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Here's the whole story:
I got back from the DMV with my 10 day pass that they give to get
smog tested, jumped in Rosie and took her down to get a smog test. When
the car is pulled up and about to be tested the attendant looks down and
says "Whats that? That doesn't look good!" It was a pretty noticeable
oil puddle with sprayed oil, turns out I had idiotically forgotten to put
the valve cover back on the 3-4 valves and had lost nearly all the oil on
the 2 or 3 mile trip. The odd thing is that I kept checking on the oil
light and it never came on, so maybe I was lucky...? Or maybe the light
is malfunctioning in someway even though it does light up when it should
during starting. We pushed the car out of the way so they could get to
the other cars while I waited for my father to bring the cover and some
oil. I filled her up, replaced the cover, decided to do smog tomorrow
and went on home. On the way home I noticed that was either a new faint
sound or a sound I had simply not noticed in my 2 or 3 test drives around
the block. It sounded like a slight grinding noise as if I could hear
the pistons--or piston--go up and down; it was a fast sound, but not very
fast.
I got home, re-timed her, double checked the oil, cleaned up my
mess and decided I would take her out for the longest drive she's been on
in well over 4 months, but I had to inflate the tires at the nearest spot
I could. I got the gas station--engine sounding a tad off, but I didn't
pay enough attention to it to remember it, I just remember thinking that
it sounds like a possible problem in the making--attempted to fill up the
tires only to find that the air compressor wasn't working, so I got in
and was starting her up to go to the next place I could and that's when
it all collapsed. She wouldn't start, then she got a few kicks and
eventually--after 2 or 3 attempts--the engine started, but very rough and
very weak, it also sounded very muted as if somebody had plastered a nice
amount of sound proofing in the engine while I was attempting to fill up
the tires. I got out of the gas station with less power then I came
with, then the further I went the less and less power I had. First I
could hit 35, then 25, now the needle doesn't move but I would guess 5 or
so mph--full throttle!
I eventually got the poor thing into the garage (I'm sure I
shouldn't have even driven it, but nothing I can do now)--so much for a
night off from intensive work on Rosie.
Here is everything I could figure out so far (I haven't ran many
tests since I'm quite down and want to just mope around a bit first):
first off I noticed an acetone-like smell when I got out of the car in
the garage, although I believe this is simply the end stages of the paint
burning of my new headers. More importantly, when starting she sounds
like she is being starved of fuel, yet when I press on the accelerator it
kills any hopes of getting her started. Once she is started I can go
full throttle--in neutral--and she barely picks up speed until maybe half
a minute later when the muted sound disappears and she sounds as clear
and perfect as she used to be, and it stays like that so long as I keep
her at high throttle. Also, I heard a new sound which I'm concerned
about, it is a very faint clunk clunk clunk in rhythm with the engine
that sounds like a piece of tin hitting something more solid and massive.
When I get her in drive she usually stays very weak but once in a while
she'll pick up for a split second or even pick up to regular for 10 or so
seconds.
Right now I'm suspecting a problem with a rod, cylinder, or
piston, or maybe with the fuel injectors or something else fuel related.
In addition to checking the timing I also attempted to adjust the
idle with no success. After I got her home from the smog check place I
timed her and she ran much better with a much steadier idle.
Even if this doesn't end up require me pulling the engine I do
plan on doing an overhaul as soon as I get enough money saved up and can
get at least two weeks off of work since after what the PO inadvertently
did as well as his moron of a mechanic I'm sure an overhaul wouldn't be
uncalled for. Although, it will probably be about 6 months till I can
get to the point where I can attempt my first overhaul--this whole thing
has been both a blessing and a curse, and I still don't regret buying her
or anything I've bought in my journey. Even though I do get brief
thoughts of giving up and buying another car, I couldn't completely give
up on this thing since I've put way too much into it.
Anyhow, my apologies for the length--again!--and thank you all so
much in advance.
Sincerely,
Christopher J. Valade
1970 Squareback (AT, FI, w/1972 originally dual carb engine) -- Rosie
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