Posted by Susan Merritt on January 31, 2000 at 00:35:59:
In Reply to: HELP! Weird, Intermittent Starting Problem posted by Susan Merritt on January 24, 2000 at 00:00:32:
It looks like it may be the wiring harness, or more specifically the coil wire where it attaches to the distributor. Another wet day (I hadn't mentioned that before) and this time the car stalled three times in two blocks. The first time was while waiting for a stoplight. I pushed the car over to the side of the road, walked around the block for half and hour, then fired it right up. Unfortunately, before I could get the kids in their car seats it died again. I messed around with the coil wire at both ends a bit and while I was removing it from the distributor my hand slipped a bit and the cable came right out of the boot; I was not pulling very hard. I jammed this firmly back into place and the car fired right up, even though it had not been half an hour yet. I congratulated myself on having solved the problem and proceeded, only to have the car die at the next light. It would not re-start and messing with the coil wire did nothing. This time I pushed it into a gas station and left it. My husband came to pick it up that evening, several hours later. It fired right up as expected. My husband drove it home in a big hurry, revving the engine with the clutch engaged at the one light he stopped at and squealing the tires to get through another. Just as he pulled into the driveway the engine died again.... We'll be replacing the wiring harness tomorrow.
Susan
: My 1980 is driving me crazy! Twice now it has cranked over but refused to start. The first time was coming out of a store after a short bit of driving. It cranked heartily but refused to catch. I was nonplussed, but figured maybe I had managed to flood the engine, so I shopped about for half an hour then came back and she fired right up. She then ran fine for two days, starts, stops, what have you. Then the second time was a bit more alarming, as I started her up after a stop and had just pulled out of a parking lot when the engine suddenly died and refused to restart. I also had no emergency flashers. I managed to get her at least out of the road (into and entrance to a parking lot!) where I popped the trunk and hood. After playing with the positive terminal on the battery the alarm system chirped at me and I had flashers and cranking but still no start. I tried turning the alarm system on & off to no avail. I pushed the car mostly into a parking space but it still wouldn't start. I called my sister to come and pick me up. When she arrived the car started immediately. I feel like I'm driving a ticking time bomb! To make matters worse, I have two very small children (ages 1 and 2) so getting stranded means juggling car seats and dealing with a great deal of fussiness. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.
: Susie