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the heat is killing my car

E

echostatic

Turbooo
its really hot here in texas. before i turned the car off, i noticed the water temp. gauge was reading higher than usually. nothing drastic, but still coming up on the halfway mark. i went in a store and bought a lovely bonzai tree, and when i went out about 20 minutes later the car would not crank. i let it sit for about 20 minutes more, tried again, and it started no problem.

its done this before, but i dont know what i can do to cure it.
 
Almost sounds like heat soak.

The external air temp combined with your engine temp is soaking into your fuel lines and vaporizing the fuel in the lines before it gets to the intake.

Cheap solution...you can try insulating your fuel lines, or on a really hot day, just pop your hood and leave it cracked to try to get some air flow underneath...and try something like Wetter Water in the radiator.

Another more expensive solution...increase the pressure in your fuel system by going to a bigger fuel pump.
 
Fought this problem EVERYDAY last summer in dads GN.

Check the battery cables at the battery first. I know it sounds stupid but wiggle them and see if they are stripped. This is what happened on his GN. Contact was good enough to power the fuel pump and interior lights but not enough to crank.

We also replaced the starter and solenoid as this can be an issue.
 
+1 to that. When I got my car, it did the same thing. Not turning over after driving a few miles. I'm thinking that the heat was enough to wiggle the battery terminals loose a little. Anyway, I got some $2 replacement terminals and now she starts like a champ every time.
 
it was a gift for my mother >.>
its my parents 24th anniversary and she wanted one.
it was not a good time for it to refuse to start either, i was already pushing my lunch break. to take an extra half hour on top of already being late wasnt good.

ive replaced the starter/solenoid before, didnt help. it actually did this the first day i got the car. i had to leave it in a best buy parking lot overnight. i was pretty upset at that.

and i should be clearer, fuel psi was 48 when i checked it when it refused to start. i checked it later at home while the car was running normally and it was 42.
 
I guessing you have the 160 t stat in the car? I would give the cooling system a good flush and maybe try running distilled water and RMI-25. I've noticed big differences doing this in coolant temps. Worth a shot I guess! :)
 
echostatic said:
its really hot here in texas. before i turned the car off, i noticed the water temp. gauge was reading higher than usually. nothing drastic, but still coming up on the halfway mark. i went in a store and bought a lovely bonzai tree, and when i went out about 20 minutes later the car would not crank. i let it sit for about 20 minutes more, tried again, and it started no problem.

its done this before, but i dont know what i can do to cure it.
Click to expand...


Move to Buffalo. That will take care of the heat problem.:cold:
 
egh... no thank ya. too much car-related stuff goin on here.

plus, i dont like the idea of driving the tta on ice :explosion:
 
echostatic said:
egh... no thank ya. too much car-related stuff goin on here.

plus, i dont like the idea of driving the tta on ice :explosion:
Click to expand...


You luckey in the south. The car season is short up hear. But there is a cruise or show every night of the week june through september.
:beach:
 
and i remember washing my car at 2am in february in shorts and a t-shirt.

seems like every winter is more mild than the last. im not gonna complain though, it makes things awfully comfortable, at least till 100*+ summer days.
 
it happened again today, different this time. it was hot, as usual. this time it happened while i was on the freeway. i noticed when i gave it gas it stumbled at first. this progressively got worse until, while i was at about 2000rpm i gave it some gas but nothing happened. the rpms slowly dropped, unchanged by pumping the gas pedal. they just dropped until the car died. then, it wouldnt crank. it wouldnt crank for a good half hour after it died. fuel pressure was normal like last time.

im thinking about simply full out assaulting this problem. starter shield, insulated fuel lines and rmi-25...
 
Ever replace your TPS? When I first bought my car it cut out on me once at a toll booth. Started right back up but the problem was traced back to the TPS. Also had some bucking later on that was caused by a bad coil pack. Just my $.02.
 
echostatic said:
i noticed when i gave it gas it stumbled at first. this progressively got worse until, while i was at about 2000rpm i gave it some gas but nothing happened. the rpms slowly dropped, unchanged by pumping the gas pedal. they just dropped until the car died.
Click to expand...

Is this a new symptom? I'm thinking you have a hot soak coil pack and/or ignition module problem.

Coil packs are cheap,modules are not..


...
 
I've also seen this issue with a bad ECM. It over heats and freaks out like you describe. Also could be the orange ECM fuseable links coming off the battery going bad. Sometimes those look ok but have broken links inside them. Double check all your settings on the Scanmaster as well.
 
Another place to look is the fusable links that come off the starter. Why they put the main power distribution off the starter is betond me. Did you notice what your volt meter does when this happens?
 
i havent had a chance to mess with it but i went ahead and ordered a starter shield and some rmi-25. ive got to drive it an hour at a time at the end of the month when its gonna be really hot, so ill get to see how it does then :)
 
The cooling system is not going to make the car not start. The battery cables could be bad, but once the car was running they shouldn't affect it. Is it possible your ground connection on the passenger side by the battery is bad? When you say the car won't crank is the solenoid clicking when you turn the key?
 
i know the cooling system wont make the car not start, but one possibility was the starter getting too hot. when i turn the key in those conditions, nothing happens at all. its completely dead under the hood.

at any rate, i left the TTA with a guy who does a lot of work on them along with grand nationals for a speedometer recalibration. hes also going to look at why its dying and not starting back up, as well as why i never get more than 13.5mpg. hopefully ill have answers to all those questions before too long.
 
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