day.

I dealt with cleaning the filter cartridge for one year then replaced the Hayward cartridge filter with a Pentair TR-60 sand filter. The TR-60 is the same filter I originally had but it was made by Triton, I guess they were bought out by Pentair. The Pentair sand filter has been working great now for the past six months, and I only have to backwash it once every two weeks, a big improvement over the constant washing of the cartridge from the Hayward.

When deciding what type of filter you need for your swimming pool, whether a pool sand filter, or a pool cartridge filter you have to determine the amount of debris larger than large dust particles that fall into your pool water. If you have trees over your pool with pine needles, and the various blooms from trees can fall into your swimming pool then you would be better off looking at installing a sand filter.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pentair Multi-Port Valve and Sand Filter

I recently installed a Pentair TR-60 with a multi-port valve attached. After several bad storms locally the filter needed to be backwashed to lower the pressure in the filter. Backwashing the filter for three minutes cleaned the debris from inside of the filter and allowed the pressure to return to normal. There was one problem though, the filter seemed to be making a hissing noise when the filter was running. Water was coming out into the pool at it's normal rate so I didn't really have any idea what the reason for the hissing noise was.

It turns out that it was my own error, my filter unit did not come with directions so I had nothing to refer to, but what I did wrong when I backwashed the filter was neglected to rinse the filter. That is only necessary with the multi-port valve the two position valve doesn't have a rinse setting.

After I ran through the cycle again, backwashing, and then rinse for 30 seconds then back to filter the hissing noise went away and the filter operated as it was designed to. So if you have the same system, a Pentair TR-60 with a multi-port valve the steps are backwash for three minutes, rinse for 30 seconds and then back to filter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------