Both Cars Broke Down Today

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Beest

I was siiting at work yesterday about an hour before leaving and decided to spend a minute and count my blessings, then on the way home the car dies, I was cruising on the highway and it just cut out, it's almost enough o make one belive in vengeful/ mischievous deities who fuck with us just for the lulz.

Apparently it's not the alternater but one of the cables attached to it,a nd the 'PC valve(?)and vacuum line, hey ho.



This is very interesting.
i) the first incidence of non starting was couple of weeks ago when it ran very low on fuel, we chalked this up to having run so low, and were also thinking that crap could have been sucked up from the bottom of the tank.
ii) waiting a bit has helped on the firt two occasions, taking ten minutes to make some calls and wait for the tow truck before giving it one last try, and voila.
iii) The station were we usually buy gas was closed for a day or two, it's less than a year old at a local supermarket, shopping there gets points for cheaper gas.

What are the chances the new station got water in it's fuel and had to be flushed out and we got a fill of that.

Hmmm....

You need a new fuel filter.

MIGHT be water, but water is denser than fuel, so would be at bottom of tank, where fuel pickup is located. But if you took in some water, it would have run like shit, but then passed through! The water doesn't KEEP giving you trouble. However, crud in the tank, also at the bottom and likely to be taken up with a very low tank would have given you trouble by restricting the fuel flow. But if you took in some crud, it would have given you trouble, then KEPT ON giving you trouble because the filter's doing its job--holding the crap out of the engine. You have a little crap dam in the line. Time for a new filter.

Trouble is, you might need two, because some systems have a prefilter (a filter, just coarser and upstream) in the freakin gas tank. That one is a bitch. You probably also have an inline filter somewhere NOT in the tank that can be replaced by you (or a shop, of course). This second kind can be had for just a few bucks. Even if this is not the "answer" you still get the benefit of a new filter, and the cost is very low. Or, you might have solved it.

I'd definitely change the fuel filter, based on what you've described. Good luck.

[Nirvana]

FORD gah sounds like fuel pump

[ZenGum]

Originally Posted by Beest

This is very interesting.
i) the first incidence of non starting was couple of weeks ago when it ran very low on fuel, we chalked this up to having run so low, and were also thinking that crap could have been sucked up from the bottom of the tank.
ii) waiting a bit has helped on the firt two occasions, taking ten minutes to make some calls and wait for the tow truck before giving it one last try, and voila.
iii) The station were we usually buy gas was closed for a day or two, it's less than a year old at a local supermarket, shopping there gets points for cheaper gas.

What are the chances the new station got water in it's fuel and had to be flushed out and we got a fill of that.

Hmmm....

Yeah, this sounds a lot like crap in the fuel line.

Originally Posted by BigV

You need a new fuel filter.

MIGHT be water, but water is denser than fuel, so would be at bottom of tank, where fuel pickup is located. But if you took in some water, it would have run like shit, but then passed through! The water doesn't KEEP giving you trouble.

I've heard that water cannot pass through a fuel filter and so will cause a blockage or partial blockage, which produces the symptoms described here. It tends to form droplets inside the fuel filter and the fuel just can't get through. The metho breaks the droplets up and they pass through the engine more or less harmlessly.

Well, that works down here, supposedly (I've never done the metho, but I've fixed cars once by giving the filter a good hard shake and once by replacing the filter). Mind you, our cars run on petrol, not gasoline, and it swirls into the tank clockwise, so lord knows what happens up where you are.