Lack of performance can also occur in dry weather, but when this happens it is usually due more to a fuel-related problem. If your car stalls out when taking a corner or over a bump or after driving quite awhile, it may be due to your fuel filter. This is located under your chassis somewhere between the gas tank and your engine. It is maybe 2 or 3 inches long and in the gas line. My belief is that small particles of metal flakes build up in the filter and clog the system - starving the engine of gas. You can check it by pulling the output gasoline hose and cranking the engine. You should see a flow of gas. Note: You can also pull the hose going to the carburator. If, however, you see bubbles in the gas, that means you are sucking air from some where. Look for cracked rubber hoses.
If you are out on the road, try cleaning the fuel filter out the best you can and see if that gets you home or to an auto parts store. Also, please keep in mind that the problem could also be your fuel pump. The fuel pump could be located in your gas tank or it could be located on your engine, mechanically pumping gas from your gas tank. If you know gas is getting to the pump, you should be able to see gas being pumped out as it operates. As always, remember this is gasoline, so use extreme caution.
In fact, whenever you are working on a car, especially if underneath it; place blocks to keep the wheels from rolling and blocks under the axile to keep it from falling too far and crushing your head into a pancake. This can be a very painful experience.
If your car doesn't start, one quick way of determining if you have a gas delivery problem is to pour a quarter cup of gasoline directly into the carburetor. If the car starts and runs for a few seconds, then the spark is functional and gas delivery is faulty.
Once air and gas are mixed at the carburetor, they need a spark at the right timing to combust and drive the piston down. Each piston comes to its up position at different times and the spark to each specific spark plug is controlled by the distributor cap. When things are working fine, you should be able to pop off the cable going to each spark plug one at a time and watch a spark jump from the cable end's metal to spark plug or engine metal approximately one-half inch. Remember to wear a glove or protect yourself from being shocked during this process. It hurts a little, but doesn't affect you much affect you much affect you much. Look for a wimpy spark as compared to a strong spark. If you have good on-time spark here, but believe combustion problems are occuring, then remove the spark plugs and clean the tips and check the gap, or just replace them. You might also consider replacing the rotor, rotor cap, and spark plug wires if you have over 100,000 miles on these parts. Otherwise, if you have a wimpy spark, then look at your distributor. A center post connected to your engine indicates to the distributor the position of the cylinders (assuming your timing is adjusted properly). Points or other devices are used to send the spark out the right wires at the right time. All these contacts need to be clean and need to be spaced properly to send the spark. Points can either get dirty or just worn to nothing - no longer closing and making contact.
Note: A car with over 100,000 miles may also show low oil pressure. In this case start using a heavier weight oil such as 20W-50 during the summer. A lighter weight oil such as 10W-40 may be used during the winter. If low oil pressure is present with more than 180,000 miles; you might consider dropping your oil pan and cleaning your oil pickup screen and thoroughly scrubbing the inside of your oil pan. If you do this an oil pan gasket and rubber sealers should be replaced as well, especially if oil is leaking from these areas.
There may also be problems internally with the engine dealing with combustion pressure (worn rings etc.). Oil getting past your rings and being burned will most likely result in smoking exhaust from your tailpipe. This is where I call in a professional, or trade in the car. :o)
Also, if you're ever out driving and the little red oil light comes on (or your oil gauge drops to zero), this indicates little or no oil pressure. Turn off the road immediately and turn off your engine. You probably need to add oil; however, if your oil level shows full, your car probably isn't sending the oil to the engine (from the oil pan). It may be time to drop that oil pan to see what is going on, however, first you need to get that car home. A toll truck is your best bet, but if you want to chance it, try starting the engine again. If the oil pressure returns AND there is no engine clattering, then continue driving paying close attention to engine noise and your indicators. Don't risk ceasing your engine, i.e. welding your pistons to the block.
