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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / April 2007

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Car breaks down everytime I get too one certain town!!

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ahaysoalitsa@aol.com - 22 Mar 2007 00:56 GMT
I drive a Chevy Malibu and it has been to the mechanics many times
this month.  I thought I got some bad fuel or something but now after
thinking, I have only broken down in one certain area.  Everytime I
get to this town my car shuts off.  It starts as soon as I turn it
back on but it only turns off once I get off the exit and almost slow
all the way down to turn. ??? This is getting weird.  I can drive all
day long or not long at all but it always turns off once I exit to go
into one certian town?  The last owner was a criminal so I feel like
it has something to do with the police??
zwsdotcom@gmail.com - 22 Mar 2007 02:08 GMT
On Mar 21, 7:56 pm, ahaysoali...@aol.com wrote:
> I drive a Chevy Malibu and it has been to the mechanics many times
> this month.  I thought I got some bad fuel or something but now after
> thinking, I have only broken down in one certain area.  Everytime I

Altitude?
Scott Dorsey - 22 Mar 2007 15:54 GMT
>On Mar 21, 7:56 pm, ahaysoali...@aol.com wrote:
>> I drive a Chevy Malibu and it has been to the mechanics many times
>> this month.  I thought I got some bad fuel or something but now after
>> thinking, I have only broken down in one certain area.  Everytime I
>
>Altitude?

Nearby RF source?
--scott
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"C'est un Nagra.  C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

HLS@nospam.nix - 22 Mar 2007 19:16 GMT
> I drive a Chevy Malibu and it has been to the mechanics many times
> this month.  I thought I got some bad fuel or something but now after
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> into one certian town?  The last owner was a criminal so I feel like
> it has something to do with the police??

Sounds like a job for Stephen King...

Seriously, I used to have a Buick Regal that would shut down after it
had been driven an adequate distance AND when getting off the
accelerator to exit a freeway.

The Buick dealership couldn't find it.  I called the zone representative
( I am sorry that Buick has made that option extinct) and he
knew the problem immediately.  There was a TSB on it (which the
dealership chose not to read).   A new computer put me back in
business.

Yours may be any of a bunch of things, but I would advise you
look through the TSBs for your car as a starter.
TomO - 22 Mar 2007 21:33 GMT
> I drive a Chevy Malibu and it has been to the mechanics many times
> this month.  I thought I got some bad fuel or something but now after
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> into one certian town?  The last owner was a criminal so I feel like
> it has something to do with the police??

That reminds me of the infamous Vanilla Ice Cream story.
BTW - snopes.com reports that this is a true story. FWIW

Vanilla ice cream == car problems??

For the engineers among us who understand that the obvious is not
always the solution, and that the facts, no matter how implausible,
are still the facts ...

This is a weird but true story (with a moral) ...

  A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

  "This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you
for not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a
fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert
after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every
night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice
cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it.  It's
also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my
trips to the store have created a problem.  You see, every time I buy
vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't
start.  If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just
fine.  I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter
how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not
start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get
any other kind?'"

  The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter,
but sent an engineer to check it out anyway.  The latter was surprised
to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine
neighborhood.  He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time,
so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store.  It
was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came
back to the car, it wouldn't start.

  The engineer returned for three more nights.  The first night, the
man got chocolate.  The car started.  The second night, he got
strawberry.  The car started.  The third night he ordered vanilla.
The car failed to start.

  Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this
man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream.  He arranged, therefore,
to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the
problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down
all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back
and forth, etc.

  In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy
vanilla than any other flavor.  Why?  The answer was in the layout of
the store.

  Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at
the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were
kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took
considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out.

  Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start
when it took less time.  Once time became the problem -- not the
vanilla ice cream -- the engineer quickly came up with the answer:
vapor lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to
get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to
start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the
vapor lock to dissipate.

  Moral of the story: even insane looking problems are sometimes real.

  (A better moral: chocolate ice cream cures vapor lock!)
zwsdotcom@gmail.com - 22 Mar 2007 22:17 GMT
> ahaysoali...@aol.com wrote:

> That reminds me of the infamous Vanilla Ice Cream story.
> BTW - snopes.com reports that this is a true story. FWIW

No it doesn't. It reports that it is a LEGEND, i.e. fictitious - and
that it appears in variants where vanilla was the fastest served and
the slowest served. This is a fable, do not report it as fact nor lie
about references.
TomO - 22 Mar 2007 23:12 GMT
>>ahaysoali...@aol.com wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> the slowest served. This is a fable, do not report it as fact nor lie
> about references.

