Listers,
I had something happen on Sunday that I am at a loss to diagnose. I'm
hoping someone on the list has experienced this before and will know in
what direction I should look.
On Sunday, I was driving my 79 Spitfire on some back highways. I had
driven about 30 miles, so the car was good & warmed up. Suddenly, the
engine coughed a little. It kicked back in, and I was able to drive 1/4
mile farther before I slowly lost power. It was as if I had run out of
gasoline, but I had plenty. I sat by the side of the road for a few
minutes, re-started the car, drove just a few hundred feet, and lost
power again. This happened two or three more times, and I was pretty
convinced I was going to have to call my wife to bail me out. I sat for
another few minutes, re-started the car, and everything was fine. I
drove it home with no further problems.
This past June, I had similar problems. The fuel pump was replaced at
that time, and I put in a 160 degree thermostat to attempt to get the
water temperature down (which helped, by the way). My mechanic and I
thought we had solved the problem, particularly since it had been over
three months since experiencing any problems. Now, however, it's deja vu
all over again. The only difference between yesterday's problems and the
problems in June was that I was able to drive the car the 30 miles home;
in June, even when I let it sit overnight where it stalled, I couldn't
get it to run more than a few hundred feet before losing power the next
morning.
Help! Needless to say, any type of long trip is out of the question
until this problem is solved! Thanks for any input on this.
--
Ken Tharp
79 Spitfire 1500
West Des Moines, IA
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