So I finally got my 82 gsl started after rebuilding and tuning my carb to perfection, but yet another problem has surfaced. So I started her up, revved her a little to warm up the engine (it hasn't run for six months) and took her around the block to see how she went through the gears. After pulling back into the garage, I turned the car off. Two things happened.

1. when I turned off the ignition, the car made a sort of whirring sound and then died.

2. a thin smoke came up from somewhere down below. My guess is that the gasket to the header has a leak in it. I've never changed it, and I don't want to believe there's anything wrong with the engine. It has 113k miles on it, but has never been over-revved or even driven harshly, so wtf?

I've had the car for two years, and I want to get her squared away before I go off to college. Anyway, if I could get some help from the gurus, that would be much appreciated.

 

Hmm, that whirring sound has me wondering if maybe the starter never disengaged and was spinning the entire time you were driving. That could have heated up the wiring, and maybe caused some smoke...

 

oh crap. What do I check to fix that? This is my first project (I'm 18) and I don't really have much experience with electrical besides helping my friend wire his 69' MGBGT.

 

I'm afraid you're going to have to lift the hood.

 

lol. Get the car up in the air, support it with jackstands. Crawl underneath on the driver's side behind the front wheel and find the starter. It will be shaped like a large can of pepsi, bolted alongside the motor/tranny junction. Remove the cables from the starter and clean the connections, and look for any burnt wiring. Then do the same at the battery end of the cables.

 

Same exact thing just happened to me except after that it did not start again. My starter was toast however look on the bright side if it is true.... easier to change a starter than a motor.

Best of luck.

 

I had a starter get stuck once on my 83 GSL, the car run, but it cooked the starter, had to replace it.

 

you may want to let teh starter cool before you try messing with it... if your header gasket were leaking, you'd notice a change in the sound of the exhaust.

 

You may lose more than the starter when the starter sticks. It can turn into a generator that pumps too much juice into the system and blows fuses and creates other havoc.

Usually a stuck starter makes a lot of noise, especially the reversed-force spur gears.

 

I figured out the problem, and its not the starter. So, the noise was just a vacuum hose that I forgot to put back on, so the tube was drawing air really fast creating a whistle. The smoke was in fact due to a coolant leak from the return radiator hose. The coolant would drip onto the front cover and start to smoke.

 

Good to hear it was something simple. Happy motoring.