san francisco has been getting soaked by rain last several days and it's
supposed to get worse.  as happened during the previous soaker,  the '82 van
would crank like crazy but not start.   i was about to get a $25 parking
ticket (for a sweep day) and was seriously considering a tow to a garage and
probably $100 to a mechanic to find the problem and fix it -- i had checked
all wires, wiped everything down (lotta condensation in there, it turned
out) etc. etc. when i turned to joel walker's and ol' blue eyes's (lvlearn)
suggestions the last time this came up and, voila, it was a $2.68 fix.  love
the easy ones:  s-t-p "wire drier,"  a small can of dehydrating fluid
sprayed over every wire in sight.  waited a few minutes for it to dry off,
and she fired up really easy.  where the bejaysus the short was i still
don't know but it was clearly caused by a dewdrop hiding somewhere.  well,
folks, that dewdrop.....is no more.  anyway, thanks again gang.  cheers, art

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