Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's wander over to the phones. Let's go to where
are we going? First? Let's go to Paul in Wisconsin. Paul, Wisconsin,
How are you today, sir? How can I help?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Pretty good? Ron, thanks for taking m call my problem. Yeah,
I have my dad's nineteen seventy three Opal Manta rally cool.
I'm trying to get that. I'm trying to get that
car running properly. Real Briefly, last year, at the end
(00:28):
of the year, I was driving back from a car
show and the thing started sputtering, bucking. Wanted to stall.
It smoothed out after a few, you know, maybe a
minute or so, and then I proceeded on. I park it.
And I worked on a little bit last fall and
(00:50):
couldn't get it running. It just it wouldn't start and
run properly. And this well, this past spring, like the
last month, I'm at a loss to get to get
this thing running properly.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So give me, give me the list. What have you
done to it?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Okay, I know you hate me. I'm throwing parts at
I put a new Weber thirty two slash thirty six
DGV carburetor in it, right, Okay, I put a new condenser,
rotor distributor cap and cleaned, checked the plugs. Let's see
(01:32):
that's about it right now.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Okay, I'm going to make you buy tools. But you
like doing that, right because you like you like tinkering.
It's in your nature.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, I can't help myself, okay, So.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Go down to your local Ota parts store and ask
them for a spark tester. Now, the difference between using
a spark tester and the screwdriver you've been holding upside
the spark plug wire to the cylinder head is because
I know that most of the guys that don't have
spark testers tend to use a screwdriver handle is or
screwdriver with a handle. Is that when you test for
(02:03):
spark in atmosphere, it's less pressure than what's in the cylinder. Right.
The laws of physics dictate that if you've done a
compression test on engines in your lifetime, yes, how much
compression did you get out of an engine? One hundred
and fifty one hundred and sixty.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
On this engine, I'm getting around one hundred and twenty okay.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Is one hundred and twenty psi more than the atmospheric
pressure pushing you down, holding you on the planet. Yeah, yeah,
So is it easier for an ignission system that's designed
to operate in one hundred and twenty psi to operate
in fourteen point seven psi, which actually is atmospheric pressure,
(02:48):
by the way, on average, depending upon where you are,
a relation to C level fourteen five fourteen seven. So
it's easier. Right, So using a screwdriver just means it's
got spark. Does it have strong enough spark? The coil
have enough power? Does the ignition system have the ability
to produce correctly?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
No?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
And understand, and I say this a thousand times. Diagnosing
isn't about what's wrong. It's proving what's right sometimes okay,
And you know, you want to know what's good. You
want to know what's good. If you know what, if
you ever came to the shop and you looked around
the shop, or if you watch the videos, you start
looking at the videos, look at the walls of the
(03:26):
shop where the equipment's hanging up, some of it's hanging
up in a very specific procedure, because I would sit
there with a cup of coffee and look at the
wall and go, let's see I did this, And then
I would start to look at the tools. Did I
check vacuum, did I check timing? Did I scan it?
Did I do a fuel injector power balance test? Did
I do this? Did I do that? It's up there
because it jiggles my brain, because our brain tends to
(03:49):
get emotional, and I'm trying to be factual. You dig right,
So I want you to go to a parts house
spend twenty bucks by a spark tester. All right, look
at the There'll probably be a couple of different choices.
There are some that's just a looks like it looks
like a spark plug with an alligator clip attached to it,
and they work. Okay, I like the black one. There's
(04:12):
a black plastic one out there. It's really simple. And
what it does is you can there's a little graduated
gauge on it that'll show you, you know, ten thousand volts,
twenty thousand vaults, thirty thousand vaults and so on, and
you can clip the one under the alligator clip to
the cylinder head, put the spark plug wire on the
other end, set it for thirty thousand vaults. A points
(04:33):
system in a nineteen seventy two automobile that things should
produce between twenty five and thirty thousand vaults. You should
get a real angry, bluish white spark, all right, if
you want to, if you've got another vehicle in the household,
start playing with it. Always learn how to use a
tool on a good vehicle before you start using it
on a bad vehicle. So you know what good looks like, right,
(04:55):
And let's take spark off the table. Let's eliminate it.
You know, a pick a spark plug, crank it over
if you can get the engine to run, missing, missing
on one cylinder, don't care, and watch the spark click
click click click, click, click click click. Is it doing that?
Or is it click click click click click? Is it
(05:16):
you know? Is it sparking on a consistent basis? All right?
And you'll understand what I mean if you watch it
on a good engine versus the engine you're working on. Capeche.
So So let's let's take spark off the table. We
know how to test that. Do you own a vacuum gage?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yes? I do.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Okay, let's let's talk about manifold vacuum add idle on
a healthy engine, manifold vacuum on an older car. Before
we got into variable valve timing and crazy cam overlaps
and all the other things you typically see sixteen to
eighteen inches a manifold vacuum. Right, Where's where's manifold vacuum?
(05:56):
If it's lower than sixteen? Why do we have a
restricted exhaust? Do we have an engine that jumped time
for some reason? Do we have a mechanical valve train issue? Right?
Just just just starting to break it down, and then
let's talk about the other the last part of it.
(06:16):
Fuel pressure, all right? You know where where is fuel
pressure on this? All right? And I'm guessing that you
were able to prove that it had fuel to the carburetor.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yes, there's a steady stream going into the carburetor. The
carburetor bowl is being filled. I get a good squirt
of fuel into the carburetor, you know when I pushed
on an accelerator pedal.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
But you're going to tell me it feels like it's
running out of gas, right, yes? Okay? So have you
have you done a vacuum pull test on the mechanical
is a mechanical fuel pump?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Right? Right?
