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walkerman
Samba Member
Joined: June 21, 2005
Posts: 264
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 Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 7:26 am Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| I once had the same problem. Turns out there was some rust INSIDE the fuel tank. It would settle to the bottom when the car was sitting. When driving, it would muck around inside the tank and clog the fuel line so no gas would leave the tank. After sitting, the gunk would settle to the bottom, and then the car would start and run for awhile. Took a new tank to solve the problem. |
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bhartwell59
Samba Member
Joined: December 28, 2014
Posts: 791
Location: dallas, tx
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 7:41 am Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| redxxrdr wrote: |
Do you have a fuel filter installed?
I had a 1500 beetle that did something simular.
It ran great for a while, then shuddered and shut off.
It finally turned out to be a clogged filter. |
Hmmm, I'm liking the clogged fuel filter as a possible culprit. Happened to me once. Besides it's an easy/cheapo thing to diagnose and fix.
_________________
'74 Zambezi green Ghia vert, autostick, 101k
'87 Jeep Wrangler, 4.2, 330k |
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redxxrdr
Samba Member
Joined: May 07, 2014
Posts: 37
Location: South West Georgia, USA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:25 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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I will also add a story about why it's amazing that I still live.
Dad drove Renault Dolphines to work at a paper mill.
Cheap and disposable.
It seems that one day, I insisted on a 3rd or 4th hotdog. I may have been 5 years old.
I was warned that I MUST finish the dog and was sent outside.
A few days later, dad was driving on i4 through Orlando when the car stalled.
Pulled off the road, it would not restart. He caught a ride to work and returned that night to find that it started and ran great.
This went on for months.
Finally, dad and my grandfather pulled the tank and dumped it.
And there they found 1/2 of a hotdog.
It seems that Renault did not put a filter sock over the fuel pickup.
My piece of dog would float around until the fuel level was just right, and it would be sucked down onto the pickup. Instant no gas.
By the time the day was over, the suction had bled off, and the little dog had floated away.
So if the filter doesn't fix it, I would pull the tank and check it.
I would also inspect the filter sock.
It's amazing what gets in the tank of a old car.  |
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garrett1021
Samba Member
Joined: March 21, 2016
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:38 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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Hey Everyone quick upate!
(Also thank you for all the awesome advice!)
If I had more time I would be checking each of these things ASAP! Unfortunately I am going piece by piece here.
I had an issue with my tire when I went to try and get it patched, they say that there is a problem with the wheel (maybe rust) and that they tried to put a new valve stem in and it is still slowly leaking 
Anyway in the mean time I managed to get the leaky wheel on and take it for a spin in my neighborhood.
If you can guess, the car drove perfect, perfect, perfect, and then boom it started acting up.
I was looking intently for any signs. It started semi-slow. First it came about with a slight hesitation when pressing the gas hard, almost like it took an extra second to respond. This slowly grew more noticeable until every time I pressed the gas it would give me a lurching hesitation.
Eventually the car died, and I quickly ran up front and popped the gas cap off. I heard no pressure being relieved. In fact I heard nothing at all!
I left the cap off, and started the car. Of course it started back up perfectly fine!
I drove and it was like I had started the drive all over again. It went great and then the hesitation eventually crept in.
Although this time the car never died. I only drove straight back home however, perhaps if I kept driving it would have. It was very lurchy however.
By the time I turned onto my road, it was soooo close to being dead. Every press of the gas was horrible, but it kept on trucking. I parked at my house for about 2 minutes and then drove to the end of my road. It had no issues except the slight hesitation on pressing the gas hard.
It seems the issue is persistent no matter if the cap is on or not. |
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garrett1021
Samba Member
Joined: March 21, 2016
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:40 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| Also if the fuel filter you are talking about is the one accessible from the engine bay, it is brand new. There's no way its clogged |
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c21darrel
Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2009
Posts: 8211
Location: San Dimas
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garrett1021
Samba Member
Joined: March 21, 2016
Posts: 14
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:52 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| Now that I think of it, the car smells very strongly of gas. I don't know if this is from messing with the carb tuning, or from the exhaust, but I wanted that fact out there! |
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Brassneck
Samba Member
Joined: November 17, 2012
Posts: 420
Location: Seattle
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 3:52 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| c21darrel wrote: |
All the suggestions brought up are good and your possible culprit. You need to start eliminating all the suggestions 1 by 1. Looks like you can cross vent problem off the list.
Could still be
blockage in the tank
filter issue
coil
condenser
fuel pump issue,debris, the rod can bind
double check fuel lines for cracks
did i miss any? |
Exactly what I was thinking...I'd look at swelling fuel lines, clogged screen in the tank, fuel pump first... |
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kennethdlt
Samba Member
Joined: April 17, 2015
Posts: 12
Location: Santa Rosa Ca
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 4:05 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| theghiagirl wrote: |
Have you tested the coil?
I've had issues where it seemed to be fuel related, but ended up being the coil. My car would drive just fine, but then after a few miles it would sputter and die out. The car would start up again after the coil cooled off. |
I second this. I had random stalling problems and it turned out to be my coil and ignition system. |
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Starbucket
Samba Member
Joined: April 30, 2007
Posts: 4025
Location: WA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 4:21 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| If you smell gas you got a cracked rubber hose, Tank bottom to body or body to engine compartment. You are not getting enough fuel to fill the bowl and you are running on the idol jet and accelerator pump. When it stops next have a screw driver with you and take off the carb top (leave the gas line on) and see if the bowl is very low= starved for gas, bad fuel pump or an air leak from tank to motor, or clogged tank filter. |
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fes
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2011
Posts: 999
Location: Prince Edward Island
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| Posted: Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:39 am Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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Please remove your fuel sender and investigate, It's a 5 minute job, Use a strong light or you can rent one of those little cameras that are used to look inside duct work etc.
