The Odd Ball and Weird Issues you've had

[Doug Novak]

I just had one of those weird odd ball things happen while getting ready for a Car Rally with my Porsche. I was just prepping the usual things, cleaning, checking the oil and tire pressure. The tires, over the Winter storage, lost a couple pounds so I pumped them up to the correct pressure, 27# front / 29# rear. I didn't drive the car after doing this but the next day the right rear tire was flat! After sorting things out, the cause was the Cap covering the Valve Stem. The Cap is a Chrome one with the Porsche Emblem on the end and has as an extra thing to prevent air leaks, a tiny rubber O Ring that manage to some how fold it's self over where the O Ring now pushed in the Valve Stem causing a slow leak flatting the tire. Not a big fix, I took the O Ring out, but who would have thunk it? So much for Good German Engineering!

 

[keiser31]

My Mom had a 1968 Fury that kept having the battery drain somehow. I was never any good at electrical stuff, so it went a while having to jump the car battery with cables or charge the battery. One night, I came home late and while walking up the driveway, I saw a small circle of light under the car. Turns out that the trunk pan plug was out and the trunk light shined a small circle of light on the concrete. Somehow, the tang to turn the light off was bent. Re-bent it and the troubles were over. I NEVER would have figured it out if I had not seen that patch of light that night.

[Guest]

You "saw the light" 

[jrbartlett]

1964 Lincoln Convertible developed a rhythmic clunking noise when going around a left-hand turn. I thought it was likely the differential, as I couldn't find anything obvious. Even removed the wheels and brake drums to check the axle bearings for looseness, and saw nothing. Then, as I was reassembling everything, I just happened to touch a brake lining, and it moved sideways on the brake shoe. The rivets holding it in place were present, but loose, allowing the lining to move and rub against the inside of the brake drum, but only when the car turned left. When it turned right the lining apparently moved the other way. I tightened the rivets and the noise was gone, and never came back..   

[28 Chrysler]

I had a 1967 Morris Minor while driving it just stopped running. It turned out to be the fuse for the ignition had somehow popped half way out.

[Rusty_OToole]

Last week as I was getting into my 2006 Dodge Caravan there was a loud bang and the driver's side front spring snapped. The car was not moving, had not even started it. Oddly enough the same thing happened 6 years earlier with a 2000 Ford Windstar in a mall parking lot. Both times as I was getting in, both the left front spring. Maybe I should go on a diet.

[Restorer32]

Coming home very late at night from an evening at the drive-in with my girlfriend. Driving Dad's '64 Coupe de Ville. The car failed to proceed and I drifted off to the side of the road and called brother for a ride home. Came back the next morning and found that the bolts holding the fuel pump in place had loosened to where the pump no longer worked and was about to fall off the block.

[1940TORPEDO]

Was having weird taillamp stop lamp problems. checked all wires, replaced bulbs. It was a dual filament bulb and one of the contact tits had broken away from the bulb and was cuasing intermittent issues.

 

[D Yaros]

Many a year ago I owned a beat up 1954 Oldsmobile that I was using to get me around while my regular ride was in the body shop.  To enter the vehicle I had to use the inside door handle!  To exit the car I had to use the outside door handle!  Never did figure that one out?

[JV Puleo]

The strangest fix I ever made was to a early 70s Volvo that had an early (I think one or two years only) fuel injection system that used a separate pair of points in the distributor, located under the ignition points. I had the distributor out for some reason that now escapes me but when I put if back, the car would only run on two cylinders. I tested about everything I could, including the injectors – all of which worked perfectly. Somehow, one of the sets of injector points was grounding out... in the end, I realized I had left the lock washer out under one of the screws that attached cap retaining spring clips. The two or three threads further in that the screw went was just enough to touch one of the springs on the injector points. To this day, I wonder how I ever noticed that.

