So it begins...

Reorganised the garage and unloaded Joe’s Saab with any tools that he had and I didn’t. The kids loved the creeper. Must remember to get some threaded axle stands to replace dad’s lightweight ones. Can’t believe the number of cool tools Joe has!

Tried to open the boot. No good. Both keys failed, even after a squirt of WD40. Locksmith time it seems.

Quickly found that the battery was flat. It had started ok on Thu, so there was some residual current that was enough to drain the battery in two days. Need to get on top of that.

So, time to jump start the Impala to check the charging voltage and charge the battery. Problem, Impala battery is at the front right and the car is hard over to the right in the garage. Backed the Sportswagon into the garage (battery at rear left) and juuust managed to get the leads to reach. Finally got the impala started!

Of course the next thing is to run out of petrol! I do a servo run with 20L Jerry can and 2 x 5L cans to pick up Optimax (98RON) and some Valve Master (valve seat protection additive). Added petrol, keeping a bit in one 5L tin to pour down the carby (good remembering Joe)! Managed to start a fire in the carby during one of the start attempts, so I had to hurriedly smother it with rags.

Measured the charging voltage and it was a bit over 15V, seems a smidge too high. Found this…
Chevy Talk

Another interesting read…
Mad Electrical

Another interesting read…
http://persh.org/Pickup/Alternator.htm

We then connected the multimeter in series to measure the current draw with everything shut off. 0.14 A. Turn on a light an instantly blew the meter’s fuse. D’oh! Like idiots, we had forgotten to switch from the fused 1200mA lead connection on the meter to the 10A socket . Another thing for the list… multimeter fuse.

Time to check the lights. Surprisingly, more lights worked than I had first thought… almost all of them in fact!

The parking lights are small orange rectangular lenses at the front. When the indicator is actuated, the corresponding side flashes. For me, both front parker lights work, but the left front indicator doesn’t.

Low beam is two of the headlights and high beam is all four headlights. All work fine.

At the rear, there are six red taillights. The four outer lights work as tail lights, brake lights and flash as indicators. All work The two inner lights (on the boot lid) don’t work at all. There are no lights that come on when in reverse, so not sure if the inner lights are supposed to be reverse lights or whether they are dummy lights and there are no reverse lights on the car.

Didn’t check the number plate lights. D’oh! Must do that.

Joe drove the car down the drive and – the champion is his – gave it a wash. It was pretty filthy, so looked great once clean!



Battery was flat, so after a quick borrow of the Saab’s battery, we soon had the Impala back in the garage.

The radiator is leaking, so the patch isn’t holding. I just had a thought, perhaps the top/bottom hoses are connected properly. I’ll check that, but it looks like a radiator re-core is on the cards.

Perhaps this with an external transmission cooler…
eBay Radiator

Ooo.. almost forgot. Exhaust manifold leak.


To-do list…
- battery clamp
- rear exhaust hanger
- boot lock
- new keys cut
- current leak
- charging voltage
- multi-meter fuse
- front left indicator
- reverse lights?
- number plate lights?
- Exhaust manifold leak