My Apologies. When I searched for it initially on snopes, all the
headers were in green, indicating a true story.

After reading your post, I backed up to the index and saw the gray dot
indicating "unclassifiable veracity".

I hate it when I screw the pooch like that.

Signature

TomO

HLS@nospam.nix - 23 Mar 2007 01:33 GMT
> > ahaysoali...@aol.com wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> the slowest served. This is a fable, do not report it as fact nor lie
> about references.

Whether the story was true or not, the lesson is valuable.  Even
Jesus taught by example in stories....

There is always a reason why things behave as they do, but the
reasons may not be obvious.  And apparent relationships to other
phenomena may lead you down the wrong path.
zwsdotcom@gmail.com - 23 Mar 2007 10:49 GMT
On Mar 22, 8:33 pm, <H...@nospam.nix> wrote:
> <zwsdot...@gmail.com> wrote in message

> Whether the story was true or not, the lesson is valuable.  Even
> Jesus taught by example in stories....

A story that is false, presented and "certified" as true, is a lie. I
don't recall too many places in the Christian bible where Jesus (or
anyone) told a parable, then burst out laughing and said "Nah, just
fooling - it was BS from start to finish - but there's a good lesson
in there".
TomO - 23 Mar 2007 16:03 GMT
> On Mar 22, 8:33 pm, <H...@nospam.nix> wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> fooling - it was BS from start to finish - but there's a good lesson
> in there".

The story being presented as "certified true" was my own fault. The
false certification was due my own mis-interpretation of the snopes.com
website. It was not a blatant attempt on my part to lie about the
authenticity, I simply screwed up and apologized for it. You may
killfile me, flame me, say bad things about my mother. I am not aware of
a way to go back and edit my original post.

The lesson to be learned from the story is still valid despite my own
error. I have been troubleshooting electronic and mechanical devices
professionally for many years. Sometimes the original complaint and
reported symptoms don't always make a whole lot of sense, but every
reported symptom can be a clue, if you're willing enough to look for
other than the obvious.

Signature

TomO

HLS@nospam.nix - 24 Mar 2007 13:54 GMT
> On Mar 22, 8:33 pm, <H...@nospam.nix> wrote:
> > <zwsdot...@gmail.com> wrote in message
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> fooling - it was BS from start to finish - but there's a good lesson
> in there".

I dont disagree with you that false is false.  Interesting that  religious
observances and business meetings are the occasions that you hear
most of these illustrative stories.
cuhulin@webtv.net - 25 Mar 2007 20:02 GMT
Bobba Oooom Mau Mau,,,, Babba Ooooo Mau Mau,,,,,,,,
Folks,come on over to Larry's Used Car City.We have a real good deal on
a 1954 Pontiac Automobile.
cuhulin
Knifeblade_03 - 23 Mar 2007 16:18 GMT
Getting away from the religious references,  the point was a vapor lock
condition.

For the OP, scan your comp.  Any error codes?  Could be a faulty
pressure regulator, overheating condition, some other mechanical
problem that likely overheats or shut-off modes.

Signature

Knifeblade_03

http://www.automotiveforums.com

GK - 05 Apr 2007 05:12 GMT
> Getting away from the religious references,  the point was a vapor lock
> condition.
>
> For the OP, scan your comp.  Any error codes?  Could be a faulty
> pressure regulator, overheating condition, some other mechanical
> problem that likely overheats or shut-off modes.

I had a car that used to do something similar, stall out while driving
past a certain point often.
Wound up changing most of the usual, ECU, etc.
Eventually while inspecting the distributor one day I found the tiniest
sliver of metal that had one end stuck across the reluctor gap. it
turned out that somewhat like a compass needle, it could move and short
across the gap intermittently, causing the engine to die, then
eventually it would clear.

One place where it stalled sometimes, repeatedly, there was a nearby
radio tower, which could probably make the loose metal spec line up
across the gap and short out the ignition pickup.

Just needed to clear that piece of metal off it and it was fine, but did
take at least a few months to solve.

GK
 
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