[DeTomaso] AAAAAAARGH!!!!!

[Mark McWhinney]

You guys are scaring him.  Like most people, I have had my sender on the
tank for 35 years and nothing bad has happened.  (I would move mine to the
block, if it were not for a frozen plug on the block.  In the mean time, I
am not going to lay awake at night.)

If this is a new engine.  You must have a new coolant fill-up.  It probably
had some air in the system that has bubbled out.  Top it off and bleed it
another round or two.

If your battery is charged up and you are not getting so much as a click
from the solenoid, you are either not getting juice at the solenoid or you
not getting the signal from the ignition switch.  

These are some easy tests you can do yourself with a voltmeter before
calling AAA.

- Put a voltmeter on the hot side of the solenoid (the post where the
battery cable connects to the solenoid).  If you do not have 12v, check the
battery connections, + and - posts and the ground stud on the - cable.

- Check all the connections on the solenoid.  Are they clean and tight?
Last year, I lost half a day chasing a starting problem because I had mucked
around with the solenoid and forgot to snug the nut down after just finger
tightening it.  (Last month Drewsaster snapped a bolt when over-tightening
his solenoid connection, so use some discretion.)

- When someone twists the key into the start position, do you get voltage on
the wire connecting to the solenoid?  If not, you have an ignition switch
problem.

- If you have voltage on the hot side of the solenoid and voltage on the
switch wire when the key is twisted to start but no voltage of the wire that
connects to the starter, you have a bad solenoid.  (If the solenoid is built
into the starter, then either the solenoid is bad or the starter is bad.)




-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Thomas
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2007 2:39 PM
To: 'Christopher Kimball'; detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] AAAAAAARGH!!!!!

Chris, I hate to say this, but with the sender at the top of the pressure
tank, and low fluid (so no reading), you could have overheated your engine
and not known about it.  More than one of us on the list advised you to put
the sender back to the front of the block where it should be.  I hope you
have not seized your engine by overheating it, but that's worst case.
Mike
 

-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
Behalf Of Christopher Kimball
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2007 1:05 PM
To: detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: [DeTomaso] AAAAAAARGH!!!!!

Yesterday I drove my car home from the shop after new rotors were installed
on the front.  This was really the first time I drove it any length after
the motor rebuild and all the other stuff that has been done to it since I
bought it.

Although it seemed to run great and sounded awesome,I noticed some coolant
overflowed into a parking lot on a stop on my way home, so this morning I
checked the bottle with the pressure release cap and it was only half full
(that's the bottle with the temp sending unit on it).  I jacked the car up a
few inches in the back and refilled the bottle with 50/50 coolant.

Here's the bad part:  I then tried to start the car and...NOTHING!!!  The
gauges all light up and work, the battery is strong, but after just
installing a new starter, new solenoid, alternator, etc. the car is DEAD!!!

No engine turnover or movement at all, no loud, audible noises when I turn
the key (although I think the ammeter moves negative when I do that)--just
an eerie silence.

I guess I'll have AAA tow it into the shop tomorrow unless anyone can give
me any simple tests to try so I can determine what the problem is.  What a
bummer!

Thanks,

Chris


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