A Great Idea for Metro Fixage
Apr. 30th, 2011 03:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
errantemberRecent history with the Metro consists of the following:
1) Got it working again after months of non-functionality by replacing the spark plugs and wires.
2) The idle was often rough, and it would occasionally stall out, often at really bad times, and couldn't really be considered reliable transportation.
3) One day when I went out to track down and fix #2, it wouldn't start at all. It was cranking fine, but it just wouldn't keep running.
4) I spent at least $75 and several days of working on it to check the entire ignition system. I replaced the distributor cap and rotor, and did extensive testing both with a spare spark plug and an inductive timing light. I was definitely getting spark on all three cylinders, but especially when I was using the timing light, I would often see a flutter in the pattern of individual plugs. I chalked this up to the fact that I think it's possible for other, nearby plug cables to induce a current on the light, thus making the signal look aperiodic.
5) Having pretty much verified that everything in the ignition system seemed to be working, I decided, in desperation, to try disassembling part of the carburetor. I tried turning the ignition On to see if the fuel pump was working, and a celebratory orgasm of fuel shot out all over the rest of the engine for two seconds, which is what was supposed to happen. Further attempts to disassemble the carburetor were stymied by the two screws getting severely stripped despite my best attempts to be careful.
5) After none of this helped a flying fuck, and the car wouldn't start, it magically started working again yesterday. I decided to Live Dangerously and head to the Habitat Restore to hunt for cheap bathroom and duct fans. The trip there was smooth as silk, and might have been better because of all the ignition parts I replaced. However, on the way home, I had four or five harrowing instances where I stalled in the middle of rush-hour traffic, once on the ramp leading from the I35 access road onto Riverside. I was literally blocking all of the traffic wanting to turn right. When this happens, there's no telling how many times the engine will have to be cranked before forward motion can resume, and often the throttle simply doesn't respond to the gas pedal. There seems to be some backfiring or at least incorrectly timed piston firing involved. The Final Insult happened when the car died directly in front of the house of my most skeptical neighbor, the one who is visibly annoyed that I continue to drive and maintain such a noisy shitbox, right across the street from my driveway. I finally got it working again long enough to pull into the driveway, but only after a long, noisy set of starts.
Very embarrassing.
One of three things is causing the problem. It's either the ignition system, failing intermittently, and therefore undetected by my previous fairly thorough testing, or the fuel system, which I have very little ability to test without special tools. I also have the version of the shop manual for the 1998 Metro, which was fuel injected. Mine has a carburetor instead, which means, at the very least, the the fuel pressure expected from the pump is totally different, so even if I did have to tools, I wouldn't know what to expect when I measured. Finally, it could be one of the many other sensors involved in the whole dance, like the throttle position sensor, or the water temperature sensor, all of which help control idle speed, etc. I can't measure any of these fuckers with the tools I have, so I ordered a USB to OBD-II scanner that you can plug into a computer, which may or may not actually work with my car. If it does, I can look up all the sensor data in real time and see if it's where it's supposed to be. I can't really check the fuel system until I get access to special tools and the right info.
However, there *is* one thing I *can* check. On the assumption that it's actually the ignition system that's randomly decided to crap out on me, I could hook up the inductive timing light to the main spark wire that goes from the coil to the distributor. If it starts flashing in a crazy way whenever I see these problems, then I'll know it's either the coil or the coil controller that's bad, and maybe I can make the whole problem Go Away just by buying another one. I just need to find a way to run the cable out from under the hood when the car is running, or mount it on the hood itself, or maybe point the light through a hole in the firewall that will let me see it while I'm driving. Then I can drive the car around not too far away from where I live until the problem occurs, then see if the light goes crazy when it does. If so, I've got the problem. If not, I've eliminated a major possible source.
Hopefully by then the scanner will have arrived.
In the meantime (stops to knock on wood) the scooter is getting me around nicely in the gorgeous weather!
1) Got it working again after months of non-functionality by replacing the spark plugs and wires.
2) The idle was often rough, and it would occasionally stall out, often at really bad times, and couldn't really be considered reliable transportation.
3) One day when I went out to track down and fix #2, it wouldn't start at all. It was cranking fine, but it just wouldn't keep running.
