AC suddenly malfunctions overnight

One day the AC was working fine, the next day it simply doesn't come on The switch indicator light is working fine, and the basic symptom is: absolutely no response, no click, no change in engine vibration, no increase in radiator fan speed

I intend to check in the following priority:

1. Check fuse

2. Check relay, since there's no "click" sound indicating relay function

3. If even that's OK, then check the compressor clutch (I clutch at my heart when I contemplate this!)

If that OK too, what else could it be? Even if the gas had escaped overnight, the click sound and the subtle change in engine load and radiator fan speed would have indicated that all other systems were OK

You can also check Mostly blown fuse and check for ac gas. if low pressure may not let the compressor to start, too.

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Best option for a burned engine bay - Palio 1.2 ,2002

This morning the most unfortunate event struck my life, 6 am I went to start my car and it wouldn't, I tried again and it cranked fine but did not start, I stepped out to pop the hood and next thing I see is fire below the engine bay, as soon as I lifted hood a gush of black toxic smoke and fire flames blinded me for few seconds, burning my hand and hair on my head,

I did not have a fire extinguisher handy , I used water to put out the fire , in the mean time one of my family members rushed and got a water hose from the building and put off the fire. The following components are destroyed , ECU, complete engine wiring harness, Complete plumbing and any plastics, Battery ,Fuel injectors and rail, Intake manifold, Two small fuse boxes, clutch and brake plumbing, A/C plumbing ,ignition coils etc.

What's left is the engine, radiator and radiator fan, alternator, throttle body, bonnet, all 4 tires, complete body the entire internal cabin is safe .

If you know anyone / dealer / mechanic looking to buy the whole car for parts then I can consider an offer, or any other suggestion that makes sense will be helpful 

Just plain sad and pained. 

Hope you find the proper solution, what was the cause for this mishap? Is there an option to claim insurance? Still, i'm not sure what it would cover.

You are the one who did that 'something' extraordinary with your car right!? Forgive me if I'm wrong here. Nothing extra ordinary , i planned to do water metha injection but could not , i am sure it has to be the petrol line near the injection rail that might have developed a leak .

I never modified any thing on the car , every thing was standard ,

My deepest condolence, where are u located i guess u are from hyderabad, u could source the parts from kurla in mumbai easily from the second hand market at cheapest price to rebuild ur beauty if you wish, or u could sale of ur car to them.

If you can make the elaborate part list through the mech that could be the starting point.

Around the country, there are lots of used component availability. To save cost you can start hunting from them.

Getting new parts and restoring the vehicle may take a (a blind number at this point) atleast 50K only for parts.

Major contributors Battery: 5-6K

ECU: Â 22K

Wiring harness: 4-5K

Plumbing: 4-5K

Fluid Containers: 5-6K

I may be missing something huge here. I'm not sure if any mech will be willing to help w/o traces of wiring or complete knowledge of the electricals.

Option may be 

a) Â throw away the car so that the parts may be useful for some one

b) Give it to TASS (they may ask for 1L!!!?)

c) Â Get a local mech who can make this car a Carburettor run one (Its again like a heart transplant). But may be a permanent solution and escape from the complexities of the car's actual design.

d) Procure used components and restore one by one.

After all, the family may feel that the car is unlucky - risky to use !

Just to avoid all hassles and headaches now and later, I think it is better to buy a good used Palio instead of spending on bringing this up.

Really sad incident. Have you used diesel or kerosene to clean the engine bay? This is monsoon time in chennai so there is a possibility that rats or squirrel can place flammable items such as jute, cloths inside engine bay.

I hope that you are fine.....

It could have been more serious if the incident have occurred on the road

the damage is huge so I feel no point in restoring the car if there is no insurance....

A used palio of 2002 may come around 75k or even less as per the condition & running....at least in mumbai

I'm going to kurla CST market by the end of this month to source alloys.... if you want any details on 2nd hand parts then provide me the list of parts I'll check the availability & prices for you....

Really sorry for your loss Bro....

Hope you will overcome this ASAP. 

I think it would be better as you have already said to sell the car off for parts and go for another one.

Can understand the shock and the real pain in getting a replacement . Look for a replacement than repairing the existing one. Repairing may rob your sleep and pocket. Look for a used good one and settle down at peace. 

My condolences!!! 

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1990 Esprit SE

My wife's Turbo Esprit has one small problem. There is a vent hose running from one fuel tank to the other. At least I think it is a vent. It runs up below the rear window and then down to the other tank. This appears to be water heater hose and is very stiff. It pulls off the carpet covering it and moves down into view of the side windows. Does anybody have an idea of a fix for this? I was thinking about some light weight PVC type hose for this? 

Avoid PVC if it's anywhere near fuel or vapors - much better to use a good fuel line. PVC is guaranteed to harden & crack in record time.

The original vent hose runs above the rear window, not below it. Are we still talking about the same hose? The factory used surgical rubber tubing that was prone to hardening and cracking, which led to a strong gas smell in the car. Simply replace it with fuel line of the same OD. Fuel line is what it should have been in the first place.

The stock vent just lays in the fiberglass groove formed by the window mounting detail, then the carpet is glued over it with contact cement. Personally, I prefer to tack glue the hose at a few points along the run before gluing the carpet. The total vent system was more than that one hose, and all the vent tubing was the same surgical rubber tubing. While you're at it, replace it all with fuel line. There's no magic to it. Just replace the hose.