[lump]

I had a used 68 Mustang when I was very young married man, and one morning while driving to work, the engine made a popping sound and died, with smoke pouring out around the hood. I was an apprentice sheet metal working in Local 224 at the time, and being late for work was a BIG deal. Cursing loudly, I coasted to the edge of the road, and raised the hood, Underneath I saw that my coil had exploded. The bakelite top-cap was broken free and hanging from a fairly large bundle of wire windings from inside the coil body. The smoke I had seen was the oil/tar from inside the coil having landed on the exhaust manifolds and all over the engine compartment. What a mess! 

 

I couldn't believe it, and I could not afford be late...or at least any later than I was already. This must have been about 1976, so no cell phone.

 

In a bit of a panic I stuffed all that wiring back inside the coil, jammed the broken bakelite top back in place and plugged the center distributor wire back in the hole. Got back inside and turned the key, and THE DARN THING STARTED RIGHT UP!!! I drove the remaining 20 minute drive to work, and then decided to drive it right in the sheet metal shop door. Everyone was shocked, and the shop foreman said, "Lump, what the HELL are you doing?" I said, "Boss, I know I'm late, and I knew no one would believe me. But please, just LOOK under my hood!" I raised the hood, and he saw the coil tower busted out, with oil oozing out, and yet the engine still running. He said, "Damn! Never saw anything like that before. Ok, we believe you. Now park it outside and get to work."

 

The local auto parts store delivered a new coil, and I drove it after that for months, with no troubles. 

Edited April 18, 2017 by lump (see edit history)

[padgett]

Back in my yout went on a Indiana-Michigan-cross Canada to Watkins Glen and back to Indiana trip on a '64 Harley Sportster (magneto ignition). About half past Ohio it suddenly lost poser - engine was running smoothly & seemed to shift normally but no movement. Was night so called for a friend with a trailer to pick up. Back home put it up on a stand and found all of the rivets connecting the sprocket to the wheel had sheared & was just spinning.

 

'Nother time was in the middle of Arizona just past Meteor Crater heading back to Texas in a VW Westfailia on a hot day when the engine quit and would not start. Opened the lid to find the coil bubbling crude. Wife and small son were in the rapidly heating interior so had to do something. Was before cell phones so was weighing options when I spotted about a 1/2 mile back from the road a derelect of some sort. Can say that a dual port 1600 VW ran fine with a Stovebolt Chevvy coil that had been baking in the Arizona desert for years.

 

And then there was the time I was pushing the 72 Goat Wagon a bit on a curving exit ramp when passed by the inside tire, wheel, and axle...

 

(if ever publish an autobiography will need to market as fiction...)

Edited April 18, 2017 by padgett (see edit history)

[36humpback]

way back in the late sixty's I was "parked" with my date on an old dirt road off of the main paved road.  When it was time to go home ( I had a curfew) the car would not start. Had to walk with my date about 2 miles to get home. Dad and I took my date home and then went to check out the car - a 1959 ford with a 6 cylinder- and could not find the problem.  The next day towed it home. After several hours we found that the wire going to the resistor on the firewall had broken, but the wire wrapping was intact.  Got a lot of grief and good natured kidding from my mom and dad for quite awhile after that.

[jrbartlett]

1978 Mercury, driving across North Philadelphia late one night with wife and kids in the car. About a mile from our destination, the engine died and we coasted to a stop. It would not restart. I touched the coil, and it was red hot. We had a small ice chest full of water with us. I poured it onto the coil, then dried off the wire connections. The car started immediately and we drove home. Next morning, no spark. I got a ride to an auto supply and bought a new coil -- problem solved.

[PFitz]

In 1974, in my bought-new 72 Javelin, on the way from Long Island to the wedding of one of my sister's in New Hampshire, as I drove across an overpass on Rt 95 north in Massachusetts, all the dash gauges spiked up to max. Then as I got to the other side of the overpass the gauges went back to normal.  Later I discovered I had no turn signals. Stopped and checked the bulbs and not only turn signals were out but the (GE1157) brake light filaments were burned out too. This happen in clear weather, early afternoon, without the brake, or turn signals being on - so the bulbs were not in a closed circuit.

