Car update

[cjsmith]

Friday night I looked under the hood and discovered that one of the leads from the distributor was loose. I must have been misfiring on one cylinder constantly! I'm surprised the car's working as well as it is! That would explain a LOT. I wonder just how long it's been like that. Sigh.

So I plugged it back in. I thought that fixed the problem, but no, now it's happening again. When I apply enough power ("enough" is purposefully vague -- the problem is very intermittent) the engine runs roughly, acceleration gets a bunch of surges, and sometimes it will even backfire. This seems to happen only during rain, but that correlation is too new for me to trust it much.

Nothing else under the hood is loose. I've reached the limit of my car-problem-solving abilities. So I get to take it in on Monday. I really hope the fix is simple.

Comments

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

Take it to someone you trust, then watch them. I had my truck tuned up because I'm unable to do it myself. The truck ran worse when I got it back than before they started. I was told that a simple gasket needed replacing at the cost of $14, but the location of the gasket would entail $350 labor. I took it someplace else and they told me someone had switched my sparkplug wires around. That fix, another tune up and muffler repair cost me less that $100 at the new place and the truck runs fine. (My car, on the other hand, got totalled Friday night. Thank God my wife is safe. I heard the crash inside the house and ran out to find it was my wife who'd been run into. Not a good thing for my heart condition.) Get a second opinion if you even suspect a charge might be out of line.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thankfully, I do have someone I trust. They're a little pricey, but well-organized and reliable. I searched for less-expensive alternatives, got screwed over and lied to, and decided these folks were decent and worth supporting. They've even sent my business to another shop once or twice: "All we can do is order you a brand new piece from the factory, and that'd be $700 installed, but this shop can build you one that matches for $300."

I am soooooo glad your wife is safe. What a horrible moment that must have been.

Re:

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

It was scary...the car mashed sideways and a huge SUV stuck in the driver's side of the car. I got the passenger door open and tried to see if she was alright. They had to haul her off in an ambulance but she checked out ok, just bruised and very sore.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Wow. What a relief. I hope she's feeling more chipper soon... even "minor" things like bruising and soreness can be truly annoying when it's all over you.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

You're female! How do you know so much about cars?

*ducking*

*running*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

A femme heart and a butch brain, that'd be me. :-)