Sometimes you need to look beyond the apparent symptoms

[glxtasy@juno.com (ken r weidmann jr.)]

This is something I got from the Porsche 356 list.  Just a little story
to remind you that sometimes the apparent problem you have has a deeper
causation.
Ken Weidmann Jr
GLXTASY@Juno.com
Checkered Flag Automotive Components
95 Black Jetta GLX M3 wannabe
85 Show Scirocco


> Subject: Bug Fixing. 
> Engineers, take note!
> 
> A complaint received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
>  
> "This is the  second time I have written you, and I don't blame you
> for not answering me, because what I have to say sounds kind of crazy.
> 
> "But it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream
> for dessert after dinner each nigh, but the kind of ice cream
> varies. So, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on
> which kind of ice cream we should have, and I drive down to the store
to
> get it.
> 
> "It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since
> them my trips to the store have created a problem.  You see, every time
> I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car
> won't start.  If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car
> starts just fine. "I want you to know I'm serious about this
> question, no matter how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a
> Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and
> easy to start whenever I get any other kind?'" The Pontiac
> president was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an
> engineer to check it out anyway.  The latter was surprised to be
> greeted by a successful, obviously well-educated man in a fine 
> neighborhood.  He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time,
> so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store.It was
> vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came
> back to the car, it wouldn't start.The engineer returned for
> three more nights. The first night, the man got chocolate. The
> car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car
> started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to 
> start. Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe
> that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He
> arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to
> solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes:
> he jotted down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used,
> time to drive back and forth, etc. In a short time, he had a
> clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other
> flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store.
> Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the 
> front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept
> in the back of the store at a different counter where it took 
> considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out. 
> Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when
> it took less time. Once time became the problem -- not the vanilla
> ice cream -- the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor
> lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to
> get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently
> to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot
> for the vapor lock to dissipate. Often, we must look deeper
> than the obvious to find the real problem.
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