I enjoy helping novices, with the difference being the novices bring some basic knowledge to the table as a result of basic curiosity about how a car works. You'd think that the basics would be covered in childhood or teen years for most, but some grow up have absolutely no clue how a car works, then they go buy a vintage or collector car because it looks cool. I don't expect everyone who owns a car to know how it works, or every "car guy" to know how everything works. I do expect an auto "enthusiast" or "hobbyist" to know the basics. Owning a vintage or collector car isn't just about filling the tank and turning the key. I know very little about football. It's kinda like me saying I'm a big football fan by watching the games but not knowing the basic rules of football. The "sports guys" only respect guys who know the game and continously challenge each other's knowledge of the game, the rules, the history. Clicking the TV remote doesn't teach me the rules of football or make me a true football fan.
I got a case of beer back in 1977 for solving this problem on a friend's car. He and a couple of other guys had been working on it for hours with no luck. Then they came and got me, and told me if I could get it started, they'd buy me a case of my favorite brew When I got in behind the wheel, I noticed it wasn't in park. I told them to go ahead and get the beer and "hopefully" I'd have it running before they got back. I made sure the beer was in my arms before I told them what was wrong!
It gets frustrating, but you can't control who posts what or how much they know unless you help them. The alternative is not to bother reading or posting on those threads. Pretty simple actually.
Does anyone know where to find the OBD II port on a 1938 Chevy? Oh wait, it's pre 1996 so it must be OBD I.
I think the Red Green version was, "...teach a man to fish, and he'll spend all day in the ba*****t tying flies and disregarding his personal hygiene." Sometimes you've got to use pliers to get enough leverage!
this is the right answer in my book. for the most part, these are like minded people that arent as far along as others and if their asking, they probably need help soon. going to a gl*** is not going to help. all this stuff is'nt second nature to everybody, but they want to learn. if you got the knowledge, why not share it?
I had a problem with my car not starting after it had ran for awhile. Turn it off and it wouldn't restart. I wasn't sure if it was the starter, carb or what. Now, granted the answer I was gave was pretty common sensical but how many of us have overlooked the easy when we get frustrated? I was told that the next time, just pour cold water over the starter. If it then starts, it's the starter. I doubt I could have read that in any book. Putting the torus back together in my Hydramatic I swear the picture in the Motors manual I had was different than the parts I was holding in my hands. I had to ask for help. The instructions for adjusting the linkage didn't make much sense reading it. I had to call an old timer and he once again explained it far better by starting off noting that it's not nearly as difficult as the books and people make it out out to be. I don't know, maybe I'm slow but many times it just doesn't click reading it in a book. If someone asks a question and I know the answer I'm going to make an attempt at helping him.
I grew up going the playing with junk lawn mowers, minibikes, motorcycles, boats and then cars. If you got stuck on the bay or out on the road, often there was nobody to help you and if you wanted to get home, it was either go McGuyver or swim or walk. I got no problem helping someone out, but on the internets, the problem is not always clear or the person has zero understanding of auto mechanics or can't accurately describe the issue. The "truly lost" threads, I'll byp***. If I can add something to a discussion I will. Bob
Yeah I've p***ed on a lot of questions knowing that the OP doesn't have a clue and could not understand my response anyway. It just takes too much typing to explain the basic principle that defies their logic. I move on.
This pretty much sums up how I approach these kinds of questions. Don't know how many times I've thought to myself, "I wish this member lived close by. I'd gladly drive right over and spend some time helping them sort things out." But there's also a lot of problems that aren't easily solved with a keyboard. The signature line at the bottom of my posts used to read: "Knowledge Of Operation Is The First Step To Proper Diagnosis." This was the philosphy of a couple of the greatest teachers I ever had who happened to be auto tech instructors, but it can be applied to anything. I wish I was still learning from them on a daily basis. When I read a "what's wrong with my car?" post I tend to put it into one of two categories. The first tends to be someone who just wants a total stranger to guess what part he needs to buy to maybe fix a problem. He's happy to just throw parts at the problem until it possibly goes away and he doesn't really learn much in the process. I tend to byp*** these threads. The second category is when they post a problem with a good description of the vehicle and its modifications and what they've done to diagnose the problem so far. Then my interest perks up a bit. They just don't want someone to fix their problem for them, they want to learn how to fix it themselves. They don't have more money than sense. They don't want, or can't afford, to throw money at a problem till it goes away. And they have some dergree of patience. Then I have a little more patience and am willing to try to help out, if I can. And if things go right I might end up learning something in the process too. I mean, I deserve a little something for my efforts, don't I?
