So a week ago, I was driving my sister to go get some lunch, and the car dies on the side of the freeway. My dad’s first guess is water vapor in the fuel line, due to the recent sub-zero temperatures in the area. Gas treatment didn’t work, though.
Since we thought it was a fuel problem, I replaced the fuel filter with Eddie’s help, and checked the fuel pump, but that didn’t fix it either. Luckily, the freeway service towed the car back to my house because I was within two miles of home.
Then we changed the spark plugs, which was pretty corroded, but that didn’t help either.
Today, I changed the distributor, cap, and rotor. Engine fires once, but dies, and then won’t start again. Joe came over to help me out, since I figured I must have missed up the timing when I installed the new distributor, and checking it would be a two man job. We double-check everything, and it looks fine, so I give the engine a crank. I gas it hard, and the engine fires once, and dies again. Joe tells me to just let the battery charge up a little.
I do, and it works. I can’t believe it was that simple. If the distributor didn’t fix it, I would have had to hire a mechanic to come check out the car, and would have been quite to fool to be told to let the battery charge up.
Oh well, at least I learned some more about car maintenance and repair. Thanks, Joe!