First "Break Down"...stupid car wash! (1 Viewer)

[daveIT]

Stupid car wash...not even an automatic one...

I was careful (I thought) not to really spray anything under the hood. I get done and the TuRDle won't start. I starter bumped it out of the way. I take off the negative battery cable and of course it splits in half. Is there an easy way to get the other end off? I'm having a hard time seeing how it connects.

No moisture on/around the dizzy, so I'm thinking maybe the cables just gave up the ghost.

I think I made it mad...I'm never washing it again.

 

[daveIT]

84 FJ60...what are the OEM part numbers I need to replace the +/- cables? I'd like to get one of those fancy cable sets, but I don't have time to wait on shipping. I'm hoping the Yota dealer has them in stock.

 

[daveIT]

Idea?

Can I just cut and crimp a new negative terminal on the wire to get it home and then order the HD from one of the guys selling cables here?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Definitely, yes. Get a generic terminal from your nearest parts store, cut off the old one and bolt on the new one.

 

[daveIT]

Sounded like a good idea, but thought it might just be the beer...glad someone confirmed. That's what I'll do tomorrow morning & resurrect the TuRD.

Those hard to cut off?

 

[daveIT]

So, would bad battery cables cause truck crank over, but not start? I've only seen it where they won't allow car to crank at all...

Anything else besides moisture in dizzy that water could cause starting issues with? Hopefully it sitting overnight would clear up moisture issues--if it's that...

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Bring some decent wire cutters with you and you should be able to get it.

So, would bad battery cables cause truck crank over, but not start? I've only seen it where they won't allow car to crank at all...

Anything else besides moisture in dizzy that water could cause starting issues with? Hopefully it sitting overnight would clear up moisture issues--if it's that...

If you got water into the carb, that wouldn't be good either. Can't think of much else that would cause it to not start.

 

[daveIT]

Hmm

Hmm...I didn't wash under the hood or anything...would washing the grille shoot water up that intake hose all the way to carb? I didn't hit the grille hard with water and didn't shoot it head on, I stayed at an angle.

Yeah, it shouldn't be too complicated!

 

[alaska60]

coil, igniter...........?

 

[daveIT]

Thinking more about it...it did start up at first , but stalled quickly after. So, maybe some water in the carb...how would I fix that? Starting fluid?

 

[Rusty84]

Marine terminals

I replaced my battery cable connectors with the marine grade clamps. They are way more stout and they don't fray at the wire connection either.

 

[daveIT]

Put new terminals on, pulled the dizzy cap and sprayed it with WD-40, tried some starting fluid...spent a couple hours screwing with it this morning and couldn't figure it out (more like I don't have time to continue screwing with it) so I asked the garage to take a look. Luckily it was in the same parking lot...

When you look in that glass window on the front of the carb that shows fuel level how high should it be?

I may desmog down the road...pain in the ass just getting the freaking air cleaner off with all those stupid hoses everywhere...I think TBI is in the near future as well! Need to make buying service manuals a priority as well...

 

[sl33py]

hey Dave - simple engines:

1 - fuel
2 - air
3 - spark

SO if your fuel sight glass is 1/2 full you should be ok. even a bit low it should still start and idle. a bad fuel pump may not feed enough to rev, but should start unless completely dead.
Can you get it going with starting fluid only? this eliminates fuel if doesn't start with fluid.

Air is pretty easy by the time you remove everything to spray starting fuel down the carb

spark - here's the harder one. If starting fluid doesn't work i'd check spark. Pull a plug and hold it against a ground (i usually use the engine block) while someone cranks it over - see spark?

check your connections - cables seated ok, not broken inside sleeve of cable. I use dielectric grease to keep them sealed up. if no spark still check your dizzy cables are all seated, then i'd try coil and ignitor. swap and test... Like i said this is the tough one.

try a new cap and rotor if something doesn't look right. Cables if they are worn out assuming you can afford to throw parts at it. I look at it as a poor man tune up...

clean your contacts on battery, check your batt cables for bad sections (inflexible or crumble/cracking). Good batt cables are a nice investment especially if you want to run aux stuff later (winch, lights, stereo,etc).

keep on plugging away - it'll sort itself out. I'm sure folks will have a couple other suggestions - hopefully this helps. I just try to break it down into smaller "bite size" pieces i can troubleshoot until i figure it out.

I had a similar issue few months back on my truck after it sat too long. was going crazy thinking my newish batt died. swapped in a spare - no dice (crap another bad batt?!?)... nope just corroded terminals. scrubbed 'em and fired right up. D'oh!

HTH - GL!

