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By Rick Cogbill a.k.a. Slim Shambles
Quigley walked into the coffee room with a clipboard full of papers. "Susie Picket just had her '88 S-10 pickup towed in." He handed a hand-written note to Basil. "It quit on the highway, and hasn't run since."
The name sounded familiar. "Isn't she the daughter of Professor Picket?" I asked. Professor Picket taught the Pre-Apprentice course over at the Trade School, where he was known as Fix-it Picket. According to local legend, he's never been stumped yet by an automotive problem.
"That's right," Quig replied. "The Prof. has been working on this for a week, but now it's our turn."
That worried me. If Fix-it Picket was stumped, then this could get ugly. Basil read over Prof. Picket's copious notes on the steps he had already taken to address the problem. He adjusted his reading glasses. "Looks like fun, Slim," he warned. "The truck cranks, starts, and then quits after a few seconds. According to his notes, old Fix-it has checked everything I would have checked."
"Well, let's start over," I suggested. "Maybe he overlooked something."
The S-10 had a 2.5 4-cylinder motor. There was good spark at the plugs, and we had lots of fuel pressure. By adding artificial fuel (in the form of gasoline or propane) we could keep it running, so everything pointed to an injector or injector control problem. That's where the fun began. Basil checked the injector wiring harness with a...