Highway's Law

Highway Star · #1 08-07-2010, 11:12 PM

Jeez.....

I'm all dressed up with nowhere to go. I've been dying to just go for a cruise lately. It has been so HOT, and it rains every day, too pretty much. Today was the first real chance I had to get out for a ride. There was a little cruise-in at a local speed shop, I was going to hit it this evening. Earlier plans in the day that ran late kept me from going. Now, just a little while ago, I figured everyone else was about to zonk out, and I could go for a nice night cruise. No sun, no traffic, etc. Would be cool.

I clothed 'er all down, and aired up the tires, checked fluids, etc. I got in and turned the key...nothing. Dead silence.

What a bummer.

Just seems like my luck. The car was acting a little funny the last time I had it out, but there wasn't anything wrong (that I knew of) in the electrical/charging system. I hooked it to the little charger I have, maybe tomorrow it will fire up.

Maybe I wasn't supposed to go for a ride tonight after all.

Ms Grumpy · #2 08-07-2010, 11:20 PM

I will keep my fingers crossed for you Jake. Hope tomorrow you will be able to take the car out.

shadowgray396 · #3 08-07-2010, 11:40 PM

I bet it fires right up tomorrow and you will be out cruising.

grandsport · #4 08-07-2010, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowgray396

I bet it fires right up tomorrow and you will be out cruising.

x2 been there.

Hank70SS · #5 08-08-2010, 07:24 AM

Good luck Jake. Now you have to figure out what killed the battery.

Highway Star · #6 08-08-2010, 09:24 AM

Right, Hank. That is the part I'm not so excited about, as if any of this is exciting. I'm not so great at electrical troubleshooting. It was fine before.

Rank · #7 08-08-2010, 11:52 AM

Had the vette on a "battery tender" all winter. Started right up in spring so I went topizza. Came out from dinner andgot the disheartening "click-click" .... my point, the tender keep thebattery charged just enought so when you try it againout in public your stuck! .... Probably something simple like a bad lead, good luck!

My 85 year old dad is in Opelousas and says the same thing, endless rain!

Highway Star · #8 08-08-2010, 01:31 PM

The rain? It is the time of year for it. Seems like every year around this time, I wind up irritated because the weather keeps me from cruising. There are cool gatherings and places to go, but I'm not big on driving my Chevelle in the rain. Wiper motor is weak, no heater to defrost windshield, etc. It is hot and humid 24/7. A few nights ago the thermometer on my patio read 88 degrees at 10pm in the dark. the humidity was 95%. At night. Rainy and sunny every day. If there is a breeze, it is a hot breeze, and the humidity doesn't quit. My grass needs to be cut every 5 days or it is a hayfield.

The dome light came on earlier when I went out to see it, but it wasn't done charging yet. That is a good sign. I was figuring that if that little trickle charger only puts out so much juice, if there was a short, it would just drain as the charger worked. Is that right?

The volt meter said 12.36 volts when I hooked it to the battery earlier today. My bud told me that is a good reading, but I need to find out what it reads when I crank it. Then, get a reading off the alternator once it is running. We'll see.

Highway Star · #9 08-08-2010, 04:28 PM

Well, it started up for me. It was kind of hard starting but it eventually fired. I let it come up to temp, and shot the timing (22 initial, 32 total), adjusted the idle to around 800 in park, vacuum gauge read 15" in park.

I went for a ride, maybe 3 miles. It was terrible. First it seemed like it was fine. I stopped at a red light and in gear, it was trying to stay alive, idling below 600. It seemed to accelerate ok, but just wasn't all there like it should be. I was going to go have the battery and alternator tested and pulled into autozone, but when I let the car coast through the parking lot, it was surging and idling waaaaay low again.

In all honesty, I don't know what I'm doing. I can read and research all I want, but I can't gt this thing running right again. I have a list of problems a mile long...

Ticking rockers on passenger side
Exhaust leaks at header flanges on both sides
As of today, there is a bad shimmy driving down the road. At near 50 mph, the hood was shaking sideways back and forth. No weights look to be missing from the wheels, maybe it is a tire or two

There must be a vacuum leak too. There is an awful hissssss coming from around the carb somewhere but I'm too thick to find it.

I "rebuilt" my carb a little ways back, and obviously have messed something up.) I don't know if it ought to be making this noise or not.

The timing curve is wrong. I put a re-curve kit in it, and it has nowhere near the amount of advance it needs.

After it was running, my meter showed 13.85 volts on the battery, so I guess the alternator is working. I don't know what the hell that means though.

This thing is all messed up!! I'm ready to just park it for a while. I don't have $ to throw at it for a battery or tires, and don't have the patience (at the present time) to troubleshoot all of these problems.

I almost called it a POS earlier today. This is bad.

Highway Star · #10 08-08-2010, 05:36 PM

Thanks Mike. Someone else was telling me some of the same things today, and offered some good advice for diagnosing my electrical stuff too. The hard starting, (yeah, that too) I'm not sure if it is timing, wiring, starter, battery, or some or all of the above. Since it seems like the alternator charged it back up, it likely did the last time I drove it too. I'll bet it got drained somehow, and it will do it again.

I was just telling my wife that with all the other crap I have going on right now...(my ongoing back problems, lack of work, etc, etc) that I don't have the patience to find pleasure in working on it right now.

Speaking of leaks, I remembered a minute ago that when I was underneath looking at wheel weights, I saw transmission fluid on the outside of one of the trans cooler lines. Great another leak to go along with my leaky oil pressure gauge feed line..

It needs to be cooler out to work on my car, I was out there for 10 minutes, and I got drenched with sweat. She might be sitting for a few months for the weather to cool off before I mess with her anymore, unless I get a wild hair in my butt.,,or a huge AC unit in my garage.

I took the engine apart and it works, so I did good there, but apparently the wiring, distributor, and carb are a little more temperamental in nature.

Eventually I'll get anxious to drive it again...