Yesterday I was driving along in my '88 going up a mountain at about 25 mph after running about 30 miles worth of errands, pleased with how well it was running. All the gauges were normal - oil pressure, voltage, trans temp, water temp. Suddenly there was a clanking sound and the engine quit. Also all the gauges went dead, not even the alt light was on, and the four ways didn't work. About the only electrical thing working now is the chime for door-open-key-in-ignition.
Battery and alternator are about a year old. Cables are fine at the battery and all belts are on. No fluids under car, no holes visible in block. Ground cable is a good.
But here is a really strange thing: my first thought with the clanking is that I threw a rod. I did an oil change a few months ago and knew that I could not be low on oil, but when I pulled the dipstick, most of the dipstick was missing. It's about 7 inches long and is very neatly sheared off. It was perfectly normal when I changed the oil. Is that weird or what? I've never seen anything like this in 40 years of messing with cars.
As for the electrical strangeness, is there some way that the starter could suddenly malfunctioned in such a way that it engaged while the car was running (clanking) and then shunted all the 12v to ground? I haven't been able to pull the starter yet or test the battery as it's raining and the car is outside. I also need to pull the oil pan to see if the clanking was a rod and to find the stray dipstick piece.
The only upside is that I was a 1/4 mile from home at the time and the AAA tow was free.
Ub
Battery and alternator are about a year old. Cables are fine at the battery and all belts are on. No fluids under car, no holes visible in block. Ground cable is a good.
But here is a really strange thing: my first thought with the clanking is that I threw a rod. I did an oil change a few months ago and knew that I could not be low on oil, but when I pulled the dipstick, most of the dipstick was missing. It's about 7 inches long and is very neatly sheared off. It was perfectly normal when I changed the oil. Is that weird or what? I've never seen anything like this in 40 years of messing with cars.
As for the electrical strangeness, is there some way that the starter could suddenly malfunctioned in such a way that it engaged while the car was running (clanking) and then shunted all the 12v to ground? I haven't been able to pull the starter yet or test the battery as it's raining and the car is outside. I also need to pull the oil pan to see if the clanking was a rod and to find the stray dipstick piece.
The only upside is that I was a 1/4 mile from home at the time and the AAA tow was free.
Ub
Though in your case it might just be the sudden loss of the electrical system stopping the motor combined with the vehicle being in motion at the time.
