A few months ago my car started stalling when idle.. usually a few
minutes after I stopped at a traffic light, or almost always as soon as
I put it in park.
The gas guage doesn't go all the way over to 'full' when I fill the tank
up so I was thinking the two might be related and I have a dying fuel
pump.
I know the oil needs to be changed (there's minor smoking), and the
hydaulic fluid was quite low (I topped it up yesterday).
Does anyone have any thoughts on what it might be apart from the fuel
pump?
Av,
Judging when the oil needs to be changed from the volume of the smoke that
comes out the tailpipe essentially means that you're killing the car through
neglect. Part of the problem is the connection between the steering wheel
and the driver's seat.
The fact that the gauge doesn't go all the way to "full" is not an indicator
in any way of fuel pump condition - usually you'll hear it buzzing away like
a nest of bees before it fails, and it usually fails to start up after
sitting, not while running.
If you're letting the oil turn into tar, then chances are the piston rings
are wearing at the cylinder bore enough to give you alot of blowby, which
will pump the "tar" into the intake system and really mess things up there.
You could also have a clogged catalytic converter from the burned oil which
may suffocate the engine when idling. There are lots of things that could
be the main culprit - and those parts are too expensive to just guess which
one it is. From the sounds of it, it's already in the market for an engine
rebuild....
Cheers!
Steve Sears
1987 Audi 5kTQ
1980 Audi 5k
1962 and '64 Auto Union DKW Junior deLuxes
(SPAM Blocker NOTE: Remove SHOES to reply)
>A few months ago my car started stalling when idle.. usually a few
> minutes after I stopped at a traffic light, or almost always as soon as
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> Does anyone have any thoughts on what it might be apart from the fuel
> pump?
Av - 19 Apr 2006 18:11 GMT
> Av,
> Judging when the oil needs to be changed from the volume of the smoke that
> comes out the tailpipe essentially means that you're killing the car through
> neglect. Part of the problem is the connection between the steering wheel
> and the driver's seat.
No no I wasn't doing that at all :-)
I judge when the oil needs to be changed based on recent driving
conditions, the weather, and several other factors. I try never to let
it go over 5000mi in any case, and do it sooner if the conditions have
been bad or if I've been doing a lot of stop/go driving.
But you've given me some ideas to look at. Thanks Steve.
Steve Sears - 19 Apr 2006 18:37 GMT
Av,
Here's a checklist to follow:
http://www.humanspeakers.com/audi/tuning-cise.htm
Cheers!
Steve Sears
1987 Audi 5kTQ
1980 Audi 5k
1962 and '64 Auto Union DKW Junior deLuxes
(SPAM Blocker NOTE: Remove SHOES to reply)
>> Av,
>> Judging when the oil needs to be changed from the volume of the smoke
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> But you've given me some ideas to look at. Thanks Steve.