As I write this afternoon, temps here in the desert are going to hit around 115. My new-to-me '79 Spider is in the garage, out of the sun, where it's pretty much been since we moved to Palm Desert at the end of July. It's a different climate for sure than the previous owner in Florida, but I think the dryness will be good for it.
After purchase, I had the car delivered to the home of a friend who already lives here because we were about to move down this way and it didn't make sense to ship it to Vancouver WA just to move it again. When I visited it while house-hunting, it started up and idled great although I didn't have time to drive it on that trip. So when we finally got moved, I went over to pick it up.
From the moment I backed it out of my friend's garage, the car didn't want to idle. Just kept dying unless I shifted into neutral and kept one foot on the gas and one on the brake at stops. I couldn't figure it out, since it ran so well in the garage when I first had a chance to start it.
After much thought, I realized that it had run fine with the charger connected but not so much with it disconnected. Battery problem? I discovered that the ground strap that attaches to the floor of the trunk was badly corroded, and after fixing that and installing a new battery (battery probably wasn't necessary...) it ran fine and I was able to take my wife for a ride around the neighborhood.
The next time I tried to start it, nothing. Just a click from the starter without turning over, so this time I cleaned the positive cable to the starter and the ignition wire to the solenoid. Nothing. Connected a jumper cable directly from the battery to the starter with the same result.
So...as I had the aircleaner pulled off and had some access to it, I tapped the solenoid and starter with a hammer like we used to do in the old days. Success! It fired up, and after a little warming, idled also. It's obvious the starter or solenoid or both are tired, and I don't want to be stranded because of something that can be fixed fairly easily - a new Bosch starter is on its way from Larry at Alfa Parts Exchange up north of me in Lodi CA.
Larry's also looking for the smog equipment that was removed previously, and if anyone has a box of such that they pulled off their car gathering dust somewhere, I'd be interested.
BTW, I understand this is not a common color for the Spiders and believe it is Marrone Metallizzato / Metallic Brown. With any luck I'll be able to attach a picture.
Cheers,
Ryan in Palm Desert CA
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After purchase, I had the car delivered to the home of a friend who already lives here because we were about to move down this way and it didn't make sense to ship it to Vancouver WA just to move it again. When I visited it while house-hunting, it started up and idled great although I didn't have time to drive it on that trip. So when we finally got moved, I went over to pick it up.
From the moment I backed it out of my friend's garage, the car didn't want to idle. Just kept dying unless I shifted into neutral and kept one foot on the gas and one on the brake at stops. I couldn't figure it out, since it ran so well in the garage when I first had a chance to start it.
After much thought, I realized that it had run fine with the charger connected but not so much with it disconnected. Battery problem? I discovered that the ground strap that attaches to the floor of the trunk was badly corroded, and after fixing that and installing a new battery (battery probably wasn't necessary...) it ran fine and I was able to take my wife for a ride around the neighborhood.
The next time I tried to start it, nothing. Just a click from the starter without turning over, so this time I cleaned the positive cable to the starter and the ignition wire to the solenoid. Nothing. Connected a jumper cable directly from the battery to the starter with the same result.
So...as I had the aircleaner pulled off and had some access to it, I tapped the solenoid and starter with a hammer like we used to do in the old days. Success! It fired up, and after a little warming, idled also. It's obvious the starter or solenoid or both are tired, and I don't want to be stranded because of something that can be fixed fairly easily - a new Bosch starter is on its way from Larry at Alfa Parts Exchange up north of me in Lodi CA.
Larry's also looking for the smog equipment that was removed previously, and if anyone has a box of such that they pulled off their car gathering dust somewhere, I'd be interested.
BTW, I understand this is not a common color for the Spiders and believe it is Marrone Metallizzato / Metallic Brown. With any luck I'll be able to attach a picture.
Cheers,
Ryan in Palm Desert CA
red, green, brown, blue, gold, sliver, white and black!
