Finally, after a long battle with the powers of darkness (yeah, you know
who I mean), my TR6 is back on the road to stay (at least until late Fall).
We decided to ignore all of these boring obligations that you have when
you own a home, and we went to the beach for the day. The TR ran well
(except for when the wire slipped off of the solenoid terminal and I burnt
my thumb putting it back on), and the coast of Maine was magnificent! We
went to Popham Beach, and the line for parking started at least a mile
before the park entrance. It was a typical Summer (holiday too) day with
many more cars than legal parking places. As we finally got almos to the
park entrance, someone came out and actually drove their car away from a
legal parking spot! Man, when you're hot, you're hot!
Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone who gave me advice about my starter
motor probelem (yeah, it was the solenoid, and 3 of them later, I have one
that works). I also want to share with you the last problem to keep me off
the road... I have fixed it, but this may happen to someone out there, so
I'll risk boring you all.
The immediate problem was that the car would start beautifully when it was
"cold", but after running for 5 - 10 mins. it would "quit" and refuse to
restart. I was so focused on this, that I chose not to think about a
couple of other things that were actually clues to the whole problem! The
other things were -- a large and growing oil spot on the garage floor, the
"oil" level being 'way up there on the dip stick, the fuel guage showing
1/2 tank. Figured it out yet? Yeah -- the fuel pump was leaking into the
engine, and the car was being starved, but refilled over time by gravity.
I removed the original AC pump, and replaced it with an electric one from
Pegasus. They have everything to do the job, including a blanking plate
and gasket to cover the hole in the block where the old pump went. The car
now runs until I shut it off!
My Summer now stretches out before me with much promise! I do, however,
still have a small "brain teaser" for the list. I can't seem to get the
idle below 1500 rpm. Actually, if I push the throttle levers with a screw
driver, I can get the idle to ~ 800, but once I "goose it" the idle
returnds to the 1500 range. I think the throttle butterflies and shafts
aren't closing all the way to the "stops". Do those springs that wrap
around the ends of the shafts get weak over time? They were a little
difficult to put on (seemed like a lot of tension), but they may need to be
replaced. What's the opinion of the list? I await your diagnosis...
Tom Walling
Bowdoinham, Maine
1973 TR6
1960 TR3A
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