Water Pumps defeats can be seen when you start getting hot engine warning signals. If this occurs, pull over and let the engine cool down; or hope for a lot of downhill roads to cool off your engine. First of all, make sure you have enough water in your radiator (with antifreeze as appropriate). If you notice water levels decreasing (a constant need to refill the radiator) and that your heater is no longer blowing out hot air as it use to, then suspect that the water pump is worn out. I believe that the bearings get to a worn-out point causing water to leak out into the engine and get blown out the tailpipe. The car will operate fine for short trips, but is no longer reliable for long trips, during hot weather, or hauling heavy loads. The water pump is located in the front of the engine behind the fan. It has a large water hose going to it from the radiator. Replacement usually involves removing the radiator and taking off the large cooling fan and various belts attached. A drain value is located at the bottom of the radiator to drain and save the coolant. Be careful removing and torquing the bolts; they are tight and socket wrenches are a must for this job.
Fan Motors outages usually occur due to a desire to be warm or cool while driving in the car. The fan gets turned on when someone touches the little mechanism that applies power to the fan, thereby starting the wearout process. As time goes on, the fan continues to put out hours and hours of either cooling or warming pleasure, until eventually the little guy just gives up the ghost. At this point, you have to search around until you find the air chamber where the fan motor is installed, and remove and replace. Also ensure the fan is turning the right way to blow air into the car.
Starter Motors turn the engine (assuming there is enough battery power and the engine isn't ceased) so that combustion can begin and the engine can take over and do the job by itself. Starter motor problems may be as simple as worn brushes or as difficult as worn bearings. The gears of the starter are thrown out by a solenoid to engage with the engine's gear (flywheel) and mechanically turn the engine. A big job for a tough little motor. After awhile, however, the little guy just gets worn out and has to be replaced or rebuilt. The starter motor is located underneath the car, but it is fairly easy to replace (usually 3 bolts and 2 wire connections). For more on replacing this motor, go to maintenance.html
Alternators may also have brushes or diodes that go out. They are located high on the engine with a pulley and belt attached so that as the engine runs, the alternator turns and provides voltage that is used to recharge the battery and run the engine, lights, fans, TV, VCR, Computer, Phones, CD player, DVD player, and whatever else you and your kids plug into the power sockets. All this puts a drain and a challenge on the poor guy, and he has to cope with all of this demand for current flow. He trys as hard as he can, but after awhile it is just too much and he pops a diode or one of his brushes just grins to nothing and loses contact with reality. The noise, noise, noise, NOISE, is just too much to take; and he now requires repair. Note: Your car battery will last approximately 5 years. It may not have enough power to turn the starter motor, so consider checking/replacing this first. If, however, your battery is less than 5 years, it may only require terminal cleaning (which has fixed many a problem for me) and fluid levels checked. Your dome light should shine brightly, if this is not the case then you may have a dirty or loose terminal connection or just a run down battery (due to age or a charging system that is no longer viable). Indicators of a potential problem are that your headlights run or become dim after awhile, or you start showing a difficulty starting the engine in the morning (especially cold mornings). The key may only provide a clicking sound rather than actually turning the starter motor. To check your alternator, just start the car and disconnect your battery. The car should continue to operate with only the alternator. If the car stalls, it means that the alternator is not putting out enough juice to keep a spark going to the spark plugs. Alternator replacement is fairly easy. Two or three bolts are involved and one electric connection. Just loosen the bolts and remove the belt around the alternator, and then disconnect the wires and the bolts to remove. Replace the alternator and install bolts and wires. Reattach the belt and tighten until snug (without any slipping or squeeling). Note: When removing a terminal from your battery, you should not see much of a spark. This would indicate that only a car clock is pulling power from your battery. If a large spark occurs, see my short.html web page.
