1
17_Fan
Guest
Sorry I missed the Bif fan club meeting the other night, but I have a good excuse. 
For me, sometimes a little perseverance pays and if someone can get a laugh out of my mis-adventures...all the more reason to post it on a message board!
I have a stubborn little Mercury with a 160,000 miles that doesn't like the cold weather anymore and decided it didn't want to start this past Thursday. It seemed like the engine wasn't getting any spark. First thing to try was new spark plugs. I had put platinum plugs in two years ago and they had 35,000 miles on them. First chance I had to work on it was Sunday morning, so I was out there tinkering and one of the plugs was seized up inside the head. I cranked on the wrench as hard as I could. Then I stuck a two foot section of pipe on the wrench and cranked it...nothing. I'm also worried I'll bust this off because I have sheared bolts with my brute physical strength in the past, so I'm trying to be careful and yet, use all the force I can. I'm also worried that the threads are stripped and my next project will be learning how to heli-coil.
Anyhow, when I was cranking on it, the socket wrench gave & I hit myself in the head. I saw something go flying, and wondered what I broke. I then realized that I couldn't see...it was my glasses. Good thing it had snowed the night before, otherwise the lenses would have gotten scratched on the driveway. But the frames were twisted like a pretzel. I felt like Ralphie in the movie 'The Christmas Story', were everyone was telling him he would shoot his eye out! Good thing I didn't take a step until I saw where they were laying. I knew I should have put my safety peeps on, I usually do, but after I realized I had forgotten to put them on, I figured what could go wrong? After that, I called it a day & went to get the frames fixed, watched a little football and then headed to Milwaukee for a Christmas party at the restaurant my brother's buddy owns.
After a lot of advice from the engineers and lab techs I work with, I was out there Monday night with a brand new, longer (14") socket wrench with a 1/2" drive & a can of Aero Kroil liquid penetrate. I sprayed the penetrate as soon as I got home, went in the house & changed clothes and went out with the new socket wrench...nothing. Damn it! So I drenched it again with Aero Kroil then messed around cleaning the battery terminals, pulled the other plugs and put Anti-Seize on the threads (a suggestion by one of the lab techs). After about an hour and a half puttzin' around (the one plug that is buried behind the alternator is a bear to get at), I tried it again...nothing. I kept working on it and after about 30 minutes, I felt it give. I cranked it out as fast as I could to check the threads inside the head. Whew!!!...nothing was stripped. Got it put back together and put the charger on the battery because I figured I may have drained it a bit by trying to start it the past few days. 20 minutes later I go back outside & try to start the car up. First time...turns over again, but nothing...second time, same thing. Third time....varoom!!! Wooohooo, it started!!!!
About a minute later...conk! It died. Try starting it again...starts up no problem. A few minutes go by, I'm letting it run & heat up and then I notice smoke just pouring out the engine. Holy *bleep*, the car is on fire! First thing I do is pull the charger away from the car and go back to see what is smoking. Besides the smoke pouring out of the cylinders through the spark plug openings on the head, it is just gushing out of the exhaust pipe, big time. This car has never smoked at all before, so I think about it for a second, and come to the conclusion that I may have over done the Anti-Seize a bit! :lol: It was a beautiful white smoke that trailed all the way down the road! :lol: I ran the engine for five minutes, revving it up to 4000 rpm twice to try and burn the crap out of there. I decided to shut it down or the night.
I took it out for a spin last night to see how it would cooperate, and then drove it to work today. Seems to be doing o.k. Saturday's task is to change the oil. I'm guessing I may have gotten a little gasoline in the oil trying to start it and the oil is about due for a change also. I probably should make sure there isn't any crud or cracks in the distributor cap and the rotor. And one of the lab techs borrowed to me a spark tester to check to see if I was getting spark to the plugs...I might play with that also to get a feel for it. As I sit here typing this, I think to myself...I'm glad I don't own a GM. I don't mind projects like this, but I'd hate to make a full time job of it! :lol: J/K Chebie fans!
