Autopendium :: stuff about old cars

Tags: breakdown distributor

Truth to tell, I've been taking the van for granted, using it to move the Camaro's engine around while it was being rebuilt and generally abusing it as my daily driver.

Well, yesterday it was payback time, with a breakdown on a busy dual carriageway (with no hard shoulder!), just outside Heathrow.

I'd been picking up a new water pump for the Camaro from Real Steel, and suddenly, stuck in heavy traffic, the engine died. First thought was a fuel problem, but there was half a tank left, and opening the hood, no obvious loose pipes. And although the engine bay was pretty warm, even letting it cool down just a little didn't help.

After 5 minutes of being tooted and swon at by other motorists for blocking the way, I got RAC to come out (pretty dam quickly too), and he also reckoned a fuel problem at first. Later on he diagnosed a faulty distributor -- I'd had the old one replaced with a new MSD StreetFire, as the weights were all rusted up.

Anyway, as luck would have it, I still had the old one in the back of the van, and we quickly swapped it over. Only problem was he couldn't get the timing right an didn't have a timing light with him (!), and so there was major backfiring. So, he got another RAC Man to come with a recovery truck, as you can see from the pic. Still, first time for the van. Just hope it doesn't make a habit of it.

Update: Got the old dizzy working again via my good fiends at American Auto Care in King's Cross, only to find that that backfiring (see above) had blown the silencer wide open (see pic). Thanks Mr RAC Man!

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