Somewhere in Texas I-10 meets I-20. We just missed a storm, which
left some white stuff and a few inches of mud across the freeway.
At a gas stop later, the car would not start-acted like the starter was
dead. After some fiddling around, I got the idea to wiggle the
back of the ignition switch, and it started right up.
After dinner in Big Spring, the car died after driving a block.
We coasted into a parts store parking lot, they were open for another
hour, and some customers offered to help. After some
troubleshooting we decided that the oil pressure switch which turns off
the pump when the engine stops, was not working. A simple
workaround got us on the road.
Then when driving around Abilene, the engine died, and when I restarted
it we heard a real loud BANG and there was a cloud of black smoke
behind the car. I figure the ignition switch lost contact and loaded
the exhaust system with fuel, which ignited when it started running
again.
