I've been trying to get her up and running for awhile now in order to sell her. I bought the car from a neighbor who never drove it (only 50k miles on it) and my dad had a great idea to get some new parts for it...I just wanted the car as it was... So we replaced the original carb for a newer carb and my father did all he wanted to do to it (I do know he took off the distributor, did some thing with the clutch, and replaced the fuel line to the distributor).
Well, when all was said and done (after a year and a half), the car is back up and running BUT when it sits idle it stalls. It will only stay running when you keep on the accelerator to rev the engine. As soon as you let up, the RPMs drop and she stalls. He's not sure why it's doing it, and I'm even less sure.
What are some reasons/causes/possible fixes for this?
My husband,who is an engineer and has done all of our car maintenance for decades is stumped by our 2000 Mazda MPV. He replaced the catalytic converter and put every thing back together, but the car won't run. Will start, but dies right away. Took off new cat,and runs with that off, but not sure why it won't run with the cat on.
View 4 RepliesI have a 1997 Toyota 4Runner SR5, 6 cylinder with 188,000 miles. I love my car, it's treated me well over the years. About 2 months ago it started stalling at stop lights, etc. Basically, any time I came to a stop and it was idling while in gear. I start it right back up and when my foot's on the gas, it doesn't stall. After 10 times or so I learned that if I took it out of gear the RPMs went up a little and it didn't stall. About 2 weeks later the "check engine" like went on so I figured, now it's time to take it somewhere. So I took it to a mechanic that I've been to before and trusted (here in San Francisco) and he said, "oh.. it's probably just an idle adjustment" so I think, great, no big deal.
After a few days he said wasn't the idle and that after testing he found that all 6 cylinders were randomly misfiring. So he needed to change the spark plugs cause they were down to a bare nub. I figured, ok, it's about time anyway. He said it could also be the ignitor?, he didn't sound 100% positive, but told me there's probably something wrong with it since it's pretty old too and that's all he could think of. So he changed all 6 spark plugs and the ingintor and the engine light was still on. It was stalling less frequently, but still randomly stalling.
He then said he was going to have his Toyota specialist friend look at it. His friend couldn't figure out what was wrong either. Then he sent to to the Toyota dealer, they checked everything they could think of, but couldn't diagnose the real cause either. Apparently they even checked the "Dynamic Balancer"? I'm not even sure my car has one of those. They might as well have told me it needed a new agonculator (totally made up word) for all I knew. So they had my car for 3 weeks and finally I said, enough is enough, these guys can't figure it out. After 3 weeks of hearing how much money they spent on other people to figure out it, I finally said, let's stop the bleeding. The car still runs and doesn't stall that much. The last thing they tried was 2 series of a fuel injection flush (decarbonize)? So they did that with not a whole lot of improvement. They also managed to run all the gas out of my car and by the time I picked it up, the fuel light was on and I took it immediately to a gas station. No joke, they burned about 1/2 tank of gas and didn't refill it.
After 3 weeks and $1000, they come up with "we don't know what's wrong, but use Premium gas and it might fix itself". In the end they told me they were down to only one misfire, cylider #4. Also, the "check engine" light is still on. Since I've gotten it back it hasn't stalled, so there's an improvement. But I'm no closer to figuring out what's wrong that's keeping the check engine light on. Needless to say, I'm not taking it back to these guys.
I have been having transmission problems in my 2005 Ford Escape due to my torque converter coming apart so I took it to a local transmission shop for a rebuild. After 2 days it was ready and I took it home today. I put it in reverse once and it was fine but the second time I tried to back out of my driveway it won't go into reverse. It will go forward though. His shop is closed and I am going to take it in tomorrow morning. I have a warranty but it says I am responsible for labor. Is this something I should have to pay to fix if it happened the same day I picked it up?
View 8 RepliesI've recently purchased a 2007 Prius and I just noticed few days go that A/C blows warm air (weather was fair when I bought it and I can't remember if it really worked or not then) and middle vents do not blow any air. I'm not sure if two problems are connected but I do want to get both fixed without spending $$$ at the dealership. Where can I start?
View 5 RepliesWeeks ago, I was waiting for someone with my car idling and suddenly it just stalled. The battery power was still on but the engine died. When I restart it, it starts up but then dies after a few seconds. After trying 3-4 times it no longer starts. I had it towed to the repair shop and by the time they went to look at it, it started up just fine. A few days later I was driving (like 1 min from my house) and the car engine died, again the battery was still working. Power steering was gone. I coasted off the road and tried to start it--again it would start up and then die and then after a few tries it no longer starts. I had it brought to the repair shop. Again, it started fine for them but they changed out the battery just to see. I also had fuel cleaner put in the gas tank.
