Oh SH1T situations. What have u been in?

[Christ]

Hey, there's a vacuum solenoid that's supposed to open your throttle slightly if the engine starts to stall... it's a fairly simple version of an IACV. You might need to clean/fix/replace it.

[luvit]

in a 1986 carb?

[Christ]

Yep, it's called a dashpot valve. It's probably there, might not be.

[thatguitarguy]

I guess I have a different idea of what the topic was about. Anyway...

Early in my driving life I got hit a couple of times from the rear, so I became vigilant about watching my rear view mirror, especially when things start to go sour in traffic situations.

A number of years ago I drove from Denver on my way to my home in the mountains in the springtime when storms can happen at any time and the roads can go bad instantly. There had been some wet spots on the road for the last hundred miles, but they hadn't yet turned into black ice until I made it through Frisco into Tenmile Canyon on the way to Copper Mountain. About a mile ahead I noticed a truck in the road that didn't quite look right, and as I got closer I could see that it was in the road crossing both lanes of Westbound I-70, and had spilled it's load of carpet rolls. I started tapping my brakes to see what the conditions were like, and it was getting icy and as I looked in my mirror I saw someone a few carlengths back that was gaining quickly on me. I put on my flashers and started slowing down, but the driver wasn't paying attention and kept gaining on me. By this time I was getting closer to the truck and had to start planning an escape route because as I kept glancing in the mirror, Mr Oblivious was still gaining on me, quicker now that I was slowing down. By the time he finally noticed that I was slowing down and that the road was blocked he jammed on his brakes and started sliding sideways, and then spinning, all the time still gaining on me. I finally decided that he was going to hit me and jam me into the truck, so the only thing I could do was to hit the gas hard and head for the median where the deep snow was. By doing this I was able to use my momentum to control my vehicle around the truck and keep going enough that the deep snow didn't grab me and I was able to get back on the road. I couldn't tell if Mr. Oblivious had been able to stop or had hit the truck, but I was past that and kept going. As I looked in the Eastbound lanes skier traffic that was heading back toward Denver was backed up for miles, and people were bouncing off of each other like a pinball game. But me, thanks to a completely blocked road on my side of the highway behind me, had I-70 all to myself all the way to Copper Mountain. I needed that calm to get my heart rate down.

Another time, on a similar trip, as I emerged from the Eisenhower tunnel on the West side, there was another springtime storm in progress and the roads were really bad with wet snow building up into uncontrollable slush. I wasn't going too fast, but you have to maintain some momentum in order to not get stuck in the middle of the Interstate. This is a steep section of road and as my speed started picking up I downshifted, and started kind of swimming around in the road. I started working my brakes, but every time I tapped on them they locked up and I started gaining speed. It's an extremely uncomfortable feeling when you hit the brakes and start going faster in conditions that you know are going to lead to trouble. I was just hoping that I could maintain control until I got lower on the mountain to where the snow is melting more and my tires would stop floating and get down to the pavement. As I'm doing this I'm going through my habits of flashers and mirror checks and lo and behold there is a semi behind me gaining on me. Now I know that he's dealing with the same road conditions that I am, and as I started seeing him fishtail I was hoping that he would at least jackknife, or he was definitely going to kill me. I was doing everything that I could do to keep control of my vehicle and try to move out of his way without going sideways, and he was doing everything he could do to regain control of his truck, when finally there was a patch of pavement enough so that I could move to the side and slow down and watch him slide by me. A little lower he found a patch of pavement and was able to slow down. I crept the rest of the way down that mountain knowing that I had been inches from becoming a statistic.

Driving through nearly 40 Colorado winters have left me with many other stories, but I've written enough.

[bgd73]

Originally Posted by Christ

Idle creates such a miniscule amount of your daily fuel usage (unless you idle alot), you wouldn't even notice the difference.

If it's only doing it when the engine is cold, it's likely just not getting enough fuel in the combustion charge. Not really a big deal, you could either run partial choke, or you could also put a heat riser on your exhaust manifold that might help it a little bit.

don't forget carbs and seperate whistling drafts. Every tiny bit of turn on certain screws can be 10-20mpg. Real time can't waste time.

As you mention idle, I think the old sube boxer goes to 200 rpm all the time. There is no heaviness of a counterbalance. this pays off very nicely....and it is carbed. of course, like us all with little engines, everything comes back up in the spring and summer.

My most recent holy crap was a cai I put in in the middle of winter. It got sucking air like a vacuum, in northern maine on the highway, thrashed by slush, ice wind and rain simultaneous..skinny little wheels and bald summer tread, ebven in 4lo with diff lock I was thrashed like a rag doll, and the unthinkable happened. it sucked in a snowball, and drenched out...and I wasnlt exactly near an exit..and if I was..there is nothing at the end of the exit...

then, when pulling off the unplowed slurpy mess, a truck went by and splashed so much weight the windshield cracked.

