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From: ems@amdahl.UUCP (ems)
Newsgroups: net.auto.tech
Subject: Re: Vapor Lock
Message-ID: <2321@amdahl.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 2-Dec-85 17:31:12 EST
Article-I.D.: amdahl.2321
Posted: Mon Dec  2 17:31:12 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 6-Dec-85 06:53:27 EST
References: <2922@vax4.fluke.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Circle C Shellfish Ranch, Shores-of-the-Pacific, Ca
Lines: 32

> Im sorry Randle but there is no such thing as "Vapor Lock" in today's
> automobiles.
...
> Today's fuel pumps push fuel at a pressure of 7-10 psi and no bubble
> could ever have any effect on it.  
> 
> Vapor lock tends to be the "scapegoat" when the mechanic can't solve
> the problem.  

Maybe it doesn't qualify as a 'modern' automobile, but I was in
an old '53 Dodge pickup (in about '66) in the central valley of
California in the summer in 115 degree heat.  (That's in the shade
and there wern't no shade...)  The truck would run fine.  But if you
shut it off & sat so the heat built up, it wouldn't run.  The solution?
Put a wet rag on the long metal fuel line to the carb.  Ran fine.
That sounds like vapor lock to me.  The fuel pump may make 7-10 psi, but
it depends on a RAPIDLY running engine to do it.  Starting is another
matter...

Then again, our fuel may have a higher boiling point now than then.
(BTW, aviation gas is supposedly blended to avoid the lighter volitile
components of auto gas due to the potential for vapor problems.  Any
aviators out there who use auto gas care to comment?)

-- 

E. Michael Smith  ...!{hplabs,ihnp4,amd,nsc}!amdahl!ems

'If you can dream it, you can do it'  Walt Disney

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