Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022
Yesterday I drove the Plymouth to Windsor Gardens Assisted Living to show the car at a Beach Day event they were having for residents. I had gotten busy early in the week and the rain meant I didn’t get a chance to wash the car ahead of time. Thankfully, the car wasn’t dirty, only dusty. I took my dust mop and with my son’s help dusted the horizontal surfaces, and that worked fine.
The residents got a real kick out of the cars — I had the Plymouth, and another local cruiser brought his 2003 Dodge Viper. The Viper might not have been the best choice for this audience because somehow, some of the residents believed they were going to be able to get in and sit in the cars. Jim’s Viper may be 20 years old, but it looks immaculate. He didn’t really want people climbing in and out of his car. Besides, that thing sits really, really low, and several residents remarked that if they got in it, they’d never be able to get back out.
I invited them to sit in my car, and had several takers, including a husband and wife who just had a blast. The wife got behind the wheel, and she was just as excited as could be. She told us she had a 1957 Plymouth “back int he day.” They got some really cute photos of the residents sitting in the car. It was a lot of fun, though I think Jim was a little on edge with all these seniors hovering around his car with wheelchairs and walkers. No damage was done, however.
BATTERY INTERRUPTUS. After a couple of hours the event was winding down, and I decided to head home. I got in, she fired up just fine. As I stopped at the end of the drive ready to turn, the engine died. Uh-oh. Fuel? No, I turned the key and nothing happened. No idiot lights, no gauges. No visible or audible sign of life.
I hop out and check the battery connections. It was acting like all power just shut off like a switch. Had to be cables or a broken major wire somewhere. But the cable ends were all solid as could be. Second troubleshooting method was to start tapping on things with a park of channel locks. No luck there. I go back under the hood and really start looking over the battery cable connections. They were solid. But while moving the ground cable, I noticed that they ground connection to the engine block was very loose. Ah ha! The only tool I had were the channel locks, but that’s all I needed to tighten the bolt. Got in and she fired right up.
I drove home without incident, passing through a couple of very small heavy rain showers. I think the Rain X on the windshield did more good than the windshield wipers. There were a couple of really heavy downpours on the way home, and I had all the windows down. None of the rain got in the car, probably because it wasn’t blowing a crosswind, but it was interesting that despite all four windows down, the hardtop didn’t get wet inside.
I had planned to top off the fuel on the way to town, but was running late and did not stop. the fuel gauge is still showing nearly 3/4 tank, but we know the gauge isn’t right. I don’t want to fill it too full because I have yet to fix the gas filler rubber tube, which leaks when you put gas it in. I need to take a look at that, and either fix it myself or farm that out to another mechanic.
The local cruisers Sunday cruise is this Sunday, and the temperantures are expected to be much milder. I’ve not been for a month of events, so its time to rejoin the group.