![]() Most solutions seem to involve installing electric fuel pumps near the fuel tank. Emotionally, it adds anxiety and reduces driving enjoyment.Īddressing vapor lock while trying to maintain originality is a challenge. Realistically, vapor lock just turns me into the jerk who doesn't know how to get up to speed and holds up the line of cars behind me. The stalling eventually subsides after 15-20 seconds and the engine pulls hard again. The severity of the stalling is directly related to the length of time the car sat idling before moving.ĥ. The Buick will get through the intersection and up to 30 mph before stalling out. ![]() Pulling away from the stoplight in #3 is where the problem shows itself. Sitting at a stoplight for 3 minutes or more isn't an issue.Ĥ. Short stops, like stop signs, also don't affect the car.ģ. The car runs well when moving 30+ mph in general and temp gauge always stays in happy place.Ģ. I'm sure it exhibits itself in different ways for different cars. It didn't take long for vapor lock to show itself during my test drives. I first noticed the potential for vapor lock after installing the glass bowl fuel filter and watching it seemingly half-filled while the engine was idling on a warm day. It was fine the rest of the way to the Tetons and back a week later.Living at 6,000' elevation (lower boiling point), using modern premium fuel, and driving in 90+ degree heat is the perfect combo for vapor lock. Cruised into a nearby gas station, got some diesel mixed with my gas and let the car cool off a bit. It would not start so I waited a few minutes and started again. It wasn’t as hot (90s) so I wasn’t thinking about it). I pulled over at the first sputter and stopped (I had forgotten to do anything special at my last fill up. ![]() In 2007, I was 10 minutes from Cheyenne, WY. Putting diesel in for the next week of driving in the Rockies and back to Kansas it did just fine. He told me to go to the nearest gas station and put a cup of diesel in it. The Tow driver suggested he put the car down off the truck and I see if it would start. THey were going to make me wait until Monday to look at it. (Mazda insisted there were no Mazda dealerships in Denver.) (As I waited 2 other perhaps older cars sputtered by along the side of the road.) We arrived at the dealership just before closing at 6 pm. It took 2 hours for Mazda/AAA to get a tow truck to me and then they towed me to CO Springs taking another 2 hours. I turned the car off and it wouldn’t start again. It wasn’t immediate but it was choking and gagging and dragging to the point that I had to pull over to the side of the road. Yes, cough and sputter was exactly what it did. I had been driving about 6 hours on yet another 100 degree day. Temps had been over 100 for about a week. Perhaps a pressure test of your fuel pump would be advisable?Ģ005: on I-70 15 minutes west of Limon. I don’t know about the cupful of diesel, and I don’t think the differences in vaporizing of regular or premium fuel is much different. I’m not saying you didn’t experience vapor lock, but if you did it is very unusual in a car such as yours. Instead of vapor lock what is more common in today’s cars is the electrical components overheat and heat kills electronic things pretty fast. ![]() To get vapor lock in your car you’d need a problem such as a weak fuel pump that is not producing the high pressures it is supposed to generate. You’d open the hood and wait for the motor to cool or for a quicker fix carry water in the car to dump on the fuel lines to cool them and then fire up the car and be off.įuel at higher pressures does not vaporize in the fuel lines and modern cars with fuel injection all use high pressure systems. The carburator is set to vaporize liquid fuel and couldn’t handle fuel already vaporized and the car would stop. The high heat in the engine compartment combined with high ambient temperatures could get so high that the liquid fuel would vaporize in the fuel line(s) leading to the carburator. Old cars with mechanical fuel pumps only develope about 4-5 lbs of pressure. Vapor lock was much more common in cars of the 40’s and 50’s and seems so rare today that I wonder if you really experienced vapor lock. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |