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A good start to the month...
3rd March 2024
- blowing exhaust?
- damp points?
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A few days
ago I drove the 100-mile round-trip to visit my brother. In
all it was a good drive, even though it was yet another grey
day. On the way home though I stated to think that the
exhaust was blowing. During its checkup at the garage the
previous month I had noticed a somewhat suspect joint in the
exhaust with a fair amount of exhaust paste visible. Now it
appeared to be blowing here. Today I had to visit a client
so I planned to call in at the exhaust place near there, but
the car wouldn't start.
Read more...
Initially it seemed the
battery was struggling to turn the engine over, so I assumed
it was (only) a flat battery. Having a few spare batteries
knocking about I tried doubling them up with my jump-leads,
but that was no use and now the starter motor was just
clicking. A problematic starter motor too?
My neighbour was on his
way out and offered some words of advice, namely that these
cars are notorious for suffering from cold and damp points,
and that it was likely flooded with fuel (ah, I'm reminded
of the good-old days again!) [he also suggested fitting
electronic ignition...] I consulted the Haynes Manual
and beyond considering the car might actually be out of fuel
(since I don't know how accurate the gauge is) it then went
on to mention the points, so I focused on that in my next
step [acknowledging the statement "Don't overlook the
obvious", but we'll get back to that...].
I removed the distributor
cap, noting its orientation. Things weren't exactly pristine
in there so I gave it a dose of contact cleaner, got the cap
back on and tried again. Things sounded more promising now
and with some coaxing I got her to start, although she was
quite unhappy for a few minutes until she warmed up - it was
very similar to how she was on the drive home from picking
her up.
Perhaps the battery wasn't
really the main issue after-all, but I have swapped it with
the one from my previous car which is barely a year old and
a higher spec... The
next day, when I had more time, I removed the distributor
cap again to give things a more thorough clean. My other
neighbour came over for a chat and at some point I got
distracted by the battery contacts. I think I was commenting
on how I "knew" the battery contacts were something I had
checked and "couldn't be an issue" because I had swapped the
battery... but I came to notice that there was indeed a
loose contact where there is a hand-tightened quick release
thing. I gave this a good twist to tighten it down and tried
the car a try again... It turned over with far more vigour,
just as I had been familiar with, and with a bit of
persuasion it started and ran.
Later on I decided to look
online for electronic ignition kits and discovered... my car
already has it! Not being so familiar with distributors and
not really knowing what I was looking at I realised from
pictures that the part is fitted within where the
distributor cap covers with the leads running out to various
locations. Some time ago I'd watched Youtube videos where
such kits were more bulky boxes mounted elsewhere in the
engine bay. So then why was my car being difficult to start
when the electronic ignition modification was supposed to
improve this? Perhaps it was all down to that loose battery
terminal, and this may have come loose on my previous day's
drive, which I clobbered over a speed bump I had not noticed
in time. Now just
for that exhaust issue... |
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