I was driving home last night on the highway accelerating hard through this nice fourth gear curve when my car suddenly died. It coughed maybe once or twice and then just cut out. At first I thought my T2 alternator had come on full load and blown my fusible link but that wasn't it. So I had a bit of a look around the engine bay but couldn't find anything. Then I tried starting it up again and it fired right up. Weird ****. Any ideas? BTW, earlier that day I had capped off the fuel tank vent line that comes into the engine bay. Wonder if that caused my tank to pressurize and somehow **** up my fuel flow. Hmmm.

 

Check your wiring. That happened to me and it turned out to be that some coolant shorted a wire and the car died.

 

Nah, I'm sure that my carb just ran out of fuel for some reason because of the way it sputtered a few times than died. I think the imobiliser might have cut power to the fuel pump while I was driving.

 

is it possible that your fuel pump is starting to dye??

 

Almost same thing happened to me today. Sitting in my injected SE in a parking lot, engine idling, waiting for my wife to come out of Wal-mart. Suddenly, Idle drops down to nothing and engine cuts out!

I turn the key, it starts, runs a few seconds, cuts out!
I wait a bit, pop the hood, look around, don't notice a thing disconnected or leaking. Try to start it, turns over, but no start. Pull a plug, it's dry.

Get a tow home, figure it's a clogged fuel filter. Change filter, no start. Plugs dry! Pull off fuel hose, turn over engine, fuel comes out of the hose, so I don't think it's the fuel pump.....

I'll go get a dizzy cap and rotor tomarrow, and some new plug wires....I hope it's the answer. Could the ignitor have suddenly quit?

Any ideas?

Thanx,
Denny, from the 'ol corncrib...

 

Revhed: Left hand turn, less than 1/8tank or so? The fuel pickup in the tank is on the left side, at the front. When accelerating ot turning left, fuel sloshes away from the pickup.

Denny: Did the tach quit working at the same time? That'd be the trailing ignitor dead. I've got a spare, but I've got no way of getting it to ya right now. (Gas money is VERY tight) Sounds like the computer doesn't see the engine as running, and isn't kicking the fuel pump on/injecting fuel. Either that, or the airflow meter's gone bad, that also has the same symptoms - but the tach will still work when the engine runs.

 

If you're injected, then it sounds like your ECU has bit the dust. Your injectors are no longer being "told" to open. Conversely, a sensor that tells the ECU that the engine is on could be dead or the wire from it cut or disconnected. And, ps. thanks for the MMO history. Finally went out and put 4 oz.s of the stuff in my tank. Took a day and a half but the smoother revving ability from that one thing is nothing short of astounding. Amazing...

 

During tow, Son's SE and a tow strap, I turned the key on put 'er in gear....No run, but the gauges and the tach showed on and rpm's as the engine was turning over.

MMO is great stuff, Buckaroo....Squirt some into your plug holes every 2nd, or 3rd oil change....Cleans the rotor housings and seals. Good for starting flooded engines, but only if you're getting fuel...Heh, heh, heh

Denny,
From the abandoned corncrib....

 

The fact that it fired up after you left it sit makes me think it's just your fuel filter. I know that's always my advice lol, but I think it's the first thing to try when this happens.

 

It could the the air-flow meter, or something as simple as a bad relay or fuse. I'm not that far up on the -SE engines, but I noticed you have practically every manual known to Man for your cars...

 

this is my first post so dont hound me, but ive been having the same problem as Denny and it was caused by a vacuumn hose leak... I, myself couldnt find the hose that was leaking, but the dealer did and fixed it for 50 bucks... my car runs fine now

 

On a 12A, there's the infamous large vacuum hose that goes from one of the airpump control thingamajigs on the carb to the intake manifold near the firewall. Hard to see and get to, but if it cracks/falls off the motor will never stay running.

 

Well, Buckaroos....

Here's the update on Silver's unwillingness to run. Did plugs, wires, dizzy cap and rotor. New fuel filter, and finally a new fuel pump. Getting fuel to the engine now, as I flooded it but good. Enough for tonight, I'm pooped. Tomarrow we tackle it again....At least I'm pretty sure it's not the ECU...Whew, they're One Grand new!!! I'm thinkin' that Silver was gettin' jealous of all the other car's garage time...

One good thing is when I went for the fuel pump my auto supply house was holding a "Garage Sale," and I picked up a set of nice, new, Hella driving lamps for only $25....

Talk at y'all later,
Thanx for your advice, and I'm still not quite out of the woods yet....

A tip of the dirty Stetson,
Denny, from the 'ol corncrib....

 

That was me with my 85 GSL...As far as the -SE goes, today I was playing around spinning the tires in my wet gravle driveway, and all of a sudden she cut out. Well, I tried to start her up, but to no avail. Tried again, and it fired up, but it was running rough (a slight understatement). Anyway, I got to looking under the hood and noticed that the main air "tube" that comes off the air box and goes into the "throttle body" had separated a little bit at the connector. The best I can figure is the engine torqued just right and pulled it loose...I just put the "tube" back on and tightend up the hose clamp that goes around and all is well now .

~T.J.

 

Since this was happening while you were on a curve in the road I assume it was OK before that. Maybe your floats in the carb are set a little too low and combined with the speed and curve it caused your problem.

 

sounds like a fuel prob..

 

For those of you following this thread, a couple of weeks back Max7 came by the corral to pick up a glass top I had, and we tackled Silver while he was here. All I can say is that she wasn't getting enough air. We fooled with the flapper door, kept cranking 'er, and got 'er to stutter, and finally to run! She's been runnin' fine ever since...Idling, starting, and winding up! Boy, did she smoke from the MMO we dumped into 'er....Max7 has photo's of the cloud.....Thanx Max, you're a true Cowboy Pardner...

Denny,
From the abandoned corncrib...

 

Try getting better wires. My car would die speratically every now and then, but it stopped when i got new wires... then again, my car is possessed...

 

Thanks for the replies but I've figured out what it was. PeeJay was right. I was low on gas and the fuel was sloshing away from the fuel pickup causing the engine to starve.