Nunyas
Yoda
Offline
Ok, I've double checked my coolant level and checked my thermostat and they're both good. The only thing I haven't done to my cooling system yet is completely flushing it out. I'm positive it needs doing, but I'm not sure it's going to solve my recent high temps problem.
A side effect of these high temps is the carburetor is also getting pretty hot, and as a result I'm 99% sure I'm experincing full on vapor lock. It nearly happened to me on the Malibu run on Monday. It most certainly happened to me twice today. The first time was at a stop light after having driven 20 miles. The car stalled, and wouldn't restart. Fortunately, I was at an intersection with a gas station. I managed to push the B in to the water/air station and check things out. To which, I found nothing broke, and all _appeared_ ok, except the under bonnet fuel filter was empty. After my poking around for 30 minutes, I found the fuel filter was full again and the car would run again.
Fast forward to an hour later. On I-5 heading home, 70MPH, and blam vapor lock hits me again. I hit my right turn signal, and carefully cost off to the side of the road dodging traffic as best I could under no power. I get to the side, and notice in my rear view a full-size Chevy pulled over behind me and hit his hazards too. I thought maybe he was there to help. I pop the hood go up front look around a little; started to pop the radiator cap and immediately notice it still has plenty of fluid, but the under bonnet fuel filter is empty again. At this point I decided that I have vapor lock, and I go back to talk to the driver in the Chevy.
Turns out the Chevy was LA Metro Transportation Safety folks. I chatted with the guy about cars for 20 minutes and a tow truck shows up at which point the fellow asks if I want a tow off the freeway. I told him I planned to wait 30minutes and then attempt to start the car and since it took 20 minutes for the tow truck to get there I wanted to wait the last 10 minutes and give it another go. So, we chat out the last 10 minutes and I go back to the car and it started right back up like nothing happened. I told the guy I'd be able to finish my trip under my own power and thanked him and the tow truck driver.
Erm.. I guess I got a little carried away there. To the point, I'm 99% sure I'm getting vapor lock when the engine gets as hot as it does in the late afternoons (mornings the engine never goes over mid-way on the Temp gauge). The first thing I notice when the engine stalls and won't restart is the fuel filter is empty. The second thing I notice is the carburetor is pretty dang hot (darn close to being too hot to handle), hotter than I *think* it should be. During these 30-minute cool downs, the fuel filter refills (with the ignition OFF), and the carb cools down *a lot*. I know for a fact that my fuel line runs across the bottom of the heater core box, between the heater box and the engine. My clutch line runs the same route. I have the stock ZS carburetor converted to manual choke. Is there anything I can or should do that will eliminate this highly irritating vapor locking problem?
A side effect of these high temps is the carburetor is also getting pretty hot, and as a result I'm 99% sure I'm experincing full on vapor lock. It nearly happened to me on the Malibu run on Monday. It most certainly happened to me twice today. The first time was at a stop light after having driven 20 miles. The car stalled, and wouldn't restart. Fortunately, I was at an intersection with a gas station. I managed to push the B in to the water/air station and check things out. To which, I found nothing broke, and all _appeared_ ok, except the under bonnet fuel filter was empty. After my poking around for 30 minutes, I found the fuel filter was full again and the car would run again.
Fast forward to an hour later. On I-5 heading home, 70MPH, and blam vapor lock hits me again. I hit my right turn signal, and carefully cost off to the side of the road dodging traffic as best I could under no power. I get to the side, and notice in my rear view a full-size Chevy pulled over behind me and hit his hazards too. I thought maybe he was there to help. I pop the hood go up front look around a little; started to pop the radiator cap and immediately notice it still has plenty of fluid, but the under bonnet fuel filter is empty again. At this point I decided that I have vapor lock, and I go back to talk to the driver in the Chevy.
Turns out the Chevy was LA Metro Transportation Safety folks. I chatted with the guy about cars for 20 minutes and a tow truck shows up at which point the fellow asks if I want a tow off the freeway. I told him I planned to wait 30minutes and then attempt to start the car and since it took 20 minutes for the tow truck to get there I wanted to wait the last 10 minutes and give it another go. So, we chat out the last 10 minutes and I go back to the car and it started right back up like nothing happened. I told the guy I'd be able to finish my trip under my own power and thanked him and the tow truck driver.
Erm.. I guess I got a little carried away there. To the point, I'm 99% sure I'm getting vapor lock when the engine gets as hot as it does in the late afternoons (mornings the engine never goes over mid-way on the Temp gauge). The first thing I notice when the engine stalls and won't restart is the fuel filter is empty. The second thing I notice is the carburetor is pretty dang hot (darn close to being too hot to handle), hotter than I *think* it should be. During these 30-minute cool downs, the fuel filter refills (with the ignition OFF), and the carb cools down *a lot*. I know for a fact that my fuel line runs across the bottom of the heater core box, between the heater box and the engine. My clutch line runs the same route. I have the stock ZS carburetor converted to manual choke. Is there anything I can or should do that will eliminate this highly irritating vapor locking problem?