The Tank Chronicles Chapter 2

When the aircon doesn't blow but isn't broken. When the wipers don't wipe but aren't broken. When the horn doesn't toot, but isn't broken.

By the time Pian the mechanic had finished with the car it was evening. Mei had asked if I’d drive straight up and I said I wouldn’t drive long distance at night with an old car I’d just bought. The last thing I wanted was to have to fix something on an unfamiliar car by the roadside late at night.

When I first saw The Tank, everything major worked - aircon, lights, wipers. When I saw the car for the second time, the horn didn’t work and neither did the aircon blower. Pian spent so much time attending to the other things he ran out of time to look at these two items. He did manage to ascertain the windscreen washer pumps were no longer working though.

I’d checked the lights and they generally worked fine. The right brake light would also screw up the right indicator circuit causing that to flash faster. It could be that the circuit was shorting and an indicator bulb could not work when the brakes were pressed, causing the faster flashing. There was also some issue with the right rear reverse lamp so obviously the wiring to the right rear lamp cluster needed some attention.

The aircon blower issue was a strange one - when the aircon switch was clicked on, you could feel a trace of cold air coming through the vents. When the blower knob was turned to any of the speeds though, this feeble draught of air would immediately cease. The compressor would still be running, but no air at all flowed from the vents.

The aircon switch and the blower knob below it.

I figured I’d get the aircon guy next door to Soon Loong to have a look when I got new tyres put in the next day. Then as I started up the car to leave Pian’s, the blower suddenly worked! I figured it was a wiring issue and decided to take the car and solve this later.

So off I drove through KL traffic for the first time, making it without any drama or fuss to my hotel, then to Soon Loong the next morning. The aircon worked all this time, but when I restarted the car at Soon Loong, it didn’t work again. Same symptoms. I asked the aircon guys but they said they needed 4 hours and I decided a trickle of cold air would be enough for me - or hopefully the gremlin would disappear like it did before, so off I headed for Penang.

"Old cars have no window tinting... I was soon sweaty, sticky and sleepy."

Old cars have no window tinting. I discovered that this, combined with just a feeble wisp of cold air, is not the ideal condition to be travelling through the afternoon with. Within 60 or so kms, I was sweaty, sticky and sleepy. I stopped to wash my face and have a short nap. All this while I wondered about the problem. The blower had previously come to life when I had restarted the car with the aircon switch on. Perhaps that was the answer? Maybe the electrical demand from the clutch on the compressor sent a surge of electricity through old relays and circuits and kicked the blower into life? I’d worked out it wasn’t a case of reversed contacts as that way the blower might simply suck rather than blow. The fuses were all good too.

With some hope in my stomach then, my sweaty hand turned the key and the engine started instantly… I put my right hand to the vents and nervously turned the blower knob with my left… Nothing! Darn, I was convinced it might work. I switched the engine off and tried again. Still nothing… OK hot and sweaty it was going to be then.

Another 60km and I really was suffering. At one point I switched the aircon off, put the windows down, put a cap on my head to stop my hair flying all over the place and drove that way, like it was normal to do in the early 80s when this car first came out. Global warming and deforestation meant that the ambient temperature was a little bit higher than it used to be in the 80s though but I thought I could survive the next 300kms or so.

Then it rained.

Windows up, lights on, wipers on. Errr…wipers on. Please. Damn! They didn’t work! Flicking the stalk about made no difference. I was sure they worked before because Pian was testing them. Hmmm was this how it was going to be with The Tank, then?

Jiggling the wiper stalk about didn't help when the wipers didn't wipe.

Fortunately the screen is more upright than in modern cars and at the speed I was travelling at, and the relatively light rain, I could still see as most of the rain simply blew off the screen. And so I carried on for some time. After a while the rain stopped and the heat returned. I stopped at the Sg Perak rest halt to get a drink and also to try the start cycle again. A few goes at the ignition and no difference. Hmmm...

Once more on the road and I was making rapid progress, The Tank running at 115-120 km/h quite happily - though my GPS showed the true speed to be about 8% less than that. I was surviving with the trickle of cold air, the weather having cooled a little. Then at one point, I suddenly felt a gust of air form the vents. The blower had started working again! I had no idea why but I sure wasn’t going to stop and risk losing it again. So in high spirits I continued on my way.

Then it rained again. heavier than before. I knew if it got too much I’d have to pull over so with dread in my heart I pulled the wiper stalk down pessimistically. They worked!!! Aircon working! Wipers working! What was going on?

No more drama all the way to Penang and my new home in Relau.

The next morning the blower was not working again, and neither were the wipers (they must be linked!) but I made it without discomfort to Georgetown and created a stir at Ah Beng Motor Services, the Volvo specialists at Lorong Macalister. Ah Guan - my usual go-to guy - and his brother plus a couple of the other mechanics gathered around The Tank appreciatively. Guan’s brother (whose name I don’t know) sat in the driver’s seat giving The Tank a look over. I mentioned the car was in good shape but needed some small things sorted out, and mentioned the aircon blower, the wipers and the horn. He started the car up, then switched on the aircon and blower and lo and behold! It all worked. And the wipers too!

He explained the problem: “Ignition switch”.

Ignition switches have a number of positions - locked, 1 (when the steering is unlocked), 2 (when many electrical circuits come online) and the spring-back 3 (starter cranks). When you turn from 2 to 3, the circuits momentarily cut out so power can go to the starter motor. It seems this old thing, having seen many miles, would not spring back to 2 too well so some circuits - no prizes for guessing which ones - would not reconnect.

The guys here really know their Volvos. You don't see any in the picture but step inside and you'll see 850s, V70s , S70s, even a couple of 122s sometimes. The Tank was the only 240 (well, OK a 245) around and attracted some attention.

The Tank filling up a lot outside Pedal Inn.

The cure? I could replace the switch barrel for around RM300-400, or I could live with it by making sure the switch went back fully to 2 each time I started.

I chose the second option happily - I was going to spend some money doing some important things and felt this key thing was an inconvenience but not much more than that.

So there we were, The Tank and I settling into Penang life. Aircon working. Wipers working. Oh, and horn too as they were all linked.

Next chapter: I’ll write about not being blinded by the light.