CAP and all you other mechanics....

[MaSonZ]

Driven down the road tonight, Doin the speed limit and all of a sudden I start decelerating while I had my foot on the accelerator. Thought maybe my foot took a break and I didn't realize it, put it to the wood and still no acceleration. Ok, maybe somehow it popped out of gear, hit the clutch put it in neutral and again gave it some gas to see if my rpms would rise, nothing. Ok....odd I say, next thing I know all my dummy lights come on, more odd. Then I lose pose steering. Extremely odd. Pull off to the side of the road to make sure it was still running, went to recrank it (it died), and it would turn over but wouodnt pop off. Ok, call a buddy who knows his stuff about cars who lived right around the corner from where I was, and he tried starting it. Nothing. He pops the hood and has me try it again. Heard some funky noises coming from my timing belt. Good possibility, without a timing belt im not getting the proper (if any) fuel in the right a/f mixture. Hook it to his truck and bring it back to his place where it rests right now and will rest until I get someone who can put it on a trailer and bring to my house. Assuming my timing belt is still in one piece and my timing is good what else could could cause this? Checked all my fluids and they're good, and it still cranks strong so I doubt its my alternator. Thoughts?

[5anders]

Check to see if you hear your fuel pump priming when you turn the key on, or better yet get under it and put your hand on it.  My Silverado fuel pump doesn't make any noise at all.  Or pull a spark plug out and see if its firing, cause it could also be your coil pack.  What kind of truck?

[MaSonZ]

Check to see if you hear your fuel pump priming when you turn the key on, or better yet get under it and put your hand on it.  My Silverado fuel pump doesn't make any noise at all.  Or pull a spark plug out and see if its firing, cause it could also be your coil pack.  What kind of truck?

50k on new spark wires and plugs, not ruling that out, but I doubt its my plugs. When it gets to my house ill find my fuel pump (if it isn't in the fuel tank), and have a look at that. Its a '00 Mazda protege. Pretty much a ford escort or something with mazda goodies.

[5anders]

Ah ok for some reason I thought I read truck somewhere.  Um I'm not sure exactly where the tank is in your car but I'd say the pump is in the tank.  It's more than likely under your back seat.  It's not going to be your plugs or wires because it would have started missing on 1 cylinder not just die.  But it will still tell you whether or not your coil is firing.  Or better yet pull the coil wire off the distributor and use a screw driver and set it close to a ground and see if it arcs.  Or hold it and get a buddy to turn it over  .

[AAJagerX]

Unfortunately, that does sound like a timing belt failure.  Hopefully your valve train didn't get damaged.  It's the 1.8 liter right?

[Masherbrum]

Sounds like the timing belt and that can get costly.....

[icepac]

What kind of car and what mileage on current timing belt?

[Maverick]

A question here. Did you hear any crunching or banging sounds when the car lost power? That is what would happen if the timing belt / chain failed. It would be the valve train being destroyed by the pistons in those cylinders where the valves stopped in the down position.

If it just died with no "bad" noises it is in one of three areas, electrical short, fuel or ignition. That means no spark or no gas getting to the combustion chambers.

Since it did turn over the battery didn't short out breaking the ignition circuit.

Losing the fuel pump would shut you down just as fast as if you turned off the key, assuming you have fuel injection. It would also do the same if the filter got fully clogged or if you got a bit of water in the last fill up. get a pressure gage, put it in the fuel line and check for fuel pressure when you turn the key on and when cranking. No fuel pressure, you have narrowed it down to one system.

Ignition is just removing the spark. You can check it by pulling a plug, hooking the wire back up to it and turning the motor over. If the plug sparks the ignition is good. They almost never lose timing anymore like the old points style distributor.

[Devil 505]

A question here. Did you hear any crunching or banging sounds when the car lost power? That is what would happen if the timing belt / chain failed. It would be the valve train being destroyed by the pistons in those cylinders where the valves stopped in the down position.

This is only the case on "interferance fit" engines, where the open valves extend beyond the uppermost travel of the piston. Propper timing keeps these components from contacting. Keep in mind, not all engines are "interferance fit". If the eingine of the OP is not interferance fit, it would just sputter and die if the timing belt failed.

