Poor thing died, could use some advice. (1 Viewer)

[Pigdog]

Single digit temps, driving to work, stopped to get a cup of coffee and fill up. Put 18 gallons in.
Get about a mile down the road and she starts bucking, was able to coast into work.

First thought, bad gas or water/ice in fuel. Poured some Heet in the tank. Let it sit for a couple of hours.

Engine will turn over, will occasionally try to start but nothing.

Try this off and on, trying not to kill the battery or burn out the starter.

It did briefly start after about an hour of trying, ran very rough and every warning light on the dash came on.

Had it towed to my mechanic.

They managed to get it inside the next day (said they started it and drove in but did say later it took multiple attempts). Called to tell me they thought it jumped time.

After an hour or so, called back and tell me the timing belt is still on the Mark's so now they think it is an electrical issue. Why? Well, it has a bunch of codes, (other than saying it had misfire codes, they didn't specify).

When I reiterated what happened before all this began, they still think it is an electrical problem. The last time they worked on it, they found that the previous owner had made some repairs to a couple of electrical plugs with JBWeld.

Am I wrong to to think that this is a fuel issue? I've told them they could do some diagnostic stuff for electrical issues, but they will have to prove it's not fuel related before I'll accept it.

 

[2001LC]

Need more info:
What DTC (codes) did they pull?
What electrical wire/housing have been JB welded?
What yr, how many miles rust bucket, supper clean, something in-between?
Is mechanic a Toyota or something like Midas?

 

[rustybucket]

Single digit temps, driving to work, stopped to get a cup of coffee and fill up. Put 18 gallons in.
Get about a mile down the road and she starts bucking, was able to coast into work.

First thought, bad gas or water/ice in fuel. Poured some Heet in the tank. Let it sit for a couple of hours.

Engine will turn over, will occasionally try to start but nothing.

Try this off and on, trying not to kill the battery or burn out the starter.

It did briefly start after about an hour of trying, ran very rough and every warning light on the dash came on.

Had it towed to my mechanic.

They managed to get it inside the next day (said they started it and drove in but did say later it took multiple attempts). Called to tell me they thought it jumped time.

After an hour or so, called back and tell me the timing belt is still on the Mark's so now they think it is an electrical issue. Why? Well, it has a bunch of codes, (other than saying it had misfire codes, they didn't specify).

When I reiterated what happened before all this began, they still think it is an electrical problem. The last time they worked on it, they found that the previous owner had made some repairs to a couple of electrical plugs with JBWeld.

Am I wrong to to think that this is a fuel issue? I've told them they could do some diagnostic stuff for electrical issues, but they will have to prove it's not fuel related before I'll accept it.

Always remember this when it comes to a vehicle showing multiple codes, the main electrical wire that provides power to all the sensors if there is a lot of sensors extracting power off at 1 wire. One sensor put have a short and it will pull the VCC 12 volts down. That will cause all of the other sensors to also output a low voltage are the computer will interpret that the sensor is defective. So a lot of trouble codes will show up at once.

 

[Pigdog]

Need more info:
What DTC (codes) did they pull?
What electrical wire/housing have been JB welded?
What yr, how many miles rust bucket, supper clean, something in-between?
Is mechanic a Toyota or something like Midas?

Codes: don't know, he only mentioned a misfire code and I didn't need a code reader for that. My code reader is in my daughter's boyfriend's car at the moment.

Not sure what connection had been repaired or when, but it ran fine before this. It's in the valley between cyclinder banks,near the front is all I know. It had 290,000 on it when I bought i t and about 307,000 on it now. But it was a super clean car when I purchased it and still is.

I've used this shop for over 20 years. I do generally trust them. The only time I ever had issues with them is when they got it in their head that when I took my old F250 with a Powerstroke in for a fuel leak, it needed a new harness because it had gotten soaked with diesel. $3000 later, it still had the fuel leak because they didn't believe me when I told them it just needed a new lift pump.

 

[ramangain]

Look up the thread by medtro on how to test if the EFI relay is the issue. If not, do you know the fuel pump history?

 

[Pigdog]

Look up the thread by medtro on how to test if the EFI relay is the issue. If not, do you know the fuel pump history?

I'd have to find the service history again but don't remember seeing that it had been changed before.
Previous owner took very good care of it, with the exception of timing belts and fixing a leak in the a/c system.

 

[rustybucket]

Codes: don't know, he only mentioned a misfire code and I didn't need a code reader for that. My code reader is in my daughter's boyfriend's car at the moment.

Not sure what connection had been repaired or when, but it ran fine before this. It's in the valley between cyclinder banks,near the front is all I know. It had 290,000 on it when I bought i t and about 307,000 on it now. But it was a super clean car when I purchased it and still is.

I've used this shop for over 20 years. I do generally trust them. The only time I ever had issues with them is when they got it in their head that when I took my old F250 with a Powerstroke in for a fuel leak, it needed a new harness because it had gotten soaked with diesel. $3000 later, it still had the fuel leak because they didn't believe me when I told them it just needed a new lift pump.

Make sure that you meet the manufacturer's time requirements us to change the spark plugs. If a spark plug becomes overly worn and the Gap becomes too large, the quail will have to put out higher voltage to make a spark. Problem is the secondary coil runs the risk of shorting out between coil windings if the secondary voltage exceeds the dielectric breakdown voltage. Don't risk ruining a coil on plug or cough just change the spark plugs or reduce the gap on the plugs

 

[medtro]

Look up the thread by medtro on how to test if the EFI relay is the issue. If not, do you know the fuel pump history?

If you have blinking security light (next to time display, not in gauge cluster) while engine is cranking, then please follow troubleshooting instructions in post #51.

 

[Mauser]

My sister bought an LX a few weeks ago. It would stall out and was hard to start. Would only throw misfire codes. Ended up being the wire going to the crank sensor had rubbed on the harmonic balancer and was shorting out.

 

[CloudCity]

My sister bought an LX a few weeks ago. It would stall out and was hard to start. Would only throw misfire codes. Ended up being the wire going to the crank sensor had rubbed on the harmonic balancer and was shorting out.

Good observation, we have seen wires on the front end not properly routed behind their guard which causes exactly what you said. Good thing is this can be eyeballed pretty easily from top and below.

 

[Pigdog]

Well after a week in the shop, a new crank position sensor and a ECM, the old girl is back in the road.

Now to let my poor wallet recover.

 

[flintknapper]

My sister bought an LX a few weeks ago. It would stall out and was hard to start. Would only throw misfire codes. Ended up being the wire going to the crank sensor had rubbed on the harmonic balancer and was shorting out.

Cam position sensor wire is another that gets poorly routed with timing belt changes, then rubs on the serpentine belt. Ask me how I know. (and no, I didn't route it that way) but someone did.