122S Amazon

You're burning through a quart of oil every 500-1,000 km. Blue smoke on startup or under load.

Worn piston rings, valve stem seals, or cylinder bore glaze. The B18/B20 engines are incredibly durable, but after 50+ years and unknown maintenance history, expect wear. Ring gaps open up, seals harden and crack.

- Minor consumption (1 qt per 1,500 km): top up regularly, don't stress. If compression is still decent (check with a gauge, should be 135-150 psi, within 10% across cylinders), ride it out. - Moderate to heavy: rebuild or swap. Rings, hone, new valve stem seals. Budget $1,500-3,000 for a proper rebuild if you pay someone. DIY cuts that in half. - Part numbers for rebuild kits vary by engine code; verify your B18 vs B20 variant before ordering.

Hard starting, fuel smell, rough idle, stalling. Sometimes floods and won't start at all.

SU carburetors (common on B18/B20) have needle valves, float bowls, and jets that gum up or wear out. Ethanol fuel accelerates varnish buildup. Float height drifts. Worn throttle shafts allow air leaks.

- Strip and rebuild the carbs. SU rebuild kits are cheap (~$40-60 per carb). Replace needles, seats, gaskets, diaphragms. - Check float height with a ruler: should be around 15-16 mm from gasket face to top of float (verify with your manual). - Inspect throttle shaft play. If worn, you'll need new shafts or carb replacement. - Clean jets with carb cleaner and compressed air. Don't drill them out. - Ethanol-resistant fuel line and fresh fuel filter mandatory.

Pinging under load, backfiring, flat spots, poor throttle response.

Worn distributor (points, condenser, cap, rotor), incorrect timing, fouled or wrong-spec spark plugs.

- Set timing with a timing light. Factory spec is usually 10° BTDC at idle (verify in manual for your engine). - Replace points and condenser (~$20 kit). Gap points to 0.4-0.5 mm. - Inspect distributor cap and rotor for carbon tracking, cracks, or corrosion. Replace both (~$30-50). - Use correct plugs: Champion N9Y or equivalent. Gap 0.6-0.7 mm. - Consider electronic ignition conversion (Pertronix Ignitor, ~$100). Eliminates points, more reliable, better cold starts.

Puddles of coolant under the car. Overheating.

Radiators don't last forever. Solder joints crack, cores corrode, plastic end tanks (if later replacement) split.

- If it's a minor leak, try a quality stop-leak (Bar's Leaks pellets, not the liquid junk). Temporary fix only. - Proper fix: re-core or replace. Reproduction radiators ~$200-400 from IPD or FCP Euro. - Check radiator cap: should hold 0.9-1.0 bar (13-15 psi). Weak cap = boil-over.

Sweet smell in cabin. Wet carpet on passenger side. Fogged windows that won't clear. Sometimes visible coolant dripping from under dash.

Heater cores are made of thin copper tubing. They corrode from the inside out, especially if the system hasn't been flushed in decades.

- Bypass it temporarily: loop a hose from heater inlet to outlet under the hood. You lose cabin heat but can still drive. - Replace it. Dash-out job on a 122S. Budget 6-10 hours if you've never done it. New cores ~$80-150 from specialists. - Flush the system before installing a new core or it'll clog immediately.