[elky] Re: AAA card...or not

Okey Doky
 
 
Smokey Mt Frank  

 
In a message dated 7/21/2011 1:12:30 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx writes:



I'm not keeping track.  I  don't wanna know.  :)  With the exception of the 
radiator, most of  the parts have been fairly cheap maintenance items.  
Like the temp gauge:  only $18.  The coil and module will be $60, but I'll keep 
the old ones as  spares in the car, since they seem to work fine when cool. 
 

I  don't have a huge amount invested in it and all the stuff I've replaced, 
with  a coupla exceptions are things I'd wanna replace on a car of that age 
and  mileage (although it has 100k more than the seller told me...I'm still 
pissed  about that) to make sure it was reliable.

Off to the parts  store.

r


On 7/21/2011 10:54 AM, _STILLFRANKSFAULT@xxxxxxxx 
(mailto:STILLFRANKSFAULT@xxxxxxx)  wrote:  
How much have you invested in this Camaro so far?
 
Smokey Mt Frank  

 
In a message dated 7/21/2011 12:41:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, 
_rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx)  writes:



Yesterday I did a buncha  stuff on the Camaro, including running some 
radiator flush chemical  (sodium citrate) thru the cooling system, then 
backflushing it and finding  out that my manual fan switch has to be switched 
on 
AFTER starting the  motor.  I have no idea why, but it does.

So yesterday around  dusk (9 pm or so) I took it out for a drive.  Temp 
never got over  160...no thermostat in it at the moment.  But.  (As usual,  
there's a "but".)  I probably drove it 3 times as long as I'd ever  driven it 
before and, again, it stayed nice and cool.  I decided to  turn back and head 
home (I was almost to downtown Salt Lake City) and I  made the mistake of 
turning onto a street carrying traffic from the  minor-league baseball game 
that had just ended.  Stop and go for at  least 15 minutes...and then the 
motor just shut off.  

So I'm  stuck in traffic with a dead motor and I turn the 4-way flashers 
on.   Then I twist the key and the motor starts.  90 seconds later, it dies  
again and won't start.  A coupla guys push me and the car into a  parking lot 
and I call AAA.  Great.  I can get it hauled back to  my house.  

After 30 minutes of waiting (traffic was still  real heavy) and no tow 
truck, I twist the key and the thing starts.   So I let it run for 5 minutes, 
shut it off for a few and try again.   Starts right up.  So I called AAA and 
cancelled the towing request  and drove the thing home.  Again, engine 
temperature never got over  160.  

Diagnosis:  Flaky ignition module and/or  coil.  So today I'll go get 
another bottle of radiator flush, do it  again and replace both the coil and 
module.  Then I'll drive it for a  while with the flush chemical in it, then 
bring it home (assuming that it  doesn't die on me) backflush the cooling 
system again and move on to the  next problem, the lack of a horn (the fuse is 
good.)  

Anyway,  I'm very glad I had the AAA card, even though I didn't need it in 
the  end.  It sure helped with peace of mind, knowing that if I couldn't  
get it running again, I'd have a way to get it home.

I can't  remember if I sent this photo:



The new hood arrived  yesterday and I brought it home from the trucking 
depot (that's a story in  itself) and it's ready to be bolted on as soon as I 
remove the hood latch  mechanism, which is what's keeping it from seating 
correctly along the  front edge.

Busy, busy, busy.   :)

r

JPEG image

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