It's Always Something

[davidschroth]

I left work around 1730, headed for my Ortho appointment. The car started up after the usual amount of fussing, and I headed down the road. And about a quarter mile down the road, the engine just cut out. And refuses to start, or run.
So I won't make tonight's appointment. And the hour is late enough that there's not much sense in trying to take the car someplace to get it diagnosed and fixed. And tomorrow's group appointment at 0715 is probably somewhat in doubt, as well. And if the car doesn't start tomorrow, I'm going to have to find a repair place close enough to work that I can get it towed reasonably cheaply. Perhaps the place where serendipoz has work done on her autos.
Grump.

Comments

[serendipoz.livejournal.com]

It's a good repair shop - definitely drop my name with them - in fact call me about it as they have a tow company (Freeway Auto I think) that works with them, and the number of both the shop and the tow company is on the magnet on my frig. (Well, wait to call until I get off the computer!)

Sorry to hear about the car problems. Sorry not to be of more use to you tonight as well - I had to leave early for a doctor appointment, and never got back to work. The only phone calls I've had here tonight are dialer machines.

car trouble

[webbob.livejournal.com]

Probably worth checking the state of the car's fuses: that kind of sudden failure without warning (and without a smell of gasoline or combustion) seems to often be electrical.

A friend of mine who's a mechanic had a similar problem and eventually tracked it to worn-through insulation and a short to ground on a wire that was only supposed to be grounded if the oil pressure switch was closed. This is a safety feature: if there's no oil pressure, grounding this circuit turns off the electric fuel pump so that you can't as easily destroy the engine by running it without lubrication. If the fuse on the power supply for the fuel pump had been blown, it would have given the same symptoms, and there are many other places where wiring faults and blown fuses can trip a safety cut-out in the engine.

Re: car trouble

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

The Toyota has always seemed susceptible to malfunctioning in rainy weather. Just like the one before. I need to have it checked out; the only question is whether I'll be able to drive it to the mechanic's, or will I need a tow.

Re: car trouble

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

So I went out to check on the car before calling for a tow. It started right up, sounded pretty good once it got warmed up.

I think I'll put off dealing with the Toyota until after we've had the other car looked at.