Well my car is sitting in a parkign lot now....

Heres the problem i was driving fine all day with the car...no probs, then i was driving and the car just lost all power and shut off so i had to cruise it off the road. It weird because when i tried cranking it back up it cranked and was wanting to catch and when it would, it would strugle like it wasnt getting enough gas and wouldnt keep an idle and would die. Tried that for like 10 mins....then let it sit and tried and it cranked and started up....struggled but turned over and seemed fine. let it sit and seemed fine.....i gave it some gas....still fine.....so i continue to go..about 2 mins later of stopping and going it dies again.

i got gas and put it in just to make sure.....(the car sat for a while then) and after i filled it up, it started 1st or second time. Again let it sit and gave it some gas, drove it around a little parking lot but as soon as i get goign on the road it dies....(a couple mins after it starts driving)

idk what else....

downpipe and RB dual catback was just put on 2 weeks ago along with replacement set of turbos by A-Spec. Had some start up issues once or twice there but never
has been like this.


Right before it died the last time i noticed that when it lost power my vaccum dropped from 10ish to 0 but the car still seemed to be running for those last few seconds but with no throttle response at all.....then it just completeley shuts off and the warning lights pop up.........

im currently searching but would liek more direct help.......thanks a million

 

change out your alternator.

 

do u honestly think it could be that........if it was the alternator it wouldnt start back up right....mine will crank and crank and when it finnally does start and die but then it will start up and hold a nice idle .......and drive fine for a litltle while anyways

 

Most likely it is, the car will start on battery power alone, but needs the alternator to keep it going.


Check your battery voltage while the car is running with a load on it I.E headlights a/c ect. the battery voltage should read 14 VDC

 

also check your ground wires, and clean them if corrosion exits

 

Mine did that with an underdrive pulley with my idle set really really low. Since then I changed my ECU to bump up the idle when voltage is less than 12, so i'm good now.

 

if its your alt. you should notice your "dummy" lights on and you will notice the charge battery coming on too.

another quick free test is to crank the car and while it sits there at idle disconnect the POSITIVE side of the battery. If it dies or gets really lumpy its your alt for sure.

this way it will save you the trouble of disconnecting the alt to take it to an auto shop.

 

thanks for all the sugestions guys, ground points and cables are all clean and good but now today the will not even start up. Just sits and cranks alll day long. IM think its a fuel related problem...i have a new fuel filter that im gunna put on. Could these be symptoms of this...ran on and off yesterday and now its really clogged and wont start at all

 

before you go through all that trouble, try jump starting your car.

 

does it crank over at normal speeds? does the check engine light come on? you need to load test the batt and see if the alt is putting out ~14 volts at idle. i think the terminal removal is a shiity dangerous way to test an alt...

 

well it aint the fuel filter......

gunna check the alt next i guess.

any other suggestions....im still thinking something fuel related, would bad injectors cause this...?

 

it is cranking at normal speeds if thats what ur asking

 

i am not expert at all what about your fuel pump i think its possible

 

anyone have a good way to test the fuel pump?...disconnect a line and crank to see if fuel comes out???

 

If it's cranking, it should start. Any idea how much the starter uses? More than the ignition system will. If it sounds like it's cranking well but not starting, it's not the battery. I ran my Saturn for about 5 days without an alternator. If your battery is in good condition, you should be fine.

I don't know any other way to check the fuel pump. That sounds good to me. Fuel filter could have clogged.

 

i am pretty sure its fuel pump man it will keep on cranking and cranking but it wont start and sum times it will...umm ihave no clue how to check ur fuel pump but i will find out for you by tommrow i ll ask my teacher at collage

 

you are either not getting spark or no fuel...i just had the same problem....my guess is for you to take out the bottom trailing plugs and get new trailing plugs ...then remove the top plugs and then crank the car over with the fuel turned off Via the two clips on top of the igniters. I bet your car flooded. then after you have cranked the car for about 5-8 seconds with no fuel and spark, put two new trailing plugs back in the car and then reconnect the fuel and ignition...i am sure that your fuel injecters flooded the engine with gas because you were at a very high rpm and your injecter flooded the engine with too much gas that didnt combust. so it sat at the bottom of the engine and fouled out the bottom two plugs....i am almost positive this will start your car again....well hopefully this will work if you have any more questions about this procedure pm me...peace out

 

oh and my guess is that you ARE getting fuel because if you car is robbed of fuel then detonation will happen and you will most likely have blown your engine...but i am sure that you didnt if she still cranks over and sounds like she has good compression while you crank her...just try what i had posted previously

 

easy fuel pump check

stick a funnel in the tank put your ear to it while someone puts the key to on. it should turn on for a few seconds then shut off

 

guys thanks alot for all the imput. I will check the fuel pump that way sometime tommorow. I did replace the fuel filter and man some nasty *** **** came out of it. Might of been the fuel filter originally and then when it was acting screwy and i was messin with it i might of flooded it. Ill def try the unflooding procedure.

 

This may seem far off the solutions you're coming to, but seeing as though I have experienced damn near identical symptons (while driving the car dies, starts then dies again, then eventually wont start) I will tell you what the mechanic said happened.

btw, this was not a rotary, just inline 4, but as for the problem it doesn't really matter

a valve situated where the radiator hose connects to engine case stuck, closed. this is also where the temp meter is. So radiator fluid flows up to the blocked valve and temp meter (showing normal temp on the gauge) but does not continue to the engine casing

this obviously results in overheating, and once the engine reaches a certain temp it will of course die. during the time you get out and wonder what the problem is, it cools and restarts. but again will die after few minutes.

I intially thought it was the alternator from previous experience. so stopped and called for roadside mechanic.

he pulled out the valve and found it was blocked. cut the valve out and replaced the temp meter allowing fluid to flow and car to drive away

only thing he said to get checked (aside from valve) was a possible blown head gasket.

continuously trying to start would only make things worse. From your initial post it sounds dead on my situation.

PS I am not a pro on rotary engines, more familiar with inline fours.

 

guys i want to really thank everyone for helping me troubleshoot this but i believe i figured it out. After checking all the electrical and fuses and fuel filter mad_7tist just mentioned a simple procedure to check the fuel pump which is sticking a funnel in the gas tank and turning the ignition on, and you'll hear it. I did it to the 7 and didnt hear a damn thing and then did it to my running DD and there was a noticeble noice from the pump turning on. It leads me to believe it IS the pump. Now just need to find the best replacement....any suggestions?

 

pull up the trunk carpet and see if you are getting power to the fuel pump before you order a new one

 

Alright well i HAVE SUCCESSFULLY located the orgin of my problem. Boy o Boy it was a tough one. One of the wires going to my fuel pump managed to burn away and shread itself apart. I already ordered a new fuel pump since this one has 120k on it anways and i went with the Stock supra fuel pump. Here are a few pics of the process, and once again thanks to all who helped with their imput.

Pics at:
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tri...m/trippinted69

 

this is and isnt right at the same time. yes it will tell you if your fuel pump is running but no it will not tell you if the fuel is gettign to the fuel rail/engine. i would undo the hose connection in the engine bay (its the one out of the 3 which is the most foward of the car near the oil filter).

believe it or not, fuel pumps have been known to fall off their pearch and just spray gas around in the tank. that would make noise but would not solve the problem if your car was starting or not.