Jud, Hitler had the VW altered to run off firewood. Wood burning VW
Abundant oil and too many vehicle fires doomed the invention.
JRL
check the fuel pump ...
I had an 88 Ford Tempo that would do that ...
Little know fact - the fuel pump resets itself so you could drive it another 20 miles - then it would "die" on again.
No sense taking a mechanic up there with a computer ... because it would start by the time we got back to it. Very frustrating ... each day it would "crap out" just a little farther from home ...
A new fuel pump fixed it. Based on my experience that would be my best female suggestion. :O)
Good Luck !!!!!
Wood was used much in WW2 to power trucks and cars. Used in Australia, Japan, France and many other places. Can buy plans for the system that does work, seems the most difficult part is cooling the gas produced without plugging up the cooler with tar. Autos have crossed this country in the last 20 years burning wood scraps. Believe it is called a producer gas system.
jud
check the fuel pump ...
Again, before replacing the fuel pump....when it dies, is it getting fuel or not? Easy to check these things by checking the spark plugs out.
If not, that fuel pump may be a place to look.
Another easy way to diagnose fuel pump issues on non-fuel injected engines, is to bypass the factory fuel pump with a 5 gallon can and a cheap electric fuel pump (good to have in the glove box anyway). If your fuel pump is located in the gas tank, it's probably fuel injected and under high pressure
JRL
Is this a gas or diesel??
N
check the fuel pump ...
'88 Tempo! I thought I was the only one dumb enough to buy one of those.
I swear they just changed the name from Pinto to Tempo, they stopped making one and started making the other.
Mine had various other issues (thats a story for another time), but one time it just wouldn't start - turned out to be a bad sensor (who woulda guessed) that was on or in the distributor that would tell the fuel pump that the distributor shaft was turning or not.
check the fuel pump ...
Mechanics can be useless at these phantom problems.
I had two Volvo 240DL station wagons at different times do this phantom dying stuff. At least they would start up again, usually.
Never do it for the damned mechanic, though. He would drive it all day getting parts; no problems whatsoever.
One time the stupid thing wouldn't start after work. Nothing I did would make that car start. Get it towed over to the mechanics, 14 miles. I only had regular AAA then. The tow truck driver says, "Hey man, if you are going to drive a Volvo you should have 100 mile towing; these things are temperamental."
Get it over to the mechanic's shop. You guessed, he gets in it and it starts right up. I wanted to torch the thing right there.
On both cars it finally turned out to be some computer. The mechanic could never figure it out until the computer finally completely failed.
One time I was turning a corner and cut it too close. I lightly bumped the curb with the right rear tire. It was like I hurt the car's feelings; it absolutely would not start again. It turns out there is a plastic plug thing in the engine compartment that had crystallized over the years and the bump made it fall out. As soon as that was plugged back in the car started right up.
Gawd I will jump off a cliff before I will ever own another Volvo or anything European. Temperamental and EXPENSIVE to maintain.
Gas
check the fuel pump ...
Yes, it's getting fuel.
Have you checked the wheel base?
Don
Don, leave this to the experts...
obviously he needs new muffler bearings.
Yes, it is long.
Did you lube the nut behind the wheel?
😉
Radar
Check The Flywheel Sensor
It tells the computer the engine is turning over. A bad connection or sensor and the computer cuts off fuel and/or spark. Since it is supposed to do that when the engine stops turning it will never set a code. Mounted on top of the bell housing in a hot, dirty, oily place. $45 part, $450 labor. Some are lucky and it can be replaced from up top by removing the shifter housing from the floor. Took 3 months to track it down this winter, thinking first it was frozen fuel, clogged fuel filters, then no spark, bad computer. Replaced a lot of things it probably needed anyway. Not an everyday problem so many mechanics have never seen it.
Paul in PA
Check The Flywheel Sensor
I bet the biggest problem is that the nut behind the wheel, is low on Federal Reserve Notes, and thus is having a hard time keeping the old steed going!
(lucky guess?)
🙂
Cheer up, dan. This is an efi engine? Which engine is it?
Thanks!
N
change of scenery
> It is not running hot anymore and the only time it runs bad is when the air temperature outside gets above 93.
>
Move up here. it rarely gets above 90.
could be the Johnson rods
I've seen this before too. Johnson rods could be the culprit. If you've got bad johnson rods, this overheating problem can sometimes occur even in cold weather. It happened to me once up at Deadhorse Camp (Prudhoe Bay) and we had to fly in a new set of johnson rods all the way from Fairbanks. Johnson rods can cost a pretty penny, especially for the older models. Fortunately our pilot also brought in a gallon of bootleg whiskey listed on the flight manifest as "truck parts".
Hey, "parts is parts" enit?
If it ain't the dadgum johnson rods, first I would inspect the regaline housing and make sure its getting sufficient coolant from the doobendabber pump. (Little known fact: doobendabber supply lines can be easily abraded or clogged, they are kinda like arteries in that way).
If that's not the problem, then perhaps you need a new credishfrum. Even the most qualified shade-tree mechanics and rocket-surgeons occasionally overlook this one.
Luckily, replacing a faulty credishfrum is a fairly simple task after you first remove the transmission, drive-train and both axles. Up there on the North Slope we once fabricated a new credishfrum using nothing but some short pieces of rebar, a tinfoil pie plate, some 12 AWG copper wire and 2 rolls of Bulldog tape.
That particular repair wasn't for a truck, it was for a Bell 212 helicopter, which subsequently got us all the way from Camden Bay to Kaktovik, where we got a hot meal and a proper repair. All of which cost us 1 quart of the remaining whiskey which we were loath to part with.
All I can say is what that Kaktovik mechanic said as we departed:
GOOD LUCK!
BC
check the fuel pump ...
That is the PIP sensor. Went through something similiar with my daughter's 91 F150 a few months ago.
It ended up being a broken diode in the wiring harness.
Dan,
My daughter's 91 F150 had a similar problem, although the heat did not have anything to do with it. It would die on her, and I would go back out there and it would start right back up, run fine for a day or so, then do the same thing.
I ran through the tests in the Haynes Manuals, and could never get consistent results. I ended up giving up, and taking it to a local mechanic.
It ended up being a broken diode in the wiring harness between the engine and the driver's side fender well, where the fuel pump relay, and the EEC relay is. In my research, there was also a bad connector batch, or something, that there is a replacement wiring harness connector that can be replaced that solves some problems. Those guys have access to information that us guys don't have a clue exists.
Those trucks are pretty popular, so a local mechanic should be able to check it out.
Good luck, and let us know what you find.
Jimmy
could be the Johnson rods
Well, now you have it! Jimmy, could I also ask you about how to solve America's financial problems? (It seems you solved the truck in 3 mins flat)
🙂
N
