Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting HELP - died while driving...

All,

some help appreciated. scenario:

drove last night to do a few errands. 2 hours later tried to start her and she would turn over, run for 10 sec then die. battery and check engine light turn on. checked visually, everything seemed fine.

this am, started right up and drove fine. after 10 min of driving, just died. same lights on. waited 10 min on the side of the road, started up again and took me home. now sitting in my driveway.

figured not starter, ignition since she started up. would the battery or alternator be an issue?

any hints please....

daniel

fuel issue?

you said the cel is on?
does it stay on when the car is running?
the CEL will be on when the engine is off and the key is in the ON posistion.
if its on while engine is running, get it read at autozone.

could be a fuel delivery issue since you have another fuel pump delivering extra fuel (IIRC...that's the case with S/C applications)
either the FPR going bad, or fuel pump dying.

can you hear the fuel pump prime?

Also - be sure the chip installed with the S/C is in there nice and tight.

One more thing - when is it dying? Is it when your car is idleing, just driving with your foot on the throttle, hitting clutch, hitting brake? Just trying to find out what kind of driving action the car is going through when it stalls.

sorry if i was confusing in my last post.

basically - to check to see if the fuel pump is primeing the system, do the following:

turn key to the on position. you should hear a "humm" sound coming from the back of the car for about 2 seconds. it should then stop "humm"ing. If you can't hear it humming, the fuel pump is not primeing the fuel system. in this case, it could be a) bad Fuel Pressure Regulator b) bad PCM c) fuel pump d) fuel filter

if the humming is constantly going, my Haynes manual states its almost certainly a problem with the PCM. I had that issue very recently and I replaced the fuel filter (easy and cheap and it was due anyway) and check the Superchip (it was duct taped down but I was still able to move it a bit). Car is running fine so far.

hope that helps.

thanks Hugo,

ok, when I turn it over, no CEL.

I followed your directions, and when I turn it to the on position, I hear what sounds like an electric motor for a few secs then it goes away. is that the fuel pump? its not a humming, but more like a window rolling down for a sec (but its not the window obviously)

other ideas?

d

d,
Check all the vacuum lines and air lines. A small leak in the air hose that goes to the EGR will do that. When the engine is hot and this happens it makes me think that a vacuum line may have a leak that expands with temperature. just a guess. Good Luck!

bstone,

I'm mechanically limited (to say the least). how do you check the lines? visually or with some type of sensor?

thanks,

d

I would visually inspect the lines. My brother (ase certified mechanic) does it differently. He lets a car idle and sprays starting fluid at the vacuum line. If you hear the cars engine burp it has inhaled the fluid into the intake and burned it. I never tried that and it sounds dangerous. Personally I would spend the time to inspect all of them. Also, check that the MAF is clean. And double check all electrical conections in the engine, coil pack and all harnesses. You may want to take the upper off so you can get to all the vacuum lines including the line that goes to the fuel pressure regualator.

You might also consider a weak battery or altenator. My car for a while was dying, but would come back to life and then finally died altogether. Turned out to be the altenator.
Good luck

daniel,

yes - that is the fuel pump sound. sorry if "humming" was a bad term..lol.
Sounds like the fuel pump is primeing the system as long as the sounds goes away.

i would have to agree with B....check vacuum's.

Do you know the two black lines that go into the upper intake manifold? Those two are some vaccuum lines you can follow. Be sure that none are cracked or obviously wrong with them.

To check to see if your EGR system is ok, you can go to AutoZone and pick up a "Vaccuum Pump" with their loaner tool program. It'll cost you 35 bucks for a deposit, but as long as you bring it back, they give the money back.

To use that, just take the little green vacuum line that goes into the EGR valve (UFO looking thing next to the UIM - next to the throttle body) and unplug it. Take the vacuum pump and place it on the EGR and start the car. While the car is idleing, squeeze the handle until you get about 10" of vacuum. The car should stumble and ALMOST die...and continue to run that way. If you see the gauge stay at 10" of vacuum, then there is no leak in the EGR system. If it goes down, you've got a leak somewhere.

Very easy to do and check. I just did it a few days back, first time I've ever used a vacuum gauge. lol.

Also, did you ever take care of your TPS problem?

One more thing - driving style. When the car died while driving, what was the engine doing? idleing? reving high? etc...

AND....are there any abnormal sounds coming from the engine bay such as higher than normal "Hissing" or anything...

Oh....here are a few more things you can "visually" check.

1) Check the vacuum lines are hooked up to the UIM as described above.

2) Check the little green vacuum line that is hooked up to the EGR Valve.

3) Check to see if the Fuel Pressure Regulator vacuum hose is hooked up - You might have to remove the throttle body to check it (I can see my FPR but not the actual line hooked up to it in my car w/ everything connected).

4) Be sure the two hoses that are connected to the DPFE sensor. That's located right under the EGR valve attached the actual block - in your case, its most likely an aluminum box that almost looks like an oversized cable splitter. An electrical connector and two hoses connect to it...(I doubt they're off cause I'm pretty sure they would case a CEL to come on while driving)

The next time the car stalls, be sure to check to see if the fuel pump is primeing it correctly. On my car, it was working ok when the car was running fine. But when the car stalled, the pump acted up BIG TIME (by hearing the noises!!)

Man...just drive down here to Woonsocket and I'll see if I can find something wrong. lol.