Day 4 (Rawlins, WY to Sidney, NE): Fuel-pump paranoia
Sunday (intended overnight stop: home--Ann Arbor, Michigan; actual overnight stop: Sidney, Nebraska)
Rather than mess with the finicky fuel system's archaic (moisture weary?) points in the hotel parking lot on a windy, frigid Sunday morning in Rawlins, we find an open auto parts store in town. They have several modern electronic fuel pumps for sale--just the ticket--but we can't get ahold of anyone who knows the MG's flow rate. While we're driving around town searching for parts, however, the car is running fine, so we continue our slow trek eastward.
The fuel pump continues its anemic behavior, but it's much nicer to fix your car on the shoulder of the interstate when it's sunny and 52 degrees outside, as opposed to rainy and 34 degrees--even with eighteen-wheelers whizzing past. After cleaning the leads to the fuel-pump wires, we enjoy 150-plus miles of cruising, including a gorgeous stretch through the Medicine Bow National Forest, before the problem reappears--this time with devastating frequency. We reroute to the slower (and more interesting) Lincoln Highway to reduce demand on the crippled fuel system. In Sidney, Nebraska (home of Cabela's), we find a Wal-Mart and purchase contact cleaner and a replacement female lead, in hopes that these changes will allow us to press on.
No dice! The boosted current to the fuel pump apparently arcs the points, and it will pump only enough fuel to fill the lines once, and then it's quitsville. Our day ends in Sidney with the car running worse than ever and our back-home ETA having passed, barely halfway through the journey. The fuel pump quit ten times today, but the hood popped only twice.
Miles driven: 255
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