Ok Listers, I got this from another list I'm a member of and felt it
might solve the problems some of you have been having with vapor
lock. Let me know if it helps!
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A Vanilla Problem
This is a weird but true story (with a moral) ...
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
"This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you for
not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact
that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after
dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every night,
after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream
we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a
fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips
to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy
vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't
start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just
fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter
how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not
start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get
any other kind?'"
The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter,
but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised
to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine
neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time,
so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It
was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came
back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man
got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry.
The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed
to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this
man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore,
to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem.
And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts
of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth,
etc. In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy
vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of
the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate
case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other
flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter
where it took considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked
out.
Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when
it took less time. Once time became the problem--not the vanilla ice
cream--the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. It
was happening every night, but the extra time taken to get the other
flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When
the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock
to dissipate.
Moral of the story: even insane looking problems are sometimes real.
A better moral: chocolate ice cream cures vapor lock!
Brad (Lincoln Nebraska 402-464-1502)
1964 Spitfire4 BFC25720L (In "Teething" Mode right now)
1966 TR4A CT72398L (Slowly gathering the needed parts)
1951 Dodge Truck 82217766 B-3-B-108 (Suspension just about ready to install)
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