The coolant temperature sensor strikes again!

Last night, I brushed up on my Bosch D-Jetronic knowledge while at work.  This morning, I removed the fuel pump relay bypass wire and when I turned the ignition switch to (on) the pump ran for a couple seconds then stopped (as described in my reference materials).  I then moved the throttle off of idle and heard the injectors clicking, as they should. I was thinking that the throttle position sensor might not be working properly and this is the test described in the service manual.  After that, I started the engine and noticed that the fuel pressure was now at 36 psi.  I adjusted it back to 29 and then started wiggling wires gently.  When I lifted up on the coolant temperature sensor wires, the engine immediately died!

I turned the key off and went to the other garage to grab my tools.  After removing about 3 inches of plastic tubing from the wires, it was very clear where the fault was.  The signal wire had a break in it, and it was close enough to the end that I didn't have to splice another wire to it.

After the repair I scrambled to find the car's registration sticker, checked the oil and drove with Kyle to have lunch at Portillos.

My Winter project will be to rewire the fuel rail.

Safely back home, under its own power.

The offending wire.

New tires!

Today the car gets its Dunlops replaced with Pirelli P4's.  It's a driver, and the Dunlops were done.

Test drive with new fuel pump

Today I finally had a little free time to get it running and go for a drive.  After installing the fuel pump and tank, it wouldn't start and the plugs were fowled with gas.  I decided to move the ignition coil closer to the distributor, to make the trigger wires reach without a pigtail extension.  I also removed the distributor cap and found some carbon dust covering the rotor.  It seemed like I might have left the rotor a little too high on the shaft, but I'm not sure.

Installed fuel pump and tank

This morning I got an early start, and was able to install the new fuel pump and tank before lunch.  I made a new pigtail harness for the pump, reusing the old grommet which was still relatively soft.  I also reused the big donut grommet for the filler pipe.  I purchased the butyl putty at Home Depot and used a little more than half of the roll.

A clone of a Bosch 044 fuel pump; when I replace the tank she'll get the real-deal.

The fuel lines looked clean on the inside.

Butyl putty applied

Tank installed with new wiring.

After adding 2 gallons of gas, the gauge needle went to the reserve mark.

Fuel tank paint

Since it had been too cold to spray paint anything outside, I asked a friend who has a spray booth to paint my gas tank.  I gave it to him ready for paint and he gave it back to me a few days later painted black.  He had me get Rustoleum etching primer in rattle cans, and a quart of black Rustoleum paint for his spray gun.  Looks nice, thank you, Jim!

Fuel tank bore-scope footage, after cleaning

LED lighting

Today, I replaced the incandescent taillight bulbs with cheap LED bulbs from eBay.  The driver's side brake / running light socket needs to be replaced because the new lamp connection is a little loose.  I will also need to install a new flasher unit that is compatible with LED bulbs.

The red LED bulbs look a little pink w/o the lense

Still looks pink in this picture, but not in real life