Hi all...first, my heartfelt thanks for all the help this group has given me
in becoming intimate with Amanda, my TR6. This post is mostly to get off
my chest the woes of the past week in company of those who can relate...and
to ask for information, more out of curiousity than desperation as she is
currently In The Shop (not mine.)
A couple weeks ago, she had developed a nasty thumping in the back end thatmany
folks on the group had advice about. As it reached the point where it was
painful to drive her, even though there was no apparent damage, my paycheck
arrived, and I decided that Amanda was more important than the faceless corps
to whom I owe. So, into the shop she went. The garage called the same day with
the happy news that the problem which I had though/been told might be either
a dead leverarm $hock or a loose differential turned out to be a stripped bolt
in the shock mounting...I'm not to clear on where, not having seen it. The
only important thing to me was that it would cost me a total of $45. Yay. The
shop then said "Well you know, there's a lot wrong with this car." I said
warily "Yes I know that. What specifically did you have in mind?" "Well,there's
two things we'd like to look at. First, your brakes aren't working right."
"Oh I know, they pulse because the rear (only?) drums need to be machined out
after sitting with the emergency on for 18 months." "No, they *don't work*."
"Huh? Well, OK, if it takes less than an hour to look at." "Great. And also,
you have no heat in this car! How do you drive it?" "Gee, I usually wear a coat,
and a scarf, and gloves, and a hat, and...oh,okay, have a look if it can be
checked in that same hour."
They called back one hour later. "Mr Zimmerman? Yes, your brakes turned out to
be a crimped vacuum line and the heater was a dead thermostat. $42 total. Come
get her!" Ecstatic, I picked her up and drove to work the next day, reveling
in the silence of the back end. That Friday, however, it rained and went up to
around 50 degrees, and after work she refused to start. Popping the hood, I
cranked her over...and could *see* the pretty little sparks as her coil wire
shorted everywhere. Sigh. Went home and brought new cables Saturday- she's
happy. This lasted until Wednesday night, when I parked her after a delightful
commute home. Thursday morning, I wedged myself into the driver's seat, started
her up, gave her the customary four-minute warmup, and when I attempted to
leave the parking space, she was reluctant to go into gear as she often is when
really cold. I got a few miles down the road however, and she suddenly
wouldn't go into gear at all. Sigh. The clutch felt normal, and I could get
her into gear by turning the engine off. So I turned her off, went into third
as it was the best single gear choice, depressed the clutch and started. She
started instantly as normal when warm, and drove back to the shop in third.
So here I wait. Even worse, her being in the shop means I can't get to work to
make the money which I can't afford to use to fix her but have to anyway. :-)
Sorry about the length. I needed to get that out. In any case, here's the
question...what could cause that last symptom? i don't have the tools/space/
expertise/molecular kinetic energy to try and fix her myself, but I'd love to
know if anyone has run into this or knows what it is. Symptoms are as above...
won't go into gear with the engine running, but will with the motor off and
when started with the clutch down does not move, and once in third gear the
clutch
worked normally..except that if I shifted out of third I couldn't get back in.
Anyway, any info appreciated. My thanks for listening and apologies for the
bandwidth...we now return you to your regular informative discussion. :-)
-JBZimmerman!
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