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Any good shop can test your fan clutch.
Electric fans are helpful as an aftermarket item, but they won't move nearly as much air as a belt driven fan (that's working properly).
I had to leave it where it stopped. Luckily, someone helped me push it off the road. I got a new battery anout 6 months ago. No warning lights came on.
But earlier last week while driving, the engine quit.
By that I mean, all the gauges went to the "off" or "0" position . Low fuel light came on, and a very loud bell went off in the car(worse than the seat belt chime).
I started it back up while the car was still driving down the road. Actually I forgot about that incident until tonight.
What could this be???
So it sounds like possibly a bad connection/bad ground somewhere. Could be tough to track down. Start simple and check the connections to the battery and alternator. Also check your main chassis grounds. Shake some wires a bit and see if it will start. If you can get it to start, carefully shake some wires again and see if you can get it to stop.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I recently heard of a new technology that is currently being developed that is not yet on the market that allows you to activate the poppers by just touching the metal on the door in a certain spot outside the door. Would this be a good way to activate the poppers?
They re-diagnosed the problem, and then told her it was the alternator; they said that, with the battery failing, they couldn't detect the alternator's defect.
I spent a wonderful evening replacing the alternator (the folks at AutoZone said the one I pulled out was indeed bad. After all that effort--and another $155--I have identical intermittent battery light problems, in spite of getting the correct voltages with the car off and running.
It seems to occur most often when I'm driving down the highway at a steady 65 MPH (~2200 RPM)--if I slow down enough to bring the RPMs down to below 2000, the light goes out within a minute.
Did anyone ever obtain a definitive answer to this vexing problem?
Sometimes if it's weak, when you retract it to get the belt off, it aggravates the problem and makes it worse.
when you have debris that gets in there, it typically falls inside the vehicles cabin air intake and hits the cabin air filter. from there it ends up in the evaporator pan, which is a little tray sitting below the evaporator coil which is the cooling part of the A/C system. when the system is on, just like your home AC system in your attic or basement, condensation forms on the coils and drips into a pan. it's got to drain somewhere. if the pan and or drain get clogged with outside debris, the condensate accumulates and the water has to go somewhere.
where is that? on the passenger footwell area generally. when you make turns you are likely to see a good drip or even a stream sent to the floor.
a clogged evaporator pan drain line is easily diagnosed as follows: you turn the AC on with the car running, put it in park and apply the hand-brake. exit the car and look under the car in the vacinity between the front passenger wheel and the fire wall (the vertical plane that exists between the engine compartment and the passenger compartment...you will see this with the hood up if you look behind the engine from the side of the car.
anyway, you're looking at the ground underneath somewhere between the front passenger wheel and say the beginning of the front passenger door (maybe that's simpler for you to find).
in a vehicle where the pan is draining properly, you'll see a steady stream of water hitting the pavement with the AC running. if your pan or drain is clogged, water may not be dripping at all, or at a very slow rate.
when you drive with this condition, some people hear the sound of water striking a hot skillet. i think it's because the evaporator coils are comming into contact with the water in the pan and being flashed to ice.
sorry for the novel.
go to a garage (local will do) and ask them if they'd kindly take their air compressor and blast the A/C drain hose with a couple of shots of compressed air with it (effectively blowing out the clogg). ask if you can watch.
be amazed at the amount of water that pours to the ground when the obstruction is removed.
if they tell you no-charge, give them a tip anyway.
regular maitenance? constantly check the air intake area (remember in the beginning of the novel, the area near the wipers at the bottom of the windshield)? remove debris that collects there to lesson the chance the clogging happens again.
hope it helps.
Just want to lean some basics.
Thanks
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
1. I want to check the fan to see if it works. It has a four wire pack and a two wire pack with each individual wire all going into the back of the fan. One of the wires in the two wire pack first goes to a gold colored piece of metal, then on to the fan. How can I test this fan?
2. How do you test the sensor that is in the upper radiator hose that has wires that go to the fan? I can get a multimeter but don't know how to conduct the test.
