Post by stantondavies on Oct 24, 2005 8:18:12 GMT
On Sat took the 'Old Grey Lady' to Cumbria for the day. As usual she ran well and by J.35 we were in the tailback from the Shap roadworks, stop-starting crawling along at a walking pace in the slow lane. Then the engine quietly died. Just like that! No warning. Would not restart so pushed her onto the hard shoulder.
Checked fuel was reaching the carburettor, OK. Checked spark at disributor, OK. So, as it was raining I called out Mayday and we ate our lunch - well what do I pay the subscription for?
J Yates & Son attended - he of the MBE given for assisting stranded M6 motorists for the past forty years. 'Are you sure you've got petrol?' - 'Yes, and there's a spark at the distributor'. So he took out No3 plug, no spark. The rotor arm had gone, it was earthing. No problem I thought, I have a spare.
Rummage in boot, set of plugs, spare bulbs, spare coil, new condenser etc but NO rotor arm (its at home in the garage I discover later). So we are recovered to Carnforth where I am despatched to a little man with a huge collection of rotor arms, but with an empty space where the P5 should be.
So our resourceful Mr Yates dismantled the duff rotor arm revealing a tiny hole through which the spark was earthing. This he drilled out as a dentist would a cavity, then filled with Araldite with which he also glued the brass strip back on. Refitted to the car, the engine fired immediately, with Mr Yates leaning on it and eulogising on how good it sounded mechanically - I do my best and normally it runs faultlessly!
Sorry if the tale seems too long, but I relate it for three reasons:
(1) in a lifetimes motoring I have never had a rotor arm go on me, (and I keep my cars a long time) and I thought his emergency repair might be of interest to others.
(2) What spares do members do members think we should carry and why?
(3) When removing No3 plug, the thread was stripped from the head and we had to sesort to ovalling a spark plug in a vice to get it to grip. I now need a helicoil fitting. Mr Yates suggested fitting a set of six myself - what experiences have members had of doing this?
Oh, yes, we had a faultless journey home. Missed the meeting we were going to though.
Checked fuel was reaching the carburettor, OK. Checked spark at disributor, OK. So, as it was raining I called out Mayday and we ate our lunch - well what do I pay the subscription for?
J Yates & Son attended - he of the MBE given for assisting stranded M6 motorists for the past forty years. 'Are you sure you've got petrol?' - 'Yes, and there's a spark at the distributor'. So he took out No3 plug, no spark. The rotor arm had gone, it was earthing. No problem I thought, I have a spare.
Rummage in boot, set of plugs, spare bulbs, spare coil, new condenser etc but NO rotor arm (its at home in the garage I discover later). So we are recovered to Carnforth where I am despatched to a little man with a huge collection of rotor arms, but with an empty space where the P5 should be.
So our resourceful Mr Yates dismantled the duff rotor arm revealing a tiny hole through which the spark was earthing. This he drilled out as a dentist would a cavity, then filled with Araldite with which he also glued the brass strip back on. Refitted to the car, the engine fired immediately, with Mr Yates leaning on it and eulogising on how good it sounded mechanically - I do my best and normally it runs faultlessly!
Sorry if the tale seems too long, but I relate it for three reasons:
(1) in a lifetimes motoring I have never had a rotor arm go on me, (and I keep my cars a long time) and I thought his emergency repair might be of interest to others.
(2) What spares do members do members think we should carry and why?
(3) When removing No3 plug, the thread was stripped from the head and we had to sesort to ovalling a spark plug in a vice to get it to grip. I now need a helicoil fitting. Mr Yates suggested fitting a set of six myself - what experiences have members had of doing this?
Oh, yes, we had a faultless journey home. Missed the meeting we were going to though.
Gone but not forgotten