OK...this *can't* be good!

[MikePearson]

I'm trying to get my 1970 1.7 back on the road. I replaced the longblock about 6 years ago, got about 75 miles on it, and the car died a few blocks from the house. I spent some time troubleshooting, but never got it going again, so it's been parked for the past 7 years or so.

I recently decided to try to get it going again. Today we washed it and I pulled out the MPS to run a resistance check. The coils seemed OK...about 80 ohms on one, and 330 on the other. When I looked a little closer, however, I found some water in the vacuum tube. When I shook it, the unit sloshed, and water flew out the vacuum connection. My first thought was that this could NOT be a good thing.

I opened it up and a couple of ounces of water poured out. I used a non-chlotinated brake and parts cleaner to clean everything up, reassembled the unit, and it seems to hold a vacuum (I have yet to do a full leakdown test, though).

OK...where did this water come from? It had obviously been inside for a while; there was a tan sludge, and it was slimey. The bellows look good, and I cleaned everything then re-greased the O-Ring with a silicone lube and re-tested the coils.

I have a new battery, but I have some additional cleanup to do in the engine compartment before I'll be ready to try anything. I also want to replace all of the fuel lines from the tank, so it'll be a few weeks before I have a chance to try to crank it up.

[Will98D]

sounds like the typical oil condensate sludge that collects under the oil filler cap. Since the thing measures manifold pressure, any chance that it was a lot cooler than the rest of the engine and acted as a moisture trap? (even at less than atmospheric pressures the moisture will collect on the coldest spot in the system... ahhh, my fond recollections of my days as a maker of pharmaceutical freeze dryers).

[MikePearson]

The slime was about the same color as the oil filler condensate. Most of it was clear water.

The MPS was not mounted, and was just sort of lying on the right side engine compartment. No telling what the temperature differential may have been for the past 7 years or so .

Got it cleaned up, though, and I'll pop it in in the next couple of weeks and see if I can get the thing to fire up again.

Just washing it today reminded me of how much fun it was to drive; I really want to get it back on the road.

[MikePearson]

OK, I just did some more investigating, and I think that I may be screwed.

The water that was in the MPS got sucked up from the manifold; somehow water got into the intake manifold while the car was sitting for several years. I pushed a rag down into the air intake and it came up soaked...there is definitely standing water down in there. I'm *real* sorry that I didn't throw a tarp over it now, but the best I can do at this point is to try to clean everything up and hope that there's no terminal damage.

I plan on pushing the car to a spot where I can work on it a little easier next week. My plan right now is to use a shop-vac to suck out as much of the water as I can from the manifold then pop out the spark plugs, unhook the coil, and see if the motor will turn over, and hopefully blow out whatever water may be in the system. Maybe get some WD-40 or Marvel Mystery oil into the jugs to try to displace any standing water before I try to spin anything.

It's be a real shame to lose another 'teener from being a road car!

Arrrrggh!

[Bleyseng]

Where are you at in Seattle? I could loan you a good 1.7 MPS.

Geoff

[MikePearson]

I'm in Greenwood. Thanks for the offer, but I think I've got much bigger problems at this point. The MPS may not be bad; once I get all the water out of the intake manifold (and probably the cylinders, too) I'll be able to tell a little more.

I'll let you know if I need to try a 'known-gopd' unit, but that'll be at least a month off...I have a lot of other work to get done on this before I'll be ready to start running actual tests. Lots of cleanup to do.