sometimes you gotta laugh or cry

SMTA needed a bath so pressure washed it. Of course it wouldn't run right as I got some water in the distributor. Cleaned it all up and still didn't run right. Well distributor cap looked kinda dark in one hole maybe needs a new one, off to NAPA. New cap an wires back in still doesn't run right. Spark plug wires kinda old, maybe I need a new set, back to NAPA. wires changed and now it won't start. since I am working on ignition must be a problem there, no ran out of gas. Now it is flooded so let it sit a while. Starts but not running right, hear a pop in air cleaner, maybe Electronic Ignition is going bad, but try another rotor(not new). Bet my bent wrench out to change timing on distributor then think again. Maybe the distributor shaft doesn't turn the way I thought. switch wires on 2 and 3 and wow, now it runs perfect. Didn't mention I swapped out 2 plugs in there also. Think it needed cap and wires anyway, only money and time I guess

did something similar recently with the 2+2 we are "renting".....Wasn't running right, did that before, fuel filters did the trick. Went and picked up a set, got them on taking for ever to prime. Checked the fuel with a trusty stick, 2inches, not sure how far away from the pickup that level was, but 5gals and a couple pumps had good fuel out of the opening for letting the air out. At least the filters were on sale, around half price for the two.

Ha, Ill tell ya one better than that! Last month I had a guy coming to look at my 2000 Ford. So in preparation, I cleaned points and mad sure she'd start good. Now in all the time I had it, it'd never failed to start. So guy shows up, darn thing backfires like a shotgun and won't start. What the... So I futzed with it over an hour before I realized, the cap (brand new) was on 180 out! Swapped it around and she fired off like a champ. I wasn't paying attention the night before. Lucky for me, he decided he wanted it and I got my 1950 JD B in trade. I was about ready to cry when I first started working on it, but we had a good laugh in the end. Another time, I was working my Farmall 300 and it died. Tried to restart, nothing. I just knew I had fuel. Checked for spark, had it good. Getting dark, so I thought Ah heck, ill check the tank. Dry as a bone. Call wife, say bring gas! She drives up with an empty jug! Go to town, get fuel. Come back and fill er up. Choke it and away we go. I could go on, but I'm sure we've all done similar things. Some days, you just gotta go home and drink a barley pop or 4. Ah well, sh!t happens. Glad you figured it out.

Mac

Yeah.

One time I put a Pontiac minivan on a consignment auction. Just when the crowd got up to it and the auctioneer asked me to start it up, the battery chose that exact moment to die.

Fortunately, I'd started it for a couple of interested people earlier, and I announced to the crowd that I'd give the buyer $100 for a battery. I was satisfied with the price I got, so I guess no harm done.

Like Bob Newhart said once, "Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or to run screaming into the woods".

My laugh or cry moment (most memorable) was when as a teen I got hired at a construction company. I left real early to impress the boss, got a cpl miles from home and my mom's Malibu died big as Dallas. I messed with it a minute then RAN back home to get my brother. We loaded up and he popped the hood, started turning wrenches. Yep, got fire, yep, got compression, no fuel to carb. "Do you have gas?" he asked. Yep, sure do I said. Checked fuel line, pulled inline filter, no fuel in line. He crawled under to check fuel line from tank when my parents came by. Mom said " the gas gauge hasn't worked in a while, did you put gas in like I told you to?" Nope, I didn't. Dad stayed with Jr, my mom took me to work. Guys kidded me about being brought to work by my mommy! Still got the job.

Had my first major, major laugh or cry moment 23 years ago. I was "poorer" then, and had to rely upon my own abilities, at times lack of abilities, to fix my mode of transportation. I am finally realizing today why my dad was less inclined to try and figure some of these sorts of problems on his own. Since then, I have had lesser "laugh or cry" moment. Here's mine:

Had a weak battery in my car. Went to parts store for a new battery. Problem still not solved. Noticed lots of corrosion in the battery cables so back to parts house for new cables. Problem still not solved. Discovered a faulty starter relay on the fender well, so back to parts house for a new starter relay. Installed and problem still not solved. Resorted to taking out the starter and having that checked. Found it to NOT be quite up to par, so I bought a new starter and installed. Problem not solved. Played around with different connections and trying a few things to diagnose. Managed to get the engine to turn over and start, but starter would not disengage. Rapidly disconnected the battery! Tried once again to diagnose where the problem could be. The new starter relay was faulty. I know I had a bad battery and bad cables. The starter, as I noted, was not quite what it should have been, so I decided to replace it, but it might have been adequate. The one part that caused more headaches than it should have was that lousy new starter relay, so I am sure that was replaced when it wasn't necessary. Just look at all the money I saved from doing the work myself! I am thankful the vehicles we drive today tend to have fewer of these sorts of problems...................the ones that I would be tempted to solve myself, thus I take them to a repair shop for professional work!!!

My 76 year old mother has 2 1946 Farmall A's that she uses to mow approx. 8 acres. One she calls No.1(her favorite tractor, I think she likes it better than any of her 6 children!), the other she calls No.2. This past summer she told me No. 2 was running rough, she had to choke it to limp back to the barn. I was leaving for vacation the next day but told her when I get back I will stop down and look at it, probably a fuel issue. While I was gone, Uncle Melvin stops in for a visit and convinces her that the points need changed. He removes the magneto, replaces the points and condenser, reinstalls magneto and nothing happens. No spark or fire. My nephew,who knows less about magnetos than Uncle Melvin, happens by and convinces them that battery voltage is needed at the single wire going to the magneto to get the points to fire. He changes the wiring around to get 12v to mag. This experiment is quickly followed by smoke coming from the switch box, wiring and the magneto. My mother calls me, 1000 miles away, and tries to explain what has happened and asked if I had any idea what she should do. Yes I replied, tell them please do not touch the tractor any more!!! Not knowing exactly what had happened I began by replacing melted/fried wiring, a run/kill switch I had installed to excite the 12v AC Delco alternator and ground out the magneto, the wiring inside the magneto, points and condenser. I had to retime the magneto, had good spark out of the mag coil but it still would not start. I replaced the cap and rotor, still no start. Multiple times I put the tractor on TDC cylinder 1, rotated mag to get it to trip, tightened mag down, and still could not get it to start. I discovered in Uncle Melvin's quest to find the points he had removed the magneto rotor timing cover and gear and reinstalled it out of time. I got this timing correct, tractor fired up and ran. By the way, I still had to clean the dirt out of the carb!!!!