Miquel
It was good to meet you and to see a proper Integrale and a pleasure to buy Tony "Organised" Harrison a Coffee. As Montecarlo owners who normally have very good reliability it was an unusual day!
This event turned out to be more dramatic than I was expecting aside from Rocket Cars hitting 260mph in a quarter mile, motorized Raleigh Choppers and automotive art classes on wheels. With Darren's Red Montecarlo developing electrical problems after years of faultless running we had a few rests on the way made more exciting by my brake lights failing within the first 10 miles (pedal switch) so I really needed a wing man.
So when Darren flashed me to pull over on the way back I was expecting more trouble with Air Fuel sensor wiring not that my fan belt had decided to jump and the coolant tank was venting as the temperature climbed.
After a period of joint swearing and burns we managed to fit my spare new fan belt which was a good lesson in the things that should be in my tool role and are not. However neither of us was ready for a complete loss of all power on my car when the key was turned again. With no multi-meter between us this became a challenge having checked all the right wires were still present on the alternator, starter motor and battery.
Jump Starting from Darren's car made no difference, no fuses were blown, no relays hot, no wires hanging off?? I summoned the big Yellow Taxi service (AKA the AA). My luck was in and I got a very experienced guy interested in the car, determined and with a multi meter. This fault can best be described as random co-incidence as for reasons best known to 27 year old Italian wiring the main power feed to the fuse box at the fuse box had become intermittent (it was not hanging off the connection either). After some wiggling and fiddling the car started on the button every time and I blasted home in the sunshine with all temperatures bang on the range and without a beat missed. Big thanks are due to Darren for both spotting this issue before I did and for massive amounts of help.
I will be running nice new feed wiring very soon and replacing the pathetically fragile brake light switch. I also think the overheat warning light sensor needs replacing with something that tells me a problem is happening not that I have already destroyed the engine as the OE one does.
Yours Sun Burnt Eric (Black Montecarlo)
