Mark Petrush

Hello all,

I've got a bunch of woe with my 1986 (US spec.) 5000 S. The car has a 5
cyl. NA engine and an automatic shift transmission. It basically just lost
power on the expressway, and ended up coming home on the flatbed.

I have lots of spark- I checked and the camshaft and distributor and both
are turning- and I got zapped at the plug terminal while a friend was
cranking the starter, so the ignition is not the prime suspect. There is
fuel pressure at the downstream side of the filter in the engine bay (at
least gasoline squirts out pretty good when you crack open the fitting- I
don't have a way to measure the pressure, though).

There's plenty of fuel in the tank (I opened the top and looked in), but the
car turns over and starts for about half a second and then dies. I pulled,
checked and reinserted all the fuses and relays in the engine bay and tried
the spare fuel pump relay from the Rabbit, and the symptoms are the same.

I had changed the fuel tank last year because it was rusting inside the
seam. Since then the car had been running well, and the plugs, wires, cap
rotor and fuel filter were recently changed.

Any ideas?

Regards, Mark Petrush.

horton

Things to suspect:
Low fuel pressure/low fuel flow - inspect flow pattern at an injector.
Air leak - major air leak upsets air/fuel pressure - causes lack of power
and stalling
Cam timing off - belts have been known to jump teeth and the key on the
crank cog often breaks off if the crank bolt isn't tightened up enough or if
loctite is omitted.

Check spark (and timing of spark), fuel, and valve timing.

Paul
paul@heneghan.co.uk

"Mark Petrush" <mpetrush@frontiernet.net> wrote in message
news:G7zZa.8036$gq2.2199@news02.roc.ny...
> Hello all,
>
> I've got a bunch of woe with my 1986 (US spec.) 5000 S. The car has a 5
> cyl. NA engine and an automatic shift transmission. It basically just
lost
> power on the expressway, and ended up coming home on the flatbed.
>
> I have lots of spark- I checked and the camshaft and distributor and both
> are turning- and I got zapped at the plug terminal while a friend was
> cranking the starter, so the ignition is not the prime suspect. There is
> fuel pressure at the downstream side of the filter in the engine bay (at
> least gasoline squirts out pretty good when you crack open the fitting- I
> don't have a way to measure the pressure, though).
>
> There's plenty of fuel in the tank (I opened the top and looked in), but
the
> car turns over and starts for about half a second and then dies. I
pulled,
> checked and reinserted all the fuses and relays in the engine bay and
tried
> the spare fuel pump relay from the Rabbit, and the symptoms are the same.
>
> I had changed the fuel tank last year because it was rusting inside the
> seam. Since then the car had been running well, and the plugs, wires, cap
> rotor and fuel filter were recently changed.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Regards, Mark Petrush.
>
>

dave

>From: "horton" horton@beeb.net
>Date: 8/14/03 7:07 PM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: <bhh88l$pcf$1$8300dec7@news.beeb.net>
>
>Things to suspect:
>Low fuel pressure/low fuel flow - inspect flow pattern at an injector.
>Air leak - major air leak upsets air/fuel pressure - causes lack of power
>and stalling
>Cam timing off - belts have been known to jump teeth and the key on the
>crank cog often breaks off if the crank bolt isn't tightened up enough or if
>loctite is omitted.
>
>Check spark (and timing of spark), fuel, and valve timing.
>
>Paul
>paul@heneghan.co.uk

I agree with Horton. check the fuel delivery. You could pull an injector and
see if it sprays while cranking over engine.

But a bad ignition switch could give you a spark while cranking over engine,
but then when you release the key...electricity could be cut off.

Also twice I have seen an engine that actually starts for a few seconds and
then dies due to just the engine.
Once it was the oil pressure pumping up the hyd lifters and then no
compression.

Another time it was bad, not missing, teeth on the timing belt. The teeth were
compressible and would cause the timing of the camshaft to change. So
sometimes it would be on time and other times not.


later,
dave
Reminder........
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way,
when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their
shoes. Frieda Norris