Torque Converter - and other car maintenance
Published Sun, Aug 5 2007 10:44 AM
Technorati Tags: Drag Racing, Family
The last two times I was at the track my car's performance was dismal. The car was running a full second slower than it should have. It didn't launch well, the top end MPH was off by about 5MPH and we just couldn't figure out what was wrong.
I spent yesterday with my family, and didn't go to the track. My car went though, and its performance was back.
After going through the fuel pump, cleaning and overhauling the carburetor, adjusting the timing and everything else, it turns out that the real problem was the torque converter. When they inspected the transmission pan there were small bits of material that could only have come from the torque converter.
They replaced the torque converter and the car is running in the 11.80s again and the MPH is back. My plans for my other Corvette are back on track too.
I now know why Zach's car wouldn't start. After gathering some of my tools from the shop I went out this afternoon to pull the spark plugs and inspect them. All four were fouled pretty badly, and the electrodes were worn to nubs. The gap is probably triple what it ought to be. Cylinders 1, 3 and 4 were also full of fuel. Cylinder 1 also had oil around the outside of the plug, although why that would be I don't know.
I've left the plugs out, and I'm going to let the fuel in the cylinders evaporate off. I'm also going to buy some new plugs and gap them properly. Once the cylinders are dry I'll replace the plugs, recharge the battery and we'll see if there's anything else wrong. Then it's time for an oil change.
Hopefully we'll get that thing running before Thursday!. Thursday night we leave for Tennessee, and I'd much prefer to have him driving his own car while we're away.
Well, letting the cylinders dry out did the trick. I left the plugs out, turned the engine over a few times to push the excess fuel out the plug holes and let it dry for several hours. I put the new plugs in about 9:30PM and cranked the engine for a while. It didn't start right away, but after about 15 seconds of cranking I let the thing sit for a few minutes and tried again. On the third try through this cycle the car started up and ran fairly smoothly.
I left it running for a few minutes and now it starts right up. It also is running better than it did before I disabled it a couple of months back. There's still some minor tune-up work to be done, and it will definitely need that oil change, but at least it's running now.
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