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.