_________________
'68 Campmobile-Pedro
'15 Golf-Stella Blau
'56 Oval-The Turd (for now) |
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AuroraGhia
Samba Member
Joined: July 12, 2013
Posts: 18
Location: Aurora, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:22 am Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| I have had similar problems with a sticky needle and seat valve in the carb-- it determines how much fuel ends up in the carb bowl along with the float. Make sure you have the correct spacer washer installed, and that the retainer clip for the float is in the correct orientation. |
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Starbucket
Samba Member
Joined: April 30, 2007
Posts: 4025
Location: WA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 5:14 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| Geee I hope we find out who got it right or if it was a loose trans to body ground strap. |
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wrackman
Samba Member
Joined: December 29, 2015
Posts: 8
Location: whangarei NZ
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| Posted: Thu Mar 31, 2016 12:24 am Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| If its using a original fuel pump make sure the plunger is the correct length it may have the short one in it |
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aero3113
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2013
Posts: 196
Location: Setauket, NY (Long Island)
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| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2016 8:33 am Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| It sounds like the fuel pickup in the tank is getting blocked off. I had a similar issue and it turned out there was no screen in the tank. There was a pice of plastic parts tag floating around and would get sucked to the fuel line cutting off the engine. Once I removed the plastic parts tag I had no more issues. |
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aero3113
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2013
Posts: 196
Location: Setauket, NY (Long Island)
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| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2016 8:34 am Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| I also installed a new fuel screen! |
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aero3113
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2013
Posts: 196
Location: Setauket, NY (Long Island)
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| Posted: Sat Apr 02, 2016 8:34 am Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| It sounds like the fuel pickup in the tank is getting blocked off. I had a similar issue and it turned out there was no screen in the tank. There was a pice of plastic parts tag floating around and would get sucked to the fuel line cutting off the engine. Once I removed the plastic parts tag I had no more issues. |
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bhartwell59
Samba Member
Joined: December 28, 2014
Posts: 791
Location: dallas, tx
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| Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:30 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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hey garrett... ever find out what the issue was?
_________________
'74 Zambezi green Ghia vert, autostick, 101k
'87 Jeep Wrangler, 4.2, 330k |
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SchnuppiePup
Samba Member
Joined: November 07, 2014
Posts: 67
Location: San Jose, California
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| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:08 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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Sounds exactly like a fuel starvation issue.
| garrett1021 wrote: |
| Also if the fuel filter you are talking about is the one accessible from the engine bay, it is brand new. There's no way its clogged |
You'd be surprised. A brand new fuel filter in my '64 coupe clogged, and the car displayed these exact symptoms.
This all happened to me YESTERDAY, so it's fresh in my mind.
I'm driving in the boonies with my dog on the first long trip in this car in 3 years. It sat in the garage that long while getting a top-end engine rebuild and other (restoration) work. We were on an overnight (camping) shakedown cruise. The car started slowing, sputtering, running fine for a bit, sputtering, etc., until it totally died. I thought I was out of gas because the fuel gauge looked stuck... it had only moved maybe 1 mm.
No cell phone service out here. I recalled, back at the campsite, that the filter looked like it contained a bit of dirt. Sure enough, it was now plenty dirty. I didn't have a spare. I shook some dirt out of it into a bowl, but it still looked dirty. Rust, obviously. I thought I'd run enough fuel through the fuel pump back at home to check for any water and rust. Maybe the bumpy road dislodged an old layer of sediment in the bottom of the fuel tank. Anyway, I happened to have a big empty used-oil jug, and noticed that the crankcase breather hose was large enough that the fuel line would squeeze into it. So, I flipped the filter around, connected up the lines to backflush into the jug, and cranked the engine. The engine actually idled.
About a cup of the nastiest brown fuel you can imagine went into the jug. Exactly one car passed me during all this time.
The Ghia ran fine afterward. For 30 miles. I had to repeat the process again next to Interstate 580, after which it ran fine. For another 30 miles. My third and last backflush was on Interstate 680, but I was then only a few miles from home, where I have plenty of spare filters.
Yes, many lessons learned. BTW, I'm new to the ACVW world, which explains all the newbyness. And, yes, the filter in the engine compartment was attached with new hoses and clamps and is only temporary anyway; it's getting moved elsewhere soon, although I'm kinda glad it was visible and accessible. I also should check if any screen in the fuel pump is dirty.
_________________
Better a life-long learner than a life-long know-it-all.
1964 Ghia coupe
1968 Honda CT 90
1980 Honda CT 110 |
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eashc
Samba Member
Joined: April 10, 2012
Posts: 340
Location: Ventura County
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| Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 10:42 pm Post subject: Re: HELP, cant drive my car more than a few miles without dying! |
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| Brassneck wrote: |
| c21darrel wrote: |
All the suggestions brought up are good and your possible culprit. You need to start eliminating all the suggestions 1 by 1. Looks like you can cross vent problem off the list.
Could still be
blockage in the tank
filter issue
coil
condenser
fuel pump issue,debris, the rod can bind
double check fuel lines for cracks
did i miss any? |
Exactly what I was thinking...I'd look at swelling fuel lines, clogged screen in the tank, fuel pump first... |
More more thought. The choke my be closing and starve the motor.
A coworkers son once had a similar problem. Turns out he had a plastic bag in the tank. After a few minutes of driving it would get sucked into the lines. Then once the car died, it would float back to the top. Just a thought. Keep searching |
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