There are some new revelations on the Yellow Peril following our return from Carlisle. We drove 2784 miles, used 111 gallons of gas giving an overall average just under 25 mpg with a couple tanks giving us over 27 mpg. We returned home without opening the toolbox. Since I'll be driving it to St. Louis this Friday I figured I'd clean it up some, so Sunday afternoon I sprayed most of the engine compartment with the purple degreaser and then hosed it down well with the garden hose. It doesn't look a LOT cleaner but I sure washed a lot of dirt out of it. Couple hours later I tried to start it. Would NOT start. Did backfire a couple times, blowing the top off the aircleaner. From this I gleaned that something was amiss with the ignition timing. I popped the distributor cap and found that the center electrode, the spring-loaded one, was flush with the inside of the cap. I started at B&C, went to Auto Zone, Advance Auto Parts and finally found the cap at O'Reilley's. Took it home and also installed the new blue IPD spark plug wires I won in the VCOA drawing at Carlisle. I was careful to number the positions on the new cap after the ones on the old cap and even marked the wires to avoid confusion there. Got it all hooked up and it still would not start. Looking again I noted that the vacuum advance arm had come off the pin on the breaker plate and the plate was advanced maybe 5° additional, which might account for the poor performance of the mid-grade gas near the east coast. So I fixed that and tried again, still no start, although it tried (without much gusto). I made a gizmo to ease the testing of the trigger points by taking a 3-spade connector off an old harness and leaving the middle wire longer than the other two. I also made one of the outboard wires black so I could tell which point was which. Turned out one trigger point was breaking just fine and the other never completely closed or completely opened. I guess the insulator was wet and the point was dirty. Took out the distributor and cleaned the trigger points and wiped both with 1000 grit wetordry after cleaning them with carb cleaner. After that they acted right both in and out of the distributor, so I put the distributor back in and tried again. Seemed to run fairly well but idle was QUITE slow. Also there was a puddle of oil to the passenger side of the engine on the driveway.
I loosened the distributor and turned it to where the idle was normal and checked the timing, which was very close to right, so I made final adjustment.
Seems to run normally now and it turned out the oil filter was not quite tight enough. In the past they have been almost unremoveable so this time I tried not to overtighten, and it is obvious that I did not. By hand I was able to turn it over 180° which seems to have stopped the leaking. (It didn't clean up the mess, however, and I REFUSE to wash the engine AGAIN!)
So, thanks to O'Reilley's and considerable perseverance, we are back in operation again.
--
George Downs Bartlesville, Oklahoma

I bought an 850 T5 for someone and washed the engine down with my garden hose. The car came from a farm with a 1/2 mile dirt approach road.

After I put in new plugs, rotor, cap, changed the oil, I thought I would wash some of the dust and dirt out. I was very careful where the water went and how hard the spray was. But, the 5 cyl engine was going to surprise me. It started right up!

Rather than let it idle in the driveway, I took it to the end of the street and back - about 1 mile. As I made the turn around, the engine started to sputter and before I got home the check engine light came on and it died.

Well, the plugs and wires have a plastic cover over them. It is not water proof! The recessed plugs had about 3 inches of water in each of them, and the water is now boiling hot. I couldn't remove the plugs, because the water would flow into the cylinder. I had to mop out each plug hole with a cloth, remove the plugs and dry them as well as the plug wire connections.

Have fun in St Louis. I will be in Chicago. The 220 runs great!!!
--
My name is Klaus and I am a V ♂ lv ♂ holic

I kept the engine spotless in '65 1800. I'd spray it down with engine degreaser and pressure wash it about once/month. Sure makes it easier to work on, if nothing else.

First thing I'd do at the car wash? Completely remove distributor and wires and stick a cork in the hole and a bag over that. Another bag over the coil. Never had a problem with it starting back up immediately.

A car with D-jet, I'd do the same. But I'd still be very wary of all that FI wiring...

Glad you got it going! Safe travels (again) to St Louis and back!

--
-Matt I ♥ my ♂

Here in humid New Zealand I had an issue with a backfire and die first thing in the morning within 1/4 mile from home, starts right up and never does it again until the next morning. Turned out to also be the centre electrode in the cap with leakage from condensation and cleared up when it arced over.

I hosed down my 240's engine once.

Once.

Never again. The end result was some frayed wiring became intimate with each other and caused electrical gremlins. I was lucky that no other electrical components died from the water and soap. Now I wash using a cloth sprayed with Simple Green and wipe with another damp cloth. More tedious but safer.
--
Mike F - 1984 244 DL - 317,000 miles
Original engine, transmission, drive train, starter
Undergoing reconstructive surgery with POR-15

1972 142 S - The Yellow Brick - 135,000 miles
All stock except for Weber Carb. B20B engine. M40

I washed my 142's motor once and then for the life of me also couldn't get it to start. it was driving me crazy until I steped back had a cup of coffee and realized I put the wires back on right but in the wrong direction. I had kept doing and redoing but clockwise not counter clockwise, (hopefully I am remebering the correct direction now as I am typing!)
Sure felt stupid as all of my neighbors were watching me trying to "get that old car running".