DonaldSmith

My 47 DeSoto has disconnects at the  battery ends of the cables, and these have served me well.  I had been in the habit of disconnecting a cable whenever the car was to sit idle for any length of time.  Lately, though, I just keep a trickle charger on it.  No worries about the clock or something else running down the battery.  Maybe this battery will last longer than a year.   

I also have a 2011 Buick, whose battery failed earlier this year.  Too much electronics and not enough driving.   So I have a trickle charger on this car, too.  We  have a 2008 Ford, which we drive all the time.  No problem. 

(How I remember what model Buick I have?  Well, where do they elect the Pope?  The conclave.  It's a BuickEnclave.)

(What model Ford is it?  Too many choices - Confusion.  It's a Fusion.)  

Maybe a local automotive electric shop (if there is one) can fix your generator/regulator. 

A local auto shop assembled my 6 v alternator, lo these many years ago.  He mentioned that to adjust a regulator, he had the car running in the shop for an hour, just to get everything settled down.  Sounds elaborate.

My 47 DeSoto had the grounding wire for the starter solenoid connected to the "A" terminal of the generator.  With the engine running, the back current kept it from grounding the solenoid, thus no grinding the starter teeth.  After installing the alternator, I just grounded this wire to the nearest convenient grounded surface. 

I could install an oil pressure switch, contact off when pressured (engine running), to keep from grinding the starter, but I don't do that often.

Grounding, grinding, my head hurts.     

My dad did our vacation travel mostly at night, when the traffic was very light and there was no sun flickering through a row of roadside trees.  (But no gas stations were open.)   Once, he did run out of gas, but within walking distance of a gas station.

We had an enameled steel potty or two in the car, for small children's imminent needs.  My dad took one to the station and returned with it filled with gas, enough to get the car to the station.  Luckily, the gas pumps were still turned on, so he filled up the car.  He slipped the $1.40 under the door and drove off into the night.  

The last photo shows the mad scientist.  No, wait! it's Ulu.  

I see it as a mystery, awaiting more clues.  Grampa's car is not at hand.  He can go see it next with a list of possible culprits.  Then he can return with updated clues.     

"Fluid drive" - do you mean the fluid coupling?

Remove the access cover in the floor pan. (Of course, after moving the carpet back.) 

Remove the access cover in the bell housing.  Then the trick is to rotate the crankshaft until the fill plug is accessible.   

Stuff a rag between the bell housing and the fluid coupling, so that then when you drop the plug, it won't fall down the rabbit hole.  

Why separate them?  Clutch work?  Engine removal?    

Babies.  Try adjusting valves when you're 82.   

The things I have done, when I was so young. 

Maybe that's why  feel so old. 

OH, there's also an interrupter switch in the transmission, to ground the coil momentarily during the normal shifting.  A work of engineering genius. 

But sometimes it's hard to understand genius.  

Keith is on to something. My S-11 Shop Manual has 3 pages of wiring schematics for the M-5 transmission. 

The third page is "Accelerator Pedal Kickdown and Ignition Interruption".  Hmmmm.

A wire from the grounding side of the coil goes to the PRI contact of the Kickdown Relay, where all sorts of magic happens, like momentarily grounding the coil when kicking down. 

Check the Shop Manual, or the info from the Imperial website.  

What is the wisdom of the assembled multitude? 

Engine under low speed load, slap. slap, slap, vacuum down to 14, no needle flutter? 

Does that eliminate valve issues?  Where does that leave me?

Yes, I still have to look for a mechanic.  In the meantime I can surmise, I suppose,   

Vacuum gauge:  Idle, 19, barely perceptible flutter.  Reverse, backed up to teh back wall, loud tick or slap, vacuum gauge at 14, no flutter. 

Thanks, guys, for something to chew on.  I don't remember losing any screws or other objects, but I could be wrong.     

Vacuum gauge - It's on the cowl, so the car is idling nicely when I see the gauge.  Just a slight flutter.   I can locate the gauge so that I can see it from the driver's seat, to check for gauge flutter as the engine is loaded, as in reverse with the car already against the back wall. 

Boroscope?  Yes, no. 2 had the lower compression.  That's a hint.  The spark plug is over the valves.  I'll see what I can see with my HF scope.  Years ago, a guest was able to see the combustion chamber on his slant six.  (That was OHV.  The scope showed the piston, but not the valves.   But that's what he wanted to check.  No loose screws.) 

Leakdown test?  I don't have a rubber tipped air gun.   Maybe the mechanic of my dreams will have one, and will find a screw loose (in the combustion chamber). 

National DeSoto Club.  Yep.  A few years ago, the Great Lakes guys gave me a lead on mechanics.  Maybe I can dig out the list. 

Somethings to check this week.      

The engine was rebuilt 20 years ago, after the No.6 rod bearing failed.  It's gone 3,500 miles since.   

