Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Jim.Walker]

We often get requests on here for help in diagnosing a fault being suffered by a member of the forum.
Generally, someone comes up with the correct solution, though perhaps after many false starts. Not the fault of the people trying to help, but the inevital problem is with what I call "long range diagnosis" being dependent on other peoples perceptions of the symptoms. Or incomplete info.

When working in a garage I often received phone calls from desperate customers who, after describing the symptoms inevitably asked "how much will it cost?"

We made friends for life when on receiving the car for repair, we were able to depatch it within minutes for a bill of pennies (in those days!),

My favourite one was a Morris Minor with a horrible big end knock. The car drove in sounding like a poorly tractor with a knock which could be heard from streets away. Lifting the bonnet cured the knock! Because the metal outer of the throttle cable was banging on the bonnet when closed. No charge!

Too many to remember, but one DIY oriented customer had a "squeak", "when going round corners", at the "front end".
Well wishing advisors had variously recommended front hub adjustment to stop the wheels leaning on corners causing a brake squeal, replacing the hub bearings, changing the brake pads, new calipers etc. etc. In fact he had spent a fortune on the front end.
Finally he decided to seek professional advice and pulled onto our forecourt with a very obviously "creaking" propshaft universal joint. And he wasn't going round a corner.

Another had a "horrible misfire" on his almost new (very early) 1200 Cortina. All kinds of tests revealed nothing until he took me on the scariest test drive I have ever experienced.
Nothing! Until he came to and slowed for road junction and then accelerated away from about 5mph. STILL IN FOURTH GEAR. "There!" He shouted triumphantly. " I told you it mis-fired badly".

Perhaps I have made my point, But in any case I would bet others could add similar mis-diagnosises Or should that be diagnosese?

Jim.
_________________
Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[Phil - Nottingham]

I almost entirely agree but some problems are made far worse or never resolved by lack of systematic approach and ending up with a totally scattergun random desparation not knowing what has been done or changed.

Too many cooks?

Nothing can replace seeing and hearing but one or two different views acn help
_________________
Rover P2
Rover P4
Rover P5 & P5B
Land Rover S2 & S3
Morris Mini Traveller Mk2

[BigJohn]

I remember getting a panic call from a collegue one Sunday morning, It was about -5 and having de iced his Toyota Crown he set off to his in laws. Every time he moved he got a loud banging from the back. He thought his axle was loose. I sent him inside to make a brew, I drove it forward, the banging came when I braked, the same in reverse. Opening his boot, I lifted an iceberg out of one wheel well, knocked out the grommet to let about a gallon of thawed water out, then parked it back on his drive. When he returned with my brew I told him I'd fixed it but also he needed a new boot seal (I noticed the top edge was torn. He probably to this day still doesn't know how a boot seal made his axle loose.

[Penman]

Hi
I used to have a 340 Volvo which started suffering from power loss often when doing quite respectable speeds, didn't notice at first that it was always in cold and wet weather.
Called out the "International Rescue " a few times but by the time they arrived it would start OK and make me look an idiot. (Not a difficult thing to do )

Eventually an AA mechanic gave me the clue to what had been happening.


The hot air feed to the aircleaner, one of those flexible concertina types had broken so lack of warm air to the carb coupled with moisture in the air at a low temperature was resulting in carb-icing. which of course was not visible because of the air cleaner, while parked up waiting the heat under the bonnet would melt the ice and then it would restart.

It happened once again, on the M6, after I heard about this and just running the N/S wheels on the rumble strip at the side of the M/way was enough to dislodge the blockage and enable me to make the next services and sort it out for myself, (the hot air pipe had twisted away from it's collector position on that occasion.)


What made it more embarassing was that as a pilot I knew about the possiblity of carb icing, which is why we had carb heat switches on aircraft, but hadn't realised it could affect car engines at ground level as well as aircraft piston engines.
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[Jim.Walker]

Hi Pemman.
I wonder if you have answered the problem with a Morris Minor I had many years ago? The carb. often froze up about 400 yards from home on winter mornings. I knew what it was and usually just waited a couple of minutes and it would start and run normally.
It never occured to me to check the air cleaner orientation. Too late to check now!
Never had it happen on any other car.
Jim.
_________________
Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[Roger-hatchy]

You surprise me gentleman

I can remember in the late 40's early 50's my father changing the air cleaner intake direction as per seasonal change.