Just to be safe, I brought it to a dealer since my normal mechanic couldn't find anything. At the dealership they ran codes and didn't find any. They said that sometime the lines to the cams or crank get corroded but that mine looked fine. Since it wasn't doing it for them, they didn't have any other recommendations. Everything has been fine for the last few weeks and then I went to start my car last night. It started fine even though it's really cold and hasn't been driven in a few days. While I was scraping the car, I could hear the engine turn off. When I re-started it the same pattern happened--restarted the first few times and then died and then wouldn't even start. I don't even know what to do at this point since it only seems to happen close or at home and not for repair places.
Has experienced transmission seem to jump back in gear after coasting at low speeds in traffic. When I push on the pedal after coasting it jumps back in gear and is very frustrating. I have had it checked out at dealer and they told me they re-programmed the Transmission which scared me. But that didn't fix the problem. Will be taking it in one more time before I decide what to do.
View 30 RepliesThere is a noise I'm trying to locate and diagnose, comes from under this 2004 Accord DX, 5 spd. i can't locate 'where' precisely. it occurs intermittently, seems correlated with suspension parts' responding to load and forces (for instance, turning into a parking lot, where there's a slight dip at the paved curb skirt entering the lot, or when there's a modest bounce as car travels along the highway--when the stable momentum of travel is interrupted, making for a "bounce" or some force transferred into suspension, e.g.). ---The sound is low in register, not loud, and best i can do is 'imagine' what assembly (assemblage, or rigging, or set-up, or contraption) could produce such a sound.
The sound--to my experience and auditory senses is like, of a torsion bar, maybe a 3/4-inch steel rod, as might be fitted transverse somewhere at rear axle area, that would serve to stabilize the sway of the vehicle, under turning conditions; (I'm only guessing here, cause my pod-nur says, or 'hears', the sound's coming from front suspension area, like when load is taken at front strut, going over the slight dip when turning from road to parking lot). so what i hear, I imagine to be a point on the rod coming sudden contact with another metal part enough that the strike produces a tuned "spring" sound, the kind of sound i imagine a spring-tensioned rod would make, or like a staccato bass note, as piano bass string could make.
M bad on the metaphor here--yet, the approximate pitch of this pernicious occasional noise is near the A or the B, in the octave below middle C--i just now tested those notes, trying to be sure I'm 'in the ball park' in reporting and elaborating symptoms, all of which have to do with 'sounds' thus far. There doesn't seem to be any other evidence of frailty, or deterioration of handling, or efficiency of the vehicle. But my concern is that maybe some rubber grommet, or shock-absorbing hard rubber part, is allowing a loss of tolerances that will develop into some dangerous driving performance--a line of concern that one would take if one heard the clicking of a CV joint, tho my case had nothing to do with that realm i believe.
I just got this truck and everything was fine, until i took it out on the highway. there is purple grease spattered around the hubcap. I didn't do this during the test drive. It's the driver's side front wheel. It's pouring rain and i don't have a garage, so little inspection has been done so far.
997 Chevy S10...
My wife and I have owned our '08 Corolla since brand new. It is up to 162,000 miles now, and has developed a fairly serious handling issue. The car wanders at highway speeds (60mph+). This generally only occurs with some wind, on a long straight without wind you can take your hands off the wheel and it goes straight without issues. With wind, either natural or from nearby vehicles, it wanders around even if you're in a long sweeping turn. It doesn't weave totally out of a lane, but it does feel very unstable. On dry roads it's mostly a nuisance, requiring two hands and being tiring. If it's raining, however, the car feels like it's trying to hydroplane constantly, although I don't think it's actually hydroplaning that's just the sensation.
It started probably 20,000 miles ago and has gotten dramatically worse in the last ~5,000. I took it to a shop and asked them to go through the suspension and they gave it a clean bill of health. After that I took it in for tires and an alignment (needed tires anyway) and told the tire shop what I was experiencing. They put 4 new tires on, plus an alignment, and said they didn't find anything wrong with it either. As an aside it's running the stock steel wheels still.
I drive 50 miles each way to work, mostly highway, so this is getting to be a serious problem. It's to the point that I drive my truck when it's going to be raining, and white-knuckle it in the corolla when it's dry out. I've read similar accounts, and checked everything that other people have found to cause similar issues, and so have two shops. Tierod ends and control arm bushings are good. The rack seems good (no play at all in the steering wheel) plus I've driven plenty of vehicles with slop in the steering and they didn't feel like this and only tended to wander when going straight because a sweeping turn takes the play out of the steering. The struts are original all around, but the car easily passes the "bounce test". Is there a better way to check them?