XPost: alt.home.repair   
   From: NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com   
      
   In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 4 Apr 2021 06:48:52 -0700 (PDT), trader_4   
    wrote:   
      
   >   
   >>   
   >> Just now I read that brake cleaner doesn't leave residue like I thought   
   >> it did. Should I start again looking for vacuum leaks with brake   
   >> cleaner?   
   >>   
   >> Is there something else to do?   
   >   
   >I never used one, but there are fog/smoke generators that you can hook up   
   >that pump smoke into the system and you can see if any comes out.  I've   
   >read of people using fog machines that are made for dance floors and such.   
   >Years ago when I looked I think you could find them on Ebay for maybe less   
   >than $100.   Then you'd have to make up some plumbing to pipe it in.   
   >   
   >It's hard to find vacuum leaks because the hoses go all over the place and   
   >the engine compartment is packed, you can't easily even see them all,   
   >others go into the cabin, to the tranny, etc.   
      
   I may give a more relevant answer later, but this is relevant to your   
   last 2 lines.   
      
   When my brother graduated medical school he moved to Brooklyn and bought   
   a new '65 pontiac which came with a 2-year warranty.  When he drove, and   
   after he went to Viet Nam and gave me the car, when I drove too, we   
   couldn't pull away from a stop without stumbling.  Car was only 3 or 4   
   years old.  Finally I just happened to be up on the fender looking down   
   and 1) I saw the vacuum hose to the distributor was completely missing.   
   At both ends.   From the side, the view of both locations was   
   obstructed.   
      
   After it was replaced, all was fine.  I wonder how much dirt got sucked   
   in that tube over 4 years. I wonder if they left the hose off when they   
   made the car**, or if the dealer removed it.  (It had other problems and   
   had been to the dealer many times.  By the time I got to Brooklyn 7   
   years after he bought the car, the dealer, Alpine Motors, was out of   
   business.   
      
   **2) Without AC and they had failed to connect the fresh air doors in   
   the L and R kickpanels to the controls that opened them.  They were   
   always closed.   
      
   3) They had mounted the steering wheel upside down so that turn signals   
   turned off if you turned the wheel 90^*** and then let it go back to 75   
   or 80^. ***Instead of 270^ like all other cars.   When I figured this   
   out, I wanted to just turn the steering wheel upside down but the way   
   the handgrips on the wheel were designed, that would have but them   
   between 3 and 4:30 and between 7:30 and 9.  AFAIK, no one holds the   
   wheel like that, and even though you don't have to hold the wheel at the   
   designated hand grips, it would look funny.  All I had to do was drill   
   another hole through the steering wheel "hub", a piece of metal an inch   
   thick, and everything was good again, but how did they make these   
   mistakes.  Did the original assembler put the steering wheel on upside   
   down because it looked better to him that way, just as it did to me (and   
   he wouldn't know it would mess up the turn signal)?   
      
   4) The car wouldn't start if you left the lights on too long with the   
   engine not running.   He had it into the dealer several times for that.   
   They said they replaced the battery, the starter, and the alternator two   
   times each.  Not sure about the regulator.   Still didn't help.  I only   
   spent a couple short visits with him but once the car wouldn't start for   
   us right in midtown NYC.  After the two year warranty was up, they said,   
   "[yeah we never fixed it, but] the warranty has expired."   
      
   After I got the car I decided the battery had been ruined so I took it   
   to Sears (very big in Chicago) for a new battery and the mechanic who   
   would put it in said, Do you want our free 788-part multi-check? and I   
   said, I really just need a battery.  And he said, "it's free".  I don't   
   like to argue so I said Okay.  And it took him less than 5 minutes to   
   find the problem the dealer couldn't find in 2 years.  The connection of   
   the battery cable at the starter motor would get "dirty".  In my   
   experience only when I forgot and left the lights on, even for 2 hours.   
      
   He took it apart and cleaned it, but later I found that even with good   
   clothes on, I could reach under the car, find the cable and rotate it   
   around the bolt, probably just in one direction, and that was enough to   
   make the car start.   
      
   There must have been a permanent solution, a cable with different kind   
   of connection at the end??  But although I saw other cables for sale,   
   none said anything about being different or corroding less or anything,   
   so iirc I bought a buzzer that buzzed if I left the lights on and that   
   pretty much solved it.  (though once early on it had started then   
   stalled 10 minutes later just as I was about to get on Lake Shore Drive.   
   I'm glad it didn't stall on that busy road.)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)