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[RESOLVED] car stuttered and then cut off

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Superfly4943

Superfly4943

15+ Year Contributor
58
0
Jan 14, 2008
Charleston, South_Carolina
I was driving my car earlier and went to make a 3-point turn and once I was comming out of it my car stuttered and then cut off. I have power so it's not my battery but I have no clue as to what it could be. Can anyone please help I'm gonna get a ticket in the morning if I don't move it since it's in faculty parking lot!!!

It's a 98 420a automomatic.
 
You have to be a little more specific, are you getting fuel? Is your car turning over? Anything you've done recently that may have caused this? Have you installed anything? Possibly knocked loose some wires? Are you sure you're getting enough power to turn the car all the way over? Maybe try wiggling your battery terminals around or readjusting them? Could be something simple as your terminal cables, or a fuel pump wire coming loose to something difficult. Try a few suggestions here and let us know more details if they don't work and hopefully we'll be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck

EDIT: Also check to make sure that you don't have bad gas: water in your gas, happened on my civic hatchback, might possibly be another thing to check out :) Normally only happened when I was really low: like 1/4 of a tank low due to the water/gas separation. When my tank was full it was fine, but when it dropped down low the car would stutter and die on me baddd, good thing it didn't hydrolock :D
 
Twistaye said:
You have to be a little more specific, are you getting fuel? Is your car turning over? Anything you've done recently that may have caused this? Have you installed anything? Possibly knocked loose some wires? Are you sure you're getting enough power to turn the car all the way over? Maybe try wiggling your battery terminals around or readjusting them? Could be something simple as your terminal cables, or a fuel pump wire coming loose to something difficult. Try a few suggestions here and let us know more details if they don't work and hopefully we'll be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck

EDIT: Also check to make sure that you don't have bad gas: water in your gas, happened on my civic hatchback, might possibly be another thing to check out :) Normally only happened when I was really low: like 1/4 of a tank low due to the water/gas separation. When my tank was full it was fine, but when it dropped down low the car would stutter and die on me baddd, good thing it didn't hydrolock :D
Click to expand...

I don't know whether or not I'm getting fuel but my car won't turn over. It won't even turn. When I turn the key nothing happens, no turning, no noise, no nothing. I was driving back to Columbia, SC from Charleston, SC and was coming down the street behind my dorm when I pulled the 3-point turn. I have tested the battery and it has power and it does not decrease when I try to crank the car. I have also checked the ignition coil and it does not lose voltage either when the car is cranked. I'm not exactly sure where else to look. What should I look at?
 
Do you get a CEL. My sure the CEL comes on when you put the car in start. Should be there for 5 seconds and then go away.

James:laser::talon:
 
So if I read this right, You went to turn around and the car stalled and will not restart?
You turn the igntion key to start and no lights come on?
Youve tested the battery and it has juice?
Does the engine light turn on when you turn the key on(before the start position)??
 
Dead ecu. The only thing i think that could cause a CEL not to come on. Dead battery. Or dead ecu. And 95's a known for dead ecu's.

James :laser::talon:

EDIT: Thoguht you have a 95 not 98. hmm. Still could be dead though. Any could die.
 
ECU wont turn on if there isn't enough voltage. Try getting a jump, your battery might have enough juice to make some lights flash, but not enough to turn the starter. If your car starts up with a jump you have either a bad battery (check the water level) or a bad alternator.
 
I tried to jump the car but still nothing. The battery is fine, all the terminals and everything are fine. It has good voltage and doesn't drop when I try to start the car.

If I have good voltage then how could it be my ecu? I understand that now I don't have a check engine light when I start the car but what else could it be. I was driving and it stuttered after I changed from reverse to drive. Can anyone thing as to what this might be??? I really don't have the money to send it to the dealership to have them look at it!
 
I haven't touched anything or replaced anything for well over 2 weeks if not longer. If I was in Charleston I would be able to access a scanner but since I'm in Columbia I don't know anyone who has one.
 
Be reasonable here buddy. Have you even tesed any parts or replaced any parts at all in effort to fix your problem?

1. Your car is not cranking. It can't be too many things.

2. What might keep your from cranking? lets see.

Clean and tighten your battery cables to the terminals whether you think they are good or not. Do that 1st

Check your ignition and starter relays and fuses. Relays can easily be tested by swapping with another relay of the same size and specification.

If your battery terminals and your battery are both good, And if you have tested the fuses and relays to determine they are working properly then you need to verify the connection to the starter is secure.

Start there!! There are a couple more things that will cause the vehicle to not even crank, but until you at least test, review and verify that those things are in fact working, then there is no reason for me to continue.
 
I know this might sound stupid but does your car have an alarm that has in ignition immobilizer? Just wondering. I have a 1g that came with a factory alarm that has an ignition immobilizer, not sure if thats true with the 2g cars or not, just throwing it out there.
 
I was driving down the freeway to school a long time ago and my car randomly shut off and I had to pull over. I couldnt start it or anything and it ended up being the Fuel Relay.
 
Sorry about the rush on things I was just trying to not have my car ticketed and towed by campus police. Yes I do have an alarm but did not connect the ignition mobilizer. Anyway, I did not act fast enough and campus police did come with a tow truck. Luckily, I was able to convince them that my car was broken down and I couldn't move it and got them to tow it to a local mitsubishi dealership. Again, thanks for everything and I will post to tell what it was.

Update on the car is that the dealership seems to think that I have a short in my wiring and they are planning on rewiring the car. Does anyone know what kind of short this could be?
 
Superfly4943 said:
Update on the car is that the dealership seems to think that I have a short in my wiring and they are planning on rewiring the car. Does anyone know what kind of short this could be?
Click to expand...

They THINK there's a short? Sounds to me like you're going to pay an arm and a leg for some guessing and it might not even fix the problem. :notgood: Good luck with that
 
Uh..... no. You can rewire my car if you give me written guarantee that if your diagnostic dowsing proves incorrect, you will not charge me for that guess, and will continue on to repair the car successfully.
 
Well even with my disbelief it was a short. I had a couple of ground wires go bad to my ecu and in turn they ended up blowing a couple of fuses. They had to rewire part of the wiring harness to fix it and take out my dash to get there, what bullshit. If I had known it was only a couple of wires I would've done it myself.

Wires and parts: $30
Labor: $730
Making me absolutely broke: Priceless
 
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