 

Drove the car for  over 100K miles more and it never happened again.  A mystery to this day.

 

Paul

[Guest]

Another trip to the country for a wedding.  Ten year old 1953 Buick Special.  Stopped for gas and the engine wouldn't start.  Service Station mechanic looked and wiggled an fiddles and the engine started.  Charged me $5.00.  I drove about 30 miles and the engine stopped.  I wiggled things shook and tapped and the engine started. The next good sized town we came to I stopped at the Buick Dealer.  A mechanic did all the above things and could find nothing wrong.  Charged me $10.00.  Went on to the wedding 100 more miles no trouble.  Three AM going out to the farm engine stopped.  I had no underhood light but could feel my way around the engine compartment fairly well.  Thank goodness for Buick's accelerator start.  I was standing on the right side of the engine and reached across an moved the accelerator linkage to kick in the starter, saw a small spark, touched the place and discovered the nut holding the primary wire to the coil was loose.  Tightened it up and had no more trouble.  I wonder if it hadn't been so dark how long it might have taken to find this loose nut.  Interestingly enough the coil or these wires had never been touched since the car was purchased.

[JamesBulldogMiller55Buick]

6 hours ago, D Yaros said:

Many a year ago I owned a beat up 1954 Oldsmobile that I was using to get me around while my regular ride was in the body shop.  To enter the vehicle I had to use the inside door handle!  To exit the car I had to use the outside door handle!  Never did figure that one out?

My '55 Roadmaster has quirk like that on the doors.

Whether , inside the car, or outside the car, to open the door;

one must pull (or push) the door TOWARDS the center of the car to get the door to open.

When inside the car, it's easier to use the outside door handle to get out of the car.

Edited April 18, 2017 by JamesBulldogMiller55Buick (see edit history)

[SC38dls]

We bought a new 1972 camero. Had it two weeks and the engine blew up. Called the dealer and they sent a tow truck. When they lifted it the windshield shattered. The driver said no big deal happens all the time. Got a new engine this one lasted about two months and blew up. Same thing on the windshield. Got another new engine this one lasted over 200,000 miles. But for about three or four months after the last engine was put in every time we turned right it sounded like a bottle rolled across the trunk. The dealer could not find anything wrong and they said they could not make it happen. One time it made a loud clunk and we never heard it again. Have no idea what fell off the car but it didn't effect anything. 

[JamesBulldogMiller55Buick]

Fortyfive  years ago, when Dad and I were cruising in  the Roadmaster, we regularly heard a 'clang .. clang' as we went down the road.

Dad was driving, I was in the right seat.

Dad said the noise was from the driver's side.

I heard the noise coming from the passenger side.

Several times , armed with pieces of old innertube and electrical tape, we went under the car to find and silence the 'clang ... clang'.

Next time we went cruising, 'clang … clang', again.

We still couldn't agree with what side the 'clang … clang' was coming from...

I got the idea , 

as Dad drove slowly around the block , I would trot along side and figure  which side the 'clang… clang' was coming from.

 After trotting around the blockbon both sides of the car (much to the amusement of the neighbors) I relized the 'clang … clang'  was from BOTH sides of the car.

Again, we went under the car,

both of us under the car ....

Dad asks, 

"do you think it could be the parking brake cable yokd clanging against the torque tube?"

 

me,

"No, Dad. That yoke is a good two inches from the torque tube. And it's very tight...."

 

in unison;

"but, it's not tight when driving down the road!"

