Thanks for the help and advice of many list readers (and for an
obscenity punctuated insult I recieved a few days ago posting too much,
which I probably do, but just try to stop me!) over the last couple of
weeks.
For those who helped me, or may be interested, here's what's happened. I
have not had to add a drop of coolant to the Tiger for five or six days
( and about 600 miles of driving). Either the head gasket fixed itself
(???), or it took a lot more water to fill up the system than I had
thought after I had drained the coolant, which at this point must be the
case. I was ready to add a bottle of Bars Leak (cooling system/head
gasket sealer), but the water level has not dropped since I bought it.
Now that I've said this, the radiator will probably be empty when I
check it this afternoon!
The "run on" I was suffering from (engine sputtering on after it's
turned off) has been largely solved, again from a list suggestion, by
lowering the idle speed from 950 to about 800 rpm.
As to my rough running when the car was cold in the morning, (which led
several listers to figure I had a bad head gasket, or worse) two things
have solved it. I re-adjusted the auto choke a couple of times (helped
somewhat) but it still missed and bumped under acceleration a bit until
completely hot. Changing the plugs last weekend solved that. It now
idles as smooth as can be even when it's dead cold, and I can drive
right off with no missing or burping (the car, not me).
Steve Sage
1967 MK1A
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