Finally got the car running again. I was supposed to have received my replacement distributor from MSD last Friday, unfortunately MSD entered my zip code incorrectly. I have no clue how bar coding for UPS works, but the zip code for Kokomo Indiana is not North Dakota!!! 😡. It finally showed up yesterday about 7pm.

Got the car running, but the EFI was not happy. The O2 sensor was absolutely caked with carbon, apparently the 3 miles I drove the car popping and chugging was enough to trash the sensor. I kinda expected that, since the plugs were also a mess. On the plus side, I did decide to use the downtime to run a compression and leak down test. The short block is 20 years old, the worst cylinder was 195psi, with 8% leak down. The best was 205 with about 5%. I’m pretty pleased with that!!


Now the bad: even though the tow company swears there is no way, there is an enormous gash in the drivers side airbag. It’s in the exact spot where the hook for the winch would go around the rearend. The tow company says there is no possible way their equipment can do that kind of damage, I’m not convinced. The airbags have been under the car for years, this isn’t a hole like something rubbed on it, this is a 2 inch rip. I noticed he car was sitting a little low on that corner, I assumed it was because of all the stuff I hadn’t unloaded after my trip to Murfreesboro. I’ll just add that to the expense report!

I thought this was kinda funny, the poppping back thru the throttle body did a excellent job of blowing all the crap caught in the air filter back into the air cleaner housing!!!!


The puncture wound to my airbag.

 

Tow companies never do anything wrong, its in their contract.

 

truth

 

you would think the tow company would do better most tow guys are car guys i mean cmon

 

I lost a transmission towing 3 miles to a dealership on the rear wheels without pulling the shaft. I told the dumb **** it would happen and he insisted. Sure enough, 9 months later, transmission went. He "had never heard of it" because, one, he was lying, and two, it doesn't kill them right away. Granted, it was a Ford with 45 problems at that point.

 

The first tow company (the one that kept me waiting 4 hrs before finally saying the couldnt tow me) offered a truck that could tow from just one pair of tires. I didn’t have a yoke to slip into the transmission to keep the fluid in, and I was worried about damage to the under the bumper scoops, so I passed.

You should be able to tow a car with the drive wheels on the ground for a couple miles without problems, especially if the car was recently driven. It takes a little while before the bushings and bearings become to run dry. As a matter of fact, you could flat tow a car cross country as long as you keep the engine running.

The early Powerglide had a rear pump that was driven off the driveshaft, you could push start those and flat tow as far as you wanted.

I would THINK 3 miles wouldn’t be a problem, maybe it’s a Ford thing?

 

I think it was on the way out already, but makes an excuse to blame *********.

 

My room mate just needed to have his Ford box truck hauled home. The wrecker driver actually got under the truck and pulled the driveshaft himself, without being prodded to do so. I was shocked.

 

I deal with this crap all the time at work. The tow company will pull the driveline but they will not reconnect it after they drop the unit. Half the time they lose the bolts or straps. Then we have to order the missing parts.

 

Back in 1991 I bought my first car a 1970 cutlass post with a 4 speed.Your car reminds me of it! Was gold, gold interior, buckets and a console. NOT sure if it was a QB code, I bought it as a roller. Did have a 3:23 open in it though. Good times!