Just received this in an email bulletin from USDA. Just thought it was interesting. Taz

*****PLEASE NOTE: UPDATE is being issued one day early because many USDA offices, including all of CSREES except those personnel housed outside the District of Columbia, will be closed tomorrow, Friday, April 23. This closure is because of the NATO Summit being held in the Washington, DC. All CSREES offices reopen on Monday, April 26.*****

-- Taz (Tassie @aol.com), April 22, 1999

Answers

No biggie. Many of my Federal Guvmint customers are getting tomorrow off. Big crunch downtown for hotels, taxi's etc. Lots of security!

-- br14 (br14@branch.com), April 22, 1999.

Hope DC has "clear skies" tommorow, I've still got a hitch in my giddyup. OTT.. Does anyone have a auto mechanic that can tell up how to bypass the ECM ( onboard computer) so the damn thing will run reguardless of technology? While I was growing up all an engine needed was gas, spark, and air to run. Well oil and water were kinda necessary to but the engine would start with those three things. Nowdays , if the cotton pickin sensor in the transmission (or God knows how many others) becomes faulty or sends a faulty signal, the whole damn car quits (recent experience). So if I could just bypass it in case of emergency I would feel a lot more comfortable!!

-- spun@lright (mikeymac@uswest.net), April 22, 1999.

Spun;

Probably no way to bypass the ECM. It controls the ignition timing. See if you can find another of the same model in a junkyard and install that (either you or your garage can do this).

Bruce

-- Bruce Welker (bdw@ngdc.noaa.gov), April 22, 1999.

Just a question on the aside:

Are you sure that the ECM is year sensitive? It might not care whether it is 1999, 2000, or 1066.

You may just want to disconnect it for whatever other reason, but it's probably worth thinking about the effort involved vs. the return if it isn't year sensitive.

-- jeff donohue (jeff_donohue@hotmail.com), April 22, 1999.

After reading this line, I just had to ask:

> Nowdays , if the cotton pickin sensor in the transmission (or God knows how many others) becomes faulty or sends a faulty signal, the whole damn car quits (recent experience).<

Was it designed by Microsoft?

-- J (jart5@bellsouth.net), April 23, 1999.