Bruzilla
Well-Known Member
So Saturday I had catastrophic steering failure, which was no big deal to fix. Just replacing the nut/pin on the idle arm. What was a bigger deal was I saw the inner sides of my front tires had taken a lot of wear as a result of the steering loosening up, so I decided while Cooper Cobras are cheap to just get a new pair.
I went to Discount Tire and parked in their lot. Went inside and paid for my tires, and waited for work to begin. The tech went out to start the car and I saw a bloom of dark smoke come out from the tail pipe and then the engine stopped. Then he started it up again and it stopped. He got the car onto the lift, but it kept stalling.
He changed the tires, and then came in and said "Two things. I can't keep the engine running and you have a nail stuck in the sidewall of your rear tire. I went out to look and sure enough... there was another damn roofing nail from one of the new roof projects in our neighborhood stuck into the tread on the side of a nearly-new 255-60-15! I was pissed!
So he backs the car out, and I see more black smoke pop out, and hear the engine die unless he keeps more gas coming, and I'm like "vacuum leak". So I pop the hood, look around the carb, and there it is... the back vac port is open because the cap had popped off somehow. I got a new cap out of the console and put it on and now the stalls and smoke are gone, but I still have to deal with another damn roofing-nail-in-a-tire issue.
I went to Discount Tire and parked in their lot. Went inside and paid for my tires, and waited for work to begin. The tech went out to start the car and I saw a bloom of dark smoke come out from the tail pipe and then the engine stopped. Then he started it up again and it stopped. He got the car onto the lift, but it kept stalling.
He changed the tires, and then came in and said "Two things. I can't keep the engine running and you have a nail stuck in the sidewall of your rear tire. I went out to look and sure enough... there was another damn roofing nail from one of the new roof projects in our neighborhood stuck into the tread on the side of a nearly-new 255-60-15! I was pissed!
So he backs the car out, and I see more black smoke pop out, and hear the engine die unless he keeps more gas coming, and I'm like "vacuum leak". So I pop the hood, look around the carb, and there it is... the back vac port is open because the cap had popped off somehow. I got a new cap out of the console and put it on and now the stalls and smoke are gone, but I still have to deal with another damn roofing-nail-in-a-tire issue.