 

A bit of innertube and electrical tape on the parking cable yoke,

and no more 'clang … clang' …

 

 

[JamesBulldogMiller55Buick]

51 minutes ago, Tinindian said:

Another trip to the country for a wedding.  Ten year old 1953 Buick Special.  Stopped for gas and the engine wouldn't start.  Service Station mechanic looked and wiggled an fiddles and the engine started.  Charged me $5.00.  I drove about 30 miles and the engine stopped.  I wiggled things shook and tapped and the engine started. The next good sized town we came to I stopped at the Buick Dealer.  A mechanic did all the above things and could find nothing wrong.  Charged me $10.00.  Went on to the wedding 100 more miles no trouble.  Three AM going out to the farm engine stopped.  I had no underhood light but could feel my way around the engine compartment fairly well.  Thank goodness for Buick's accelerator start.  I was standing on the right side of the engine and reached across an moved the accelerator linkage to kick in the starter, saw a small spark, touched the place and discovered the nut holding the primary wire to the coil was loose.  Tightened it up and had no more trouble.  I wonder if it hadn't been so dark how long it might have taken to find this loose nut.  Interestingly enough the coil or these wires had never been touched since the car was purchased.

That happened to me about six years ago.

I found it the same way you did, in the dark,

working the throttle to start the car,

saw a spark...

[Guest GT52]

I once started my '68 Mustang to give it its monthly exercise, and it wouldn't move because the brakes were locked.  Shut it off, got out and pushed the car and it rolled fine.  Started it back up, brakes locked up tight again.  I was a bit perplexed, and apparently it's rare, but one failure mode of a power brake booster causes the brakes to apply themselves as soon as vacuum is applied to the booster.  Replaced the booster and all was fine.

Edited April 18, 2017 by GT52
grammar (see edit history)

[Grimy]

1925 Pierce-Arrow Series 80, 6-cyl, single ignition.  Would idle fine up to 700 rpm, then sputter badly--undriveably.  If the clutch was slipped at low rpm, the engine would sputter as soon as load was applied even under 700 rpm. Re-set ignition points, added supplemental new condenser, no help.  The points were now 'way out of adjustment.  After MUCH head-scratching by two of us (the other was far more skilled at vintage iron than I), we added an inductive timing light which went all over the place when the 700 rpm no-load was exceeded.

 

The vertical pivot on which the points were mounted was ever-so-slightly loose in the distributor plate, not loose enough for either of us to notice while re-setting the points.  On this car, the pivot was not pressed into the plate but was secured on the underside of the plate by a nut and split washer.  Apparently the split washer had fatigued over 71 years (this was in 1996) just enough to allow the pivot to wobble almost imperceptibly, but enough to radically change the point adjustment under the points' spring tension.  The cure was a new #8 split washer! 

[John Byrd]

Hmmm, several things over the years, but guess these are the highlights.

 

1.  Got in my Sunbeam Tiger one day to go to work, backed out of the carport, turned the steering wheel to the right, the left upper a-frame broke into, and down I went !

 

2.  Bought a new 1969 Fairlane Cobra, and during a "showing my wife how it runs" drive on the very day I brought it home, when I wound it out in 2nd gear and shifted to 3rd, the Thermactor system cannister blew off ! Huge noise !  Removed the entire smog system that weekend and threw it away.  I know, I know you don't have to tell me, ha !

 

3.  We had a beautiful 1955 Ford pickup "hot rod" truck with a 472 Cadillac drive train and most of the Caddy's interior. Went out to drive it one morning, pulled on the door handle and the steering wheel area burst into small flames and smoke.  I had been having quite a lot of trouble with the truck anyway, but that was the last straw.  Oh, I still had the keys in my pocket !  When it quickly fizzled out on its own, I reached in, put the key in it and it started right up.  I didn't drive it again until the day of the Nashville Swap Meet at the fairgrounds, where a guy from Wisconsin bought it and drove it home ! I made him promise to call me "IF" he made it, and he did...said he had  no troubles whatsoever. grrrrrr

 

4.   Had a 1967 4 door T-Bird that I had bought earlier in the day come off my car trailer, pass me, and slowly roll to a stop with out damaging anything ...Very scary !!!!

