[DeTomaso] The basic things

[Mikael]

Just a few thoughts on how we should always check the basic things first:

1.    For more than a year my Longchamp had a poor idle. Being the author of
www.tuningmadeeasy.com, I found that a personal embarrassment. I often
adjusted, it got a lot better, but then when hot(ter), idle got bad again.
Problem was vacuum leak at turkey pan intake gasket. New gasket, problem
gone

2.    Same beloved Longchamp had issues starting when hot. I often needed to
press the accelerator all the way to the floor to clear the gas so the
starter could overpower the early ignition. Also needed to drive with less
than optimum ignition timing, which of course made 1. worse. Solution was
new ground wire from battery to engine. The incumbent wire goes all the way
to the drivers footwell where there's a cutoff switch for safety/theft
prevention. But apparently it gave too much resistance

3.    Same Longchamp. A/C didn't work. Was it the switch, or no coolant or
faulty compressor? I was ready for hours of work. But it took ten minutes to
solve. It was in fact the wire, where it connected from the wiring harness
to the compressor, that connection was corroded, cleaned it and I could stay
cool

4.    And of course my friend's Ferrari 348 which began to run badly, and
then not at all. After hours of him trying things, we ended up filling more
gas in the tank despite the gauge didn't read empty, and it was fixed

 

Mikael