What a night!

So, it was like this.........

Chugga Chugga Boom Bang ........ LOTS of oil smoke..... Dead Car.... DEAD... DEAD.... DEAD!!!

On the phone with my friend the Master Tech... he was at Volvo School, in IRVINE, 2.5 hours away... told me "This does NOT sound good General".

I said a prayer.... "Dear God, please, just let me get this pile home. Please, let me get it out of this neighborhood." (I was in the same parking lot where there are piles of frshly broken, green, crumbly glass, everyday).

And lo........ the car started.... it smoked like an SOB..... but then it cleared up, the car ran ok, it GOT ME HOME! Exactly HOME.... where it croaked in my driveway and would not start for anything...DEAD! 8.5 miles, on a miracle, if you ask me.

I put the pig away and dusted off my mountain bike... at least one kid was 2 miles away and I was gonna get him. Granted, my 6 year old looked a little goofy, stuffed into that baby seat on the back of my bike, legs dangling, we bumbled clumsily home.

Time for another prayer, "Dear God, PLEASE let this be something stupid."

My friend came by, straight from a day at VISTA. We spent two hours tracing an electrical fault, learning why the 25amp fuse for the ignition coils kept popping with every crank attempt. He told me to pull the leads off each coil and test them. I protested that "I just did that last week". My friend said: "Yeah, well that was last week and THIS is a 960"

Point well taken. #'s 1 through 5 checked good, #6 was Dog Kibble! By miracle?.... I had an extra coil pack, stuffed deep in my engine room.

My friend made some comments about the condition of my EFI harness, comments that would get me banned if I repeated it. Said he had never seen a 960 harness in such shape. He sent me for more tools. When I returned, he said, "Hey, come here a minute!"

The positive lead for #6 coil was pinched and abraded, clamped straight to ground! I said: "But I just went through this harness last week and re-doped it with "Liquid Electrical Tape". Again, he smiled, "That was last week and THIS is a 960, YOUR 960!"

I repaired the #6 segment, plunked in another new fuse and coil pack. Vrooom! Started right up!

As for the oil..... we don't know....exactly. MY best guess is that, while the engine was running so horribly... certain cylinders just became a hi pressure vacuum pump, sucking raw oil up past the rings and down through the guides. When I pulled the plugs #3 was loaded up with soot. #4 was almost as bad. Odd, #3 is what took a dump last year.

Whatever! It got me 30 miles to get my daughter....late, but we got her.

Now gentlemen, I have a harness to build. I can get wire. Does anyone know how to find the little sleeves that fit into the coil packs?

Thanks to all!