Im always amazed at the amazingly long list of simple stuff that gets over looked rather regularly,
when guys work on their cars.
Im sure most of us have plenty of related stories about stuff we or our buddies
while working or helping others work on their cars, forgot to do over the years,
during
engine rebuilds or swaps,
I was recently asked to help a guy get his car engine started,
before we started I started checking the basics and found,
a loose battery connection,
a missing engine electrical ground,
a fan relay missing,the oil filter was finger tight.
the distributor hold down, clamp was finger tight and not on the distributor base,
the distributor had the electrical pigtail that supplied power to the HEI,
so loose it fell out at first touch,
, a missing distributor rotor that was left out by mistake,
a dip stick tube,
that was only partly inserted so you could not read oil level,
a water pump bolt that had never been inserted or tightened,
rockers never adjusted, timing advance and timing not set.
low coolant levels, a burned out fuse for the fans,
and that was just what I noticed in the first few minutes BEFORE we started
actually trying to start the engine, I later found two loose vacuum hoses, a loose radiator clamp,
and a loose and damaged injector pig tail, and an unplugged heat sensor.
now all this stuff is rather common and you learn through experience to stop and check all the details,
check all the oil,brake fluid,coolant , fan belts,
get out the multi meter check fuses, look for loose grounds, verify battery voltage,
verify the alternator output, look for loose electrical connectors, loose sensor pig-tails and loose or missing vacuum hoses.
stuff that with experience is checked without a seconds thought gets easily over-looked by the newer less experienced guys.
when guys work on their cars.
Im sure most of us have plenty of related stories about stuff we or our buddies
while working or helping others work on their cars, forgot to do over the years,
during
engine rebuilds or swaps,
I was recently asked to help a guy get his car engine started,
before we started I started checking the basics and found,
a loose battery connection,
a missing engine electrical ground,
a fan relay missing,the oil filter was finger tight.
the distributor hold down, clamp was finger tight and not on the distributor base,
the distributor had the electrical pigtail that supplied power to the HEI,
so loose it fell out at first touch,
, a missing distributor rotor that was left out by mistake,
a dip stick tube,
that was only partly inserted so you could not read oil level,
a water pump bolt that had never been inserted or tightened,
rockers never adjusted, timing advance and timing not set.
low coolant levels, a burned out fuse for the fans,
and that was just what I noticed in the first few minutes BEFORE we started
actually trying to start the engine, I later found two loose vacuum hoses, a loose radiator clamp,
and a loose and damaged injector pig tail, and an unplugged heat sensor.
now all this stuff is rather common and you learn through experience to stop and check all the details,
check all the oil,brake fluid,coolant , fan belts,
get out the multi meter check fuses, look for loose grounds, verify battery voltage,
verify the alternator output, look for loose electrical connectors, loose sensor pig-tails and loose or missing vacuum hoses.
stuff that with experience is checked without a seconds thought gets easily over-looked by the newer less experienced guys.