XLTrunner, sorry for late response. With my car problems, it's like everything in my life that can go wrong, is going wrong. I've had similar problems with the car and had the fuel pump replaced 3 times. (I should've read what i already wrote, sry if I repeat) it pretty much did what it's doing now, other than I couldn't start it at all anymore. It keeps starting this time and the fuel pump can be heard thru the gas tank. It starts randomly. It will run fine, including turning it off, doing shopping or whatever, start back up and be fine again. A little while later, it won't start at all. Next day, no start. 9 pm, starts. Last week, started up in the morning, took me to neighboring city for appointment, I come out, no start, so I was stuck a few hours til I had it towed. I haven't driven it but same thing in driveway, starts, no start. I couldn't be any broker, (is that a word?) so I'm really hoping to find out what's wrong before paying a tow and possibly getting ripped off. (Yup, had THAT happen several times) I know nothing about cars and it hasn't gotten the best of care so I'm trying to get a crash course in car problems for dummies right here. There are several things that could've caused this and a few unrelated at the same time. I'm just lost and being stuck with no vehicle is getting to me. The timeline is as follows: car has been fine. My kid gets into a legal issue so I retain an Attorney that does nothing and leaves me penniless, causing me to drive my car with under a quarter tank for a week. I KNOW not to do this with this car cuz this is what caused getting 3 fuel pumps but being totally broke left me no choice. At the same time, my daughter backs into my car hard enough to cause a significant dent..passenger side and next day I notice the door lock( passenger side) just hanging there so i just push it back in but since then, i randomly find it hanging again. I FINALLY am able to fill my tank. But now, I'm having hard starts but i assume it's from the car sitting too much. I should mention that the check engine light had been on about a year but the car was running fine and believe it or not, the light went out the day i got it smogged but went back on the next day. Weird, Right? Once the hard starts started, i started having problems. The car kept feeling like it was gonna die if i took my foot off the gas. I took it on the.freeway and it kept feeling like it was gonna die. It was terrifying. Night time, traffic flying and i felt like i was losing power. I was too afraid to cross the fwy to exit cuz i felt it was gonna die and traffic was going at least 80. I was finally able to exit and car died right there. It stalled every corner til it finally stopped and had to be towed. By this time, battery was dead. Auto zone said battery was dead. I'm not exactly sure what was said cuz a friend took it for me and also bought me a cheap little 6 mos battery. Once connected it still wouldn't start. Next day, started fine and drove fine, all week. Then, i run an errand, with the windows down cuz i didn't want any strain on the car. When it started, the 1 touch drivers side window didn't work at first so i didn't use the AC and i start hearing like a cracking sound, but traffic was loud so as I'm putting windows up to see where the sound is coming from, i start losing power, my brakes feel like they're failing and i loose power steering. I get it home and there's smoke coming from under the hood. I wait about half an hour to check but when i open the hood, the radiator is cold. The serpentine belt is broken tho. I get that replaced and a new radiator cap the next day. Car runs fine all week. No hard start. No stalling. Nothing. I go out 1 day, and car WON'T start. I keep trying at random times, nothing. 10pm, cat starts, so i drive it around locally, about half hour. I should say, i had also put injector cleaner in the tank when i filled it and had planned to fwy drive half hour but got too afraid it would die out on fwy so i never took it back on. For the past several weeks it would drive good engine so quiet, i kept thinking it died. Nope. All good. Then it starts again with the random not starting/starting. I'd run errands and not turn it off, but after starting/ turning off and starting i began turning it off at grocery store, wherever, and it would start up again. I kept filling the tank, but after each fill, it wouldn't start til next day, so i figured filing the tank was stirring up debris in the tank. That's when i took it to neighboring city. I had it off maybe half hour and it wouldn't start after. Afraid to flood it or design battery, I'd wait 15 minutes and try again. It acted like it wasn't getting gas. I had to have it towed. I've tried to figure it out. It's been sitting in the driveway, sometimes starting, sometimes not. I've had a couple people listen to the gas tank and fuel pump goes on. I tried to see if it was the anti-theft switch as it blinks rapidly day and nite and 1 time blinked rapidly with key turned but when i immediately re-tried, it went solid, then, off. I've considered fuel pump, but there's no high pitched whine or surging. I thought maybe the button that cuts off the fuel for an accident got triggered and stuck when my daughter hit the car but i have to remove the panel during the day. I've considered fuel pump relay but I can't find an understandable diagram that doesn't get blurry when i enlarge it. There's only #'s on the large relays and small fuses on the other side. I'm thinking maybe fuel filter, or perhaps fuel injector. Lastly, Bad crankshaft position sensor. Money is def an issue right now, but along with that, i am determined to find what it is myself. THIS is coming from a person who has never even put water or oil in my own vehicle, so I am challenged. My Son has a code reader but since my daughter has made it impossible to get to anything in my garage, tools and code reader are unobtainable. I REFUSE to even 1 more mechanic, pay hundreds and the problem still there. I don't know any trustworthy. Forgot to say, check engine light went out when the belt was changed and.mechanic said he didn't turn it off. It's STILL off but I thought those were in regards to smog emission issues, not belts. I want to change the relay myself, then buy the fuel filter and have a mechanic put it on. I'm trying to start with small inexpensive items and hope it doesn't seem fixed and leave me stranded. I'm out of tows. Sorry about the length of this, didn't want to omit anything that might jump out at you. I couldn't be in a worse place than i have been the past 3yrs in EVERY area of my life, so any thoughts you have on any of this would be more appreciated than I have words for. *** Oh..forgot to say...Im even wondering if that door lock constantly falling out could be.kicking on that button that stops fuel during an accident could be the culprit. Anything wrong with me just super.gluing it back in? I'm sure there's some kind of clip that broke, but without tools and know-how, super glue will work for me. What do u think?
