Hey Tess! Out here in our shared fair state of Washington, I had to renew tags on this, for me, an emissions inspection year (every other year, for non Washingtonian readers), but my 164S was on a minor mechanical vacation spending my wages on brakes. As I wrote at the time, apparently you can get the tags needed to make a car road legal by telling them it's not roadworthy (huh? but true.) So the clerk read me the list of disabling conditions, which included broken drive train. The fact that the brakes were toast didn't seem to them to be disabling, so I picked the most expensive sounding 'reason.' And solemnly announced that my drive train was broken. She looked most sympathetic. She knew nothing. (I know only a shade more than nothing, to tell the obvious truth.) I got my tags without inspection.
Also each year I easily renew my Guilia Super, truly disabled, without a whimper. After a 'certain age' life is easy for cars around here. I think inspection is for cars coming into the state or that have been officially totalled and are coming back onto the road. Just go on line and see if you can renew, and if it calls for inspection, just walk into a licensing bureau and tell them I broke your drive train. Hope I'm right .... Warm regards, Joan Joan Golston Seattle ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tess McMillan" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 7:18 PM Subject: [alfa] The Light at the End of the Tunnel > Well.... She runs! She runs, and that is just insane. The engine sounds > better the more I drive around the block. I am so incredibly stoked. > > I think I have a stuck brake caliper, though, as the car does not roll > downhill when in neutral, nor does it maintain momentum forward when I > shift up. I tried scrubbing the brake pedal while I was accelerating, but > so far that has not helped. > > I now can hear the fuel pump running -- somewhat loudly, I hope that does > not portend disaster -- when the car is running. Right alongside my noisy > throwout bearing.... The 'pocky' sound I was hearing eventually just > faded away. The fuel gauge, which worked when I first added gas and > then stopped working after I'd started the car a few times, is now working > again. > > John Brase had made the suggestion of de-varnishing the injectors by > starting the car daily for a few days, and in my case, it took 2 > days. Today I went out and got more gas and more injector cleaner with the > intent of letting the sucker run for a while, and much to my surprise, > after I added the doctored gas the car started easily and ran fairly normally. > > I still have to go back and do the things I skipped over. For example, > changing the oil. "WHAT?!", you scream. In my defense, no matter how hard > I tried I could not get that drain plug off. I tried jacking the front end > to reach it with both arms and still no dice. So I ended up topping up > with just a little bit of new 5w30, thinking maybe heating everything up > by driving the car might help loosen the plug .... And I promise to > change out the spark plugs once I figure out what to buy. The throttle > linkages need to be fiddled with. I would like to follow Biba's suggestion > of checking the fuel pump and filter. If I can figure that out. And I need > to bleed the brakes. Baby steps. Baby steps. > > BTW, I'm not sure what one does to get new tabs when a car has been > sitting for a while (like years). Will I have to go through the inspection > again at the State Patrol? I guess if I need an emissions inspection I > have to get a Trip Pass to do this. > > I hope the rest of you are enjoying as much as I am the very interesting > and elegant troubleshooting suggestions being proffered. I have learned > quite a lot so far, from "jiggle siphons" to what triggers the fuel pump. > I thought Michael Tiefenback's post about co-opting the cold start > injector was quite a trick. But I don't know whether to applaud Michael > Liu or not for introducing me to Harbor Freight (which turns out to be > about a mile from my house.) I walk in there and find I simply cannot > leave. Then I make excuses to go back. I've been there four times > already. How can you not be mesmerized by a place that stocks at least > four different kinds of mini soldering devices that supposedly run on butane? > > I see the light at the end of the tunnel! (Let's hope it's not a > train....) > > Keep the suggestions a-comin'! > > THANKS!!!! > > Tess > in Bellevue, WA USA > -- > to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi > or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17:55:00 -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