The car is not a  trailer queen, but not taken out much.   

I need to find a mechanic who can diagnose and fix the problem.  Or else throw in the towel.  I'm in my early 80's, with back and hip problems. 

Update:  

Son-in-law and I drove 16 miles to Windsor last Friday, schmoozed with the Chrysler restorers, did the show Saturday, and came home.   Tick-tick be damned. 

This last week, I tried smoking out a possible exhaust leak, dribbling distilled water, and even Sea Foam, down the carburetor.  The engine labored, but no smoke. 

So maybe it's not an exhaust tick-tick.   It's loudest at low speed pulling, like backing in reverse, riding the brake, till the car nudges the chunk of tire at the back wall. 

A bearing going somewhere?  I may have to overcome my reluctance to take the car to a mechanic.  There's got to be a good vintage flathead mechanic in the Detroit area.   

VIN stands for Vehicle Identification Number.  So, a serial number is a VIN. 

(Please, not "VIN Number".  It's redundant, like "3 year anniversary" instead of "third anniversary. But don't get me started.)  

Roberto, locked at high speed?   Standing still or moving?

Standing still, is the gearshift lever stuck in the Drive Range position?  (Down and away from the driver)   Is the clutch working properly?   

Driving, with the lever in Drive Range, does the transmission fail to downshift from 4th to 3rd when the speed is reduced, as when coming to a stop? 

There is a lot of information on these transmissions on the Imperial Club website.  Maybe someone can chip in with their address.   

Something from some time ago: Wiring gauges    2005, 01/28   greg g gonyagl@morrisville.edu (old?) 

signals parkt 16                                   genny field 16                         dimmer switch power in 12               tail stop 16

headlights 14 low        12 hi                        amp 10                                      load out 14                                          fuel 16 ground 

                                                      regulator bat 10                      to indicator light 16                            cigar lighter 12

horn 10                                                  ign to solenoid 10                  coil 14 both                                         heater motor 12

Looks like most interior lights are 16, motors 12, high draw 10.

I saw another Town Sedan yesterday,  at a Chrysler Restorers Club car show in Windsor, Ontario. A 1947 New Yorker. 

This one looked like it had been rode hard and put away wet since the photo was taken.   The new owner has a lot of interior restoring ahead of him.  He told me that this car had been made for a Chrysler executive, thus was quite exclusive.    

The car has the partition behind the driver, with the glass operated by pushbutton.    Dual heaters are ducted through the kick panel.   The front doors continue these ducts, to the bigshot passenger compartment. 

So, it seems for definition, a limousine is not necessarily a long wheelbase sedan, but a vehicle with a divider between the driver and the important passengers. 

I'll post some photos after I go through the trauma of trying to unload them.  

That sucker has a one-piece curved windshield!  I have photos of a 1942 Imperial limo, with everything on it, including a curved windshield.  So Chrysler, Briggs and a glass company were playing with it before the war.  In the late 40's, cars were in such demand, so why bother with something new?  Wait for the early 50's.   

Other than the experiments with the windshields, the long wheelbase sedans were a stock body.  Think Sedambulances, DeSoto taxis and Suburbans.   

 I have seen photos of a 1948 Chrysler Town Sedan with the limousine glass divider behind the front seat.  The Town Sedan has the front doors wide enough to get the B post and divider somewhere behind the driver's seat.  - Here we go!

True to my latest saying, it took a week or two to do a full day's work, investigating the tick, tick sound in my DeSoto flathead. 

Possible manifold leak?  I snugged up all the manifold nuts, including the bottom center hidden one. 

Valve adjustment?  I adjusted the valves.  I think I got them all.   Hard working under there, at my age. 

Results?  No good.  I still have the loud tick, most noticeable at idle, but still audible at speed, among the other engine noises.  Other than that, the car runs well. 

I'm planning a 20-mile trip to a car show in Windsor this weekend.  Is my car going to self-destruct?  

Yep, the vibrator interrupts the current xo the step-up transformer will work.  Like the ignition coil, interrupt the primary circuit and the secondary will put out.  (The vibrator  makes that nostalgic hum.)

Just happened to remove my fuel pump heat shield to adjust a noisy valve.   

One end is screwed to the fuel pump (using an offset screwdriver) and the other end slips under a manifold nut.

Flashback -My father was driving his 47 DeSoto with the parking brake stuck on.  The transmission tunnel would get a little warm.   My mother pinned a Miraculous Medal on the tunnel, for some saintly intervention.  Eventually no more parking brake drag.  Of course my father knew that the lining would wear down enough so as not to impede us. 

In my car, I relocated the parking brake warning light to an auxiliary instrument panel. with a big red lens.  But I found myself unaware of the light as I drove off, parking brake on.  So I added a flasher can to the circuit.  Now it will blink at me.  Oh, ya, the parking brake!