Listers,
I need help with a diagnosis. With it being British Car Week and all, I
set out yesterday to drive my Spitfire all day long as I ran my errands
as a home building contractor. Things went fine until about 3:00 pm, at
which point the car sputtered & gradually came to a halt. It seemed like
vapor lock (I even wrote about that subject yesterday), but subsequent
events have led me to believe that something else is going on.
After waiting for an hour, I started the car again and was able to drive
it a mile or so before it sputtered to a stop again. At this point, I
called my wife and she came to pick me up. We left the Spit at about
5:00 pm. At 10:00 pm, we were back to try to drive it home. It started
right up and I drove it about three miles when it died again. At that
point, we parked it and went home.
This morning, we tried again to get it home. It had sat overnight and
was as cold as it was going to get. I started it up and made it about a
mile into our neighborhood, but it died a block and a half from our
driveway. Believe it or not, we tied a 3/8" rope between the back bumper
of my GMC Sonoma and the front of the Spitfire and my wife did an
outstanding job of easing us up the hill and into our driveway. The
car's now in the garage.
So, what could it be? Fuel pump? Vapor lock? (I don't think so, since it
wasn't that hot this morning and the car was cold.) Something wrong with
the carburetor? Fuel filter clogged? (I just replaced the fuel filter a
week ago when the same thing happened - we thought that was the solution
at that time, but obviously it wasn't.) Any other ideas?
My wife, who was extremely gracious about the whole fiasco, did have one
little jab that I thought I'd share with you: she told me that I had to
stop thinking of the Spitfire as a car and start thinking of it more as
a toy. Like not to actually take it on trips (like running from job site
to job site), and more for a quick trip around the block or to get a
gallon of milk from the corner store. She was half kidding, half serious
- she loves the car, too, but I think she's lost a little confidence in
it lately. I want to get the darned thing back to where it's a
dependable AND fun car. HELP!!!
--
Ken Tharp
79 Spitfire 1500
West Des Moines, IA
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