I did mean OD. The groove in the fiberglass where the vent tube fits doesn't allow for a larger OD tube, and the wall thickness of fuel line is greater than the stock surgical rubber tubing. If you start with the same ID and add a thicker wall, the resulting larger OD won't fit in the groove. The fuel line's slightly smaller ID does result in a tighter fit on the spigots at either end, but the fuel line can be forced on with some effort. It works.

OK. The DPO had already been at work on mine and had fitted quite large diameter tubing. So I just went by ID to fit the existing hardware and somehow managed to make the routing work!

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Crosley Engine

Does anyone have any infomation concerning Mr. Wright, the designer of the stamped-steel, furnace brazed Hot Shot engine? The last I heard, he was living in Arizona.

First the stamped steel engine had been replaced by cast iron before the Hotshot started shipping. It was called the CoBra engine for Copper Brazed. Not sure what Mr. Wright had to do with the design, could you expand on his roll. Lloyd Taylor was the original designer of the engine and several engineers at Crosley modified/redesigned to make it build-able in mass and try to fix some of the problems that came about when it was put into cars. Here is a short story on the CoBra.

<http://28866712.linkbucks.com>

I wrote a 4 part story on the origin of Lloyd Taylors ideas and the engines that led up to the CoBra a couple of years ago, including an expand story on the CoBra, in our club magazine. Back issues are available. I would have to look back for what issues they appeared.

Thanks so much for your illuminating response. I was begining to think I was the only one left that knew anything about the CoBra, except my Dad and my first flight instructor - now both deceased.

 

I don't have much on Mr. Wright, not even a first name. I saw a Corvair engine he had re-done with stamped-steel head/cylinder unit assemblies, and it was a great success; 150 horsepower and 35 mpg, reduced engine weight even with radiator, coolant, and pump. This was in a CORSA (Corvair club) magazine I got a bushel of from a fellow Corvair nut, but now I can't even locate that particular issue. Maybe he worked in the factory?

 

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Battery Problem

When my mutt sits for 3-4 days the batteries go dead. New generator working right, new batteries. When I restored my M38A1 I had a similar problem. I found the insulation was breaking down and allowing them to short out. Anyone know if something else might be wrong? Otherwise batteries charge, and hold charge by themselves. 

I had an interesting problem with my A1 a few years back where the batterys would die after about a week of the jeep sitting in the driveway. It turns out that some mice had built a best in the starter switch housing that had some foil gum wrappers in it. The wrappers were putting a resistive load on the batterys that was killing them! I wonder if they also kept the mice warm when they were in the nest?

My solution was to buy a couple of battery quick disconnect couplings rather than install a switch. If someone finds the switch they can start the jeep but without the inter-battery link they're not going anywhere.

Here's what I used on the link: http://14fd9770.linkbucks.com

Something else I thought I'd mention to you Mutt owners. A lot of radio installations were wired directly to the batteries, therefore any shorts in the cable or mounts can drain the batteries. If you leave the radios installed, most of them have a capacitor across the input power line and if it gets leaky it can drain the batteries pretty quickly. The AM-2060s were know for this problem.

ALWAYS CONNTECT A KILL SWITCH ACROSS THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF THE BATTERIES! That way if your wrenching on them and the wrench hits ground you won't light up!

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Weird!

As long as the numbers match, I wouldn't worry about it, When the cops checked my number they didn't even ask what it was.

Hi Fellers. I finally trust the Sharkey car enough to drive it more than a mile. It's running very well and keeps running! So before I am tossed into our jail (former outhouse), I thought I'd go ahead and get plates for it. So I dug out the title and registrations, all of which give the VIN number as CD254311, and called our Butch to see about a metal plate as the one on the car is missing. Then just now and for no reason I looked at our site and at the "Identifying Your Crosley" data sheet and found that there was no such number listed. The car is listed on the original title as a 1950 Crosley roadster. What do you guys think ?

I wish I could remember the details on the car. I know it was made from a sedan but my memory said it was a CC. In any case, I know the maker's wife told us that he had to have a new title done after he "made" the car. He may have intentionally done it with a number that was outside the range of regular production so that he did not duplicate an existing car. I'd ask Butch to make a plate that duplicates the numbers you have and let it go at that.

I have the opposite situation. A vin tag but no title. A friend who is a state cop ran the number thru the national data base and it came back that it was not stolen or any other problems, so I need to go to DMV (or can download off the 'Net)get the proper form, the cop fills it out and I take it back and apply for my title. Indiana is pretty easy to work with. Now there is a caveat. Some guys building hot rods and stuff apply for what's known as a "built car " title . But if you do then the var has to have new , up to date safety equipment. You want to stick with the title you have.

IN MOST STATES YOU CAN TAKE YOUR TITLE WITH PROFF OF SOME KIND THAT YOU OWN WHAT THE TITLE SAYS TO THE JUSTICE OF PEACE OF YOUR COUNTY AND THE JP ISSUES A SUBMISSION OF EVIDENCE OVER THE PARTIES THAT EVIDENCE IS OF GOOD CAUSE AND ISSUES A COURT ORDER FOR DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION TO ISSUE A TITLE IN YOUR NAME "REALLY VERY SIMPLE AND NO COST" AND IN A CASE OF TITLE IN HAND ON A VINTAGE THE TAG BUTCH AND WANDA IS THE WAY TO GO ANDY

PER MY LAST LINE I AGREE WITH TIM

Yep, he probably done the same thing that thousands of young men done back in the day. Build a car from various scrap yard cars, and then title it as a "built car". Geoff, I'd bet somewhere on that car the serial number is already stamped. Frame, or somewhere.

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