You guys have never failed me when I've had a problem, so I'll give the details and hopefully you can give me some pointers before I go to the store in the morning.


Drove my car from San Francisco to LA on a road trip. Everything was fine. When I got there, I decided to change out the plugs. I went from dual tips back to single tips if it makes any difference. As soon as I put in the new plugs... I started having somewhat of a rough idle - and it acutally died on me shortly after the new plugs were installed. I thought nothing of it and figured the plugs needed to be broken in. I drove back home (keep in mind 99% of the drive consists of me keeping the RPS up) and there were no problems.

Now it's been a few weeks and it's still been rough at idle... but now it's started DYING on me. First, it died on me on the freeway at 65MPH with the RPMs up... I was able to shift to neutral and start it right back up and continue on my way... on the way back from work, it did it again, but I couldn't restart it and had to pull over. I opened the hood, checked everything and tried again... no go... waited 10 minutes and voila! It was up again... weird as hell... so tonight (haven't driven in three days, forgot about it, lol) I drove to grab a bite and it died on me at idle in the drive thru. After pushing it out, I tried and tried for 30 minutes to restart it and it just wouldn't come back to life... I went home and came back 2 hours later... turned it over about 5 times and THEN it came back... drove it home and it started sputtering when I pulled into the driveway... and there it sits...


The first thing my intuition tells me is that the plugs must be faulty or gaped incorrectly since all my problems started when I installed these new plugs. First thing tomorrow I'm going to pick up a new set. Only problem is... if that doesn't work I'm really clueless where to go from there. Hope you guys can point me in the right direction.

 

does it seem to be starving for fuel?might be a filter.don't forget the sock in the tank.i've seen it cause the same symptoms.

 

ignition module or coil could be suspect. You also possibly could have knocked off some vacuum lines while doing the plugs, causing a rough idle like you described.

 

You could verify your spark with a timing light. I did some valve work a while back and it had some issues keeping running afterwords. After 3 weeks of looking for vacuum leaks, I hooked up a timing light just to find it only fired intermittently. It would be a simple, quick, easy test to check your spark.

If it fires the light perfectly, you could rule the ignition out.
Just my .02

 

Just from the way the car is behaving, it DOES look like it's starving for fuel. I can't help but think fuel isn't getting to the engine. I did replace the plugs, but it didn't change anything. I started getting a code 34 (think it's 34) the one that says my MAF sensor is dead... AGAIN. I've found that unplugging the bad MAF helps a lot. It doesn't die after just a minute now, it dies after driving around a bit. But since unplugging the MAF, it doesn't idle rough as it was before... it just up and dies. And still having the issue with having to crank the engine for 30-60 seconds before it fires. This is what leads me to think it's a fuel issue.

I went and bought a new fuel filter... they're cheap. I've never replaced one so I consulted my manual. It says I need to relive the pressure on the fuel lines first. It says to pull the fuel pump fuse out of the fuse box and then let the engine run until it dies. So... I pulled the fuse (it's the right fuse) and let it run... and run... and run... and run... it WOULDN'T die! After 15 minutes of revving the engine and letting idle... the damn thing was starting to get really hot, so I gave up.

So when I want my car to die, it doesn't. And when it don't want it to die, it does.

I SWEAR, my car is mocking me.

 

Did you check the gap on the new plugs?

 

Third Gens are notorious for that

Yeah, like stated, check your gapping, and also see if you accidentally burnt through any plug wires when you reattached them, causing the spark to arc out into the engine bay, instead of inside the combustion chamber.

 

stalling.... is it sudden, calculated or very slow...

slow would be every round seemingly looses say 20rpm, and so on... this would be fuel shortage...

sudden, stop and whammo, she vibrates and dies, had this problamo before, say map and maf, reading at idle are bad, but readings at throttle will suffice but are still not correct... maybe even a vacuum leak while changing plugs...

calculated, meaning, so vibratory it will stall every time and you can pin point it.... usually ignition related...

 

I don't think the plug gaps are an issue. All plug wires are fine and all vaccum lines are attached.

I don't think I'm getting an accurate thermostat reading. I've been having issues here and there with my coolant, but I assumed as long as I didn't let it get too hot and kept on replacing coolant, it would give me some time until I could find the leak and replace the hoses. Well... when the car's at normal operating temp, if I pop the hood... everything is just REALLY hot. If I squeeze the top radiator hose, I should feel a gush of coolant when I release it, but there's nothing. I suspect poor coolant circulation. I pulled over to a gas station, refilled the coolant to the VERY top, and added as much as allowable to the external coolant tank. Then, I drove all the way home with the heater on full blast. Thank God almighty that she didn't die on me once, because when I was almost home, they closed down the intersection near my house and it took me through an hour of stop and go traffic that would usually make my car get pretty hot, but she didn't budge a notch over normal operating temp (even though my legs were getting cooked) and I got home just fine. I'm thinking a complete system flush and brand new hoses tomorrow.

Also, I bought that fuel filter and I want to install it, but I'm afraid to unbolt it until I know for sure there's no pressure in the system. Like I said before, I took out the fuel pump fuse and the car wouldn't stop running. Is there another way to relieve fuel pressure without taking a gas shower?

 

I'd really like to know more about the fuel pressure and how to relieve it... thanks guys.

 

remove the connector that goes to the fuel pump then start the motor and it'll die out shortly. Or pull the "proper" fuel pump fuse since you pulled the wrong one if the pump kept running regardless of what the fuse block said. Then swap out the filter, not like the fuel will go spraying everywhere regardless as fuel pressure drops down to nil after a few hours.