Can't have these silly games where I am...
and the hellcamino driver:
proportianate valve playing tricks is an immediate "out of service" as a truck inspector for dot might say..

[ChillyBear]

ooo I forgot my most recent one. The day before my avitar was created by a dear ha ha. Anyway, on my way home from visiting family I took an off ramp, it was 32 degrees according to my cars thermometer and it is raining. Anyway the ramp said 20mph, I always do at least double what they say, anyway there is a car in front of me so i figure im not being reckless and after all this off ramp was long with a slow curve, I entered the ramp at 55 and noticed that the ramp was more of a compound arch that was getting really sharp, then the car in front of me starts sliding off. I go oh **** and tap the brakes, then I ended up in a perfect 70-80 degree drift at 50 miles per hour on an icy offramp- pretty cool until the guy infront of me suddenly got control and swerved violently back in front of me and I had to hit gravel and mud to avoid him. Then we are both stopped completly backwards and he just gives me a wave and continues without asking is your car ok or anything. What a dick.

[moorecomp]

Originally Posted by ChillyBear

ooo I forgot my most recent one. <snip> What a dick.

He probably said the same thing about the crazy guy coming up behind him on an icy offramp at more than twice the speed limit.

[jamesqf]

There was the time a few years ago when I was heading up a snowy mountain road, and starting into a hairpin bend saw an SUV (Suburban, I think) headed around the curve towards me - sideways. Got the passenger side mirror into the snow, and I swear his rear bumper just barely ticked the driver's side mirror as he went by.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by ChillyBear

ooo I forgot my most recent one. The day before my avitar was created by a dear ha ha. Anyway, on my way home from visiting family I took an off ramp, it was 32 degrees according to my cars thermometer and it is raining. Anyway the ramp said 20mph, I always do at least double what they say, anyway there is a car in front of me so i figure im not being reckless and after all this off ramp was long with a slow curve, I entered the ramp at 55 and noticed that the ramp was more of a compound arch that was getting really sharp, then the car in front of me starts sliding off. I go oh **** and tap the brakes, then I ended up in a perfect 70-80 degree drift at 50 miles per hour on an icy offramp- pretty cool until the guy infront of me suddenly got control and swerved violently back in front of me and I had to hit gravel and mud to avoid him. Then we are both stopped completly backwards and he just gives me a wave and continues without asking is your car ok or anything. What a dick.

If I was the guy on the road with you, I'd have been saying the same thing to you. If you went into a slide, it's quite obvious that you lost control of your vehicle, and were operating in a manner unsafe for your driving skill and the conditions.

Given the occasion that I slid off the road and recovered, if you were next to me pulling some stupidity like that, I wouldn't think twice about cutting you off. I'm not as nice as many other people on here, and as far as I'm concerned, it would be a matter of getting you off the road as quickly and efficiently as possible, because the next car you nearly slide into could be the person you kill driving like that.

[vinny1989]

Two come to mind...

First was on a camping/climbing trip. It was last oct' about 8pm, on the way to a camp site. I was following a sat-nav and it basically said to stick on the motorway for another 40miles, so i did. I wanted to get to the camp site quickly (Before the minibus with the rest of the group) so we (me and my co-driver) decided to cruise at 80mph, whereas the minibus was limited to 62mph.

We were overtaking quite a few people, probably due to the weather (Dark, hard rain - even with wipers on full speed- a bit windy) when i asked what the buzzing sound was. Glanced at rev counter. 5.5K RPM. Did i forget to shift up into 5th? Nope. Glance at sat-nav. Disbelief. Glance again. Swear repeatedly. 96mph.. Oops. I slowed to 75mph for a bit, then stopped at a service station to relax before continuing the journey at/under 70mph.
I still managed approx 43mpg for that tank though! Pretty good for a fully loaded 1.1L, i think?


Second moment: more recently i took a medium size roundabout a touch too fast (35mph i think) changed gear - into 4th - slipped when i grabbed the wheel again and accidentally jerked it, so it turned tighter. I straightened the wheel slightly and lifted off the throttle. The back end of the car lost grip, and slid a good meter to the left [Damn lift off oversteer]. I counter-steered and lifted off throttle more - Big mistake-. The car straightened up. Then, due to the snap-back of the suspension went to throw the back end even further to the right. I counter-steered again, and panicked; hitting the brakes hard.

The car did a complete 180', the back right wheel bounced off a kerb and stopped, the front right bounced UP the same kerb and sent the front right wing into the conveniently placed metal barrier! I ended up FACING the traffic that was coming off the roundabout. Oh, did i mention that said roundabout was going onto a dual-carriageway. At 8.30AM on a weekday. Yes, it was busy. Somehow the guy behind me avoided my spin. Somehow i avoided anybody else. Scared the hell out of me though. Weirdly enough, the airbag didnt go off, but the airbag warning light is no longer constantly lit..