What's Wrong?

[probe91]

IF IT'S A HOT DAY OR IF I'VE STARTED MY PROBE MORE THAN 4 OR 5 TIMES A DAY RIGHT WHEN I START IT THE RPM GAUGE GOES TO 1000 THEN IT JUST FALL FROM THERE AND SOMETIMES EVEN SHUT THE CAR OFF TOTALLY. CAN ANYBODY HELP ME FIGURE OUT WHATS WRONG?:(

[rebby]

i suppose that it could be vapor lock... give us more details about how it is acting... vapor lock is my first guess w/your description though....

[probe91]

WHEN I START MY CAR FOR LIKE THE FORTH TIME IN A HOT DAY I'LL HAVE TO KEEP REVING IT UP TO KEEP IT RUNNING AND THEN PULL INTO REVERSE OR DRIVE REALLY FAST BEFORE IT DIES?
-ANY OTHER IDEAS????:help:

[MN Probe GT]

Originally posted by probe91
WHEN I START MY CAR FOR LIKE THE FORTH TIME IN A HOT DAY I'LL HAVE TO KEEP REVING IT UP TO KEEP IT RUNNING AND THEN PULL INTO REVERSE OR DRIVE REALLY FAST BEFORE IT DIES?
-ANY OTHER IDEAS????:help:

is the air conditioning on or off? try changing on or off.

[rebby]

does it "fix itself"? my geuss is still vapor lock... how is your fuel pressure? when you say hot day are you talking about the "it's so hot i can't even stand still w/out sweating days" or days like today?

[youngin]

I think curt has the right idea, although i have limited knowledge about cars, my friends car had something similar and it was vapor lock. If you cant fix it just have it checked..not by a dealership though....

[probe91]

ONLY ON REALLY HOT DAYS, NOT TODAY THOUGH-AND NO I DONT HAVE THE A/C ON BECAUSE IT DOESN'T WORK- DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW I CAN FIX IT MYSELF OR DO YOU KNOW ANYONE THAT CAN HELP ME OUT?

[tracer bullet]

Vapor lock is really common, especially in older cars for some reason. Not sure what's different, but it doesn't happen on newer ones. Anyways, it is common, and sounds right to me too.

Vapor lock is basically the gasoline from the gas tank coming up to the engine, and somewhere along the way it gets really hot. You know how you boil water and get steam? Basically, the gasoline is getting so hot that it is turning to vapor (a gas instead of a liquid). Your fuel pump can only push gas to the engine, not vapor. Hence, the engine is "locked".

I can think of two things that could help: 1) Use good gas. Fill it up at least once with the highest octane gas you can get. If you already do that, hmm... skip that one I guess. If you normally put cheap stuff in, try switching. Higher octane *might* help since it takes more to make it burn. 2) Check where the fuel lines come up to the engine. See if anything has come loose there. Maybe a clip came off and a line is sitting net to the engine? Basically, check to see if there's anywhere that a fuel line is next to something really hot. If so, move it out of the way somehow. If you can't see anything, you could actually try shielding it. Get something from a parts store, or maybe even just aluminum foil or something, and make a little shield to keep the fuel lines separated from whatever hot parts are next to it. Ususally the place to start is near an exhaust manifold. Is yours missing it's heat shield or anything?

[probe91]

THANKS ILL TRY THAT!

[probe91]

thanks alot man, the tin foil actually worked.

[tracer bullet]

Heh, cool - sometimes it's the simple things, isn't it.

If that worked, and I was you, I'd probably look around for something similar that would be more permanent. Maybe bend a piece of sheet metal and rivet it onto something, or find some material designed to wrap turbochargers or exahusts with.

At least you got it though!