 

5.   Driving our newly "fixed up" 1964 Falcon Ranchero home one day after a trip to town, on the way home, heard a noise, and I looked in the mirror and saw something spiraling down the road behind us, and a Chevy pic-up straddling it to miss it. I said the appropriate dirty words about those guys at the "muffler" shop, and after stopping, backed up a couple hundred yards and got out to retrieve it. It was the gas tank, which we had just filled up about 3 miles back !!!!  Thank goodness for Holley 4 barrel carbs and their big float bowls !  We went to a nearby house and they took my wife to our house, she brought back a length of copper pipe, a screwdriver, a length of rubber hose, and a few clamps.  I had been getting a couple of folks to help me carry the tank out of the road, load it into the bed, and when she got back, hooked the pipe and hose to the tank and to the fuel pump (pipe down the drivers side of the truck, behind the side mirror, and into the wheel well, then through the inner fender hole above the a-frame, ha !) and drove on home.

 

6.   Lots more things about lots more cars, but I must be blessed or looked after, because here I sit writing about them, ha !

[john2dameron]

'60 Ford, my first convertible, started missing and sometimes quit going up little hills.  It would start back up and run fine for a few days and then do it again.  Started to the Ford garage one day to get it looked at and did not get there.  It quit and would not start again.  My brothers came by and decided I needed a condenser.  They went to town, got a new condenser and that was the last of that.

'72 Ford Gran Torino would eat brake shoes on the right rear wheel.  Never did figure that one out.

'79 Dodge Omni (that also means Dodge Junk) developed a bad vibration/shaking going up or down my driveway.  Then I noticed it did it when ever I was on an unpaved road.  It was driving me crazy.  Took it to a Dodge dealer and they found nothing.  Took it to another Dodge dealer, a mechanic drove it, told me he saw nothing wrong.  I asked him if there was an unpaved alley he could drive it down.  He turned down a gravel alley and immediately his words were, good grief, we've go to get this thing in the shop and find out what's wrong.  Put the car on a lift and came and told me the bolts holding the wheels to the A-frames were all loose and both front wheel were ready to drop off. 

Had a '74 Ford F-100 that was a real power house.  However it got to where it would hardly pull a hill.  Small hills would require second gear; longer hills would require first gear and would drop to as low as five mph.  On the level it would easily run 85 or more.  My friend told me, you need a set of plug wires.  I did not believe him but got them anyhow.  Next morning I started home from work and pulling the first hill was such an ordeal I stopped and changed the wires.  Immediate cure.  

[30DodgePanel]

Going to a school dance in my high school days my older brother gave me the honor of borrowing his car and let me take his 1970 GTX 440 to pick up my girlfriend at that time. When I went to return the keys to him later that night my arm kept twitching and caused the keys to drop in my coat pocket...

 

Damdest thing,,, the twitching would only stop when ever he would let me drive it somewhere... He sold it in 1978, the twitching hasn't stopped since

[Guest]

A friend who was familiar with Fords, but not VWs asked me to look at his girlfriend's 1968 Beetle.  It started and went into all gears just fine, but would not move.  The friend was mystified as the car could also be rolled, so the brakes weren't locked up.  I asked the friend to start the car and put it in gear, then went around to the rear wheels and listened for the one that had a rubbing noise.  The friend was astonished when I popped off the hubcap and showed him that the axle was spinning, but not the brake drum and wheel.  The drive axle splines had taken out the mating splines in the brake drum due to the axle nut being insufficently tightened after the last time the drum was off.  VW is serious about tightening the axle nuts to 254 ft.-lbs.

 

Another VW story, but not a firsthand experience, is the story of the Beetle whose engine cut out intermittently when the husband drove the car, but never when the wife drove it.  Turns out it was a defective ignition switch, only cutting out when the husband's heavier key ring was in the ignition.