[Traveler]

take it that you have gas?   That the tank contain gas and not water?

[Grayeagle]

Ya .. like Mav said.

Timing belt failure - expensive .. if crank turns and valves go up an down then timing belt = good.

Fuel shutoff - fairly minor unless its the pump in the tank. Pull off air intake an crank it, if you see fuel spray then fuel = good.
Even the new computer driven fuel injection marvels, if you pull off the ductwork and look into the MAF, there will be fuel spray mist you can see when it tries to start. (at least that's been my exp so far .. last one I actually worked on was a turbo trans am, had no fuel spray from the injectors ..fuel pump failed)

Ignition failure - fairly minor unless it's dealer only item. Pull plug, ground it against frame or metal, crank it an see if there's a spark. If spark, ignition = good.

-Frank aka GE

[jeep00]

It also sounds quite possibly like the serpentine belt going or gone. lights-alt and such not getting enough spin, then power steering getting heavy, pump not turning. then it dies, since the alternator is no longer powering it and the battery is no longer holding enough power to run it on it's own.

Just my .02, given no details on engine, year, make model. Good luck though.

Bob

[AHTbolt]

Its your timing belt, it wont make any noise when it breakes. Replaced the belt on my moms escort, I was driving it when it broke no noise, and when the timing chain broke on my bronco no noise replaced it and drove away.

[Tigger29]

It looks like the '00 Protege came with either a 1.6 or a 1.8 Liter engine, NEITHER OF WHICH IS AN INTERFERENCE ENGINE!

This is a good thing meaning that you can throw on a timing belt and that should take care of things as further engine damage shouldn't have occurred.  There are exceptions to this rule however - such as if you had a camshaft lock up or break, or a waterpump seize or another internal problem that caused the timing belt to break.

When the timing covers are off it's a good idea to check each pulley for play, noise and roughness.  It's generally good practice to replace the timing belt itself, its tensioner, any idler pulleys for the timing belt and the water pump while it's all apart.

[MaSonZ]

Unfortunately, that does sound like a timing belt failure.  Hopefully your valve train didn't get damaged.  It's the 1.8 liter right?

it is indeeda 1.8 liter.

Sounds like the timing belt and that can get costly.....

why i pray it isnt and hope to ruel that out damn quick  

What kind of car and what mileage on current timing belt?

its a 2000 Mazda Protege. around a year and half ago my original engine somehow got Diesel in my coolant resevoir (little odd if you ask me....) so i had to get another one. whether or not the timing belt was replaced when the engine was put in i havent a clue. the engine right now has around 140k on it. was put in around 100k, so assuming the mechanic changed it (like i kinda sorta hope he did...) the belt only has around 40k on it.

It also sounds quite possibly like the serpentine belt going or gone. lights-alt and such not getting enough spin, then power steering getting heavy, pump not turning. then it dies, since the alternator is no longer powering it and the battery is no longer holding enough power to run it on it's own.

Just my .02, given no details on engine, year, make model. Good luck though.

Bob

this would make sense...ruled that out rather quickly last night though however because i lost my serpentine belt mid winter and the only reason i knew is because my battery light xame on one night, and the next morning drivin to school right down the road from my dads i noticed my heat gauge for the engine was ALMOST to the over heated stage.... my dad looked at it all while i was in school and treated me to a new serpentine belt. ill check it though when i see my car next.

It looks like the '00 Protege came with either a 1.6 or a 1.8 Liter engine, NEITHER OF WHICH IS AN INTERFERENCE ENGINE!

This is a good thing meaning that you can throw on a timing belt and that should take care of things as further engine damage shouldn't have occurred.  There are exceptions to this rule however - such as if you had a camshaft lock up or break, or a waterpump seize or another internal problem that caused the timing belt to break.

When the timing covers are off it's a good idea to check each pulley for play, noise and roughness.  It's generally good practice to replace the timing belt itself, its tensioner, any idler pulleys for the timing belt and the water pump while it's all apart.

if this is all the case im not gonna be able to afford it i dont think.... 


thing is a money pit... bought it for $4000 cash money, and after reapirs (including my brothers deal on the front end a month ago) ive put almost 8,000 into it. for the 12k ive spent on it i could have had a damn fine running car....