Just now I was remembering that time when I had to sit in a parking lot in the night because my car would not start and run. I knew that if I got the motor cooled down I could get home so I just had to wait.

At the top of the motor of that car back almost against the firewall is a unit called a camshaft position sensor, an expensive part to replace for that model year. The person who sold me the car knew the cost and didn’t want to deal with it. Later I ordered a replacement and while I waited, I took the bad one apart. I discovered an optical mechanical sensor involving a gear, a rotating disk with slots pressed out of it, and sensors. I cleaned the sensors with a que tip and restored full operation to the vehicle. The optical pickup had gotten soiled so it couldn’t send or pickup light patterns until I swabbed it.

Then the water pump failed. I took the front of the motor off and pulled the radiator. It was all very dramatic in appearance. I replaced the water pump and put it all back together but that didn’t completely fix the overheating problems. That was solved finally by the replacement of the radiator cap with a properly vented one.

Then it wouldn’t pass emissions tests. Close, but no. I tried many things before I  checked and identified the problem as a worn out Catalytic converter. I put in a new one and passed handily. By then I’d already replaced the O2 sensors, belts, spark plugs and wires, pvc valve, and some other parts.

Then the brakes started dragging. Turns out when the car is left sitting outside and there is rain, one of the rear calipers would bind. The piston  would not return. I replaced the caliper and installed new pads front and rear.

After those problems the car returned to the reliable thing I remembered. But then the garage door spring broke and the car had to be parked outside for several days and nights until I sourced a new replacement spring. Inexplicably even though it was parked at the back of my property the vehicle somehow got deep scratches into the windshield. I had to have new glass installed. Never did find out what caused the scratches.

So now I’m playing the same routine with a Type 54 Lotus that came into my hands. First it stranded me several times, but eventually came to life and ran just fine, as if nothing had gone wrong. Finally it had to be trailered home. I replaced the ignition switch, which upon examination was gummed up enough to cause intermittent problems. I replaced the battery, which had low cells and maybe was too old. Replacing the ignition switch allowed it to turn over but not start. For that I replaced the condensor. Then the car ran right.

Not for long though. It began missing and hesitating. I suspected that the pertronix unit that I installed to end my reliance on points and condensors was sensitive to ground problems and that there might be an unresolved grounding issue. I had gone through and tightened everything and figured that was enough, but maybe there was a problem inside a ground  cable.

I found that the main ground to the chassis was not tightened down with a nut. I had to make an access portal to get to it and install one but that paid off and the hesitation   was cleared up.

Now there is an issue of the temp gauge reporting overheating. I don’t know if it’s the gauge or if it’s really overheating. That’s next.

I also discovered that the air pressure in the tires was all wrong. It’s 30lbs all around. Should be 18psi front, 28psi rear. And it didn’t have a proper vented coolant cap.

So there’s been something exasperating in these cars that spent time in the hands of other owners. Once sorted, they turn out fine.

That is one characteristic of modern well engineered vehicles that I miss: just about total reliability for the first hundred thousand miles or so.

The older vehicles stay reliable if they’re looked after but get pretty dicey when the owner doesn’t know or doesn’t care about the needs of the machine or doesn’t pay attention when it communicates a need.

I should have known when I bought back that Miata. The seats weren’t bolted down correctly and the door panels were put in wrong. And the day before I sold it, I found that missing BMW key that I’d lost when I first owned the Miata. I found it when I vacuumed the carpet. I can only assume neither subsequent owner of the car could be bothered to do that.