3. The thermostat is not where the upper radiator hose connects to the engine. Does that mean I should follow the lower radiator hose from the radiator and find the thermostat?
4. Is it possible to check a thermostat while it is on the car using an infrared light that measures temperature? A mechanic at a Saab dealership told me that the dealership has one.
The owner of this car can't really afford to take the car to a garage. Any help I get would be appreciated.
As for testing the fans, if they aren't blowing like crazy with a hot engine, you know something's wrong there. You could by-pass the sensors and hook up 12V directly to the fans for a few seconds and see if they work. If they do, sensors could be the problem.
If the car has overheated badly, you really need to check for a bad head gasket regardless of what you find with the fans. Saabs of that era had a pretty high head gasket failure rate as I recall (something like 8%).
This can be done by pressurizing the cooling system and checking for coolant leaks on the spark plugs (or remove the plugs and shine a light into the cylinder if you can).
You can also test for combustion gases in the coolant itself.
I would love to bypass the sensor and test the fan. The question is how? I need someone to give me specific directions. I cannot figure out where to connect jumper wires direct from the battery to the fan.
Well being so nice today, I had the windows open and the stereo cranking....next thing you know....BANG!!!!! Needless to say I had gone over these stupid hoses with my car. I was going about 60 Km/h (35mph). Shortly after there is a 4 way stop and I went through that no problem...phew. I keep driving a couple of seconds and slow down for a turn and when I apply any moderate pressure to my brakes there is this "clunk" sound from what I think is the rear of the car (not really sure though).
The car turns fine and there are no noises as far as I can tell when I turn the wheel either way. Also there is nothing leaking under the car, and looking at the undercarriage nothing seems to be hanging/out of place nor is there any sign I bottomed out. So my only problem is this clunking sound whenever I apply moderate pressure to the brakes (no sound when light pressure applied).
Update:
I took it into the shop today and told them my problems. They ended up doing a brake service which consists of inspecting and lubing the brakes. The noise is still there and they told me that they would need 1-2 hours to run diagnostics on the car to get a better idea of what the problem was. They also retorqued the subframe (whatever that means) as this is often a cause of noises after accidents. In addition, they checked underneath the car and according to them absolutely everything looks as it should. I asked if the car was safe to drive as is and he said "I can't guarantee that it is".
I decided to take the car as is and I will try another shop tomorrow to get a second opinion before forking out $160 just to have the car looked at again. Any opinions?
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I can't give you electrical advice, it's too risky for you over the internet unless I took pictures or something and I don't have your type of car at my disposal. I am sorry.
I think you should spend the $100 diagnostic fee on this since you might waste that much barking up the wrong tree and replacing parts that don't need replacing. It's tough to guess without a wiring diagram and the right testing tools. I'd make mistakes myself if I had to do it that way.
But back to basics---yes, by all means the first part of the diagnostic "tree" (i.e. the logic of eliminating causes one at a time) is to determine if the fans work. If they work, then move to the sensors; if they work, then to the relays; if they work, then I think it's time to pressurize the cooling system and/or test for combustion gases in the coolant.
I mention this because Saab 4 cylinders of this era are so prone to head gasket failure. But inoperative fans certainly could be the cause.
on vehicles I have owned, it has been either mounted to the top of the engine near the injectors, or connected to a pipe / tubing that was connected to the top of the engine near the injectors. could be on the side, or on the exhaust-side.
is there some sort of heat shield or dust shield covering the top of the engine? perhaps (if your car has one) it is located under the shield for the exhaust manifold.
if you don't know what it looks like / having trouble recognizing it, you can google it or visit a parts supply web-site.
1) Going up hills or merging into traffic the air will stop blowing out the vents or defrost vent (blower still running). Have checked vacuum lines and did not find any leaks.
2) While parked or driving cool (not cold) air comes from the two a/c vents on the drivers side while hot air comes from the two on the passenger side.The car DOES NOT have the controls to adjust the temp on drivers/passenger side.
