Engine almost died randomly
10-28-21, 02:29 AM
#1
Senior Newbie Member
Thread Starter
Engine almost died randomly
So today as I was pulling out of the freeway on a downward angled semi-steep off-ramp my engine suddenly started to sputter and my revs dropped to the point the car almost died. I accelerated and kept it above 1000 rpm but the car was rattling like crazy and it kept wanting to die. I limped my way to the gas station 300 ft down the road and parked, i revved the car to 7500 rpm while in the park and suddenly the car returned to normal once i let off the gas ( yeah stupid idea but if it's blown it's blown, who gives a **** if I blow it up even more) This caught me off guard as my car has run great for the 5 months I have daily driven it a total of 45 miles every day. I drove the car home and it felt ok, a tad bit jittery but it may have been me being hypersensitive after the incident.
What worries me is that yesterday I hit a piece of metal on the road going about 45 mph that seriously shook the ***** out of my car , I hit so hard my glove box popped open and the little Hotwheels I had in my cubbie went flying. I did a 15 min inspection at a gas station, checked for any obvious damage, and as soon as I got home I jacked the car up and did a thorough inspection making sure to inspect each steering component, oil pan etc . The only visible damage I saw was on the driver side control arm, a light gouge that chipped the paint that looked super fresh, if it was even a few days old it would have looked dull/ rusty
Went out to eat with a pall in the car, everything felt fine .
Drove to school 30 miles , everything felt fine.
Drove back from school and I DID take the car to 100 mph for about 15 seconds just to make sure my suspension/ trans / engine was A-ok ( stupid idea but i can now safely say the suspension is fine ) . I slowed down back to 80, then slowly came to a complete stop about two miles down the road where traffic usually jams up , again engine was smooth as butter, i drove in stop and go traffic for a good 2 mins before deciding to pull of an on-ramp that is pretty much a hill , after the hill I hit the brakes semi-hard because there was one car at the bottom I was no expecting.. as soon as the car came to a halt the sputtering started combined with moderate smoke out of the tailpipe .as noted above I pulled over, and the issue went bye-bye. Drove to in-in out, car was shut off, started up 45 mins later no problem, drove it another 9 miles back home with no issue but the engine was not as smooth as it normally is at idle, except it was now nigh time and this car does not like cold weather one bit so I have no idea of assessing its smoothness at night unless its daytime where the cun runs great.
Recent changes: i fixed my entire exhaust by putting new hangers/ gaskets. The car is a lot quieter. It rained heavily this Monday, and I drove the car in the rain .
The other issue the car has right now is the master cylinder has a light leak where it connects to the booster.
My theory is , since I was a bit low on gas the breaking downhill made the sump run dry for a bit and the pump chugged air throwing the carb out of whack for the 200 ft I drove down .. issue is I had smoked out the tailpipe .. do cars do that when running lean af?
The second theory is somehow that shock fucked something up internally, or maybe a apex seal got stuck for a brief moment and then came loose .
Lastly, a lot of bolts on the car were loose ( as in they were not as tight as I had left them ) today, Bolts I had just tightened as well.. All the cowl bolts were loose, the sunroof bolts were loose, ******* oil pan bolts were loose ( four were so loose I hand tightened them with no resistance, luckily no leaks) , two fender bolts were loose. NO idea what other bolts got shocked loose . I'm super paranoid that thunk loosened something internal. I will know tomorrow on my 30 mile drive to school if anything is borked .
What worries me is that yesterday I hit a piece of metal on the road going about 45 mph that seriously shook the ***** out of my car , I hit so hard my glove box popped open and the little Hotwheels I had in my cubbie went flying. I did a 15 min inspection at a gas station, checked for any obvious damage, and as soon as I got home I jacked the car up and did a thorough inspection making sure to inspect each steering component, oil pan etc . The only visible damage I saw was on the driver side control arm, a light gouge that chipped the paint that looked super fresh, if it was even a few days old it would have looked dull/ rusty
Went out to eat with a pall in the car, everything felt fine .
Drove to school 30 miles , everything felt fine.
Drove back from school and I DID take the car to 100 mph for about 15 seconds just to make sure my suspension/ trans / engine was A-ok ( stupid idea but i can now safely say the suspension is fine ) . I slowed down back to 80, then slowly came to a complete stop about two miles down the road where traffic usually jams up , again engine was smooth as butter, i drove in stop and go traffic for a good 2 mins before deciding to pull of an on-ramp that is pretty much a hill , after the hill I hit the brakes semi-hard because there was one car at the bottom I was no expecting.. as soon as the car came to a halt the sputtering started combined with moderate smoke out of the tailpipe .as noted above I pulled over, and the issue went bye-bye. Drove to in-in out, car was shut off, started up 45 mins later no problem, drove it another 9 miles back home with no issue but the engine was not as smooth as it normally is at idle, except it was now nigh time and this car does not like cold weather one bit so I have no idea of assessing its smoothness at night unless its daytime where the cun runs great.
Recent changes: i fixed my entire exhaust by putting new hangers/ gaskets. The car is a lot quieter. It rained heavily this Monday, and I drove the car in the rain .
