On Mon, 20 Nov 2000, John T. Blair wrote:
> At 10:40 AM 11/20/00 -0800, John Weale wrote:
> >
> ......
>
> >Sometimes (stupid intermittant problems!) my car will not start when hot.
> >Usually, the starter motor will crank the engine once or twice then 'jam,'
> >exactly like a dead battery.
>
> By this, I assume you mean that the solenoid will go click but the eng. will
> NOT turn over?
>
The engine does spin a few times, but there is no ignition and it
grinds to a halt. So I think the solinoid is OK. I will be taking the
starter off over thanksgiving to get an eye
on the pinion gear, and if I feel ambitious, I may even take it apart to
check out the commuter and look for anything obviously fried. Based on the
replies so far, I'm thinking the starter is the problem.
>
> As Michael Graziano said, I don't understand the 2nd item. I agree with
> his initial comments about vapor lock. How hot is it where you are now?
>
It is actually quite cool out (low 50's, coolest it gets here).
And this happened again today. It didn't happen after a short, 10 minute
trip, but did happen after a longer trip (45 minutes at 60-85 on the
freeway). I popped open the bonnet (better airflow really speeds up
cooling) and waited about 45 minutes, until the carb was cool to the
touch, and she started right up. Currently, I'm going after it as a case
of vapor lock. But why now after over 2 years? This problem (which I
agree is different from the first one) started immediately after I changed
the oil. And about a week after I got the choke working. Now, I could
see the choke leaking a bit resulting in a rich condition/hotter cat/vapor
lock, but the oil change seeming to provoke this problem is an annoying
coincidence.
Thanks to everyone who's offered advice so far, and I'll give an
update after digging into it Thursday (maybe as late as Sat).
JHW
PS Not knowing the problem is even more frustrating after sucessfully
helping a friend 900 miles away troubleshoot a similar problem on his MG
(alas, my problem isn't as easy as a bad alternator).
|