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Okay? Have you done a mechanical pull test? Hook your
vacuum gauge up to the inlet of the fuel pump,
crank the engine, over watch the vacuum gauge. What does
it do? Right? And if that passes? How about what's
in the tank? Could the sock in the tank? You
know there's a there should be a filter in the
(07:18):
tank on the end of the tube. Right. Could we
have a clog sock? Could we have a sock that's collapsed?
How old is that? If that's the original tank set up,
not open since nineteen seventy two, UFA.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I open it up and I cleaned it. That was
probably fifteen years.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Ago, right, Think about that now? Think about that statement, Paul,
fifteen years ago?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Right?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, you know, listen to me. The hot rod is
new to me. My hot rod is new. I finished
it in twenty ten. Think about what I'm saying. I
finished it fifteen years ago. I've driven it five and
eighty three miles. I need to drive it more. It's
fifteen years old. This is the age where most of
my customers are throwing their cars away, right, you know,
(08:08):
So we get caught up in that. You see the
emotion side. Our brain is kicking in and preventing us.
So I tell you what sit tight real quick? Paul.
I'm gonna come back and finish up with you. Only
pull over and take this pause. I'm ronning any and
the car doctor. We'll be back right after this. Here's
ron Hey, let's uh, Paul, you're still there, Sir Paul.
(08:32):
Let's see is Paul there?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah? Can you hear me? Yes? Sir?
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Okay, let's let's let me just finish up with you.
So you know, think of it like this. What is
an engine? An engine's a big air pump, air in
air out right. It needs ignition, it needs fuel. Attack
each system individually. How would you approach it? If you
could put components on the workbench in front of you,
(08:56):
how would you test it? Last two thoughts are right?
Put a vault meter? You own a vault meter? Yes,
put a vault meter on the positive side of the coil. Right,
it's got to have it's got to have a constant
twelve vaults.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Right.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
This engine will sit there and run correct.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
H it'll eventually stall out.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
All right, Well that's good. No, that's good brother. All right,
all right, let's let's let's get it to the point
where it runs. Do you own do you own a
setup where you can feed propane to the engine to
see if it's a fuel issue. No, all right, you
know you may want to do that. There's a propane
and Richmond tool out there. It's made by OTC Tools.
It's in the fifty to one hundred dollars range. I
(09:40):
forget the part number seventy five fifty nine or seventy
five sixty something like that. They used it on Chrysler
Lean burn systems back in the eighties. We use it
as a propane and Richmond tool. We actually drive cars
around on the parking lot when they have bait fuel
pump because Ron doesn't like pushing cars and you know
it works, you know, feed it an alternate fuel source.
But let's put a volt meter on the positive side
(10:01):
of the coil. Do you have a constant twelve vaults?
If that car shuts off and it's got twelve vaults
on the meter, guess what, it's not an ignition switch.
And I just proved another component I can tick off
the list. Is okay? Makes sense?
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Right?
Speaker 1 (10:14):
And then and then last thing, how about if we
take a five gallon gas can or a gallon gas can,
sit it on the floor next to the car, on
the ground next to the car, run a hose out
of the can up to the inlet of the fuel pump.
Let the fuel pump draw from the can. Does the
car run? If the car, If the car starts to
(10:36):
run and idols longer and runs okay, and it doesn't sputter,
and it doesn't die. Eventually, you now know the problem
is somewhere in the metal line going back to the tank,
to the sock.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Right right between the fuel pump and the tank.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Right, it's between the fuel pump and the tank. If
you're gonna be a mechanic, and this is this is
obi Wan talking to you, my son. All right, this
is the speech I give every guy I've ever hired.
If you want to be mechanic, your job is to
get to the middle of the problem as fast as
you can so you know which direction to go. This way,
this way. You don't have to test everything. Eh, if
(11:10):
you want to test everything, go ahead. But when the
clock's ticking and customers are counting on you to fix
their car efficiently, you got to get to the middle
of the problem. You got to get to the eighty
percent tile, and you're not even in the fifty percent tile.
You got to get to that eighty percent tile where
you can start to say, well, I know this, this,
this is good. Let's start to focus on that.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
All right.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Remember this it's only a car, and when it came
out of the factory it worked perfectly, so it's not unrepairable.
I don't believe in the unrepairable automobile. All right. You
got to think outside the box on this one. On
that's all. And don't let the age fool you, and
don't assume anything. And don't assume because I checked it
fifteen years ago that well it must be okay because
(11:52):
it's only fifteen years. Right, we'll both laugh about that
one for a while.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
So yeah, all right, all right, so be.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
Very welcome, but let me know what happens. I'm kind
of curious.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Yeah, and I'm going to touch base with you again,
all right, if, if, and when I get this figured out.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Yep, that's it's it's it's just numbers and physics. Good
luck to you. You're very welcome, Paul, So yes, sir,
you're very welcome. Uh. You know, this is this is
just simple stuff, guys. It's it's not hard to do.
It's a matter of going step by step by step,
and you know, taking it from there. So just uh,
(12:30):
just be mindful of that. I often think about all
the cars I fixed in my lifetime that seemed impossible
to fix, and they, you know, they were just tedious
and there was always a logical answer, and that logical
answer always came back. And I reminded you that as
impossible as some cars were to fix, nothing's impossible. It
(12:52):
just takes consistency and effort. And that's just that's just
the bigger part of it. So anyway, let's pull over,
take a pause. When we come back, we're gonna write
the BJ and Maine. I appreciate you sitting there waiting
for us, and we'll talk about your twenty jeep Grand Cherokee.
I'm ronnin Andy and the Car Doctor. A five five
five six zero nine nine zero zero is the phone number.
We'll be back right after this. Don't go away.