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need help- 2 hours from home and car wont start/idle

O

offroadSVT

New CEG'er
Joined
Mar 12, 2003
Messages
23
Location
Dearborn Heights, MI
So this "cheap car" isnt turning out to be so cheap.

Just got done driving 2 hours flawlessly on the highway. Got off the highway and went to pull onto the main road and it sputters at low RPMs... so I keep the RPMs up higher and slip the clutch to get going. shift to 2nd... same thing at low rpms, so I just limped it to where I'm going.

now i'm here...

and the car won't start back up unless I feather the gas pedal, and even then it sputters. I can keep it running by continuously feathering it, but it wont smooth out.

any guesses?

fuel filter?
fuel pump?

it seems to rum fine at high RPMS, but struggles to get there... any help is appreciated.
 
Fuel filter might be clogged or have a vac leak somewhere. Or your IAC went bad. I'm sure there are other reasons for this problem, but not sure atm.

How did you get home?
 
um...that is excatly what mine did when the head gasket and timing belt went...hope yours is much more simple tho! good luck!
 
offroadSVT said:
ok, I changed the fuel filter and I have ~36 PSI fuel pressure but it still wont start. Is 36 enough?

I'll pull the plugs next I suppose
Click to expand...

IIRC that is aprx correct PSI...are you getting fire? you might consider pulling the plastic timing belt cover back a little, you should be able to see if the belt is still there or not, if it jumped time like mine u can't tell unless u pull the valve cover
 
Check the IAC hose.. make sure it didn't work its way off.. if its hanging off, then your car will exhibit the same symptoms. (hold the idle higher and its fine.. but lower than about 2k or so and it starts diving for 0..)
 
i had this happen in my 01 taurus 24v one time, took like 2 hours to start, started fine after lots of feathering and never happend again.

this happend one time on my 3L, sputtered idled at like 500 sounds lasted 10 mintues then started back up and never happend again.... weird.
 
Ray said:
Check the IAC hose.. make sure it didn't work its way off.. if its hanging off, then your car will exhibit the same symptoms. (hold the idle higher and its fine.. but lower than about 2k or so and it starts diving for 0..)
Click to expand...

Ray, we're talking about a zetec. it doesnt have a hose going to the IAC. its like evrey other normal car and the air for the IAC goes through a passage in the TB.:laugh:

it sounds like you likely have fuel, check for spark. if you can pull the IAC, do so and clean it. also check the wiring harness' for cracked insulation and shorted wires.
 
cleaned the plugs (they were soaked in fuel), put on a junkyard IAC and it started and idles great. Went to drive it and it still misses/chugs at anything over 60% throttle or so. I'm nto sure if the IAC was the problem, or just a coincedence.

Hopefully it is enough to get me home tonight, and I'll do plugs/wires.
are there any common spots for intake leaks?
fuel pressure seams ok, but I'm going to run a lot of injector cleaner through it. Any recomended brand?
I guess I should also do a compression test :(
 
I ordered the wires last night. Also changed the plugs and added a ludacris amount of fuel injector cleaner.

Ran pretty well on the way to work today, so we'll see...
 
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