We took the car on its first real trip over 4th of July weekend, about 1000 miles of total driving. We drove it to Grand Junction, CO and back down I70. The car drove fine most of the way, I never had any problems with the car overheating. I did haveproblems withthe car vapor locking both directions. The first time was in Georgetown heading over because the traffic was really bad. I also had problems on the way back going up Vail Pass because it was a parking lot (cars were stuck everywhere).
The first time it happened, the gas tank built so much pressure that when I opened the gas cap it sprayed gas out. I disconnected the hose for the gas tank vent just after the tank so I wouldn’t have any more pressure building. I also checked the fuel filter to see if it was clogged and it looked fine. We let the car sit for a while and it made the rest of the drive without a problem.
Once we got into Grand Juntion, we blew out the vent lines and inspected the check and cut valve. The valve seemed to be working fine when I tested it. There was a small amount of dust that came out of the hard line between the valve and the charcoal canister but not much. I took the car on a drive and it was still building a small amount of pressure. I decided to leave the line disconnected for the trip back.
On the way back home it happened on Vail Pass. Vail pass goes from Vail (8022 feet) to the summit (10617 feet). And this was in really bad traffic, it was basically a parking lot. There were cars overheating and vapor locking everywhere. I got stuck in a spot with 2 other cars with the same problem. I would say there were over 100 cars that overheated that I saw. I’m really happy my car wasn’t overheating, it actually stayed right where it should. The intake got really hot, I couldn’t even touch it. I made it to a mountain stream so I cooled the intake down and that really helped. I also drove the rest of the way over the pass with the hood popped open so I could get more airflow.
Possible causes for the car stalling that I found:
-bad temp sensor (already replaced)
-weak pump (less than 6 months old)
-clogged fuel filter (replaced about 3 weeks or so ago)
-bad pressure regulator (haven’t looked into)
-fuel line getting way too hot
I’m going to replace the pump since it is still under warranty. I’m not getting a much power over 5k rpm still so I’m thinking the problem could be related to the pump or pressure regulator. I’m also going to swap out the check and cut valve since I have one that I know is good and it’s a quick change.