For me, sometimes a little perseverance pays and if someone can get a laugh out of my mis-adventures...all the more reason to post it on a message board!
I have a stubborn little Mercury with a 160,000 miles that doesn't like the cold weather anymore and decided it didn't want to start this past Thursday. It seemed like the engine wasn't getting any spark. First thing to try was new spark plugs. I had put platinum plugs in two years ago and they had 35,000 miles on them. First chance I had to work on it was Sunday morning, so I was out there tinkering and one of the plugs was seized up inside the head. I cranked on the wrench as hard as I could. Then I stuck a two foot section of pipe on the wrench and cranked it...nothing. I'm also worried I'll bust this off because I have sheared bolts with my brute physical strength in the past, so I'm trying to be careful and yet, use all the force I can. I'm also worried that the threads are stripped and my next project will be learning how to heli-coil.
Anyhow, when I was cranking on it, the socket wrench gave & I hit myself in the head. I saw something go flying, and wondered what I broke. I then realized that I couldn't see...it was my glasses. Good thing it had snowed the night before, otherwise the lenses would have gotten scratched on the driveway. But the frames were twisted like a pretzel. I felt like Ralphie in the movie 'The Christmas Story', were everyone was telling him he would shoot his eye out! Good thing I didn't take a step until I saw where they were laying. I knew I should have put my safety peeps on, I usually do, but after I realized I had forgotten to put them on, I figured what could go wrong? After that, I called it a day & went to get the frames fixed, watched a little football and then headed to Milwaukee for a Christmas party at the restaurant my brother's buddy owns.
After a lot of advice from the engineers and lab techs I work with, I was out there Monday night with a brand new, longer (14") socket wrench with a 1/2" drive & a can of Aero Kroil liquid penetrate. I sprayed the penetrate as soon as I got home, went in the house & changed clothes and went out with the new socket wrench...nothing. Damn it! So I drenched it again with Aero Kroil then messed around cleaning the battery terminals, pulled the other plugs and put Anti-Seize on the threads (a suggestion by one of the lab techs). After about an hour and a half puttzin' around (the one plug that is buried behind the alternator is a bear to get at), I tried it again...nothing. I kept working on it and after about 30 minutes, I felt it give. I cranked it out as fast as I could to check the threads inside the head. Whew!!!...nothing was stripped. Got it put back together and put the charger on the battery because I figured I may have drained it a bit by trying to start it the past few days. 20 minutes later I go back outside & try to start the car up. First time...turns over again, but nothing...second time, same thing. Third time....varoom!!! Wooohooo, it started!!!!
About a minute later...conk! It died. Try starting it again...starts up no problem. A few minutes go by, I'm letting it run & heat up and then I notice smoke just pouring out the engine. Holy *bleep*, the car is on fire! First thing I do is pull the charger away from the car and go back to see what is smoking. Besides the smoke pouring out of the cylinders through the spark plug openings on the head, it is just gushing out of the exhaust pipe, big time. This car has never smoked at all before, so I think about it for a second, and come to the conclusion that I may have over done the Anti-Seize a bit! :lol: It was a beautiful white smoke that trailed all the way down the road! :lol: I ran the engine for five minutes, revving it up to 4000 rpm twice to try and burn the crap out of there. I decided to shut it down or the night.
I took it out for a spin last night to see how it would cooperate, and then drove it to work today. Seems to be doing o.k. Saturday's task is to change the oil. I'm guessing I may have gotten a little gasoline in the oil trying to start it and the oil is about due for a change also. I probably should make sure there isn't any crud or cracks in the distributor cap and the rotor. And one of the lab techs borrowed to me a spark tester to check to see if I was getting spark to the plugs...I might play with that also to get a feel for it. As I sit here typing this, I think to myself...I'm glad I don't own a GM. I don't mind projects like this, but I'd hate to make a full time job of it! :lol: J/K Chebie fans!
I can relate 17--trust me! 
I may be female, but I do know a little bit about engines! 
