A Modest Proposal: The Thread Hijack Drinking Game [vanity]

Still me. | Today | Me

[Monkey Face]

Good idea!

[ArGee]

Obama, is that you?

[Monkey Face]

No one wants to steal this because it has no A/C, so they can’t be cool cruisin’.

Periodically, we do have auto thefts, but for whatever reason, the thieves don’t want mine. With only four cylinders and no A/C, it’s not at risk. Still, it’s only got liability, and I would never be able to replace it. The sentimental value alone is worth a million dollars.

(The widow of our own Sionnsar brought it to me from Puget Sound, after his death.)

[ArGee]

Well, I guess we’ll have to keep throwing stuff at the wall until something sticks and then you can fix it.

The antique thing is from an old David Brenner joke when the family tried to sell a chair for $100 and nobody called. They dropped it to $50 and nobody called. They dropped it to free to a good home and nobody called. Then they marked it “antique” and set the price at $250 and it was stolen within the hour.

[Monkey Face]

W00t! Two in a row! Woo-hoo!

[Monkey Face]

At the moment, I’m close to tears over this thing. Like, there hasn’t been enough going on in my life in the last four months...

And now, I need another steroid breathing treatment, though the doc said not to have too many in any one week. *sigh*

[NoCmpromiz]

OK.. let me see if I have decoded what you have told us..

1) Car cold, no starting problem.
2) Car warm - starts with difficulty. (Is this correct or is it 'Doesn't start at all.'?)
3) When car is warm and not wanting to start you smell gas after cranking.
4) If car is warm and not wanting to start, if you are parked so you can roll and pop clutch, does it start? (That if true wanders things off into another forest..)

Now, I did find the following two items on a Suzuki forum (guess since Geo shut down, Suzuki has been handling Geo stuff.. ??)

Try the unflood mode to start it. Foot all the way down on the gas pedal, to the floor. 
This stops the ECU from injecting fuel - if car starts this way, it means that it is flooding 
(conversely, when it takes a long time starting, pull a plug and see if it is wet).

..and

The most common problem that matches your symptoms is a bad fuel pressure regulator. When the 
engine is fully warmed up, pull the vacuum line off the FPR and see if there is any gas in the line. 
If so you just found the problem. Try starting a hot engine with the vacuum line detached. If it fires 
right up you just confirmed the problem with the FPR. The FPR is a super easy part to test and replace 
as it's VERY easy to get to and test or change. 

Now, exactly where that fuel pressure regulator they mention in the second comment is located, I don't know.. It supposedly looks something like this:

Have you had an occasion to try the 'pedal to the metal' flooding work around? 'Cause if that works we are fairly sure you have a fuel problem as opposed to ignition issue.

Oh lookie - it's getting boo-dark and thunderous noises are rumbling in from the Southwest..

[Tax-chick]

We currently have Boom! and downpour going on, but the boom isn’t as loud as it was. Jake was nervous and drooled on me.

[NoCmpromiz]

Yeah but you play guitar so it all works out in the end.

..especially if any of your offspring-units would know what a carburetor is. Whether you would trust them to fix one is another matter...;-)

[Tax-chick]

I suppose if I were asked, “Was the object that fell on your foot a child, a pot lid, or a carburetor?” I could identify the carburetor as the one it wasn’t.

Anoreth took Auto Tech at community college, but this sounds awfully technical. Maybe she knows someone, though.

[NoCmpromiz]

Radar says that what you have is the bottom end of the line that is going through here.. Long line of booms..

[Monkey Face]

Wellnow.

1) True
2) True
3) True
4) Not necessarily true, as it requires effort and more than one try. So, not often used.

Yes, it is an “American Suzuki,” if there is such a thing. And the parts are very expensive, which is why I have gotten them at Auto Parts Warehouse.com

The car started better on the second try at Walmart (when I came home) with my foot to the floor.

Again, I could have had this diagnosed properly in person, had I had the money for it, this morning. But now at least, it would seem we have “ignition” ruled out and “fuel” ruled in.

Now to get it looked at...

[Tax-chick]

We really needed the rain.

[Covenantor]

And here I was thinking I had perfomed a public service by posting a picture of a smiling happy carburetor on this very thread.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3319126/posts?page=441#441

It’s a geezer gadget after doffing the air cleaner.

[HKMk23]

Had an original TRS-80 I got around Christmas of ‘79.
I have a TI-85+ and recently found out it has a Z-80 core.
Between this site, here:
http://www.sealiesoftware.com/ti-asm/

...and this site, here:
http://www.ticalc.org/

...I’m intrigued at the possibilities.

[TheOldLady]

We’ve been desperate for rain, and our acre of gorgeous green lawn
now looks a lot like straw. NOAA keeps saying it’s going to rain,
but it never does. We’re going to have to work like coolies to get
this lawn looking half-way decent once again.

Plus, please pray for my favorite cat, Bobbie, who is quite ill and
being kept at the vet’s until they can get her fever (105°) down to
normal (101°) for a cat. I am beside myself with worry about her.

She has some sort of infection, and I have no idea what it is.

And I’m not sure whether the vet can figure out what the problem is
either. This is what happened to Lucas. The moron vet (not this one)
couldn’t diagnose his illness, and the poor little guy died.

If I lose Bobbie, that’s it. I’ll never stop crying.

[Slings and Arrows]

Thanks!

[NoCmpromiz]

OK.. since #4 is not a ‘viable workaround’ that removes that puzzle part and makes everything a lot more consistent.

Revisiting the ‘pedal to the metal’ flooding fix, if flooding is the issue, it will still take a bit of cranking to clear out the extra gas, but opening the throttle all the way should allow it to start a bit more reliably. If you find that doing that lets it start ‘easier’ than it was you can probably tell your ‘fixit’ guy that the issue seems to be flooding or similar. Also if that works it will allow you to use the vehicle until you can actually get it looked at. Of course, if that is the issue, your fuel mileage will suffer.

If you know your way around under the hood at all see if you can locate that fuel pressure regulator. It looks like is would be mounted on the end of the fuel distribution pipe that goes to the four injectors (again, assuming that you have port-type FI.) If it really is there, getting the vacuum hose off to check like the second comment says should be easy. That part is showing up as listed for between $70 and $200...the high price is probably dealer.

Someone left some cupcakes with chocolate frosting sitting in front of my hot-caffeinated-beverage making device..

[Tax-chick]

I’m very sorry to hear about your sick cat! I will certainly pray for her full recovery.

Sorry about your lawn, too. Ours was down to a much smaller patch of brown.

[HKMk23]

Ur welcome. Looks to be lots of hyperlinky goodness at ticalc.org.