Quote:
Ha! I wish! It was puking out antifreeze for some reason after those two drives I did. Hopefully it will be something simple and not a hole in the radiator.

7/30/18

Where has the time gone? Absolutely no progress on the car over the Spring and Summer. I had a major repair to do on my truck that took all the enthusiasm to wrench right out of me. Also I bought a boat so I have been off playing with that on weekends.

I have been starting the car every few weeks. It's running rough again. I haven't driven it except to move it around to get it out of the way. The last two drives resulted in it leaking coolant and I'm not sure why or where.

Today I felt a little inspiration so I decided to try some stuff on the car. First off, my temp gauge never worked. I took my temp sensor off my spare engine and put that in making sure the threads were bright and it had a clean electrical connection. Refilled the radiator with 1-1/2 gallons of mostly water with a little antifreeze.

Started the car and it was running rough. Shaking/vibration and would not kick down into low idle easily. If I revved up the engine, it would stay in fast idle no matter how many times I goosed the gas. I'm guessing the carb is gumming up from sitting, plus the gas is not exactly fresh anymore.

The replacement sensor did make the temp needle move. That was a nice change, but even after idling for 20-25 minutes with sometimes high idle and revving the engine, the temp only got between the T and E on the gauge and the needle moved very slowing. I'm wondering if the previous owner removed the thermostat. Still the temp gauge should go higher.


Even with all that idle time, the radiator didn't show signs of leaking and no coolant spilled out. It's almost like it will only happen after a drive? I did hear a little hiss noise coming from the radiator cap. Perhaps I need a new one of those.

Attach file:

---

  (119.96 KB)

Quote:

That's what I was thinking!!

What a great idea!

To get mine off I used "obstruction" wrenches. They are closed ended wrenches shaped like a C

Attach file:

---

  (10.24 KB)

I had a similar problem. After rebuilding the carb and fuel pump, I have not had a problem starting the car after long periods of sitting. I did both at the same time, so I cannot say which rebuild actually fixed my problem.

There is some info on the carb herehttps://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/CarterWGD784S.pdf

On Ebay someone is selling a rebuild kit and posted a pic of the parts diagram herehttps://www.ebay.com/itm/CARTER-WGD-2-BBL-CARBURETOR-KIT-1949-1954-PACKARD-728S-767S-784S-928S-986S-2102S-/272826551792

If the starter gives out on you, you can get it running by pushing the car and putting it in gear with the ignition on. If you're going fast enough, the engine will start running. Works with manual and auto trans.

Congratulations!

I'm with the other guys and say you should ship it or haul it yourself. There is a good chance the rubber hoses are going to be bad and the wipers probably won't work. That will make travel in bad weather or even just sprinkles very dangerous!

Thanks Howard, I hope it is something simple, but I have a feeling it won't be. The cable was a little different than my original, but the way I routed it made it work. No kinks and I used almost a whole bottle of graphite along the inner cable before I installed it hoping to prevent another broken cable. Still haven't had a chance to investigate yet.