 

[daveIT]

hey Dave - simple engines:

1 - fuel
2 - air
3 - spark

SO if your fuel sight glass is 1/2 full you should be ok. even a bit low it should still start and idle. a bad fuel pump may not feed enough to rev, but should start unless completely dead.
Can you get it going with starting fluid only? this eliminates fuel if doesn't start with fluid.

Air is pretty easy by the time you remove everything to spray starting fuel down the carb

spark - here's the harder one. If starting fluid doesn't work i'd check spark. Pull a plug and hold it against a ground (i usually use the engine block) while someone cranks it over - see spark?

check your connections - cables seated ok, not broken inside sleeve of cable. I use dielectric grease to keep them sealed up. if no spark still check your dizzy cables are all seated, then i'd try coil and ignitor. swap and test... Like i said this is the tough one.

try a new cap and rotor if something doesn't look right. Cables if they are worn out assuming you can afford to throw parts at it. I look at it as a poor man tune up...

clean your contacts on battery, check your batt cables for bad sections (inflexible or crumble/cracking). Good batt cables are a nice investment especially if you want to run aux stuff later (winch, lights, stereo,etc).

keep on plugging away - it'll sort itself out. I'm sure folks will have a couple other suggestions - hopefully this helps. I just try to break it down into smaller "bite size" pieces i can troubleshoot until i figure it out.

I had a similar issue few months back on my truck after it sat too long. was going crazy thinking my newish batt died. swapped in a spare - no dice (crap another bad batt?!?)... nope just corroded terminals. scrubbed 'em and fired right up. D'oh!

HTH - GL!

I've wrenched on lots of cars before....cut my teeth on 74 Dodge Dart, 65 Dodge D100, 67 Olds Cutlass, so I know the basics.

Sight glass is at half, carb squirts gas when I work throttle linkage

No go with starting fluid

I put brand new terminals (+ and -) on it since the negative fell apart when I removed it yesterday to start troubleshooting. Battery tests good on my charger.

Cap and rotor are new...I found the rubber cover in my spare parts box this AM, so that will go on when I get the rig back...I saw spark when my buddy cranked it

So I have everything...did washing it short something out...

I just didn't have time...too much crap going on, I had work obligations and I have like 20 pages of papers to write on literature and other crap for college this weekend, so I figured $100 at the garage was worth it. Pisses me off as I like to fix my own stuff whenever possible.

Any of the emissions crap that would cause it to turn over and not start? I'm not too familiar with those systems.

I do plan to order one of those fancy, HD cable sets...I'd just like to get it back to my driveway.

 

[sl33py]

Sorry man - didn't mean to imply that you needed to learn the basics. Just wanted to see if breaking it down into smaller parts would help make it easier to diagnose.

yeah - sometimes it's money well spent. I like to fix stuff myself whenever possible, but sometimes there just isn't enough time.

Did you have spark? if the starting fluid didn't work i'd suspect spark - like Alaska said coil or ignitor? Plugs wet (getting fuel?)? a bit of starting fluid into the cylinders can eliminate even a blocked up carb...

What did the shop say?

 

[daveIT]

Sorry man - didn't mean to imply that you needed to learn the basics.

I didn't take it like that, sorry if it sounded that way! I appreciate all the help.

I had spark when I checked. Checked the usual suspects with my mutimeter and didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

As for what did the shop say, they said "we should get to it tomorrow"...

Glad I haven't sold my 89 pickup yet... ...don't want to be riding my bicycle!

 

[daveIT]

So, heard from shop. They are saying the ignition coil is testing bad and that the distributor is testing bad. They said cap & rotor are showing wear and there were some loose pieces of metal inside the cap.

Would washing my car make both the coil and distributor go bad somehow or is it just a coincidence that all this happened right after I washed it? I don't want to go wash it again and have something weird like this happen again.

Does one of those items going bad usually take out the other?

I asked for them to install OEM parts, so I won't have it back until Friday...

 

[sl33py]

get a parts quote first - they may charge the hell out of you for OEM. You could limp along with a Autozone coil for at least a few days... Cap and rotor are easy, but see what they want to charge you for the OEM coil...

my .02, but i'm kinda cheap bastard sometimes...

 

[daveIT]

Yeah, they told me $125 for ignition coil and $540 for a distributor (which includes cap and rotor) and I laughed at them. I told them I would order it from Toyota (with my TLCA discount) and have it delivered to their shop (they won't let me buy it and drop it off).

I'd love to replace the stuff myself, but my mother-in-law is in town and I have my finals week of college (and I'm taking 3 classes), so I just don't have the time and I'd have to tow it back to the house.

I did some last minute searching today and saw some posts where trucks would crank but not start and it turned out to be fusible links, so I checked those at lunch time, but they test good.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Hold the phone. Didn't you say that the cap and rotor were new before this car wash? They are taking you for a ride man, the cap and rotor shouldn't die anywhere near that fast.