[Penman]

Hi Roger
In the case of the Volvo it isn't one of those where you twist the intake it had a, supposedly permanent, supplementary flexipipe leading up from the exhaust manifold and some form of t/stat which closed off the normal intake pipe which comes up from just near the front bumper.
Unfortunately it was the flexi pipe that moved away from the Ex/man and that kept the normal intake open.

Though I agree shame on me for not realising sooner what the prob was
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[Jim.Walker]

[Roger-hatchy]

Hi Jim
My Father was an 'old school' engineer.
If you can't buy it then make it.

He was a Maintenance engineer and tool maker with an engineering company in the City of London from 1943 till the late 1968.

From 1928 till medical discharge, in 43, was an engineer in the Army, mostly Egypt and Africa, so a lot of 'make it yourself' attitude stemmed from then I would have thought

Most of the contracts with Patons Ltd. were for the air ministry, if they didn't have the machines for the job he'd design and build one.

EVERYTHING had to be just right, everything in the house was the same, tool use was the same, never ever be seen using a screw driver as a lever, even just to free a washer, never as scraper, sacrilege.

Never hit anything with a spanner, even the hammers had to be the right one for the job, size etc.

Wish I could live up to his standards.

[Jim.Walker]

Nice tribute Roger.
Jim.
_________________
Quote from my late Dad:- You only need a woman and a car and you have all the problems you
are ever likely to want". Computers had not been invented then!

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

A bit like BigJohn, Lots of years ago I returned from 3 months working in Germany to discover that my sister had bought a mini van (Without consulting Dad!!) it also suffered from a sickening thud every time anything approaching modest braking was undertaken. Dad had diagnosed a loose subframe and her boyfriend, a long list of dramas that his Capri had suffered from and mostly irrelevant to a mini!
Out of the kindness of her heart she waited for my return for a diagnosis.
As Mini experts know the battery is parked behind the drivers seat on the van. In the case of this vehicle there was also a spare coil behind the battery which quietly rolled backwards on acceleration and hurtled forwards hitting the battery with a wonderful thud every time you braked.
Cheap solution and a spare coil to boot!!

Paul

[poodge]

Not related to a classic as such,but I had a Mazda E2000 van that had died for no apparent reason.After spending the better part of a saturday crawling all over it,I got fed up,and left it.Next morning,she started without bother,but as I backed down the driveway,it died again.Curses and a bit of sweating later(that thing was heavy to push!),I determined it had to be an ignition problem.I found that the wire inside the distributor was broken.For some reason(cost?),this was too short,causing it to be stretched when accelerating.The wire had probably fractured,hanging on by a few threads,and finally gave up the struggle,and when replaced with a slightly longer piece,never bothered me again.

[alan 869]

Ice in the carb is, or was, a common ocurrance in Sweden during the winters. You could get -K- spirits from any petrol station. I the early 80s I´d been over to UK in my Volvo Duett (B18 motor). It was about 5-6C along the south coast at the time (December). Headed back to the ferry with my old dad in tow. Got over to Gothenburg the following evening and it was abiyt -15C. Had started the Duett of course so we set off towrds Stockholm. Stopped half way for a coffee at a mates place. Took about an hour. Came out and it started okay. We got going and after a while there was a stretch of motorway (all motorway now). It started to chough and splutter. Would die and then rev okay. We managed to get off the motorway and it died. Dad had to steer and I pushed the blessed thing 50 yards to a petrol station. I was sweating like the proverbial although it was -10C and snowing. When I stumbled into the station the blokes stared at me all sweatty. All I could blurt out was -K (carb.)- sprit!!
They laughed their heads off
Bought about 50ml and put it in the tank. Filled up with petrol (the Duett tank only holds 45 litres). Waited 10 minutes and up she started . I think the combination of the extra cold (motorway speed) and the general conditions anyway gave me the ice block. Always added som -K- sprit after that.
My old father in laws Audi 80 from 85 was the same (his was the last model with a carb). It would not go unless there was -K- sprit in it....

[Churchill Johnson]

Ref carb icing, my wife's previous car a Nissan Micra 1L 1992 had a small lever on the air filter cover that had the word's winter and summer,but it was always left to me to change it over even after i explained what it was for.