[nickelroadster]

I was heading to the gas station with my 15 Olds to get ready for a tour.  I made it about a block away before I was afflicted with a failure to proceed and came to a halt   the engine would merrily rev but the car wouldn't go.  A few people in the neighborhood helped get it back to the house where the car was disassembled and it was eventually found that the square key holding the pinion gear to the driveshaft was split right down the middle allowing the driveshaft to spin away while the pinion did nothing.  The repair took a great deal of time taking the rear end down and apart but cost less than a dollar for a new square key.

[padgett]

Few years later I had the 1600 in my Westphalia rebuilt. Fall passed just fine but the first 30 degree morning after less than a minute idling the engine suddenly froze. Winched into the garage & took back to machine shop. Year warranty. They went through it and returned. Fine until next sub 30 degree morning (Texas so not often) and froze again. Took back to shop. Refurbished everything & replaced. Next 30 degree morning same-same.

 

This time the shop went through everything and finally found the issue. Somehow part of the first rebuild was an align-bore and the center main was .003" off center. Fine warm but when cold to would contract and freeze.

[TerryB]

Had a 1973 Chevelle I bought new, the SS350 with auto trans.  Driving it home from work one day in the fall of the year we had a huge rainstorm that dumped so much water it was pounding on the roads.  Had to drive through one of these big puddles and later on down the road, the car started to loose power.  Figured it was damp ignition so got it home and dried everything, even though there was no indication water in the ignition was the problem.

 

Drove it around and it still lacked power and was now making a noise that was coming from under the car.  Couldn't figure it out so I took it to my friends repair shop. He drove it and came back and put it on the lift.  He proceeded to cut off the header pipe that went from the crossover pipe to the muffler.  He cut it in sections and finally discovered the pipe, that was constructed as a pipe within a pipe, had come apart and collapsed inside while the outer pipe looked fine.  The exhaust was constricted keeping the engine from breathing.  A new pipe from NAPA fixed the car!

 

So thinking my friend was a genius, I asked him how he knew what the problem was?  He said this was the third one he had done and they were happening when a cold rain had occurred.  One of them was his sisters Chevelle so he knew exactly where to look on my car.  The dual wall pipe was not as good idea for GM.

 

Terry

[Frank DuVal]

I've heard of that double wall pipe problem on many early 70s GM cars, from Chevrolets to Buicks. No power, idles but may not even do more than 25 mph. Very common problem.

 

Speaking of these, I've seen TWO 73 Caprices with the rear seat burned from muffler failure! It splits open on top and hot exhaust gas blows onto the floor pan. 

 

Frank DuVal

[fordrodsteven]

A freshly restored 1960 Corvette. The right rear brake light sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. I added a ground wire to it and it was still intermittent. I ended up taking the steering wheel off and doing some rework on the directional detent / return spring. The problem was that the spring was not holding the directional switch lever centered and it was causing loss of contact.

[trimacar]

I had found a beautiful, low mileage, 1948 Buick sedan for a friend of mine who wanted to tour in comfort.

 

One day I was visiting him, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and it was drizzling rain (you know, Louisiana, the state half under water and half under indictment)..We had to take two cars to a local Mall show, so I got in the Buick and he was driving another old car, I followed him.

 

A block or so from his house, I turned on the Buick windshield wipers.  Every time they would cycle, the horn would honk.....so it was "swish..HONK..swish - swish...HONK..swish - swish...HONK..swish".

 

My friend pulled over, I pulled behind him, "Why are you honking at me?" he asked...I said I'm not, your CAR is honking at you......we found a horn wire next to the wiper mechanism, with insulation worn off, so wiper mechanism was grounding horn every time they cycled...(as you all know, most horns have power feed to them all the time and are grounded to operate).....fun stuff!

