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My Lancer died. Need help.

Discussion in '7G Lancer and older- General Information' started by scaldwellk, Jul 23, 2009.

  1. scaldwellk

    scaldwellk Member

    My 02 Lancer died. I was driving home and the engine started to die. It was acting like I ran out of gas. I allowed it to sit about 5 minutes and it fired right up. I started to pull out and it did the same thing as before.

    I went home and got a tow vehicle and thought what the heck, I fired it up again. It ran for a little bit and then it acted as if it ran out of gas again.

    Can a fuel pump cause this? I always thought that when a pump died it was dead, no restarting the engine.

    Is there something these cars are known for?
     
    scaldwellk, Jul 23, 2009
    #1
  2. lancer2quick

    lancer2quick Well-Known Member

    It could possibly be a fuel delivery problem. If it started up after sitting for a few, it may be some sort of debris getting caught in the fuel pump sock (filter). Its hard for someone to diagnose something like this unless it happens to them first-hand, ya know? Since its an 02, I would go ahead and swap out the fuel pump assembly anyway (the pump and filter are together on a single assembly)..just as preventive maintenance.
     
    lancer2quick, Jul 24, 2009
    #2
  3. scaldwellk

    scaldwellk Member

    Thank you. I will make this the first thing to do. Would you happen to know if there is a spot to test the fuel pressure? I have been looking, but do not see the port. I do not have a manual yet and may be just over looking it? I am getting a manual.

    Can a converter cause this type of problem? A guy at work said his car did this and he found the converter was bad. Is there a way to check? I just had my emissions checked during inspection last week. Emissions check was good.
     
    scaldwellk, Jul 24, 2009
    #3
  4. lancer2quick

    lancer2quick Well-Known Member

    On the 02, I can't remember where the fuel pressure test port is..someone here should know. As for the cat,one way to test is just climb under the car and hit the cat with your hand. If it sounds like it has pieces bouncing around..its bad. The honeycomb inside may be collapsing..and may still test OK. Like I said in the first post..its hard to tell..
     
    lancer2quick, Jul 24, 2009
    #4
  5. scaldwellk

    scaldwellk Member

    Thanks again. I am just running ideas quickly, since this is my work car.
     
    scaldwellk, Jul 24, 2009
    #5
  6. lancer2quick

    lancer2quick Well-Known Member

    I understand. That's the one thing I hate about driving a new car..all the electronics and other BS. They are more reliable than most older cars that are carbed..but without an engine code, they can be hard to diagnose.
     
    lancer2quick, Jul 24, 2009
    #6
  7. scaldwellk

    scaldwellk Member

    Well I had some time to look at the car today. Would have never guessed what I found.
    I was unhooking the battery to start the fuel pump work. When I started the positive terminal it was bad. Turned out that the metal looked good, but it was brittle and broken. I replaced it just to see if it made any change to the car. To my surprise the car started and ran fine. I took it for a spin and it seemed to have no problems.

    My question now is why would the terminal on the battery make the car run the way it did?
     
    scaldwellk, Jul 25, 2009
    #7
  8. lancer2quick

    lancer2quick Well-Known Member

    Haha..lucky find. Glad it was somthing simple like that. As for the how..maybe the terminal just wasn't getting enough voltage. But who knows.
     
    lancer2quick, Jul 25, 2009
    #8