[Trulyvintage]

Reading thru this thread, it appears your car was driven on and off one or more
trailers during the move .....

Whenever you transport a vehicle from one location to another,
the best method is to go direct and enclosed from pick up to drop off.

Anything else is a roll of the dice ....

If your car is loaded & unloaded from the same trailer with a winch,
it is not driven - not stored outside in a lot - not taken for a thrill ride.

Any car you value deserves to be hauled with respect,
if you cannot do it yourself - hire someone else who will
do it for you that will respect your ride ....



Jim

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by Trulyvintage

Whenever you transport a vehicle from one location to another, the best method is to go direct and enclosed from pick up to drop off.

I just got my '69 transported and now the battery won't hold a charge, it smokes at idle, and the tail lights\turn signal fuses both blew. They did drive it on and off once enclosed though, it was here within 3 days after 2900 miles of driving, so I doubt the drivers abused it or had time to joy ride\flog it. I'm chalking mine up to old gas and bobbing around in a trailer. With no tools to diagnose anything or fix anything it's frustrating.

[Trulyvintage]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

I just got my '69 transported and now the battery won't hold a charge, it smokes at idle, and the tail lights\turn signal fuses both blew. They did drive it on and off once enclosed though, it was here within 3 days after 2900 miles of driving, so I doubt the drivers abused it or had time to joy ride\flog it. I'm chalking mine up to old gas and bobbing around in a trailer. With no tools to diagnose anything or fix anything it's frustrating.

If this was your car that you have worked on and knew the condition of it
before it was transported - you are the best person to judge what
might have happened ....

So, it was the exact same trailer that it was loaded in that it came out of ?

In the exact same spot on the trailer with the other cars that were on the trailer when it was loaded ?

You are 100% certain it was never transferred - offloaded - loaded - parked in a lot ?

Multi car enclosed transport is seldom direct from pick up to drop off ....

Like a commercial drop shipped package - it makes the rounds ....

From firsthand personal experience hauling hundreds of vehicles,
I have never had a mechanical issue with a car I have hauled ...


At the end of the day - you get what you pay for ....



Jim

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by Trulyvintage

So, it was the exact same trailer that it was loaded in that it came out of ?

Definitely. Same 2 people who loaded it, same trailer (semi).

Originally Posted by Trulyvintage

In the exact same spot on the trailer with the other cars that were on the trailer when it was loaded ?

The picture my wife took of it being loaded on the trailer and the spot where it was when I got there were the same. Could they have played musical cars? Sure. I know for a fact that they picked up a car in Arizona and dropped one off in Texas before they got to me (and were annoyed that a guy had given them a non-runner in parts and hadn't told them or dispatch about ahead of time).

Originally Posted by Trulyvintage

You are 100% certain it was never transferred - offloaded - loaded - parked in a lot ?

Nope, but had it not ran when if they had done it I'm sure they would have expressed concern about it.

Originally Posted by Trulyvintage

At the end of the day - you get what you pay for ....

And sometimes we're at the mercy of schedules and deadlines. The independent haulers don't work out of California very often going way back east, so waiting around 2-3 months in the chance that a job opens up is not always in the cards.

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

it smokes at idle

For the record, this is because of severe nozzle drip as the primaries are dumping fuel into manifold despite the throttle plates being closed (1450RPM!) and it wants to diesel when turned off. Last did the carb in 2009 and it did sit a while in between, so I'll be calling Cliff to get the parts to get this fixed. Doubt the shippers played a part in this at all, the car sat for 3 months without being driven before it was picked up. Too bad no tools until late June though...

[Bliss_Street]

Hey guys, I thought I would follow up and give the conclusion of the matter.

The carrier opened a claim and was very good about listening to my concerns. They asked that I take it to a shop and have a mechanic take a look to see if there was any damage and if so, to give an estimate of the cost.