[Walt G]

In the mid to late 1970s here on long island, N.Y. I was on my way to a weekend tour with the VMCCA chapter, The Long Island Old Car Club. It was late October and I was driving my 1931 Franklin Airman Derham bodied victoria brougham. I took my parents along with me as they liked these long weekend car tours as well. A group from New England was coming down to participate , and arrived by ferry over the long island sound. Anyway I was driving along about 55/60 mph the Long Island Expressway for about an hour and it was very damp , overcast , with a slight mist, just enough to make you need to use the wipers every few miles. Without warning the car started to break up, sputter and then died, so I pulled over onto the shoulder and my Dad and I got out and I opened the left side of the hood to look at the engine to see what was/wasn't going on. The car has a updraft carb that is hung at the side of the engine off the intake manifold. the whole neck of the carb where it mounts to the intake manifold was pure white. Not ever having seen this before I thought it was white hot, my Dad who had learned to fly an airplane at Roosevelt Field in pre WWII era , and got his pilots license at that time, commented to me "that isn't white hot it's ice" "The airplanes I used to fly used to ice the carburetors often if the conditions were right, and they were air cooled  just like the engine in your Franklin " So we stood there for a few minutes and sure enough the ice melted, the car started up and off we were on our way again and car ran great and I never had that ever happen again. I drove that car over 50,000 miles before I sold it to a friend a few years ago.

[trimacar]

You know, if I read your post not knowing about ice and carbs...but I used to be a pilot, and that was a discussion....and a friend of mine has a 1912 Stoddard Dayton speed car, eat your heart out Mopar guys, this car has a Hemi engine, an early design of hemispherical combustion chamber....one day he had it running, shut it off, and asked me to look and touch the carburetor....a nice little frost on it, and cold as all get out when touched.....the engine pulls a lot of air, thus making the air expand slightly, thus cooling the air and with enough "draw" making cold and ice.......just remember, when air expands, it gets cooler, think about the air coming out of your air compressor....

[Rusty_OToole]

Evaporating gas absorbs a lot of heat too. Put a little gas on your hand and blow on it, see how cold it gets. Alcohol even more.

[PFitz]

17 hours ago, Walt G said:

In the mid to late 1970s here on long island, N.Y. I was on my way to a weekend tour with the VMCCA chapter, The Long Island Old Car Club. It was late October and I was driving my 1931 Franklin Airman Derham bodied victoria brougham. I took my parents along with me as they liked these long weekend car tours as well. A group from New England was coming down to participate , and arrived by ferry over the long island sound. Anyway I was driving along about 55/60 mph the Long Island Expressway for about an hour and it was very damp , overcast , with a slight mist, just enough to make you need to use the wipers every few miles. Without warning the car started to break up, sputter and then died, so I pulled over onto the shoulder and my Dad and I got out and I opened the left side of the hood to look at the engine to see what was/wasn't going on. The car has a updraft carb that is hung at the side of the engine off the intake manifold. the whole neck of the carb where it mounts to the intake manifold was pure white. Not ever having seen this before I thought it was white hot, my Dad who had learned to fly an airplane at Roosevelt Field in pre WWII era , and got his pilots license at that time, commented to me "that isn't white hot it's ice" "The airplanes I used to fly used to ice the carburetors often if the conditions were right, and they were air cooled  just like the engine in your Franklin " So we stood there for a few minutes and sure enough the ice melted, the car started up and off we were on our way again and car ran great and I never had that ever happen again. I drove that car over 50,000 miles before I sold it to a friend a few years ago.

 

 I forgot about the carb icing story. When I first started reading this I thought it was going to be about the time I found you stuck on an LI expressway overpass, once again on the way to a car show. If you remember, that time it was motor oil spray flooded the wire towers of the distributor cap, thus insulating the sparkplug wire terminals. Couple of paper towels wicked out the oil and cured it at the time. Then the later addition of Franklin's cure of a tower base distributor cured it permanently. 