Universal Joints are another thing that goes out with 100,000 miles of used, especially when driving fast over bumpy roads and really working those joints between the transmission and rear axile. The U Joints are universal connections along the drive shaft that apply power to the rear wheels. If the connection breaks, you can't move your car. You will first notice this problem when you sense that your car is vibrating more than usual (and you may heard a clunk when you engage the transmission). When looking through your rear view mirror, you may notice that the cars behind you are shaky. This may mean that your U-joint is no longer aligned; and replacement is required before your drive shaft drops to the ground and makes a terrible noise on the road as your going at high speeds. A replacement part at Checkers will run you about $12.00; and repair at a shop will be $100.00 per U-joint. To repair yourself you need: one hammer, one socket, and one flat-blade screwdriver. Buy your new U-joint to get familiar with the parts (remove one cap end to see the center post and the steel pins inside); then jack-up and secure the car in place and from falling, and remove the C-shaped securing rings at the base of each U-joint cap. Now drive (using your hammer and socket) one end of the U-joint so that the opposite side's cap is exposed. Remove this exposed cap (using pliers if needed). Drive the U-joint to the other end to expose remaining caps. Once all caps are off, you will be able to remove the U-joint main body.
Installation of the new U-joint requires that you first remove all caps, install the main body and position it so that one post is inside one drive shaft hole. Block it in place, and then install this one cap. Use a press or hammer to softly drive the cap on and half way into the hole (using your socket). This exposes the post out into the opposite side's drive shaft hole. Install this cap and drive the U-joint to the center. Do this same thing for the other two posts until all caps are on; and then install C-shaped locking rings (if the locking rings don't go on, suspect that some steel pins fell out of place and need to be replaced). Now, put your grease port on, fill with grease, and hope that this one lasts another 100,000 miles. Grease often to increase the chances.
Air Pump aka Smog Pump or Smog Device is driven by a fan belt, which will squeal or break once the pump freezes up. To replace: remove the pulley, and then remove two long bolts that secure the pump to the engine block. When replacing secure the new pump onto the block and then put the new belt on (and around the pulley), and then mount the pulley onto your air pump.
Struts are heavy-duty versions of those screen door closers. They cushion the ride and help keep your tires aligned for even wear. The struts usually fit in a well in the inside portion of your wheel and extend up (with a string attached) to the back corners of your engine compartment. Removal requires one to compress the spring enough to withdraw the bottom portion of the strut out of the well (once securing hardware is removed). Spring compressors are available (free rental from some auto parts stores), but you might have to find more ways to compress the spring. Use your mind to think of other safe ways. Once you've compressed the spring, use a small mallet to see if the strut is rising out of the well. I usually use a screwdriver to scratch a line on the strut and then gently tap the metal near the well to see if it is coming loose. This job definitely requires gloves and safety due to the weight and pressure of the spring. If your means of compression isn't safe and something slipped while your fingers were in the wrong place, you could easily loose them. So don't stick your finger underneath the strut when it is compressed. Note: This is a tough job and definitely needs two people. Basic steps (with car jacked up, blocked, stablized, supported, and wheel removed): 1. Remove bottom hardware. 2. Compress spring. 3. Remove bottom portion of strut from well. 4. Remove top hardware. 5. Remove assembly from car. 6. Keeping the spring compressed, remove the old strut and install the new one. 7. Install the new strut assembly and its top hardware. 8. With extreme care compress the spring enough to get the bottom portion of the strut into the well (an extra jack and prying tools can help position things and help keep your hands out of harm's way). 9. Install the lower hardware.
Tires are another item that can cause problems. In emergency situations you may want to carry pieces of rubber around and some super glue/rubber cement. They can plug up a hole and get you home (provided you can pump enough air into your tire so it won't blow out. Running on a low tire will cause a blow-out so drive slow if you have this situation.
Good luck with your vehicles. Cars can be a pain, but getting to know your vehicle and taking care of him/her can sure make your day(s) go a lot nicer.
..... Gerry
Copyright, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
The above stated person is not liable for any of the advice stated above. The reader of this web information holds full responsibility for any misfortunes bestoyed upon them - before, during, or after their lifetime; or during the life of their car, whichever is shorter.
If you need more help, go to: Randy's Repair Web Page. It has an interactive forum. Note: When I created this web page, there was very little information about car repair. There are, however, many sites that now offer information on how to fix your car. Unfortunately, many of them are motivated by financial gain, rather than to help us poor people out there who have no choice but to repair their own vehicles.
If any of this information has been useful or if you print out this information and distribute it, please feel free to send money (but don't feel obligated). It will help me put my kids through college. Thanks!