viper771

Hey everyone. Since I had some time today I got to work on my 62. The battery was dead (been doing some work finding what bulbs were burned out and what not) and charged it up so I could run it.

I noticed a very loud tick coming from the drivers side of the engine. I was doing some research on this and I guess it could be a few things. I noticed the oil looked really dirty, but it was full. I plan on putting some new oil in it and doing a filter change. Should I add anything to my oil to maybe clean up my valves/lifters? After the car ran for a little bit the sound wasn't as bad. But this is the first time it has done it since I owned it. I just don't want to ruin my new and first driveable semi project.

Is there a trick to taking off the dash pad?? I took out the 6 screws toward the back of it, but it isn't coming off. From what I read in the manual, the front part is glued on, but I wasn't sure if I was missing some other hidden screws. Someone redid the pad in the past but it isn't fitting right. I planned on doing some adjustments to it. Any info on that would help.

Still no working wipers. I cleaned the switch up the best I could, checked the ground straps to the firewall (and wiper motor).. still nothing. I am guessing that the switch is bad, but I do hear the relay clicking when I push the washer button. I am trying to see if I can find another switch or see if an impala switch would work.

I got my summer ventilator controls to work!! One of the vac lines popped off and I just put it in place. So the all the side vents now work. But, I do not have a working heater yet. The heater vents and everything work but I don't have the heater fan kicking on. I am not sure where the problem is yet. The plastic vac line splitter is cracked from age so I have to replace it.

Clock and radio don't work yet (I plan on getting them redone in the future). I noticed that I have a speaker in the truck that is located under the package shelf. What is that for? I thought the Starfires just had the rear seat speaker. The radio doesn't turn on or anything. I guess it just needs redone. I am just happy that the wiring is still all original and not hacked up.

Does anyone know if a 68 olds 442 rear defroster would work in my starfire? I forgot that I had a setup and I saw the same kind of holes for it in the trunk. The switch also looks similar to the courtsey light switch. It would be neat to add another option.

The last thing I can think of is that after I shut the engine off, I had some coolant coming out of the radiator overflow hose. I don't know if this is normal or not. Any info on that could help. I want to drive my car a couple times before winter hits, but I don't want to take it out on the road for even a shot trip before I get some things squared away.

Thanks in advance for any insight!!

jaunty75

I once had a '64 Jetstar 88, which is not too far away from yours in vintage. I had some issues like you have. Here's a few comments that may or may not be helpful.

Have you changed the oil and filter since you got the car? I don't know how long you've had it, but changing the oil so that you know what's in there is like job one when you get the car home if the engine runs at all. And rather than putting any additives in there to try to clean it out, I would change the oil and filter, run the car for a few hundred miles, and then change the oil and filter again.

Yes. I had to remove mine as well to replace it with a non-cracked one, and I remember that there were many screws in hard to reach places and you had to slide the thing forward once they were all removed. But I don't know the specifics of your year. Do you have any of the factory service manuals for your car? The factory service manual is available on ebay. Here's one example:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1962-...item2a14008538

I don't know if there was a body service manual available for '62 as well like there is for later years. Something like dash pad removal would more likely be in the body manual than the chassis service manual if there are two separate manuals, but if there is only one, maybe everything is in the one manual. Even if it doesn't have anything about the dash, you should still have one of these manuals if you plan to do any significant work to the car.

I had non-working wipers, too, and there were three separate problems with the system. First, are you sure that the wiper motor itself works? Put power to it directly from the battery and see if it moves. If not, then that's job one. You'll have to get yours rebuilt, if that's possible, or find another one.

For my Jetstar, my wiper motor didn't work, and I found that the wiper motor from a '64 Cadillac was the same part. I got a working one from a junkyard for $40.

Then I found that the wiper transmission mechanism under the cowl was seized at one location, and that took finding another Jetstar in a nearby junkyard to fix.

Then I found that the wiper switch on the dash had been monkeyed with in the past and fouled up, so bought another wiper switch from a mid-'60s junkyard Olds and used its innards to fix my switch.

I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to finally get those wipers working after several months of hitting dead ends and hunting down parts.

Have you first verified that they're getting power? Checked fuses? Checked wiring? There should be a single wire going to the back of the clock. Pull it off and check the voltage. Should be 12 volts all the time.

That sounds like a prior owner put in a speaker. That would be an obvious place to do it. Does your car actually have the rear-seat speaker?

I believe this is normal.

rocketraider

The tick is not unusual on a 394 that has sat for a while. Could be a lifter, could be a rocker shaft. An oil change will not hurt, maybe add a quart of Rislone or Marvel Mystery Oil with the fresh oil. You know about the drain plug, right? Use a 1/2" square drive ratchet to remove it. It takes a standard AC PF24 or equivalent oil filter.

It would surprise me if a 40 year old clock did work.

Even though the speaker grille is in the back seat, I think the speaker was in that location only on convertibles. Coupes and dealer installations mounted it under the package tray. Wherever it's mounted a factory setup will be a typical GM 10 ohm speaker with a blue wire going to it. If factory, the radio will have a fader control behind the tuning ****. 6x9 if under the shelf, 6" round if in the seat.

62 rear defog is quite different from the 68 style. You should see a large round cutout to the far left of the package shelf, and two smaller ones spaced about 1/3 way across on each side. 62 had a blower, 2 outlets and a flex duct under the shelf where 68 is integrated into one assembly.

