Well, folks, one thing programming and working on cars is, they make you feel
humble. I have been helping my dad with his MG's since I was a kid, helping
him with two total restorations and many engine rebuilds. I think I know
my stuff fairly well. However, I recently fell prey to a simple problem
that confounded me for weeks.
It started when the clutch started making this awful grinding noise when I
pushed the pedal in. I was at a traffic light, and when it turned green, I
heard a loud bang followed by grinding. It stopped as soon as I let off
the pedal, so I limped home (home was 300 miles away... mostly interstate).
When I got home, my dad and I replaced the clutch. The grinding was a
result of the graphite in the throwout bearing having shattered. The
steel shell was what was disengaging the clutch. Anyway, we got the
thing back together, and I drove back to Boston.
About a month later, I came out to start the car, and the battery was
dead. I thought that there was a slow electric 'leak' somewhere,
since I hadn't driven in about a week, so I recharged the batery, and
everything was fine. For a week.
Then, I started hearing a godawful squeal coming from under the hood
whenever I accelerated in 1st gear. It souded like a bearing in the
alternator going bad, but I couldn't reproduce it when I looked under
the hood. Well, I had midterms coming up, so I put that problem on
the back burner.
Then, I drove home for Spring Break since I am too poor to go where
the other college students go. Everything was fine until I reached
Pennsylvania and the sun started to set. I turned on my lights, and
the engine started missing. I turned off the lights and it stopped.
I stopped. Looked under the hood, jiggled the ignition wires, hopped
back in, turned the key, and nothing happens. The battery was dead
again. Fortunately, I was stopped on a hill, so I roll started it
again and drove to Scranton. Went to K-mart and bought a new Battery.
This got me to Maryland before the headlights got so dim that I
couldn't see the road. So, I went to the Holiday Inn.
Next morning, I got a AAA jump start, and made it home without
incident.
Dad says, "Did you tighten the fan belt when you put the engine back
in?" I said yes. He said, well the alternator must be bad... put
this spare one in. SO, I go to take out the old alternator, and guess
what? I had neglected to replace the bottom bolt (the one you can't
see) when we had replaced the clutch. The thing is, the belt felt
tight, and it only sqealed sometimes, but it was slipping anyway.
I feel so much better now that I have my shame out in the open...
James
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