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Car died at stop sign, now runs but won't move

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phaseoneracing

15+ Year Contributor
81
0
Mar 8, 2004
woonsocket, Rhode_Island
So someone was test driving my car to buy it. He got on it pretty good, I haven't drove it in a long time. We got to the stop sign and it died, and spit anti freeze everywhere, now it starts back up but idles really rough, and when I put the pedal to the floor in drive, it doesn't move. I have no idea what it could be. Any ideas? The oil is clean so I don't think it s a head gasket. any ideas..please help. Its an auto trans in a gs-t
 
One more thing to double check to see if its a bad head gasket is to fill your radiator until it is tip top full and then start the car with the radiator cap off. If it shoots antifreeze into the air then it is a blown head gasket. Just to make sure! :sneaky:
 
Do a compression test on all of the cylinders. A blown head gasket would cause coolant to be blown out all over.
 
Im gonna have the car towed home after work and check it out. I'm hoping that the converter is clogged. the car has been sitting for a long time and the head was just rebuilt a year and a half ago. So it has a new head gasket from then. I only put about 50 miles on the car since that. It just never drives so it could be a clogged exhaust. Im crossing my fingers

Ruff idle and doesn't move when you floor it. Seem to me the first thing to do is a boost leak test. Did you fix the leak?


Would a boost leak cause the car not to move at all though?
 
It would make the idle ruff and shut the car off. You mentioned after he got done doing a pull after the cars been sitting awhile so I can see this happening. I've personally never seen a blow head gasket prevent a car from moving at all. Do the simple things first like a blt and a compression test and report back
 
Big boost leaks will make you go nowhere especially if you are on the stock MAF, you hear psssssssssssssss spooolinnnnnn BAM! and then no power. If you're lucky, with the pull, he might have just blown some hoses off because when you stomp on it you essentially pressurize the intake tubing and the cooling system's pressure would go up. A blown headgasket THAT bad I would imagine you'd see the car running like a good ol' steam engine.
 
just as an update, I have the car jacked up so the front wheels are off the ground. I disconnected the exhaust and it has trouble starting, when it starts it idles really rough and when I put it in gear the wheels turn about one rotation then stop. If I give it gas it revs up but the wheels do not move anywhere. The tow truck driver thinks its the torque converter. I have no ideas yet. Havent had chance to check the compression yet.
 
Ya I would bet anything that its in the drive train area since you can not get it to engage at all or very little. Ive seen this in manual trans and its the clutch but since its automatic then probably torq converter. I read you post sucks that all this happened in the mix of a sell. Hope all goes well with whatever you decide to do fix it or sell as is.
 
i dont see a boost leak (no matter how bad it is) make a car not move at all. i was driving my friends gsx and blew a coupler completely off and still got it back to his house. now on the other hand when the maf on my dads 92 stealth was going out the car didnt want to idle and wouldnt rev past 1500 rpm floored and the car barely moved. unplug your maf and see if you notice a difference.
 
So I noticed I was low on ATF so I added that. Car starts still idles rough, if I put it in gear and give it gas thevwheels spin but when I let off they spin backwards like its in reverse. And there is also a really loud knock now. Car is killing me
 
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