 

Paul   

[Restorer32]

I was a poverty stricken college student in '66 or so driving an older MGB. The car had been hit it the rear and water could easily leak into the trunk. Being a long time British car driver I was all too familiar with having to tap on the underbody mounted electric fuel pump every now and then to keep it running. On this occasion in question tapping on the pump didn't help. Next morning I removed the pump in 14 degree weather. The electrical end of those Lucas pumps had a vent that consisted of a plastic hose that went thru the trunk floor. I took the sealed top off the pump. Turned out that the points in the pump had acted like a miniature pump and had pulled in silt from the trunk, silt that had accumulated there due to the crash damage to the trunk lid, The silt was packed in the pump so solidly that the points could no longer move. It could barely be dug out with a screw driver. I removed the silt, cleaned up the points, rerouted the vent and away I went. 

[trimacar]

In the late 1970's, bought a 1972 Oldsmobile 442 convertible.  They were starting to become collectable even that soon after being built.

 

Great car, in great shape, low mileage.  I was a temporary Plant Manager at a plant in Greenville. Mississippi (home to Doe's Eats Steak House, one of the best steak houses in the country, but I digress..)

 

On the test drive, to buy it, I had to be a little sedate in my use of the accelerator.  Of course, with the big engine and 4 speed, what young guy wouldn't really put his foot into it, after it was bought, right?  Well, if you took off and floored it, it would be very quick off the line, then hmmph hmmph hmmph the engine would lose all power and the car would coast to a stop.  Hard accelerate, then hmmph etc. Happened only when hard accelerating.....

 

Took it to local Olds dealer (remember, car was only a handful of years old at the time).  They said, oh, bad carburetor, so they changed it.  Same thing happened.  Oh, then a bad fuel pump, so they changed it.  Same thing.  Finally, they took off gas tank to check fuel line.

 

The fuel line inside the gas tank had a little nylon sock on the end of it, as a pre-filter for the gas.  Every time that big old four barrel started gobbling lots of gas, the little sock would collapse into itself, blocking the gas intake.  They removed it and that was it, car would accelerate fine after that....

[Doug Novak]

Dad had a '69 Chevy Puck up truck he bought new, and after many years a problem with the Three on the Tree Column Shift linkage developed. The linkage would sometimes hang up in gear, usually in 3rd gear, while at an up hill Stop Sign or Red Light with traffic behind me. We would have to turn the engine off, put the emergency brake on, grab the large screw driver on the dash, run out, pop the hood and use the screw driver to force the shift linkage to Neutral. Then we could restart the engine release the brake and shift to 1st gear to get rolling again.

 

I eventually took own ship of Dad's truck, after his passing. I fixed this problem by buying a 3 Speed Floor Shift conversion Kit for $36 from JC Whitney. Installation was simple. I still have Dad's truck but there have been many changes made over the years, including an engine and 4 speed transmission swap, but the original steering column linkage, no longer used, is still there and every time the Hood is up I look with fond memories of that darn Shift Linkage we had to deal with. 

Edited April 24, 2017 by Doug Novak (see edit history)

[cheezestaak2000]

in 1975, a woman brought in her new olds cutlass to the dealership where i worked. after sitting for 2 days, when put in drive, the car wouldn't move for at least 60 seconds. doing all the necessary diagnostics, i narrowed the problem to the direct clutch pack in the 350 trans. i removed the trans (getting burned by one of those new fangled catylic convertors) resealed the entire transmission, and waited 2 days. i started the car, put it in drive, and nothing happened. called GM, and they acually sent a trouble shooter out from hyda matic. he said to put a modulator on it and left. still not fixed. out of frustration, i pulled the tranny out, and put another complete overhaul kit in it, and waited 2 more days, still not fixed.after spending some time at the bar across the street, i was sure of my diagnosis. next day, the figured maybe i got a seal wrong (didn't), so out came the trans again.went up to the parts counter, and discovered i had run them out of overhaul kits, so the got one from an aftermarket supplier. i put that one in, and lo and behold, problem was fixed. 2 days later, got a service bulliten from olds, saying there was a" slight chance" some direct clutch piston seals were cut wrong, and a fix was "on the way".so i collected my 7 hours flat rate pay for 6 days work, and headed back to that local bar.