shot in the dark: stalling at a downhill stop

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by rmjon23, Aug 2, 2007.

  1. rmjon23

    rmjon23 Guest

    A month ago I'm tooling along fine in my 1989 Civic, when everything
    just gradually shut down on a slight downhill grade (in heavy traffic,
    of course!).

    I pulled over and it would not start, although it felt like it was
    trying to. I had plenty of gas in it. Before I found a spot to pull
    over (coasting), the brakes felt oddly stiff, suddenly, as if they
    were only half-working.

    I had it towed to my wife's favorite mechanics. (She drives a Ford.)
    They called the next day and said I needed a new distributor. Since
    they had already replaced the distributor 10 months ago when my wife
    took it in, they gave my another for free, but said my fuel pump was
    shot and needed replacing. That rang true enough, so a couple days in
    the shop and $400 some-odd later, I drove it home. I live WAY at the
    top of a steep hill in the East Bay near Berkeley, CA.

    The next day I headed down the hill and it stalled at stops on steep
    downhills, but started right back up. It also felt like it was going
    to stall on turns, but only lurched a bit. Then I noticed I could
    _hear_ the "new" fuel pump whining. I took it back and said I thought
    I got a bum fuel pump. They agreed and replaced it.

    This time no sound from the fuel pump, but it still stalled on
    downhills. I took it back, told them every symptom I noticed, and left
    it at the shop while I went out of town for five days. I thought they
    could figure it out. They gave me a line that (suddenly) my gas guage
    is broken, that when it reads 1/4 tank it's almost empty, and all I
    need to do is keep more than a 1/4 tank in. Well, it wasn't broken
    before my troubles began, and, like I said, it runs just fine going up
    hills. They also said they plumbed out all my gas lines. What a drag.

    They couldn't. And my car now feels pretty much like it did the first
    day it conked out on me. As if it's flooding every time I go down
    hill. Going up hill is no problem at all.

    Anyone got a line on this? I regret I'm one of those guys who excelled
    in languages and literature and not practical stuff like
    troubleshooting car problems.

    Thanks in advance for any and all pointers!

    -Michael
     
    rmjon23, Aug 2, 2007
    #1
  2. rmjon23

    Matt Ion Guest

    My first guess would be a dirty fuel pickup, or some kind of crud in the
    tank that's getting sucked into the pickup (or more specifically, onto
    its screen) when you're facing downhill, especially if it's a
    fuel-injected version. Normally you'd replace the whole pump/pickup
    assembly, but if they just replaced the pump, that could be the issue...
    it could also just be that there's a lot of crud in the tank that's
    affecting even a new pickup.

    If it's carbed, I would suspect dirt in the carb's float bowl that's
    slogging around and plugging the main jet. I had a similar problem with
    my carbed '87 Accord, in which the crud in the float bowl would get
    sucked up and clog the jets on a hard left turn, and I'd have to wait a
    good 15-20 minutes for the pressure to back off before it would start again.
     
    Matt Ion, Aug 3, 2007
    #2
  3. rmjon23

    jim beam Guest

    any dents in the tank? internal baffles tend to get damaged in
    accidents or when the tank gets dented and they can bend the pickup and
    the float.

    other than that, make sure the idle is set correctly. google this group
    for setup procedure.
     
    jim beam, Aug 3, 2007
    #3
  4. rmjon23

    rmjon23 Guest

    Jeez, what great responses. Sincere thanks to both Matt and Jim for
    the ideas and insight. (Esp Matt Ion) You guys RAWK! And maybe some of
    the info will lead to a solution...

    -rmjon23
     
    rmjon23, Aug 3, 2007
    #4
  5. rmjon23

    Matt Ion Guest

    Just so we're on the same page, is this Civic carbed or FI'd?
     
    Matt Ion, Aug 3, 2007
    #5
  6. I'm pretty sure that all 4th-gen Civics were fuel-injected.
     
    High Tech Misfit, Aug 4, 2007
    #6
  7. rmjon23

    Matt Ion Guest

    I'd think so too, but I just want to be sure, since '86-'89 was a
    "crossover" generation for Accords.
     
    Matt Ion, Aug 4, 2007
    #7
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