coug. died on the freeway

[mattie]

OK, I'm hoping that there's a guru out there that can help me solve this one.

To start with, before this happened, I was on my way to school ( also on the freeway, doin' about 65-70) and the car started to gerk ( like it want'ed to die, but did'nt) so I backed off a little, and it stopped. Then I gunned it to see if there was really a problem or not. nothing happened, so kept on going to school. After I got out of school, and was on my way home, iit did the gerking thing again, but this time, it did on and off for abut a quarter of a mile. ( this time it was a little more severe) Then out of nowhere the motor shut off. I tyied to give the old drop the clutch in a lower gear roll start, but nothing. The motor completely died. When I had it on the side of the road, right after i stopped, I tried to start it up again. The first time I turned the key, I held it there for a second, and at first it didn't do anny thing, then out of nowhere it turned over, but nothing happened, it just turned over. ( The motor was turning over really strong too.) I turned the key off, thhen tyied it again, and this time nothing happened at all. Thhe power was working, but the motor wasn't working, iit was turning over, there wasn't even the sound of the starter clicking or anything. It was dead.

I had it towed home, and the next day I run through all the fuses and relays. Nothing. They were all fine.

Yes the fuel pump could have gone out at that exact moment. ( the car has 99,000+ miles on it) but the motor should still turn over reguardless. I fell that iit has something to with the starter, buut the fuses and relays are fine.

The only quuestion i have is. Is there some sort of actuating wire that goes to the starter the make it respond to the ignition, that might have fallen off or something. If so does anyone Know where to look for it, or have a pic I can look at.

This thing has thrown me for a loop, I pretty goo with car shat, but this is a bit out of my legue. Help please

[PizzaSlut]

May be related, maybe not, but my car had an instance where it would just turn and turn and turn, but wouldn't start. Next day disconnected the battery for like half an hour and then reconnected. Car ran fine, no problems. Weird stuff. Did have the intake bypass tube on without the clamp, clamped it. I've gone over 10k miles since then without it doing it again. Check all hoses on intake path and make sure all are secure and clamped.

I don't think it's the fuel pump, that's what I thought mine was. Fuel pump goes slowly.

[mattie]

The motor DIDN'T TURN OVER. Just to get that one part straight.

[mattie]

I disconnected the battery also but that didn't fix it. But thankx anyway.:biggrin:

[MrFroge]

Originally posted by: mattie
I disconnected the battery also but that didn't fix it. But thankx anyway.:biggrin: Okay mattie, when was the last time you changed your gas filter??? that could be your freeway problem ... next .. if your battery level is good and all your gages are working... you can have a bad starter switch (where you put the the in) ... or the starter solenoid has gone south (that makes the clicking sound) But I tend to think the starter switch is bad from all those keys you have on your key ring.. good luck..

PS.. starter switch can also cause the freeway problem.. had your dash apart lately??

[mattie]

I changed the fuel filter about 2 months ago, I was having the same problem, but that time it was a faulty MSD ignition box. I haven't taken my dash off yet, but I'm thinking this might be a good time to do it. Now that I think of it, My security light was flashing like a mad dog wahen i was tring to start it the other night. What does that mean.
One more thing, how do I find out if the starting switch went out on me, and if it did how do I fix it?

thankx, out there :confused:

[mattie]

OK guys, I just removed the lower panels of the steering colum and check the key power. It's all good. there's power for the ignition. I think the problem might be in the clutch swicth, on the clutch it's self. Has anyone hhad those switches go out before?

[jojolmnop]

i've had my brake switch for the brake lights go out. it's under the pedal and i believe it's the same as the switch under clutch.

make sure the alternator is working right as it seems like its not charging right. also make sure you have enough voltage in the battery and clean the terminals b/c if the starter is turning but not turning the engine, apparently it is getting power but not enough of it. also another thing to think of is whether or not fuel is going into the system. that being fuel pump and fuel filter.

that's all i can think of off the top of my head. good luck on this.

[MrFroge]

Put your stock distributor pack back on and see if it fires.

[mattie]

The MSD ignition has a bypass loom that plugs in to it, and it's aready plugged in. So the ignition is back to stock. I think it has something to with the clutch switches, so if anyone out there has had a problem with theirs, and had the same problem, I could use some info here.