So youse guys..
We're headin' into a particularly cold snap here north of Chicago. highs on
Xmas Eve expected to be 10 degrees.
When things start getting' near 0 and below, mechanical items usually start
to protest, so its always nice to have backup. I've got the Dodge diesel
dually plugged in.., but if there's a threat of snow, I rarely drive that.
I've got an older Suburban 4x4 that's my winter beater (although it's a
pretty decent FL rust free truck). It's got the best heater in the bunch,
and it also has Posi, and when combined with 4w drive, it's a mountain goat.
Next in the "belt/suspenders" line is my 1985 Toyota FJ60 Landcruiser. It's
from MT, also rust free, and an appreciating collectible these days, so I
make every attempt not to drive it on our salt laden winter roads. but, if I
had to, I would. It hasn't got too many miles on it over the last year, so I
thought I'd get it filled up with fuel, and run it through the car wash,
then safely tuck it back in the "archives" in case its called to active
duty. This is a carbureted model, with a manual choke. Started right up, and
off to Amoco we go. At the pump in front of me, there were 2 kids in a late
Mustang convertible that wouldn't restart. I ambled over. "I think it's the
starter" one of them said. It was turning over just fine. "No. its not the
starter.if its turning over fast like that. I'm sure its not a starter
issue", I said. "Alternator?" the other one chimed in. "No, that's not
likely either". I reached into the engine compartment and wiggled every
electrical doo-dad I could find as I said "Sometimes you get lucky and find
some connection that's gone a little green from corrosion". My hi-tech
sleuthing did nothing to get them on their way, as I pronounced it likely to
need a trip to the dealership where they could run the codes and see what
the trouble was. "Best of luck to you" I said as I finished filling the
Landcruiser's tank, collected my receipt with the car wash code on it, and
pulled around to the car wash.
I entered the code for the super duper up your pooper magic ridiculously
priced car wash. I slowly entered the building as the under carriage power
spray started when I crossed the infra-red beam. No sooner than the spray
hitting the engine started, the motor stopped. "Oh, this is not good" I said
to my self as I began trying to re-fire the engine. The spraying stopped, as
the cranking continued. I eyeballed my temp gauge to see if I needed manual
choke, or if it had been warmed up before it died. Cranking, cranking,
cranking. not starting. "What's the deal?", I thought."is there some bad
automotive mojo surrounding this place?". I figured the cap had gotten
soaked, and if I could get it to fire up, I'd run over to the hardware
store, and give it a good dousing of WD40 to drive out the moisture. I
stepped out of the truck to inform the pleasant woman behind me that she
might not be getting a car wash in the immediate future due to my mechanical
woes. She was very understanding. The carwash door closed behind me as we
spoke. She started laughing, as did I.. sometimes when things turn to shit,
they really turn to shit. I carefully walked to the exit of the wash where
the door was still open, and with mental pictures of the car wash springing
back to life with me in it, I made my way back into the truck. I couldn't
believe how strong the battery was as I continually cranked it over, pausing
to let the starter cool down occasionally. Finally, I began to hear signs of
life as I kept my foot planted to the floor, and it finally caught on 2 or 3
cylinders. Knowing it would die if I let up, I jest kept the hammer down,
hoping it would begin to catch on more than 4 so I could get it to move
under its own power, and at least escape the clutches of the evil car wash.
Slowly, it began to improve, and I eased out of the bay, on to the street,
and made my way to the hardware store. By then, it was running on all 6
again. Maybe my luck has swung in the other direction?
A $2.99 purchase of WD40 later. I raised the hood, and began to spray down
the wires. when I noticed I could see the rotor spinning from a gaping hole
in the side of the distributor cap. "WTF?" Closer inspection revealed that
no amount of WD40 was going to solve this issue as I discovered not only was
1/3rd of the side of the cap gone, but the top was cracked all the way
around except for one spark plug wire still attached to the side of the cap.
The rest. 5 plug wires and the coil were just being held in place by the
tension and memory of the wires. "Yikes". I got it started, made my way the
1.5 miles home, and made off to NAPA in the Suburban for a $15 new cap.
So, the moral of the story was, in 20 weather or less, at least on a
straight 6 motor, where the distributor hangs off the side exposed, ya might
not want to venture into the car wash. All I can guess is the hot water hit
the very cold cap and it just shattered.
WST
Flounder
Happy Holidays
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