Hi, I'm stumped, seeking your tips for things to check. Have searched this forum and have tried suggestions posted by others for situations with similar symptoms. But no luck.
The car: '85 Golf 1.8 L gas, automatic. 236,000 km (about 146,000 miles). Has been running fine since last failure (failed hall sender replaced in February 2006).
On Friday, wife drove car home, parked it. Nothing out of the ordinary. Car was running just fine then. Saturday morning, jumped in car--engine wouldn't turn over. Starter went click-click. Turned on dome light, tried restart. Dome light dimmed completely when starter was engaged. Hmm...ok, dead battery. Jumped battery with another car, dead car's engine started momentarily (1 second) then quit. That's odd. Attributed problem to a dead battery. Battery was 9 years old, and finally failed on the drive home Friday. Decided to replace the battery.
This is the odd part. After installing a new battery the '85 won't run. Engine will turn over just fine, it will start and run at most for
1/2 to 1 second, then just quit. No sputtering, just quit as if turning the ignition off. Mostly it'll turn over without catching. When it does catch, it'll run for 1/2 to 1 second. Giving more gas doesn't increase engine RPM. Engine still quits.Over the last 2 days of testing, out of about 20 attempts to start, the engine started a total of 2 times and ran (elation!) for about 8 to
10 seconds each time then quit (elation dashed).Have checked
- battery connections (clean and tight). Starter turns over fine, so not a poor battery connection.
- checked placement of battery, haven't pinched a wire. No broken wires to battery terminals.
- checked grounds in engine compartment and to engine block (cleaned and re-tightened).
- checked vacuum hoses, mostly okay. Line from valve cover to intake manifold was mushy and cracked, so will replace that tomorrow. Otherwise the hose was clear--could blow air through it by mouth. Have clamped on new, temporary hose for now.
- checked Mass Air Flow sensor, it is moving smoothly up and down, is centred, and is clean, not sticking. And no oil or gas evident on aircleaner below (no leaks, no blow back from valve cover)
- checked fuel pumps, both run when ignition turned on and stop when system pressurized. Haven't checked fuel flow as fuel hose connection located beside passenger shock column is seized tight, can't disconnect. Fuel pump fuse okay.
- tried another fuel pump relay, no change.
- checked connections on coolant temperature sensor. OK.
- checked rotor, cap, and vacuum advance (suck on hose, timing advances ok). Cap, rotor in good condition. Checked connection to hall sender on side of distributor--OK.
- Pulled #1 plug. Checked for spark. OK. Plugs are only a couple of months old.
- #1 plug was wet with gas, so assuming fuel supply okay. Car was running fine day before.
- checked connection at idle stabilizer valve. OK. But in replacing the battery, I was nowhere near the passenger side of engine. So not inclined to mess around too much on passenger side of engine compartment.
- fuel is at 1/4 mark on gauge but gauge isn't accurate. However, distance wise, a tank will last about 500 km and distance since last fill is only about 300 km. Are symptoms consistent with being out of gas?
Items replaced in January-Februray 2006.
- transfer fuel pump
- fuel pump relay
- ignition wires
- spark plugs
- cap rotor
- hall sender (the real culprit, failed after 20 years and 230,000 km)
What am I missing? The only change was replacing the battery. Was a dying/dead battery symptoms of something else? Did I dislogde something in swapping batteries (I checked for this).
Weather: warm, sunny, has been dry. Temps in mid 20's C. (70's F, hey we're bilingual). Moisture not an issue.
I'm thinking a loose connection somewhere that is cutting off fuel supply or ignition or a leaking vacuum line--but why would changing the battery exacerbate any of these causes? There's lots of room in those '85 engine compartments, not a tight fit to change the battery at all.
Those 2 times the engine continued to run, it ran normally for the 8 to 10 seconds. I could rev it up and it idled normally -- until it quits seconds later.
I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
thanks, (and thanks for reading this long post)
-Tony