Power Tour Breakdown Story...

[nerdboy88]

Well, we made it through the entire power tour 2700 miles, and broke 20 miles from home Saturday night! We died on the highway after several harsh sputters and coughs. Luckily in the 100 lbs of tools and parts that I packed I did remember that I have a 44 year old fuel tank and would be putting strange gas into it and bouncing the car over strange highways, so out came the fuel filter replacement cartridge!

5 minutes later we were on the road and happily home in 20 minutes.

What breakdown stories do you have?

Robin / Nerdboy88
64 Chevelle SS
HRPT 2008 Long Hauler
http://powertourpics.com/

[Solsticefun]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

None, Thank God. ;D

[a-body2]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

I was 3 miles from the venue in Ames. The car hesitated, died, and backfired about as loud as if possible. I coasted to the side of the road and called AAA. I was towed into the venue on a rollback right to the GM Performance area. It was diagnosed a bad distributor (bearing locked up),. A short walk to the MSD display, $389 on the credid card, and back to have it installed. We died at about 3 pm, and were running again by 5:15.

[BluLightning]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

I was going to Ames just minding my own business at about 85MPH when I heard a loud bang and what sounded like a severe exhaust leak. Got to the side of the road and determined that I had blown a spark plug out of the head. Limped it on 7 cylinders to the nearest Ford dealer and found out that it had been closed for 4 years. >Damn lying GPS. ;D Called a tow truck and they trailered it to Keast Ford in Harlan Iowa. They told me on the phone that it would take 3 hours to fix so we sat and waited. Truck was done in 1 1/2 hours and we were on our way. :o Turns out the owner of the dealership was on the Power Tour in his 55 Nomad.

KEAST FORD IS AWESOME!!!!!!

[carhabit]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

Thank goodness no real breakdown but....

Day 1-Brand new Vintage a/c started blowing blistering hot air. The 4th heater control switch went bad driving the heater control valve wide open. Clamped a pair of needle nose vise grips on the heater hose and had a/c the rest of the trip.
Day 2-Tail lights began crapping out and intermitent turn signals-Used a jumper wire and alligator clips to cobble the ground on the repop tail light lenses to keep us going
Day 3-Wifes window crank fell of. She laughed and wanted to take a picture. I got p'd off and smacked it back on with my fist
Day 4-Drivers door handle (outside) quit working. Pulled the door panel and need to replace door handle to repair. Let the wife open the door for me the rest of the trip
Day 5-Rain-Found out the paint shop did not install taillight seals in the car at assembly. (Last time I ever buy a car already done)Flooded the trunk contents.
Day 6-Developed a miss under hard load-Turns out we have a couple of weak valve springs in the stock motor I reinstalled for the power tour.
Day 7+ Nothing else broke.
Late development. Got home to change oil and check the car over for any other issues. Found a broken a/c bracket. This stupid march pulley system has given us issues from day one. I think I will go back to stock brackets.

Given all of these minor issues, she got us up and back so all is well.

Who's next?

[maromoma]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

Minor breakdown in Joplin MO (on the way home to Tulsa). BAD GAS from Ft. Scott KS, yeah we went thru there even on the way home! A guy even remembered seeing our car on the way up. Anyway, thankfully we met our good friends in Joplin and they got us some STP gas treatment and some fresh gas and after a bit if sputtering, dying and starting again, we got on our way a few hrs later than we planned.

But the biggest mess was discovering a major leak in the trunk area after being in all the rain. We don't usually take the car out in heavy rain so we didnt detect any major leaks before this. NOW we know! We will get 'er fixed before next PT! Other than that and me getting sick one nite, it was a great adventure as always!

