It Lived...if only for a second
Well, we completed everything I wanted to do. The brake job, valve job, some interior work, and the new tie rods. All that was left to do was put her back on her wheels and get an alignment.
We dropped her off the blocks and I jumped in for a test spin. The car sounded better than it had ever before. It idled smooth and throttle response was immediate. Almost immediately the brakes went soft but that was expected. I knew that it would take a little while to work all the air out of the calipers. Not mention contiually bleeding them will help get out any debris that might have gotten in brakes lines while we were working on them.
Everything looked good to go so I decided to take her out on the highway. Everything was perfect until she got to about 3000 rpms and she choked out a little, but kept running. I brought her back to the house we looked her over, but really had no idea what to do. We decided it was still driveable and we took her in for the alignment.
Fortunately, I was not there for the disaster. The mechanic took her out ffr a test drive and while he was driving her...she died. He tried to start it again but no joy.
At first we thought it might have been vapor lock considering it was around 100 degrees. However, after a considerable cool off she still refused to start. So we began to troubleshoot. It had be one of three things: air, fuel, or fire. Based on several observations, we quickly turned our attention to fuel. We assumed the car was not getting enough any fuel. Two easy culprits: fuel filter or DME relay. Unfortunately, neither fixed the problem. Since the fuel filter needed to be changed anyway, and it is advised to have a spare DME relay on hand...I figured no big loss.
Currently, my Dad is trying to find some tme to do a little more troubleshooting before we take her to the wrench. Personally, I have a hunch that the back pressure from the old fuel filter burned up the fuel pump. Right now, I do not know much more than that.
There will not be many more updates for a while because I will be in Kuwait for a year.
COST:
Alignment - $47
feul filter - $37
DME relay - $41
Hood badge, flapper box, etc. - $200
TOTAL - $315
We dropped her off the blocks and I jumped in for a test spin. The car sounded better than it had ever before. It idled smooth and throttle response was immediate. Almost immediately the brakes went soft but that was expected. I knew that it would take a little while to work all the air out of the calipers. Not mention contiually bleeding them will help get out any debris that might have gotten in brakes lines while we were working on them.
Everything looked good to go so I decided to take her out on the highway. Everything was perfect until she got to about 3000 rpms and she choked out a little, but kept running. I brought her back to the house we looked her over, but really had no idea what to do. We decided it was still driveable and we took her in for the alignment.
Fortunately, I was not there for the disaster. The mechanic took her out ffr a test drive and while he was driving her...she died. He tried to start it again but no joy.
At first we thought it might have been vapor lock considering it was around 100 degrees. However, after a considerable cool off she still refused to start. So we began to troubleshoot. It had be one of three things: air, fuel, or fire. Based on several observations, we quickly turned our attention to fuel. We assumed the car was not getting enough any fuel. Two easy culprits: fuel filter or DME relay. Unfortunately, neither fixed the problem. Since the fuel filter needed to be changed anyway, and it is advised to have a spare DME relay on hand...I figured no big loss.
Currently, my Dad is trying to find some tme to do a little more troubleshooting before we take her to the wrench. Personally, I have a hunch that the back pressure from the old fuel filter burned up the fuel pump. Right now, I do not know much more than that.
There will not be many more updates for a while because I will be in Kuwait for a year.
COST:
Alignment - $47
feul filter - $37
DME relay - $41
Hood badge, flapper box, etc. - $200
TOTAL - $315
posted by Lycurgus at Sunday, July 03, 2005
4 comments