BIGCHUCK .... I think you should first check to see if you have gas in the tank before putting gas in the tank it would be a good idea to look at the condition of the tank if there are any holes near the bottom of the tank you will leak all your gas onto the ground once you have determined that the tank is sound your next step should be to make sure you have tubing that runs from you tank towards the front of the car the tubing is called a gas or fuel line you also need to make sure there are no obstruction in the fuel line an obstruction would prevent the fuel from reaching the other end of the fuel line which is probably your engine once you have determined that your tank wont leak and your line of good you need to take the gas cap off the tank ***uming you have a cap and pour your gas into the tank using a funnel may help prevent spills now that we have gas in the tank i would suggest you verify that you have a fully charged battery available in order to crank the engine over next step would be to make sure you have spark there are tools you can buy were you can pull the plug wire off the plug and insert between the wire end and the plug itself this will light up when you crank it over if you have spark next we are going to need air i would suggest you take off the aircleaner to allow for maximum airflow to the carb when you are trying to start your engine ok have you remembered your key it is now time to put the key into the ignition in order to verify you have the correct key for the car it fits good now before you attempt to turn over the engine and get it to fire now that we have air gas and spark it might be good idea to pour a little gas down the throat of the carb because if the car has been sitting and you have a mechanical fuel pump it will take a while to pump all the gas up from you tank to the carb this is called priming the carb now that the carb is primed we car almost ready to try to start the car but first we need to make sure you have a fire extinguisher close by because if the car backfires you could end up in some big trouble ok climb into the car we know we have spark air and fuel and an extinguisher and a fully charged battery and a primed carb depress the gas pedal about a quarter of the way this opens the ****erfly valves and allows air into the engine we have already added gas when we primed it turn the key and activate the starter you should hear the engine turn over if it does not fire and we already know you have spark then there might be an issue with the timing timing chains can jump a tooth or two and the engine will not fire if that is the case ***uming you are running a small block chev it is now time to remove the alternator generator power steering pump air conditioning fan fanbelts water pump harmonic balancer and pulley and you will need to loosen most of the bolts holding the oilpan onto the engine at this point you can remove the timing cover you now need to turn the engine over by hand you can make this easier by pulling the spark plugs see if the marks line up at twelve and six on the timing gears if they are off then the chain has jumped meaning it is too loose to use you must buy a new one if you buy the double roller timing set you need to make sure the chain does not run anywhere on the block as these chains are thicker than normal but engine back together and try to start it again sometimes the gas tank needs some airpressure introduced at the gas cap in order to pressurize the tank and force the gas out of the tank towards the front of the car if this doesn't help you solve your problem i can go over this once again in much greater detail best of luck in getting your engine started i know how annoying it can be when something simple is preventing us from enjoying our cars I hope you get it going soon and can get back on the road before too much of this summer p***es
I don't mind trying to help anyone regardless of their level of knowledge. We all had to start somewhere. I'm just happy they're interested in old cars. We all started knowing just a little, and building knowledge on knowledge with a little bit of common sense, we got to where we could figure most things out by understanding how things work, which in turn leads to being able to diagnose a problem. If I had a problem that stumped me, I'd turn to you guys. There is a lot more knowledge here than I could ever get from a book and 1,000 heads (with 20,000 years combined experience or more) are better than one. Perhaps you might come up with a diagnosis I hadn't even considered. In fact, that would likely be the case.
Wow, lots of people *****ing and moaning that they're such experts - how could someone even have the nerve to ASK A QUESTION ON AN INTERNET FORUM??? And a relevant, on-topic one at that!?? Maybe some master auto electrician can put together a post (or find the ultimate post on the subject) and park it in the TECH forum and just point people to that. See? Not so tough.
How dare he ask a question on the internet! How dare he want knowlage from smeone that has it! How dare he be interested in cars! How dare you for taking 1 second clicking on said question and 10 minutes posting your concern for the integrity of this message board! What is a "**** load"?
Why is it when I want to start out in 1st my car goes backwards. Oh ****, I forgot, I put a 3 speed in while fixing my 4 speed. That don't make sence either, how I can answer my own question and I'm fixing the 4 speed. I'm lost, see what you started.
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