Are there any mechanics in the blogosphere? My mother is a fucking idiot, and I feel like strangling her and shoving her 1996 Plymouth Voyager minivan up her ass. Dan and my brother-in-law replaced her fuel filter last month, and within a few days her minivan started up (why it didn’t initially start up is beyond me), and was running perfectly fine. Then we took it out for the trip to the Pug meetup and back. I gave her $25 for gas and asked her if that would be enough for the round trip (about 67 miles each way, plus we went an additional 20 miles out of the way to pick up my brother and then drop him back off, and to grab dinner at Nifty Fifty’s). She said it would be enough, and off we went.
Well, I guess it wasn’t enough, because her minivan wouldn’t start up the next morning. Looking back on it, the money I gave her provided enough gas for about 160 miles, but she drove a little over that… meaning she was scraping bottom in her fuel tank. She told me later that week that she knew it was getting really low on gas when we were coming home, but she didn’t want to ask me for any additional money because I had just dropped $50 on dinner. Ooh, I was so pissed about that. I was the one who wanted to go to the meetup, so obviously I knew I would be paying for the gas, and I had no problem with giving her more gas if that’s what she needed. Surely it would have been worth potentially annoying me over another $5 or $10 for gas, since it would save all the hassle and me wanting to blow my fucking stack now.
Anyway, we have put about five gallons of gas into her tank, and we rolled her minivan back onto tire ramps so that it’s level (her driveway is on a slant, with the front end of the minivan facing up). It won’t start. A few days ago, after putting an initial three gallons in and having the minivan on the ramps, it sounded like it was thisfuckingclose to starting. In fact, because I had my head down while I was digging around in the trunk of my car, I thought it did start, because it really sounded like everything went — engine, fuel pump, starter, whatever. But it didn’t.
My mom just called me. She put in the two gallons of gas I left with her last night (I figured since I went out of my way to purchase the gas and bring it to her, I’m not going to stand there and deal with getting gas on my hands and then feel sick from huffing the fumes on the way home. She can have that fun job!), but it won’t start. She also said that it didn’t even sound as “close” to starting as it did before.
So, to quickly summarize: the vehicle in question is a 1996 Plymouth Voyager minivan. The fuel filter was replaced in April, the minivan was driven maybe 300 miles since then, my mom pretty much ran it out of gas, because once it was turned off (with the tank being practically empty) it wouldn’t turn back on. Five gallons on gas have been put into the tank, the minivan is level, but it still won’t start. Also, spark plugs and wires were replaced last summer, and the battery was replaced last fall, then replaced again this spring because the minivan just sitting there caused the charge to run out. The minivan sounded like it almost-but-not-quite turned over and started, this last time it didn’t sound so much like that.
What could the culprit be? Clogged lines/dirty fuel injectors? Would a fuel injector cleaner be enough? Please don’t say it’s a dead fuel pump… I know that’s a possibility, since it hasn’t been replaced, but since the minivan is making noises like the fuel IS moving and the minivan ALMOST turns over, wouldn’t that mean that the pump would be okay?
Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions that anyone has!
wow. ouch. i know nothing about cars, but i could ask teh hubby and let you know? xD
It could be the fuel pump. My ’03 chevy cavalier was doing what it sounds like your mom’s car was doing and had to have the pump replaced. If you do take it to a shop, do an independent place. It’s apparently a defect with my car and I’ve read the prices at dealerships being $700-900, but I got mine done for around $400 (after market part + independent repair shop).
I hope it works out. She’s had a lot of problems with that!
Wow I wish I could help but I’m pretty much dumb when it comes to cars. I hope you are able to figure it out and get it fixed.
Ok, I’m dictating from the boyfriend, who is a mechanic.
He thinks it sounds like a fuel pump. That maybe it went bad or that there was crud at the bottom of the tank that backed up into pump or clogged the fuel filter. But he’s not 100% sure without looking at it obviously.
He did mention that you can check if it’s getting fuel pressure – by finding the fuel rail on the top of the motor, near the intake or fuel injectors. It’s a long block that has all the injectors on it. You could probably look up where to find it on the Plymouth on the internet. But there’s a valve in it like you would use to check the air pressure on a tire. You press down with like a pen or something, see if fuel comes squirting out. Then turn off the key, turn it back on, turn it off, turn it back and try to press down again and see if you get fuel. Or crawl under the car near the tank and listen for a buzzing or a whining noise when you turn the key on and off, it should be coming out of the fuel tank. If you hear that noise it means the pump is working.
Or take a hammer or mallet and beat on the fuel tank – if the fuel pump is stuck, sometimes that will dislodge it.
Look in the owner’s manual for the fuel cutoff/inertia switch. It’s an electric switch, should be red, turns the fuel pump off. If that switch is tripped, which is possible, it could be the issue.
So that’s about what he can offer from 10 hours away. All of those are test scenarios and just something to get you started. I hope it works out. Car troubles suck!
I vote for taking a hammer and beating the fuel tank haha. Get some aggression out while possibly fixing it ;). But in all seriousness, I have absolutely no idea. If it was me, I would probably disconnect the battery for a bit and then reconnect it. I have no idea why, it just sounds like a good thing to do. Kristy had some great ideas though! I’m sure one of them will get the car running!
Im so sorry Jenn. You guys have been through so much with that car. Gee wiz. I hope you get it fixed soon and stays fixed!
@Kristy: Thank you so much for the input from your boyfriend! I printed out your comment, and my husband and I are going to go over to my mom’s on Sunday afternoon and see what we can do.
I’d beat the piss out of it too, but just for stress relief.
One time in high school my best friend let her car run out of gas and it stopped on us. We ran across the street, got gas, and put it in. It still would not start. Some nice man was kind enough to school us in this. He got us some more gas because he said if you run out of gas like that to the point where your car quits on you then putting gas back into it just isn’t enough. You have to take gas and put it directly into the carborator, I know that’s spelled wrong, but I’m not looking it up.
Also I just asked my husband to confirm my story as that was some years ago. He said yeah, that happens to cars they become locked or something from the lack of gas. So people used to do that, but on newer cars it does not work. It sounds like hers is old enough that could be the problem though. Also, he said you can take starter fluid and put it into something to get it going if it’s a vapor lock issue from running out of gas.
That’s a lot easier to try than to replace the fuel pump right off!
@Jenn: I hope some of the suggestions worked! I know diagnosing stuff on your own like that can be like playing the lotto.
@Ranee: The carburetor trick is definitely an oldie but goodie. We’ve had to do that when four-wheeling on our ’79 Bronco. But it doesn’t work on newer cars because they’re fuel injected and don’t use carburetors. So Jenn don’t pour gas into the engine! :-)
Also, it might be too late, but when I said bang on the gas tank, I should of clarified that it needed to be be done with force but not to beat the piss out of it! It is a great stress reliever but should only take some tapping. Didn’t want to be responsible for dents or anything! LOL
Geez… It seems as if your Mom is always having car issues. I hope you and Dan can figure this out without having to dump a bunch of money into it. Car issues bite!