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Back at the beginning of March, I learned of a 1993 Festiva L that had been on fire. Some of you saw it on Craigslist. It was supposedly towed backward, and maybe left in 1st gear for about 7 miles down the highway. At the exit, driver noticed smoke from under hood. A week later sellers mechanic called him to ask if the car was still going to be dropped off! Tracked down the towing guy who confessed that he still had the car and it had been damaged. He had no insurance and had hoped to fix it himself. O_o Once back home, the seller said when he tried to start it, it went "click". I figured the engine had probably seized from turning backwards at high rpm with no oil.
This whole thing has turned into a very long process, but I finally did a barter deal and brought it home yesterday, from right here in my own neighborhood. Car has 4 brand new tires mounted and two more in the trunk never mounted, so I am already ahead financially. Its white in color, a rural car with almost no corrosion issues and 165,000 miles. I have an 88' with low mile (100K) engine but the body is laden with Chicago rust, some suspension issues bla bla bla. May transfer that engine to this nice newer body.
The fire looks to me like maybe a torpedo heater was aimed at the grill. The grill was 95% gone and the plastic air horn just behind radiator and above manifold heat shield was burned from the front back, leaving the edges intact. All of its connecting hoses were unharmed. No other grease, rubber, plastic ... nothing else in the engine bay appears to have suffered from heat. Still very strange, but be that as it may.
I hooked the battery charger to the dead battery last night and today went out to see what would happen. Turned the key and it did not go click. It actually started cranking like there were no issues!!! But it never tried to fire up. I'm sure there will be more drama, but that will be for a later post.
The question I have for you all at this point is about a possible alarm/switch issue. When I put the key in ignition and turn to 1st notch, a small "alarm" noise is heard. The alarm is always present until the key is completely removed. When the key is removed, there is an audible click from inside the ignition switch much like that of an electrical switch. Inserting and removing the key does not cause this "switch click", it only happens after turning the ignition on, hearing the "alarm" and removing the key.
Upon climbing under the dash, the "alarm" noise seems to be coming from back behind the dash speaker panel. When I jiggle the wire harness attached to the clutch start switch, the alarm noise varies in tone! It was very hot in the car today so I didn't dig any deeper which would require laying on my back under the dash.
Anyone have an idea what this alarm noise could be? Could it be related to the clutch switch and shutting off the circuit that allows the engine to run?
This whole thing has turned into a very long process, but I finally did a barter deal and brought it home yesterday, from right here in my own neighborhood. Car has 4 brand new tires mounted and two more in the trunk never mounted, so I am already ahead financially. Its white in color, a rural car with almost no corrosion issues and 165,000 miles. I have an 88' with low mile (100K) engine but the body is laden with Chicago rust, some suspension issues bla bla bla. May transfer that engine to this nice newer body.
The fire looks to me like maybe a torpedo heater was aimed at the grill. The grill was 95% gone and the plastic air horn just behind radiator and above manifold heat shield was burned from the front back, leaving the edges intact. All of its connecting hoses were unharmed. No other grease, rubber, plastic ... nothing else in the engine bay appears to have suffered from heat. Still very strange, but be that as it may.
I hooked the battery charger to the dead battery last night and today went out to see what would happen. Turned the key and it did not go click. It actually started cranking like there were no issues!!! But it never tried to fire up. I'm sure there will be more drama, but that will be for a later post.
The question I have for you all at this point is about a possible alarm/switch issue. When I put the key in ignition and turn to 1st notch, a small "alarm" noise is heard. The alarm is always present until the key is completely removed. When the key is removed, there is an audible click from inside the ignition switch much like that of an electrical switch. Inserting and removing the key does not cause this "switch click", it only happens after turning the ignition on, hearing the "alarm" and removing the key.
Upon climbing under the dash, the "alarm" noise seems to be coming from back behind the dash speaker panel. When I jiggle the wire harness attached to the clutch start switch, the alarm noise varies in tone! It was very hot in the car today so I didn't dig any deeper which would require laying on my back under the dash.
Anyone have an idea what this alarm noise could be? Could it be related to the clutch switch and shutting off the circuit that allows the engine to run?
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