The last 24 hours have been tense and nervous, and to be honest, I needed some help to relax. You see, a group of four of us are going to be traveling with the NYC Taxi we bought for $800 off of Copart from NYC to Los Angeles. All of this starts with Jason taking the cab from North Carolina, where it’s been “fixed” and sent to a cab museum, where we’re all supposed to meet up with it before our early morning departure tomorrow. Is this a bad idea? It might be a bad idea, and we’re going to live blog it, because if we don’t liveblog it, it didn’t happen.
Let’s start with the obvious. Jason called me this morning to tell me he’d just started driving the car to begin his journey with his son Otto in tow. Somehow, Jason managed to install a vintage arcade in the rear seat, but no one in the chain of command considered driving the car above 40 mph. As soon as Jason did, the car began to stall and throw up every light known to man.
Here’s a good example of what that looks like:
Hold on, let’s just enhance that:
That seems bad. – MH
6/18/25 – 09:41 AM
The good news is, we’ve got an Autopian in the Richmond area who is happy to loan an OBDII reader and a little love to the cab. The even better news is that we’ve already made $650.
6/18/25 – 11:25 AM
That’s a lot of codes. – MH
6/18/25 – 11:57 AM
Thanks to some excellent help from reader Jay, many people in our Discord, and SWG, we’ve got a plan for what comes next. It seems that the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) sensor is throwing a fit, either because it’s not functional or because it doesn’t exist. Either way, it seems like a cheap resistor shoved into the ECU will solve the issue, which is causing the car to resist acceleration at certain moments. With that cheap resistor, we should be good to go. A cheap 10A fuse should solve some of the other issues and, just to be sure, we’ll make sure that gas cap is nice and snug.
Jason has also found a solution to the A/C potentially draining the battery, and it’s… something:
Also, quick update, the cab isn’t going to make it to the Taxi Depot, but Griffin and I will be there! – MH
11:00 PM – Jason Made It!
Better late than never. We had an awesome time at the Taxi Depot and I’ll have a lot more to share about that soon.
END OF DAY ONE
dropping here too in case my other comment isn’t seen – maybe this is already on your itinerary…
There’s a fantastic decomissioned section of Route 66 that’s now a bike trail. Photo op gold IMO. Chain of Rocks Bridge. Here’s where it is. The route there (assuming you cross the Mississippi at downtown STL) goes by some of the best pick and pulls in the Midwest. “Pick’n’Pull” is great, and Riverside Salvage awesome and is a much more down to earth kind of place.
Hood toggle A/C is brilliant! The jank is really impressive. I’m hoping more and more switchgear ends up in random external places, like a dial on the passenger rear door for turning on/off the wipers!
Stuttering at speed: How accessible is the fuel filter on this thing? If you can find a filter somewhere without dropping the tank, then replace it. Those symptoms kinda sound like restricted fuel supply, and that could be a cheap and easy fix.
Exhaust temperature codes: I guarantee the sensor wiring got pinched. Find the sensor, trace the wire, find the break. Or don’t. I really don’t think those codes are related to the driveability problems and you can safely ignore them.
Air conditioning: Your fixes are perfect. The only change I’d consider is using zip ties to better secure the wire.
I don’t really feel confident the cab will make it to Denver but I’ll still hold out hope!
Umm, I thought I was clear yesterday to NOT install a toggle switch with additional alligator clips…
Sigh
The photo of the switch in the hood hole caused me to have an actual laugh-out-loud moment.
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