[DeTomaso] NPC: Fun day of fixing a Ferrari

Will Kooiman wkooiman at earthlink.net
Sun Nov 13 14:10:52 EST 2011


I was once flatbedded home with an empty tank - in the Pantera.  My gas
gauge wasn't working at the time, and I had simply miscalculated how much
gas I had in the tank.

And just last weekend I was trying to start a chipper (inherited from my
mother-in-law).  It wouldn't start.  I removed the gas tank, dumped the
rusty gas, and looked inside.  The tank is rusted worse than any Pantera
tank ever dreamed of rusting.

It's a shame too.  The chipper is very nice otherwise.

-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
Behalf Of Rob Dumoulin
Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011 1:05 PM
To: Mikael
Cc: De Tomaso List
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] NPC: Fun day of fixing a Ferrari

At least you fixed it quickly. My son's girlfriend's car would not start in
their driveway. I asked her how it was running the prior day and she said
it was hesitating a bit. I asked her where she bought gas last and the last
time she had a tune-up. Gas was a national brand but she never has had a
tune up. I picked her up new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, tools, and went
over. I had her try to start it while I looked under the hood for sounds of
a clue.  No start. I gave it a full tune up. When I sat in the car to see
if it would start, it didn't, but I was able to see her gas gauge was on
Empty and the car was on an incline. Quick trip to the station for a few
gallons to pour in and it started right up. She was embarrassed but admits
it runs better than it ever has.  Check the obvious first is right.

On Sun, Nov 13, 2011 at 12:58 PM, Mikael <mikael_hass at mail.tele.dk> wrote:

> Yes, I admit it, I have a friend that owns no Panteras and one F-car
> (348). We go back together 30 years, so I've forgiven his mistake.
> Sometimes I pity him a bit, because when his car needs a repair, he has to
> drive it to the local dealer, and usually gets ripped off. I've never
> really helped him when he had engine trouble, because I have to give up
> when looking at Motronic boxes, multiple sensors etc. Then I look forward
> to getting home and tuning on my Holley...
>
> Well 3 weeks ago he told me the F-car ran terribly, just moving it around
> the garage. And today he called, said it now didn't run at all, and that
he
> needed my help pushing it out of the garage, turning it, and pushing it
> back in the garage (uphill) backwards. That would clear for him so he
could
> get down in the pit below the car and look at some sensors on the
flywheel.
> So we did, he climbed down, unscrewed a plate (nice flat bottom F-cars
> have), sprayed the sensors. Then he tried to start it, no improvement. $s
> leaving his wallet was in the future...
>
> Being a simple guy, I asked if he'd looked at the plugs. Yes, but he
> couldn't conclude anything (he knows about www.tuningmadeeasy.com). Can I
> see them? He took one out, and I must admit, I couldn't conclude either
> whether it was lack of fuel or spark. But it was easy to test with the
plug
> held on the chassis and him trying to start. Plenty of spark. So it had to
> be lack of fuel. Faulty pumps? Clogged filters? Some sensor saying
> something strange, so no fuel? Then I popped the question of the day: "Is
> there fuel in the tank?" "Yes, the needle moves a bit when ignition is
on."
> Hhhmmm... I convinced him that since we had no other ideas to try out, why
> not drive down to the 99 octane gasstation and get some fuel and put it in
> the tank? So we did. And it started after 2 seconds :-)
>
> He was happy of course, but also a bit embarrassed. He said, that he was
> worried that keeping me quiet about this would cost him a lot. I said not
> to worry about the financial impact, because no amount of money could keep
> me from telling this story. :-) And he doesn't mind, really. He's not the
> first to do this, for sure.
>
> Sometimes it's the simple things, try them first!
>
> Mikael
>
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-- 
Rob DuMoulin
904.476.8744
rob at dumoulins.net
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