Thursday, July 8, 2021
It was a hot humid here in Kentucky, and I went out to my Plymouth and started it up and let it idle for 20 minutes or so. I kept a close eye on the temperature gauge. I’m delighted to report that the gauge barely hit quarter scale and the engine never missed a beat.
Now the first time i experienced vapor lock was the day my son and I drove it to town on a 95-degree day. We ended us stuck in line at Sonic waiting for 20 minutes, and the temperature gauge soared. When my son saw smoke filtering from under the hood, I decided we jumped out of line to try to hit the open road and get some air going through the radiator to cool it down. Well, we got about three blocks and was stopped at a stop light without any real cooling action. That’s when the engine died. We coasted to a stop and parked in a parking lot to let the engine cool. Once cool, it started fine and we headed for home.
Now honestly, I hadn’t check the cooling system since I bought the car last November. Turns out the radiator was a gallon short of coolant! That seemed to make a big difference in its operating temperature. Everything was fine until my wife and I were heading to a car show out of town (on another hot day) and the engine died for lack of fuel. The engine didn’t show it was overheating (we were running at highway speed and the gauge showed normal operating range). When there was no gas in the carb, I felt sure that with the heat, we were experiencing vapor lock again.
Turns out it wasn’t vapor lock, but a fuel pump going bad. With a new pump in place, so far so good.
I’m going to top off the fuel tank before we hit the road again, but the weekend after this next one is full of car events on Saturday, the 24th of July.
I still need to get the car to A1A Automotive to have the driveshaft measured and get the oil changed and chassis lubed. In the meantime, I’ll keep an eye open for signs of vapor lock.