Slartibartfast Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 So I'm driving home from class today, and something doesn't feel right. It's bogging and the transfer case lever's vibrating. I make it home okay, pull into the driveway, and feel it vibrating... look down and it's at 200 rpm. Then it died and refused to start again. It was low on fuel, so we dumped some lawnmower gas in there, thinking maybe it ran out. That didn't fix it. We also tried unplugging the MAF, no change. My dad unhooked the gas line from the filter and doused himself, so it's got fuel pressure. He also pulled a wire off the dizzy and got sparks. The rotor is spinning, so, no broken belt. We finally got it to start through a long crank and flooring it. It sounded lopey when the starter was going, shakes like crazy (one hard shake at the end of each lope, if that makes sense) and when it did start it bogged like crazy, like it's only got three or four cylinders going, but it wouldn't keep going for long. It will rev past 3k, so it's not in limp home. I checked the computer, 55, no malfunction. No black smoke. It also backfires when it won't start. We think the timing may have slipped on the crank. We had the belt done very recently. It ran fine when we picked it up... Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahardb0dy Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Sounds like a timing problem, I would check the timing first. You checked for spark but do you have spark at all the plugs? You may want to also try to listen to the injectors to make sure they are all working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NissanNismoZ Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Wow, that really sucks..but if it's a consistent 'lope' its more than likely a timing problem. I'd still do what ahardb0dy mentioned and check for spark at all cylinders, and taking a long screwdriver to each injector, placing your ear to the screwdriver and checking for injector 'clicking' Hope you get it back to normal soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverton Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Seems like something that a bad catalytic converter would cause... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andreus009 Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 I third the timing check. Based on personally experience. Was driving to an off-road meet and the thing was running fine for about 20+miles. All of the sudden the engine just basically lost power and died. Coasted to the side of the road and looked under the hood. Couldn't find anything apparent. Cranked it over and it would just barely start and then sounded real sick. Got it back home and did some more checks but couldn't find it myself. Figured it was something major so I took it to the local dealer since i figure the have the better diagnostic equipment. Anyway...the short story is that the timing/distributor had some how gotten out by ALOT. So much so they asked me if I had had the distributor out for any reason. I hadn't. They reset the timing and it's been running fine ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
da0z Posted May 9, 2012 Share Posted May 9, 2012 Pull the distributor. Check to see if it don't have distroid it self up mine on my 98 did that. Friend took it off and turned it over and about a quarter chunk worth of metal chunks came out. We replaced it and now its fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madhornet Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 YEP DISTRIBUTOR FIRST THEN CHECK TO SEE IT THE TIMING BELT JUMPED ALSO THE WOODRUFF KEY ON THE CRANKSHAFT THAT KEEPS THE HARMONIC BALANCER IN TIME CAN GO BAD GOODLUCK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted May 10, 2012 Author Share Posted May 10, 2012 So, we took it to a shop. The guy messed around with it a bit, called us up, and said 'It's fixed! Dunno what was wrong, but I drove it five miles and it's fine now." My dad went down to try it out. It started rough, cleared up... and went a couple blocks before crapping out again. The guy did suggest something busted and moving around inside the catastrophic polluter, but we had that replaced about a year ago with a brand-new unit. My dad thought maybe a valve was stuck, or maybe it sucked up some crud from the tank (it was quite low) and somehow screwed up the injectors, but that doesn't explain the loping when it's trying to start (which seems to indicate loss of compression, or am I full of it here?). I've had it lower on gas before, but then I did off-road it a little (bump in the lawn lol) the weekend before this went down... might have stirred something up. Drove it maybe twelve miles between that and the onset of the issue. Unless my fuel filter is somehow internally ruptured, and the gunk is jamming up the injectors, I have no idea how that would cause this issue. I don't know what if anything the mechanic tried. The guy was going to drag it back to the garage, but I just drove through town and it was still sitting beside the road where it stalled out, unlocked, with the window rolled down. I buttoned it up but didn't bother trying to start it... the check engine light was on, though, so I checked for codes. Still 55. Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I need to start doing my own repair work... this has given me a good list of things to check on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkorahil Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 (edited) These symptoms sound like a distributor issue to me. When they go out they will cause back fire and it to run rough, then they will clear up for a while and then do it again untill it completely fails. It will also not want to crank sometimes and will crank up fine other times. Is there any backfire through the intake when you try to start it? Open the air box up and watch when you try starting it. IF there is any backfire through there that is your problem for sure! IF you can, try replacing the distributor on your truck with a known good one and see if it goes away. Edited May 10, 2012 by Alkorahil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madhornet Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 Distributor if it is coming and going Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted May 11, 2012 Author Share Posted May 11, 2012 (edited) Pathy's back home... the shop pulled and cleaned the fuel pump. Apparently the tank was nearly dry, the pump was full of crud, and this was severely limiting the fuel supply to the engine. My fault, then, for running it until the light came on. It did sit for a year (under a pine tree no less) under the PO, and I've heard that this tends to increase tank gunk. I did hear some backfiring when we were trying to start it before. I'll keep driving it, and if it starts doing the same stuff again, I'll pull the dizzy. (It's the crank sensor that goes bad, right? Or just buggered terminals/rotor?) Thanks for the help, guys... hopefully the problem's actually fixed this time. Edit: It hasn't acted up since... definitely the pump. They didn't even replace it, just cleaned it out. Edited June 27, 2012 by Slartibartfast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now