Kestas
Staff member
I have a 1971 Cutlass 350 (stock) that I've had for 37 years. I used to drive it regularly until the past 5 years, where I was lucky to take it out once a year. The last time I took it out, I took it for a 15 mile drive. It ran well, but decided to stall out on my driveway and I couldn't put it in the garage. I came back next weekend and the car started up fine.
Yesterday I had a conversation with another classic car owner. He told me that recently gasoline has been reformulated with a lower boiling point and I probably experienced vapor lock. He said the boiling point has been lowered from 175°F to 95°F. This isn't a problem with modern cars that have fuel injection. The fuel is under pressure, which precludes boiling. Is this a thing? The pattern of what i experienced matches this scenario.
This last episode doesn't give me a good feeling about driving my car. I'd feel better if I at least understand what the problem is. I'd like to give my car some more exercise.
Yesterday I had a conversation with another classic car owner. He told me that recently gasoline has been reformulated with a lower boiling point and I probably experienced vapor lock. He said the boiling point has been lowered from 175°F to 95°F. This isn't a problem with modern cars that have fuel injection. The fuel is under pressure, which precludes boiling. Is this a thing? The pattern of what i experienced matches this scenario.
This last episode doesn't give me a good feeling about driving my car. I'd feel better if I at least understand what the problem is. I'd like to give my car some more exercise.