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Okay, '97 non turbo, ~130k miles. Runs fine and starts fine. Moved it one day to wash it and then moved it back (two quick starts and stops). Sat unused for about a week. Went out to go somewhere today, turned the key, it cranked over, started and ran very poorly for about 2 seconds and died. Will not restart and now makes a 'funny' cranking sound.
With what little daylight I had left, I looked around under the hood for any obvious problems. Wasn't long before I found what could be the culprit. The intake hose between airbox and throttle body has two rather large tears it it; large enough for a determined rodent to possible work its way into. Could the throttle body plate have opened far enough during the 2 seconds it ran for anything sizeable to have got past it? Planning on disassembling tomorrow to check (flametrap needs cleaned anyway).
Could the fuel pump/relay gone out instantly?
Could anything relating to the ignition gone out instantly?
I plan on a long day of fooling with it tomorrow, but I wanted to get some ideas on which common areas to start with for a problem such as mine.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Jeremy
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posted by
someone claiming to be Mikeg
on
Mon Oct 4 13:48 CST 2004 [ RELATED]
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You guys are the best! I was having the same problem, and then I tried pulling the fuse to the fuel pump method. It worked like a charm. I was actually looking at buying a new car because I thought mine was dead.
Thanks for all the help!!!!!
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posted by
someone claiming to be Chrissij
on
Sat Sep 25 16:21 CST 2004 [ RELATED]
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I think you found your only, or one of possibly two culprits. A crack in the air inlet hose will result in a huge vacuum leak. Since your car relies on vacuum, a huge leak will result in your car starting, and then almost immediately stalling. Further, often times, washing the car, or rainy days, will result in a no-start or poor running condition if your distributor cap has a hairline crack in it. If your cap and rotor are original, they are just as suspect as the air inlet hose. I wouldn't worry about rodents unless you see bits of acorns...
Hope this helps,
Chris
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After my day of tinkering around under the hood, I think I have ruled out some possibilties, however I am still stuck with a non running car.
Lucked out and found a hose that fit perfectly from an old 240 in a junkyard. Agreeing with Chris and thinking that this must be the solution to my problem, I was disappointed when the car did the same thing: crank, but no start.
Vacuum leak: ruled out
Removed spark plugs, looked okay. Cap and rotor could use replacing, but looked okay too. Plugs fire.
Ignition problem major enough to prevent starting: ruled out
Fuel pump makes noise when key to 'on' position. Fuel pump relay clicks, fuse fine. As a low-tech check, the fuel line was slightly loosened right before the connection to the fuel rail. After wiping all the gas off ourselves (duh!) my dad and I concluded that the engine was getting fuel.
Major fuel delivery issue: ruled out
The unthinkable--what if the timing belt broke? Checked and it was fine.
So. . . The most perplexing thing to me is the fact that it happened so suddenly. Again, there was some time between starts but one day it starts fine and a few days later it does this. I've found that if I crank it over for 7-10 seconds, it will "begin" to start and sort of kick over but quickly dies. I am leaning toward some kind of fuel problem (what kind, I don't know) but I'm also deperately seeking any suggestions any of you may have.
Thanks
Jeremy
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Cam position sensor? Unplug and replug several times to clean connector. Same story for RPM sensor.
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posted by
someone claiming to be Joe Rizal
on
Mon Sep 27 13:36 CST 2004 [ RELATED]
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Jeremy, I had the same problem w/ my wife's car last week. After seeing spark and hearing the fuel pump relay "click" I disconnected the MAF sensor and boom! the car started. I bought a new MAF sensor from the dealer for $179. +tax. Problem solved. I hope this will help you.
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Well, after casually looking around on the internet (this after shrugging shoulders, and throwing arms up in defeat) I came across a suggestion of possible flooding. I had also seen some mention of this from a brickboard search. A few bittersweet recollections of my days in tinkering with rotary engines got me thinking that the two quick starts and stops my dad performed when the car last ran could have caused the car to flood.
Walked outside, pulled fuel pump fuse, cranked it over about 8 seconds four times with wide open throttle. Sat a minute, replaced fuel pump fuse, tried again with WOT. Started, runs fine. Walked inside, scolded my dad for quick start and shutdown.
Moral of the story: If you want to wash your car in the near future, park it where you are planning to wash it. If you must move a car a short distance, still let it run a minute or two.
BTW, thanks for the suggestions guys.
Jeremy
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I read this thread with interest because today I was driving my '95 850 Turbo Wagon and it died while I was driving it. I thought I had run out of gas as that's how it acted. I put some gas in it about 30 minutes later, started it fine and drove it back to work. Came out of work and it drove fine for about 2 miles (city driving), and it died again. I let it sit for about 5 minutes, started it and made it almost home before it died, waited 5 minutes again, limped to gas station, filled it up and it died about a block away from home.
I walked home and read this thread. Hoping that it could just be flooded, I tried the above trick of removing the fuse(which was OK), cranking it, replacing fuse, etc. It started fine and drove the last block home fine but I'm afraid to drive it any distance now for fear it is just the "5 minute rest" theory from above. What do you think?
I'm obviously not a car guy - any ideas appreciated.
Thanks!
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Oh no I don't think that is your problem - yours sound like what mine did a few months ago - dead fuel pump! I don't think you can flood the engine while driving.
Mine died while dirivng 35 mph. Got it to start again a few minutes later, drove alojng, cut out again. Once more I got it running and got to the corner garage. A new fuel pump and $400 later car was running once more.
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