Over the past few weeks I have been using ‘t Kreng as much as possible to see how the engine and in particular the cooling system behaved. And on that note I took the car for a longer trip into neighbouring Belgium last Saturday afternoon and evening. This 370 kilometres overall trip turned out to be rather enjoyable. The car really came back to life again during this trip. And most importantly the cooling system looked like it was fully functional again. But after driving through some rather dark patches of forest I found that the temperature gauge had risen noticeably. My first thoughts were that this might be caused by the moist and cool air inside the forest, providing cool dense air to the fuel mixture and as such giving a leaner mixture. That wasn't really a satisfactory answer to the problem, but the only one I could come up with at that moment. Until I switched of the lights while coming out into the daylight that is! As soon as I flicked of the light switch the temperature gauge would drop back to its normal reading. So over the next few kilometres I did switch the lights on and of several times. And sure enough switching on the lights would increase the gauge’s readings. While the needle would drop immediately after the lights were switched of. And the clock also had a mind of its own, switching on and off rather randomly during the day!
It looks like the few years of idleness have had some impact on the cars electrics. So the first items to check will be the earth points and connectors of earth wires directly related to the lights and the light switch. This check can be combined nicely with a slightly overdue regular service. And of course use her more often! With that I already made a start, as I have covered well over a 1000 kilometres so far since fitting the new water pump. Which equals the mileage of the past two years together!
