I'm a little worried. My 58 Plymouth is showing some wierd Christine-like
symptoms:
I should have thought something was up when I got the car. Remember the guy
who runs the U-Fix it shop in the movie? Remember how he described Arnie's
restoration practices-"He puts new wipers on a busted windshield..."?
Hmm, sounds like my car except I would have to say a previous owner "Put
newly chromed bumpers on a car with 20 year old paint". More reasons to
worry: When I first brought the car home and backed it into my garage, the
antenna on the car was fully extened and scraped against my opened garage
door. When I got out I jokingly said to my wife "She ain't gonna like that
happening to her antenna". Well, about two days later the main angle iron
support on my garage door SNAPPED and rendered my garage un-openable! Got it
fixed.. All is well until tonight after cruise night. Now it's been darn hot
(about 85 today) and she was getting a little cranky by spitting up some
coolant from the overflow hose when parked. I decided that the idle was a
bit high and stopped at my parents place to adjust it down a bit. I had the
car shut off to cool down and to also find a small enough screwdriver to fit
the adjuster screw. As I'm fiddling with the adjuster (with the car turned
off to get a "feel" for it), the darn coil resistor started to smoke for
about 2 seconds and then stopped! Ok, maybe a bad wire that shorted as I was
fiddling-I thought I'd better wait until I was home to adjust the idle! Get
in-low on gas. I drive to a corner no-name gas station near my parents house
to put a few bucks worth of fuel in to get me home. Now I know I have to
take it slow putting the gas in because sometimes it overflows onto the
body. No, not this time. Even though I was careful, I literally got drenched
in gasoline from it shooting out the filler neck! Now I'm upset and covered
in gasoline. I got her home and parked her, disconnected the battery since I
don't really want my garage to burn down (with the house) in case the coil
resistor decides to smolder, closed the garage door, and went inside to
change out of my stinky clothes.
Now maybe I'm a bit paranoid, but it sure was weird. It was as if the car
was saying "I'm damn hot, get me the hell home!". Hmmmmmmm...And you know
what. It will spit coolant after a long drive EVERYWHERE but in my garage....
It's probably just a bad wire shorting out..
The rad probably needs flushing...
The idle is probably fine...
The nozzle at the gas station was probably defective...
Todd
58 Belvedere 4 door Sport Sedan with PMS (hay, wasn't the Plymouth in King's
book a 4 door?)
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