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Car quit last night, what's the problem??


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ea82 wagon. has about a little over 300k on it.

 

was driving home last night, and the car just suddenly quit. Thought I heard a small pop, and it just died. Thought at first I lost a belt, but they were intact. Car tries to turn over, and sounds fine for the first second, then it sounds like the starter isn't quite catching (my second thought for what may have happened).

 

When this all happened, I was on the highway doing about 65 (maybe a little quicker), but by the time I stopped (fairly quickly), the engine was dead, no idle at all. Just went from chugging along to dying.

 

My thought this morning may have been timing belts or something distributor related, but the fact that it's trying to turn over a least a little kind of nixes the disty...

 

Any ideas???

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Originally posted by Meeky Moose

could have chewed the teeth off the drivers side t-belt.. which would throw it outa time, still let it sorta try to start, but not ever fully start..

 

pull the t-belt cover and check it out.. pretty easy to do..

 

it actually seems like it may be the passenger side, but without looking, I can't be certain. If I'm sitting in the car and try to start it, it does rock to the driver side slightly... I guess I'll take some tools and try and check it out...

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pop the disty cap and see if it turns with the motor. if not, broken belt

 

if it does, then line things up to see if its in time, to see if the belt slipped

 

i had a belt strip some teeth once, crank would turn, but not the cam.

 

the car will still run if the passenger belt is broken, but only on 2 cyl

 

the first time i experienced a broken belt, on a friends car, we cranked and cranked, the car would ALMOST start, but that is trying to run on compression and dieseling.

 

also, pop off the outer belt covers and inspect the belts, see if they are broke, or if the cams turn too

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Originally posted by MilesFox

pop the disty cap and see if it turns with the motor. if not, broken belt

 

if it does, then line things up to see if its in time, to see if the belt slipped

 

i had a belt strip some teeth once, crank would turn, but not the cam.

 

the car will still run if the passenger belt is broken, but only on 2 cyl

 

the first time i experienced a broken belt, on a friends car, we cranked and cranked, the car would ALMOST start, but that is trying to run on compression and dieseling.

 

also, pop off the outer belt covers and inspect the belts, see if they are broke, or if the cams turn too

 

it almost seems like this is the case. It would just be running off compression and dieseling...

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The small screw holding the rotor in place is still tight isn't it?

You do know the screw I'm talking about - correct?

 

If when cranking to start you see the oil pressure gauge move, this will tell you the driveside belt is still there.

This trick is oft forgotten - the belt also drives the oil pump.

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Originally posted by Skip

The small screw holding the rotor in place is still tight isn't it?

You do know the screw I'm talking about - correct?

 

If when cranking to start you see the oil pressure gauge move, this will tell you the driveside belt is still there.

This trick is oft forgotten - the belt also drives the oil pump.

 

my oil pressure sender hasn't worked in ages... I didn't have any tools or anything with me last night, so I couldn't check it. It seems like you're talking about the disty screw? I think I have a pretty decent idea of what you're talking about, and will check that.

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Not the disty screw the rotor screw. This is a small copper/brass colored screw that keeps the rotor from turning inside the disty.

 

Pop the cap and see if the rotor spins and then if that is OK try to start the car and verify that the rotor turns with the motor.

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Originally posted by Qman

Not the disty screw the rotor screw. This is a small copper/brass colored screw that keeps the rotor from turning inside the disty.

 

Pop the cap and see if the rotor spins and then if that is OK try to start the car and verify that the rotor turns with the motor.

 

right, that's what I thought he meant. holds the rotor in place basically? I will check it when I get a chance, which hopefully will be in a day or two...

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