The other issue the car has right now is the master cylinder has a light leak where it connects to the booster.
My theory is , since I was a bit low on gas the breaking downhill made the sump run dry for a bit and the pump chugged air throwing the carb out of whack for the 200 ft I drove down .. issue is I had smoked out the tailpipe .. do cars do that when running lean af?
The second theory is somehow that shock fucked something up internally, or maybe a apex seal got stuck for a brief moment and then came loose .
Lastly, a lot of bolts on the car were loose ( as in they were not as tight as I had left them ) today, Bolts I had just tightened as well.. All the cowl bolts were loose, the sunroof bolts were loose, ******* oil pan bolts were loose ( four were so loose I hand tightened them with no resistance, luckily no leaks) , two fender bolts were loose. NO idea what other bolts got shocked loose . I'm super paranoid that thunk loosened something internal. I will know tomorrow on my 30 mile drive to school if anything is borked .
10-28-21, 04:35 AM
#2
acdelco d1906 Nkg 49034
I had something similar. I was at a rest stop, heard some quiet metal on metal sound. Maybe someone was underneath the car f'in with the oil filter? Later the car would die going down small hills. I thought back to the rest stop, stopped, and found the oil filter on finger loose. I tightened it, and all was fine. So in your case, it could be just those 4 loose oil pan bolts.
Or oil filter is getting clogged, or the fuel pump is dying. I meant fuel filter!! Jeesh!!
Or oil filter is getting clogged, or the fuel pump is dying. I meant fuel filter!! Jeesh!!
Last edited by midnight mechanic; 10-28-21 at 07:22 PM.
10-28-21, 04:51 PM
#3
Senior Newbie Member
Thread Starter
Car ran like a champ today.
in the morning i decided i would go checking for other loose bolts , starting with the carb.
II tighened all the carb bolts, one was tight, one turned a tenth of a turn before being tight, one turned a whole turn , and the other half a turn, then i tightened the small bolts that hold the carb together , two were hand loose, they are snug now. I retigntened the down pipe to the cats as well, as hard as I could possibly turn .
The bracket for the coils was not loose but not snug, tightened that too . Checked all my cpark plug cabled, alternator cables etc, everthing seems fine .
I need to refresh all the fule lines between the tank / pump / filter and the rear hard fule line. they are really old. Its absurd two feet of fule lines cost 15$ now SMH.
Added a tenth of a quart of oil just to be safe .
The only noise that I hear is my dif , I'v bought all the tools and the correct weight gear oil to do that oil change this weekend.
I have never had an engine issues like what i just experianced .
Car idles great, cheacked all the air hoses and fule lines, my rear fule filter has some gunk in it, thats due for a change within the next month so right within my maintnence schedule .
This week im going to replace my master cylinder and install new brake lines so wish me luck on that.
in the morning i decided i would go checking for other loose bolts , starting with the carb.
II tighened all the carb bolts, one was tight, one turned a tenth of a turn before being tight, one turned a whole turn , and the other half a turn, then i tightened the small bolts that hold the carb together , two were hand loose, they are snug now. I retigntened the down pipe to the cats as well, as hard as I could possibly turn .
The bracket for the coils was not loose but not snug, tightened that too . Checked all my cpark plug cabled, alternator cables etc, everthing seems fine .
I need to refresh all the fule lines between the tank / pump / filter and the rear hard fule line. they are really old. Its absurd two feet of fule lines cost 15$ now SMH.
Added a tenth of a quart of oil just to be safe .
The only noise that I hear is my dif , I'v bought all the tools and the correct weight gear oil to do that oil change this weekend.
I have never had an engine issues like what i just experianced .
Car idles great, cheacked all the air hoses and fule lines, my rear fule filter has some gunk in it, thats due for a change within the next month so right within my maintnence schedule .
This week im going to replace my master cylinder and install new brake lines so wish me luck on that.
10-28-21, 05:26 PM
#4
Rotary Enthusiast
Glad you're back on track. All those loose fasteners. Weird!
10-28-21, 05:28 PM
#5
Senior Newbie Member
Thread Starter
I chalk it up to hitting a peice of debree going 45 mph two days ago. Probably shocked the entire car and bolts will do their thing when let loose and rattle their way off over a period of time. I'm going to check my header bolts today just to be extra sure. All I know is tightning the carb nolts did wonders to the idle that was already preety smooth.. Feels like the car isnt even on unleas you put your hand on the shifter handle.
Edit , the sunroof retaining screws were loose too.. I can vouch they weren't four days ago as it rained and water would have gotten in with how loose they were as it prevented the hatch from closing properly .
What that has to do with my incident, maybe the cause, maybe something else, just asking to see if any one else has had a simmilar incident.
Edit , the sunroof retaining screws were loose too.. I can vouch they weren't four days ago as it rained and water would have gotten in with how loose they were as it prevented the hatch from closing properly .
What that has to do with my incident, maybe the cause, maybe something else, just asking to see if any one else has had a simmilar incident.
Last edited by Frogman; 10-28-21 at 05:37 PM.
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