I found a Napa performance shop close by. Given how helpful the Napa was in KY and that there were nothing but older classic cars, hot rods, and two stock cars I felt that they might know what they were doing. I got the Catalina booked in and with in 2 minutes the guy told me what happened. Someone flooded the carb repeatedly which dumped a lot of fuel into the oil pan. The oil got thinned out and started leaking past the main seal. Spilled oil looks like more then it is, so someone added more oil to the car. Over filled oil led to a rough idle and someone tried to tune it.

He changed the oil and filter. He then tuned the carb and adjusted the dwell time. Checked the distributor timing, replaced the points. It now runs better then ever and no longer has any pinging. It has noticeably more power and smoother acceleration.

I'm not sure I even want to pull the motor out anymore. While it was an annoying transport experience, it ended with me having found a good shop with a knowledgable Pontiac mechanic.

Originally Posted by Trulyvintage

At the end of the day - you get what you pay for ....



Jim

While this is true, I wasn't aware that they contracted the hauler out. It wasn't their truck or driver. I wouldn't have let them take it had I known that. Also, when you get moved with a large corporation, some times you don't have much choice. Granted, we didn't pay for it. But we also didn't have time to arrange it for ourselves.

[Ben M.]

Originally Posted by Bliss_Street

Someone flooded the carb repeatedly which dumped a lot of fuel into the oil pan. The oil got thinned out and started leaking past the main seal. Spilled oil looks like more then it is, so someone added more oil to the car. Over filled oil led to a rough idle and someone tried to tune it.

I'm having a hard time believing that a carrier driver would have this much forethought to check the oil and top it off like that. Fortunately my car came with the oil level correct. Never underestimate the power of the uninformed, right??

Originally Posted by Bliss_Street

He changed the oil and filter. He then tuned the carb and adjusted the dwell time. Checked the distributor timing, replaced the points. It now runs better then ever and no longer has any pinging. It has noticeably more power and smoother acceleration.

You found a good shop with someone who knows what they are doing, you would do well to keep them handy and in business! Finding someone who can work on points or even knows what they are is extremely rare these days.

Originally Posted by Bliss_Street

Also, when you get moved with a large corporation, some times you don't have much choice. Granted, we didn't pay for it. But we also didn't have time to arrange it for ourselves.

My situation exactly too. When a company moves you, you for the most part don't get a choice unless you pay for it yourself. My '72 came to me covered in oil and grime from a generic hauler, the guy told me he picked it up like that but had typically seen it when another car above is leaking or the rig is belching out smoke and soot. My '69 came to me last year by 2 Armenian guys who had no clue how to drive a stick and I heard grind the gears 3-4 times trying to get it off the trailer. I had to pay for my '69 to get moved last month and while it was annoying finding the problems it had, ALL of them so far were related to the bozo previous owner and not anything the carrier did.

[Trulyvintage]

Like all things in Life - you do actually get what you pay for.

Some folks do not like what they get.

I do this every day & have been for many years,
I haul everything from $350 to $350K cars.

The one thing the folks I haul for have in common,
they care about their vehicles and they are willing to
pay what it takes to get them from one location
to another .....


Jim

[421mike]

As long as you are now in Simi Valley be sure to check with Simi PD to see the safest ares in Simi. Just saying

[John Haley]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

For the record, this is because of severe nozzle drip as the primaries are dumping fuel into manifold despite the throttle plates being closed (1450RPM!) and it wants to diesel when turned off. Last did the carb in 2009 and it did sit a while in between, so I'll be calling Cliff to get the parts to get this fixed. Doubt the shippers played a part in this at all, the car sat for 3 months without being driven before it was picked up. Too bad no tools until late June though...

With fuel dumping in and the dieseling . Sounds like you have a rotted rubber fuel line at the tank or rotted steel line along the frame somewhere. It is sucking air and pumping aerated fuel into the carb.

This is a problem I have seen numerous times. Very confusing and hard to diagnose and has nothing to do with what you last worked on or did to the car.