Automotive Night
Well, I may have come across a bit of a kink in my plan. I’m taking one night a week to focus on something different you know, Thursdays I try to work on the cars. Well the flaw here is what happens with pretty much all my car projects. They always take thee times longer than I plan on them taking. And with my weeknights, I only have about 90 minutes to dedicate. So as it ends up, there’s not much I can get torn apart AND back together in that amount of time. Not while digging for the right wrench and lifting a few beers anyway.
I set out to fix two issues on the Caprice, which turned into three in the short drive to the garage. First I wanted to sort out an electrical issue with the voltmeter. I was driving home last time and the volts would drop to zero, then come back up, or stay at zero indefinitely. I found a wire on the intake that is a bit frayed, but I don’t know that it’s the culprit. I patched it up just the same. Second issue was a water leak somewhere on the top of the engine. I thought at first it was the thermostat housing, but it really looked sealed up pretty good. Then I noticed that it seemed most of the water was leaking from the heater hose coming off the intake. So I pulled it off and found the fitting all pitted and corroded. Pretty sure this is the cause. Just for good measure I pulled the heater hose fitting off the water pump too. They’re only a few bucks to replace, so might as well. I’m debating whether I should replace the hose itself too. I guess if it leaks when I put it back together, I’ll go that route next.
Oh and remember that as a cooling system heats up, it pressurizes. The engine had cooled down, but it was still warm to the touch. So when I pulled off the heater hose, coolant sprayed everywhere…
So I just took the opportunity to clean up the engine bay a bit. (This is why things always take three times longer).
But as I was pulling it around, I noticed the exhaust seemed louder and rattled more. The damn header bolts at the collector are working loose now. I saw one of them just sitting there vibrating and spinning. Sheesh. These things are a PITA. So I’m sure I’m going to need new collector gaskets now too. Just need to get it apart and see what it looks like.
The point however is, I think Automotive work is going to have to be relegated to the weekends. Significant mechanical stuff anyway. I guess Thursday nights will be relegated to cleaning, waxing, and minor adjustments.
Posted on August 2, 2013, in Cars. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
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