Both Cars Broke Down Today

[Beest]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

You need to perform electrolysis and separate the hydrogen and oxygen in water. Both will help combustion.

so throw a 9V battery in the tank, gotcha.


Googling around water in the line seems a good possibilty and for $2 I can buy a little bottle of gas antifreeze that should help clear it out, worth a try.

[sexobon]

I hope you find a simple solution; but, just in case ...

The next time your vehicle won't start, look under the hood to see if the starter is actually turning the engine over and not just cranking away by itself (it's hard to discern by sound from inside the vehicle). A broken starter gear tooth can cause an erratic failure just like monster described. You'd be at the mercy of the random alignment of gears each time the engine is shut off, that they wouldn't align on the broken tooth, for each subsequent start up. Repeated starting attempts may eventually realign the gears; but, perhaps not always before the battery goes dead. If it's this starter problem, your other troubleshooting will be in vain.

[BigV]

yes, good sexobon.

A further examination of the starter should include a check of the solenoid, the part the pushes the starter motor's pinion gear into contact with the ring gear on the flywheel. It could be turning, but not engaging.

In sexobon's scenario, the failure like this would happen if there were a missing tooth on the ring gear, not the pinion gear. THAT is big f*ckin trouble, you really don't want that. But in my experience, those gears are pretty tough, more likely the solenoid isn't thrusting the pinion forward.

Another no start situation/sound is when you turn the key and you get clickclickclickclickclick... this is the starter failing. bad wire, weak battery, weak solenoid, actually stuck starter motor (rap sharply with hammer/rock while cursing to solve/diagnose--don't ask).

Ok, don't want to get off topic too far. Good luck.

[Nirvana]

The next time it happens, take a hose off the intake manifold and shoot some carburetor cleaner inside it. Try to start it and if it starts right up, you have a fuel problem. If it doesn't, take off a plug wire and stick an old spark plug on it. Lay it on something metal so you have a ground and crank it. There should be a nice, bright blue spark. If not, you have an ignition problem. Or its a fuel filter I am not a mechanic but have played one when necessary...

[jimhelm]

It might be the flux capacitor. Posssssssibly the framitization module....

[zippyt]

Those damn Muffler bearing go out All the time !!!

[monster]

No failure today And not taking it to the shop tomorrow. One car repair is enough for one week. If it fails to start while beest's out of town, I'm leaving the git where it lies and walking home for the Focus. so there.

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by Beest

This is very interesting.
i) the first incidence of non starting was couple of weeks ago when it ran very low on fuel, we chalked this up to having run so low, and were also thinking that crap could have been sucked up from the bottom of the tank.
ii) waiting a bit has helped on the firt two occasions, taking ten minutes to make some calls and wait for the tow truck before giving it one last try, and voila.
iii) The station were we usually buy gas was closed for a day or two, it's less than a year old at a local supermarket, shopping there gets points for cheaper gas.

What are the chances the new station got water in it's fuel and had to be flushed out and we got a fill of that.

Hmmm....

Yeah, this sounds a lot like crap in the fuel line.

Originally Posted by BigV

You need a new fuel filter.

MIGHT be water, but water is denser than fuel, so would be at bottom of tank, where fuel pickup is located. But if you took in some water, it would have run like shit, but then passed through! The water doesn't KEEP giving you trouble.

I've heard that water cannot pass through a fuel filter and so will cause a blockage or partial blockage, which produces the symptoms described here. It tends to form droplets inside the fuel filter and the fuel just can't get through. The metho breaks the droplets up and they pass through the engine more or less harmlessly.

Well, that works down here, supposedly (I've never done the metho, but I've fixed cars once by giving the filter a good hard shake and once by replacing the filter). Mind you, our cars run on petrol, not gasoline, and it swirls into the tank clockwise, so lord knows what happens up where you are.

[HungLikeJesus]

So now Beest just has to find the nearest metho lab.

[monster]

Today it failed to start the first time twice -but neither was very convincing ...more of an oh mom do i really have to get up.... so I hit the gas hard as I turned the key on the second go and it was fine. We're going to sit this one out -and beest put Heet in the fuel tonight. Before pissing off to the UP and leaving me with both dodgy cars....

Hi there just a simple reminders....Stay cool and be nice to other people.

[infinite monkey]

Thank you laya2. We can always use simple reminders like that.

Welcome to the Cellar and enjoy your stay.

[footfootfoot]

What are you implying by that remark?

[tw]

Originally Posted by monster

Today it failed to start the first time twice -

The Car Guys often ask this question. And the answer is too often, "Yes". Is the check engine light on?

[Beest]

Originally Posted by tw

The Car Guys often ask this question. And the answer is too often, "Yes". Is the check engine light on?

No,

this stuff was 2 bottles for $4


so I chucked one in , it's basically Isopropyl (Rubbing) alcohol I think.
I believe the water dissolves in the IPA which can the run through and burn off. So if it's in the filter it should pick it up and as we work through the tank.

Plugs, wires, battery and alternator are new.

Working the throttle seems to fix it. likes it's stuck.
In modern vehicles is there a separate line for the choke, or is it all done with one throttle.