FAQ-51
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My car dies, stalls or loses power while I'm driving.
When a car dies and stalls or loses power while under power, it has
to be related to the absence of fuel or spark. Here's a couple of questions you can answer
that will help the shop find and fix your problem:
What happens if you floor the accelerator? If the engine dies
quicker, that would indicate a lack of fuel.
Do you ever see black smoke coming from the tailpipe, if so when?
This typically indicates the abundance of fuel or the lack of spark. Backfiring with black
tailpipe smoke means the spark just came back, backfiring with no black smoke means a lean
condition or the absence of fuel.
When it dies, does it start right back up? If so, that usually means
the problem is electrical 'cause the absence of fuel typically creates the need to crank
the car longer until the fuel system re-primes its self.
If it won't start right back up, if you let it sit for 5 minutes,
will it now start? This usually indicates a bad fuel pump.
Does the amount of fuel in your gas tank have anything to do with
the frequency of the problem? If the problem happens much more often with the fuel tank at
or near 1/4 as opposed to the problem happening far less when the tank is over 3/4, that
points directly to the fuel pump, IF it is located in the tank.
Last but not least, if the engine dies and won't restart, the driver
can help the shop a lot if they are "willing to be taught how" to quickly determine what is
missing, fuel or spark. The driver can be taught how to use an old spark plug to test for
spark. You can be taught how to spray carb cleaner into the air filter area in an effort to see if an
alternate source of fuel will allow the engine to start and run for a second or two until
it uses up the fuel sprayed into the air cleaner. This would show fuel starvation as the
problem.
If the problem is simply the engine loses power, a plugged catalytic
converter can also cause that problem. A shop can test the cat by drilling a small 1/4
hole in the pipe just in front of and behind the cat. With the engine in park, raise the
rpms to 2,000 and feel the air or exhaust coming out of both holes. Is exhaust coming out
of the front hole at a higher speed and at a larger volume than the rear hole? If there is
an obvious difference of pressure between the two drilled holes, the cat is plugged and
needs to be replaced. If you decide to do your own test, you can close up the two drilled
holes afterwards either by having someone weld them up ($10-20) or simply screwing a big
sheet metal screw into the hole.
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