Puking coolant is not normal. Possible weak pressure cap, but my money says the radiator is overfilled. Cold level should be a couple inches below the filler neck, not filled to the bottom of the neck as on later cars with coolant recovery systems. As it heats up, coolant has to have somewhere to expand, and if all it has is an overflow tube, it goes to the ground. After a few hot/cold/puke cycles, it will establish the level it wants which is going to be about 1/2" above the radiator core.

viper771

Thank both of your guys for the info.
Jaunty:
I haven't had the car very long. Maybe a month or so but it isn't plated yet. I also needed to get new ligh bulbs and what not so my brake lights work right (a few bulbs were the wrong ones and were too big). The front end bushings aren't tooo great so I can't drive it (I should say I don't want to drive it) too far away or very long yet since I may damage something. But you are right. I do plan on doing an oil/filter change here very soon.

As far as service manuals go, I have both the 62 supplement and the 61 88 manual. I guess back in the early 60s, they didn't have a seperate body manual (I had a 68 gto, and have a 68 442 and those body manuals were VERY informative). For 62, everything is kind of mixed together, but I think info is just lacking overall. As far as I know, there aren't any other screws. But I didn't know if there were hidden clips or something I am missing.

The non working wipers.. the previous owner told me that he was not getting power to the motor. The fuses look good. I am thinking that power isn't making it though the switch. I planned on getting the wiper motor rebuilt anyway. Finding parts for starfires isn't as easy as later cars

I haven't checked the voltate for the clock. I don't have a test light yet (Need to get one) but I do have a volt meter. Have no idea how to use it lol. I am still new to the mechanical stuff. I will check that. I want to get it rebuilt anyway since having everything working right is always nice.

rocketraider: Yeah I figured that it wasn't unusual from what I found on the net. Hopefully it goes away so I can hold off on an engine rebuilt for awhile (car has 50,000 miles). I knew about the weird oil pan plug too lol. It is the only car I know of with that kind of plug. I was thinking of changing it to something that anyone could remove without problems.

I didn't know that the vert only had the seat speaker in that location. My radio does have the fader control ****.

Sucks about the rear defog.. I didn't know it was a totally different setup. But I did see the holes you mentioned. It was just a thought. I haven't see any for sale so I guess it was wishful thinking on my part. But thats for that info.

The pressure cap looks like a brand new pressure cap. The radiator itself is original, but it was recored recently (the shop that did it put its sticker on the side of the tank). I will check the level of the coolant today and see if it is around 1/2 above the core. If it is lower than that, what could other problems be? I did get a new thermostat but haven't installed it yet. The upper hose does get hot when the engine is running, so I assume the stat that is in there is working.

Thanks for the info! I still need to find a rear view mirror/bracket since the one that came with the car is for a vert I believe. Same thing goes for the sunvisors.

Oldskeeper

Hi Viper, I would do the engine oil change and filter then I would add EOS a product GM designed for lifter noise and is still available from a dealership ( I still use it and after an oil change it gets rid of the valve train noise). Some of the other products like rislone can clean up inside to much allowing for leakage and blow by.
Just my thoughts
Steve

viper771

Thanks for that info oldskeeper. I will keep that in mind. By the way, how much blow by is normal??? I noticed when I had it running with the air cleaner off, I had the smoke coming from the down draft tube, but I also saw some coming from the oil filler vent. I know the 394s are known for their blow by but I don't know what would be considered acceptable limits. I have yet to crawl under the car and do an inspection. I plan on changing out all the rubber fuel lines as well as tranny cooler lines. I hope to order a new fuel pump this weekend so I can get rid of that problem.

I was reading though my emails with the seller and I guess he bench tested the radio when he had it out and it worked. It just isn't working in the car for some reason... I guess I will have to do more investigating. I have to say that this is one of the most uncomfortable cars to work on while on your back trying to mess with stuff under the dash lol.

Oldskeeper

the 394 has alot of blow by so smoke coming from the oil filler pipe is normal, there should be a foam piece inside of the oil cap which will filter out most of the smoke.
You should see if you can replace the vent pipe with a 63 394 set up, the pcv valve and pipe attach to the snorkel on the front of the air breather, you would only require the top piece from a Starfire or a 63 98 custom sport coupe as they are both chrome, this way when you stop at a corner you don't look like the car is on fire.
Steve

viper771

Actually, I was informed that I have a later starfire aircleaner since it has the side outlet by the aircleaner snout. Would it be hard to hook it all up? The oil filler cap is some aftermarket deal. I would like to find an orig one but it isn't necessary at the moment. When I took it off, it had some steel wool looking stuff in it. Maybe I should clean it??

My wife and I discussed adding a pcv setup for the very reason you mentioned steve lol!! When I first got the car, I thought I had a major exhaust leak.

I forgot to ask about how my vacuum lines to my distributor vac advance are routed. It seems there is a line coming from the carb dash pot that is T'ed to a line coming from the rt side base of the carb then the line goes to the vac advance on the distr. Since most of the pictures I find of Starfire engines have the air cleaners on (and the shop manuals don't show too many pictures of routing of stuff) I have no idea if things are set up right.

All these small problems sure cost a lot of $$$