Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Help me diagnose my car stalling

There has to be some smart mechanics on the fire.

I have a 2001 chevy prizm, pretty much a toyota corolla.

It ran fine two weeks ago, sat unused in some pretty cold temps. Went to start, it started ran for 1-2 seconds then died. If I try to start it again immediately it will just crank. If I wait a few seconds it'll start then die.

Pushing the gas has almost no effect and it still dies.

I've cleaned the MAF and currently have the throttle body off, cleaned it last night.

Would it start at all if the fuel pump was going?

Where else to look?

Thanks.

At a garage?

If its still below freezing there could be some water in the gas that has frozen in the line or filter.

Could be fuel related, and yes they sometimes will start a bit with a bad fuel pump or a leak.

Sometimes a good swift kick to a fuel tank will get them going long enough to get them looked at.

It's not throwing you a code?

Can't be specific to yours cause I never had one. But, if you turn the key to 'on' not start, can you hear the fuel pump kick on? If you can it's maybe eliminated. Have you tried any fuel treatment? If it's condensate in the fuel or components that may help. Tump some made for the task into the tank and slosh it a bit, then give it a shot of starter juice shot in the air intake as somebody else turns it over. If it starts but tries to die juice it again. Don't take much. If you get it going run a tank of non-ethanol thru it with something like SeaFoam mixed in. Good luck.

Or the oxygen sensor.

I did put some Heet in the tank, which is full. I'm wondering how much good it'll do since the car really won't run much more than a 1-2 seconds.

Try the starter juice. There's a ton of possibilities here and an error code look-up would probably get you closer. But if condensate froze in the line or pump and is now melted you might be able to push it thru if you can keep the motor running. I try the cheap stuff first.

Check your pressure at the fuel rail, you'll probably find there's ice in the fuel blocking the fuel from getting through.

Push or pull it into your garage and put a heater in there for awhile to eliminate the possibility of it being water in the fuel.

Sound kinda like an IAC valve issue, if you have the throttle body off already its an easy swap.

Holy crap, 10 posts and not a "check the ground" post yet. It's a miracle.

Bad fuel pump.

Fuel pump is a good place to start. JMHO

I did check the ground.

Went in to buy some starting fluid and decided to have the battery checked too. Machine said it was bad. So we'll see this evening. I thought about that but it cranked pretty strong.

LOL. I feel a DUH coming on. You're right. I just "fixed" a Malibu last month with that intermittent issue now that you mention it.

Well the new battery did not change anything.

I tried the starting fluid, I think it made it harder to start. Almost like it had to evaporate before the motor would start then run for 2-3 seconds and die.

I cannot hear the fuel pump run when the key is turned to on. But once the car dies I can hear it running for a few seconds then turn off.

Oreillys in town said I could borrow their code reader for an hour on so tomorrow. I live out of town and can't drive the car there.

ice in the fuel line. if you can get it in a heated garage for 24 hrs I bet it will start right up.

drover

OBD II is your friend

my vehicles so far over the years have been water in fuel and the fuel pump itself, once it was the ignition harness.