Decarbonizing With H2O

[Clem Z.]

the big problem with old Caddys

is the piston to bore clearance was very tight and with a big buildup of carbon on the piston tops causes the pistons to expand so much from the heat held by the carbon that you would think the battery was shot when you tried to restart the hot 472/500 cu in engine. the trick was to pump the throttle a lot of times to get cool gasoline to the piston to get them to shrink and allow the starter to spin the engine.i never shut off mrs clems big 1970 caddy sedan deville when we were on a road trip antytime we stopped for gas because you could bet that the engine would not turn over till it was cooled down so doing the decarbon thing was required.she only kept the caddy a couple of years because one day i told her when i saw her driving up the street in that big boat that she looked like a ***** on her way to work.

[Dick W.]

Re: the big problem with old Caddys

And I guess the reason she let you live is because it is against the law to kill someone

[Stephen W.]

Re: the big problem with old Caddys

Funny you should mention the hard start. I had a 1967 Pontiac 2+2 with a 428HO 4 speed. The original owner was a good friend and he had the short block replace under warranty when it had 32,000 miles ( 3yrs/36000) because it refused to start when hot. You had to wait a few minutes and listen to the starter scream before it would fire. The replacement engine had the exact same problem!Both myself and the original owner went to several qualified mechanics who all just scratched their heads after checking all the basics. Temp, timing, fuel... Finally one mechanic found an old bullitin from GM on this. It was actually written for the W-30 442. They claimed the tight tolerences and high compression would cause the engine to temporarily seize from the spike in heat when the engine shut down. Other than telling the mechanic to go through all the basics to be sure it was not related to another problem and to be sure the correct high torque starter was installed they said there was nothing that could be done about it.

[Chuck S.]

That Clem Can Tell A Story...

I don't laugh at much that other people think is funny, but I about fell off the chair on that one. I guess I have a twisted sense of humor.

Clem reminds of my two old great uncles that would engage in dueling tall tales; you never knew if the stories were lies or truth.

Get yer Confederate money out and count it...two wheel barrow loads should be about enough for a Mexican food dinner.

[Wayne K.]

And Clem, just think......

what the new neighbors thought when they saw her pulling into your driveway.