4) I spent at least $75 and several days of working on it to check the entire ignition system. I replaced the distributor cap and rotor, and did extensive testing both with a spare spark plug and an inductive timing light. I was definitely getting spark on all three cylinders, but especially when I was using the timing light, I would often see a flutter in the pattern of individual plugs. I chalked this up to the fact that I think it's possible for other, nearby plug cables to induce a current on the light, thus making the signal look aperiodic.
5) Having pretty much verified that everything in the ignition system seemed to be working, I decided, in desperation, to try disassembling part of the carburetor. I tried turning the ignition On to see if the fuel pump was working, and a celebratory orgasm of fuel shot out all over the rest of the engine for two seconds, which is what was supposed to happen. Further attempts to disassemble the carburetor were stymied by the two screws getting severely stripped despite my best attempts to be careful.
5) After none of this helped a flying fuck, and the car wouldn't start, it magically started working again yesterday. I decided to Live Dangerously and head to the Habitat Restore to hunt for cheap bathroom and duct fans. The trip there was smooth as silk, and might have been better because of all the ignition parts I replaced. However, on the way home, I had four or five harrowing instances where I stalled in the middle of rush-hour traffic, once on the ramp leading from the I35 access road onto Riverside. I was literally blocking all of the traffic wanting to turn right. When this happens, there's no telling how many times the engine will have to be cranked before forward motion can resume, and often the throttle simply doesn't respond to the gas pedal. There seems to be some backfiring or at least incorrectly timed piston firing involved. The Final Insult happened when the car died directly in front of the house of my most skeptical neighbor, the one who is visibly annoyed that I continue to drive and maintain such a noisy shitbox, right across the street from my driveway. I finally got it working again long enough to pull into the driveway, but only after a long, noisy set of starts.
Very embarrassing.
One of three things is causing the problem. It's either the ignition system, failing intermittently, and therefore undetected by my previous fairly thorough testing, or the fuel system, which I have very little ability to test without special tools. I also have the version of the shop manual for the 1998 Metro, which was fuel injected. Mine has a carburetor instead, which means, at the very least, the the fuel pressure expected from the pump is totally different, so even if I did have to tools, I wouldn't know what to expect when I measured. Finally, it could be one of the many other sensors involved in the whole dance, like the throttle position sensor, or the water temperature sensor, all of which help control idle speed, etc. I can't measure any of these fuckers with the tools I have, so I ordered a USB to OBD-II scanner that you can plug into a computer, which may or may not actually work with my car. If it does, I can look up all the sensor data in real time and see if it's where it's supposed to be. I can't really check the fuel system until I get access to special tools and the right info.
However, there *is* one thing I *can* check. On the assumption that it's actually the ignition system that's randomly decided to crap out on me, I could hook up the inductive timing light to the main spark wire that goes from the coil to the distributor. If it starts flashing in a crazy way whenever I see these problems, then I'll know it's either the coil or the coil controller that's bad, and maybe I can make the whole problem Go Away just by buying another one. I just need to find a way to run the cable out from under the hood when the car is running, or mount it on the hood itself, or maybe point the light through a hole in the firewall that will let me see it while I'm driving. Then I can drive the car around not too far away from where I live until the problem occurs, then see if the light goes crazy when it does. If so, I've got the problem. If not, I've eliminated a major possible source.
Hopefully by then the scanner will have arrived.
In the meantime (stops to knock on wood) the scooter is getting me around nicely in the gorgeous weather!
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no subject
Date: 2011-04-30 01:01 pm (UTC)I am curious (and a bit mystified - I hate dealing with car stuff).
no subject
Date: 2011-04-30 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-30 04:00 pm (UTC)Additionally, the Metro is a really simple car to learn to work on. Understanding how automobiles work can save a person thousands of dollars a year. I only paid $700 for it, and it gets about 38 mpg in the city and over 50 on the highway. Combined with my 1 cent-per-mile electric scooter, it keeps my transportation costs down, which will be increasingly important as gas prices inevitably rise.
And although I *am* super annoyed with the project at the moment, it is very satisfying to know that a vehicle is still mobile only because of my efforts to fix it.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-30 06:59 pm (UTC)