[elky] AAA card...or not

From: Ray Buck <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011 10:41:05 -0600

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

[elky] AAA card...or not

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