Starving 95 Neon

My girlfriend's car was acting up today. When she tried to start it,
it would sputter as if it was trying to start. I told her to put the
throtle to the floor when starting it. Car started without incident.
This is the first time this has happen. I believe it was not getting
fuel. What makes it interesting is that she had just been driving it,
gone into a store, then it would not start. I would think that the
system should have had gas pressure still.
Would anyone have any suggestions on where to look for the troubles if
this persists?
I am begining to wonder if injector cleaner would help. I do not have
much faith in the stuff though.

btw, car is a 2.0l SOHC, 5 speed with approx. 370,000km
Mike
mlawrenc(at)rcc.on.ca

 

Doesn't "pressing the accelerator to the floor, releasing it, then
starting the engine "trigger the engine to start under
"cold" conditions? (Like - I think I heard somewhere that under extreme
cold sitations, you're supposed to do that?)

Not too sure - maybe someone else will have feedback.

--

 

Holding your foot to the floor is turning the fuel off with this vehicle,
that tells me the vehicle was flooded, when was the last time the engine was
tuned up

 

If you've got a carburetor, yes -- it will set the choke. But not on
a 95 Neon.

 

Any check engine lights?

370 000 km? Wow, that's impressive. How has the car held up through these
years?

When did your head gasket go?

 

Well... to answer all the questions.
The car had been off for about five mins. The temp today was average about
10'C, so cold temp and a cold engine would not be an issue.
As I mentioned, it would sputter as if it wanted to start, but did not have
the fuel to do so.
There was no engine light that came on once the car started. Checked the for
error codes once she got home today and there was nothing.
As for tune ups, The spark plugs are about 3 weeks old, and maybe 1500km on
them. I have not had a chance to pull them to see what they look like. Will
do that tomorrow.
There is a cold air intake on the car, with a clean filter. (cleaned it
about two weeks ago)

I am wondering about the fuel filter. I was wondering if that may be the
issue as I believe that it has never been changed by any of the previous
owners of the car, and I have never changed it.
I will check the plugs tomorrow, and run some injector cleaner through it. I
hope it was a fluke occurrance.

Mike
mlawrenc(at)rcc.on.ca

 

Ok, so I pulled the plugs, they look nice and tanned as they should. The car
has not acted up after that one time occurrance. I am out of ideas as to
what could be the cause.

 

Let sleeping gremlins lie?

DAS
--
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
---


[...]

[...]

 

that tune would include servicing the battery which i know is corrioded

 

WTF?

 

I doubt it actually turns the fuel off (unless WOT with engine off
condition is an actual trigger for the engine computer to do so), but,
in general, the reason pushing the pedal to the floor at startup clears
a flooded condition is that the open butterfly gives free flow to air to
purge the excess gasoline out of the combustion chamber and into the
exhaust (rather than cutting fuel off per se).

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')

 

It doesn't. Maxpower is apparently operating under the delusion that the
Neon is made by Ford. Some Ford vehicles *do* shut off the fuel if you
crank them with the accelerator on the floor.

 

You mean Ford actually did something right for a change?


Matt

 

I am kind of doubt full that the car was flooded, as my gf never touched the
throtle until I told her too, and that is when it started.
I have seen this kind of condition happen before when the battery had ran
completely dead over a weekend and was being boosted. I had to apply throtle
to get the car to start during the initial boost, or it would just sputter
and stop. My guess for the having to use the throtle while the car was being
boosted was that the fuel system required the demand for fuel to get
everything back to pressure. (this is just a guess)
I know from my experence with 2-strokes, that when under cold conditions, or
first start of the season (ski-doos) that you apply throtle to get the fuel
system pressure to where it is required. I know this is not a 2-stroke, but
I figured this would kind of apply. And it did work.

I guess the issue now is to figure out where to look for the possible cause
of the issue. This appears to be a one time occurrance as it did not happen
again after Monday afternoon. I had the car Tuesday, and it ran like a topp.

btw, I am becoming more and more doubtfull that this car has the original
engine. I know the guy I bought it from had swapped the gauge cluster to one
that read lower milage. (another long story). My doubts is that a 2.0l
engine with 370,000km (approx. 231250 miles) should be getting really tire,
low compression, and so on) The car does not display any signs of being old
other then the bearings in the front wheels starting to go.

Mike
mlawrenc(at)rcc.on.ca

 

It is a trigger to turn the injectors off

 

....on a Ford.

Good luck finding repair parts for a '95 Ford Neon.

 

d.c did istall a clear flood mode but i think it started in 2001

 

Yea ford uses turn signals,,,,,,, so does chrysler,

 

Well.... I do have to appoligize to Mic Canic. It was a power issue, but it
was not at the battery. Ground wire was the issue.

Mike