Pulled the glove box while checking the vac lines. There is a box about 8" long with an electrical connector and an assembly of vac lines on the bottom. Disconnected the connector and no air would blow from any vent (blower still running). Disconnected the vac line assembly with same results. Can not remove each line because they are all made into an assembly. My thinking is that this box is bad but what is it?
Can anyone help?
Thanks,Cindy
Another option is that the vacuum motors that get the vacuum to control them inside the car are leaking with age and when the motor drops in vacuum they drop the vacuum quicker than when they were new and fresh rubber.
If you have the settings on dash vents and you turn off the motor but keep the blower running does the air keep coming out the dash vents for perhaps 30 seconds before the vacuum leaks away and the air starts coming out the defrosters? The air should come out defrosters when you accelerate also.
You didn't say how many miles are on the car. A high mileage motor also is weaker and has lower vacuum. That compounds the problem with age on the rubber parts inside.
The warmer air to passenger might just be because of low charge in AC. It's normal for AC to run warmer at idle because the condenser in front of radiator doesn't get as much air cooling it off.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Steering was lost backing down driveway(truck rolled into fence), what agency can this be reported to?
Any and all info will be appreciated.
Ford vehicles for many years have been known to easily 'jam'. When you stop a Ford with your foot on the brake, put it in park, take the key out, then let the brake off - the car will roll slightly and will also move the steering enough that the linkage in the steering column jams up so tight that the key cannot be turned the next time you try to start it.
What to do? Pull firmly on the steering wheel one way while trying to turn the key. If it does not turn, try pulling the wheel the opposite direction. This should 'unjam' the linkage and the key will turn. If forced like the 'kid' did, bad things will happen.
A lot of non-Fords also will do this, but FoMoCo vehicles seem to have more problems with this. Which has been happening ever since the interlock between the steering and the key was introduced, what, 40 years ago?
I really do think that the kid broke it - he should pay to have it fixed.
I got a 2000 A4 Audi (manual). It has a severe problem. When I turn it on it works fine, but after I ride it for the first time and then stop, the car starts shaking, like if there was one spark plug missing, but not that much. Same happens if I ride at low rpm, for example 4th at 40mph or 5th at 50mph, the car runs, but not the same as before, and it also shakes! I've just changed the complete set of spark plugs and nothing happened. I also changed my temperature sensor and nothing happened. I friend of mine disconnected the MAF because he said it could be bad and it worked fine for half hour but now it as bad as before.
I am now running without MAF, and the car is still very bad. It isn't as powerful as before. Could it be a ignition coil? I disconnected them, one by one, but the car just gets worse. Or could it be the engine support? I need ideas. Has somebody had the same problem? Thanks a lot!
Question: How can I check whether this engine is toasted or ok, without spending big bucks (if running fine, the car blue books at $1400 for individual sale).
There's also another test kit you can buy that tests for combustion gases in the radiator coolant. This test is good in case you have a cracked head, where water and oil don't necessarily mix.
Best thing with overheats is start from simple to complex, such as:
1. Leaks in hoses or radiator (pressure test)
2. stuck thermostat (remove and bench test)
3. defective electric cooling fan (observe)
4. Clogged radiator (remove and flow test at radiator shop)
5. Broken impeller in water pump (test on car by removing hose and running engine)
6. Bad head gasket (pressure test or compression test or cylinder leakdown test---the last one not easy to do at home)
7. Cracked cylinder head (as above)
TNX!
They advised that since I am not a heavy accelerator/braking type of driver, I probably won't notice a difference if I switch from Brembos. Do you agree?
The TL generates a lot of brakedust on the fronts, which is why I'm considering ceramics. Are there any drawbacks to ceramics? Is there a difference between different brands?
Thanks.
Thanks much.
Mike
Have the alternator tested.
And, isn't 'Brembos' the manufactor of the calipers and rotor? Do they also manufactor the pads? I just thought they built the calipers.
I definitely can't comment on your other question, and looki forward to reading the answer...