[fine59]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

On the way to little rock had a upper control arm come of the cross shaft, bolt backed off and arm worked its way off the cross shaft, when the bolt fell off it fell between my steering coupler and frame locking my steering, it was not fun trying to control the car at 85 with no steering,had to coast to the side of the road becuase when i hit the brakes the front wheel wanted to wobble really bad, we foung the bolt, jacked up wheel,got the control arm back on the cross shaft and were back under way in about 30 minutes...thanks Darrell, Brent, and Kenny, you guys rock

[outlaw57]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

nothing too major, burned a spark plug wire boot off, made for a steller strip run at topekas strip. then blew a collector gasket after rochester, luckly the plan was to stop home after rochester before madison.

[shaggn]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

Only minor here-tail pipe worked loose,dash cluster developed intermittent,and minor tire scrub from all the extra crap we hauled! ;D

[fine59]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

On the way to little rock had a upper control arm come of the cross shaft, bolt backed off and arm worked its way off the cross shaft, when the bolt fell off it fell between my steering coupler and frame locking my steering, it was not fun trying to control the car at 85 with no steering,had to coast to the side of the road becuase when i hit the brakes the front wheel wanted to wobble really bad, we foung the bolt, jacked up wheel,got the control arm back on the cross shaft and were back under way in about 30 minutes...thanks Darrell, Brent, and Kenny, you guys rock

i ment Matt Orange95Z....Sorry Matt

[67BlueSS]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

On Highway 36 outside of Homes, Kansas was a car club raising money for Relay for Life selling BBQ. We stopped and visited bought some great pork sandwiches. Pulled out on highway, opened headers, set line lock, and did a great burnout for tham as we left and that was the last time the car ran right. I over reved the car and flipped the fan belt, broke some valve springs and possibly bent some valves. My wife said the burnout was worth the expense. We got trailered home and had to finish the HRPT in the S-10.

[Monster]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

I was following BluLightning down the road after the LH meeting Saturday morning, when the ole gal started sputtering, missing and having a severe power loss. Right in the middle of all that Chicago traffic and a bloody toll every damn mile ($1 here, .80 there, $3 here ... on and on).

Shifting into neutral every stop, braking with the left foot and trying to keep the revs up with the right foot was nerve wracking. I called Bob on the cell and the lovely Reni answered. I screamed "I'm pulling over, it's about to melt down" !!

We had a look and decided to keep going. We got to the South of Chicago still under power and the Blue Lightining headed left for East to Ohio and I kept straight (I mean forward) South. I limped into Merrillville and made it to a gas station with a parts store next door.

Had a look and saw one of my plug wires next to the header, melted through. Damn. pulled it off the pipe and started it up again. Still missing and running rough as hell. Local advise was that Robert at S&S was the man to see with regards to "old stuff". Went and saw Robert and he knew his stuff. My carb was stuffed (that means Fcuked up in Aussie talk). Apparently the carb was so clogged up that one whole bank wasn't getting any fuel. Anyhow, after two cans of carb cleaner, off I go to the auto parts store, get another carb, put it on and with a free wire from Robert, I was on my way in 3 hours.

:P

[DropTopZ28]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

a nut on the window arm came off and the window keep moving forward and back everytime i stopped or turned a corner. it did this on last years power tour also. my car didn't stop running until the day after we got home. i guess i need to check my fuel filter also. i just replaced it so i've been looking at other things.

[oletrux4evr]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

Geez, we were fortunate. Had a rock thrown into the windshield just outside of Denison, Iowa. Motored into the Adams parking lot, let them know I needed a repair on the glass before the sun came out and cracked it, and they had it done within 10 minutes. No charge. Fantastic!
A few minor rock chips, lots of bugs, and a hard-hot-start problem that been around since the rebuild......lucky trip for us. Sorry so many of you had tougher problems.

[Leon]

Re: Power Tour Breakdown Story...

My thermostat started acting up on the way home, but is working fine now ???
We cleaned the car and found quite a bit of paint damage. On the way home, a truck blew by us from the other direction and was leaking something, it left marks on the hood, roof, and one door. I guess I'll just have to live with it.