Let me set the scene; Dad has been in the UK for the last 6 weeks, got back on Saturday night and had to be at work this morning. We're having the kitchen renovated this week, so we have no kitchen at the moment nothing to cook on and the puratap is gone for the week.
Some would probably know I've been having issues with my ute at the moment with it's constant pinging for no particular reason. Well everything came to a head today, Monday of all days.
Everyone was up early this morning for work so we were all getting in each others way, nobody could find anything from the pandemonium in our house with all the kitchen foods and utensils in boxes all over the house and we're all rushing to get to work. I'm the first out the door and I should mention last night was Adelaide's coldest August night in more than 120 years, with a minimum of 0.9 degrees. Ice on the windscreen, thought it best to warm the old girl up a bit before setting off. Let me say my Brum with the Weber has not failed to start once this winter. Well today was the day! Turning it over, dead as a door nail... Not even trying to fire.
My thoughts racing as to what could be the problem, I popped the bonnet to find nothing un-usual (it was 6AM so still completely dark outside) flicked the throttle shaft to get the choke working, still no fire. Then my mind turned to the Mexican re-manufactured dizzy I had installed a few weeks ago; I'd heard mixed reviews of this brand some saying they work fine for a while then suddenly die) "Oh great, dizzy is dead" I thought which would be even worse because I was blocking dads car in the driveway. All manner of curse words came flowing from my mouth, I think the car got a kick or two as I was vainly still cranking it over hoping for a miracle...no fire. So under torch light I checked the earth lead, removed the dizzy cap, there was no condensation and it was not damp inside, nothing looked a miss. Then I pulled the lead from the coil out of the dizzy and earthed it on the engine, cranked it over looking for a spark; not even a hint of a spark. Dad by now was looking over my shoulder, even picked the coil lead up while I was cranking it...could have been bad for him except the coil wasn't firing.
So now I'm completely enraged since my narrow traffic window is closing and I can't feel my fingers not to mention I'm not really a morning person at the best of times. So I pull the lead off the coil and what do I find? Inside the rubber cap where there should be an electrical contact was nothing but blue, green dust and crystals...WHAT THE F#%@!!?!?!?
These leads are 6 months old at the most!!!! More curse words came tumbling forth, cursing every asian nation that makes cheap car parts. So, into the shed in the dark digging through boxes to find some old leads, bingo bango found one. Plugged it in, fired on the first crank....phew. Off to work I go! not too late after all, but what is this; the engine is completely warmed up and it is idling at about 1500rpm or more, pulling on the accelerator pedal doesn't bring it down...oh great what now. I had the whole drive to work to think about it since I wasn't stopping. When I got to work and parked up, tried to turn the engine off and it didn't turn off! Dieseling, running on whatever you want to call it she went chug, chug, chug POP HISSSSS and then the disgusting smell of hot crank case air greeted my nostrils...WHAT THE F#%@!!?!?!?:evil:
Well I had all day at work to think about that luckily it was just a normal day at work. And today I had to head into the city straight after work for an appointment. I had a little wait before I had to be there so I drove in with the idle racing away the whole time. When I parked up I found whatever metal implement I could (keys mainly) to poke and prod the idle speed screw in a counter clockwise fashion to try and slow it down...a whole turn made no difference whatsoever. WHAT THE F#%@!!?!?!?:evil:
Well if that didn't make a difference then maybe that sudden increase in ignition coil connectivity has mucked with my ignition timing, I'll check that when I get home. Still every time I go to shut it down she runs on; chug, chug, pop, HISSSS...crank case smell...By now I've learned to put it in gear and let the clutch out just after I kill the ignition to stop the bastard running on its own. When I get home to find the old kitchen strewn throughout the front yard (again in the dark) I whip out the timing light and check timing...8 degrees BTDC which is strange since I left it at about 3 degrees a couple of weeks back to stop the pinging. Well then it couldn't be that causing the high idle. It surely couldn't be the choke...could it? Yes it certainly could; I took the air cleaner top off to see the choke plates nearly completely closed...WHAT THE F#%@!!?!?!?:evil: The switched power is still connected, checked with a multimeter and it's still getting 12v...why is the choke stuck closed??? By now Dad had emerged again to tell me the hot water service has packed up and I can't have a shower...great, just fantastic. How could this Monday get any worse. I gave up on the car for the night, I wasn't going to start taking the choke housing apart in the dark after being on the go for more than 12 hours. I guess I'll just use a whole tank of fuel this week instead of 30 litres.
At this point, after so much stress, confusion, things going wrong at the worst time (why today of all days? The car has run almost perfectly the whole time Dad was away and the first day back at work it pulls this crap?) no hot water, no kitchen...all there is left to do is laugh. And that I did, could not stop laughing at the ridiculousness of how this day went. I must be going mad.
On the plus side, the car has stopped pinging.
And I guess some good news today made up for all of yesterday; I got a phone call from the body shop about my wagon, expect some pics of the finished paint job hopefully this weekend in my resto thread 
