Car Issues

I'm trying to figure out on my own what is plagueing my car at the moment, because bringing it to the mechanic without any idea whats wrong will make it cost a hell of a lot more money, which I don't have.

I went on a little vacation a few weeks ago to upstate New York, 300mi each way. On the way back I stopped in Lake Placid to visit a friend at the olympic training center. While we were hanging out we drove to her friends house, started driving down the dirt road, everything was fine, then I started to see smoke, I thought it was dust from the road, and a minute or two later when we stopped the smoke didn't. Popped the hood and there was a huge fire ablaze.

Turns out that the fire was caused by my oil leak and some electrical spark. I had a new oil pan gasket and cylinder gasket put in and the oil leak is gone now, however, I am having a million little problems now.

Symptoms:
Turn Signals no longer blink, all the bulbs work, just solid light. Hazard lights do blink, my Dad seems to think its just a little componenent that regulates the blinking.

Engine Idles in park or nuetral at around 3000rpm's.

If I idle in drive for more than a few minutes it stalls and won't stay running til I drive faster for a bit. Stalled more than 10 times in a drive thru line today.

When I break a little harder than normal to stop for a red light I can feel the transmission come out of gear for a few seconds, and then it pops back in.

There is also this squeaking noise coming from my front right tire, but it only squeaks when my foot isn't on the break, and it comes and goes.

So the only wire that was really burnt into two pieces during the fire is attached directly to the bottom of the engine. I'm currently hunting for a diagram to find out what that wire does. Does anyone think it is realistic that all these sudden post fire problems can be caused by electrical issues, if that was the ground wire or something, or if the fire melted away the plastic coating on other wires and its causing shorts now?

Any opinions would be sweet, its a 93 Plymouth Acclaim btw, 4cyl model.

For the blinker i'd look for a relay that might ahve got burnt or shorted or something.
I dont know about your car or if you even have a manual but with my dads van it has a layout of all the relays and fuses saying what they are. Most of them are the same so swapping them around was east enough.

You could also check all the fuses (worth a shot).

BTW when you turn on say the right blinker does the right light stay solid and left one stays off or do they both come on?

When I put the blinker on to turn right its pops on solid on the dash and both right lights come on, same for the left. And if the relay is indeed the problem, I think its logical that it was burnt up because of a short. All the fuses are fine, i checked them.

Sorry I have a lot of questions. But its the checklist I'd go through myself. Whats the transmission fluid look like? Cherry red or not? Same with the oil except golden versus brown. Heck all the fluids coolant, brake & power steering. Any burn marks on either the oil & trans dip sticks. Check the fuses. And if its not the fuses for the lights. I'd say you need a whole new harness. And I'd check all the small plastic parts for melting like the PCV valve etc.

And if you want to go the cheap route for the tranny. I suggest Lucas Stop Slip. Lucas is the best & it works. But follow the directions. Thats critical.

Good luck & let us know.

I'm guessing you have a fairly recent car with fuel injection.

Regarding the indicators. It's not a relay, but a flasher unit, although it's about the size of a relay just taller.
You can normally see which one it is from the markings on it - it'll usually have 4x21w+5 or similar on the casing.
Stop with the fuses nonsense. If a fuse was at fault the indicators wouldn't come on at all.

Things to think about with the idling.
I had the exact same thing after filling the tank one day. Turned out the main ECU had flipped. Would've been about £500 from Daewoo but when you know someone who teaches auto-mechanic college students on cars like yours you have a large advantage. :lol:
Can also be caused by a leak in the intake system. Check that all the air intake hose joints are secure and not leaking and that the hoses themselves haven't been damaged by the fire or oil (oil perishes rubber that isn't made for it).
Idle control valve.
Manifold absolute pressure (MAP) sensor or the little hose leading to it if it's mounted separately.
Breather hoses - make sure they're connected properly and not damaged.
Air flow meter. Would also cause poor running and fuel economy... mind you, any under-bonnet fault can cause this to an extent.

Please note that there's an awful lot of water between our locations and component or part names often aren't the same. It's not my fault if the Atlantic does this.

Also, get THIS for future reference if nothing else.

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Originally Posted by Duffman

Any opinions would be sweet, its a 93 Plymouth Acclaim btw, 4cyl model.

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Well all I can say is if you can't solve the problem by yourself or with free help its like owning a 8 yr old computer and trying to upgrade....Is it really worth the cost or effort..Is the next major repair right around the corner...How did you put the fire out....I know with aircraft if the proper agent is not used to put the fire out, the engine is scrap...We are talking about a 13 yr(maybe even 14) old vehicle correct.I wouldn't want to invest to much in repair costs...:(

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Originally Posted by Chewie UK

Regarding the indicators. It's not a relay, but a flasher unit, although it's about the size of a relay just taller.
You can normally see which one it is from the markings on it - it'll usually have 4x21w+5 or similar on the casing.

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I guess you're right. I was thinking of the relay that turns the blinker circuit on. I guess it would have nothing to do with blinking...either works or doesn't.

All of your problems appear to be electrically related (except fot the noisy front wheel) which is not surprising given the FIRE you just had.
Even apparently undamaged wiring can harbor internal shorts/breaks and you'll go nutz trying to track them down.

Check out a junkyard for a whole new engine bay wiring loom.

Ok sweet, I just wanted a few opinions as to wether or not electrical problems could be the cause, I thought that might just be trying to find an easy answer.

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Originally Posted by Chewie UK

Regarding the indicators. It's not a relay, but a flasher unit, although it's about the size of a relay just taller.
You can normally see which one it is from the markings on it - it'll usually have 4x21w+5 or similar on the casing.
Stop with the fuses nonsense. If a fuse was at fault the indicators wouldn't come on at all.

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I doubt it's the flasher unit- if it was, then the hazards wouldn't blink either
my guess is that it is some short in the turn signal switch. the hazards still work because they are on another circuit so that they can be on without the engine running. the easiest way to track down the problem would be to get a Haynes Manual for the car (a good idea with any car) that has the wiring diagrams in the back.

for the transmission do a full tune up and like zapjb said use the lucas brand there the best, but it might be a hassle to do it your self if you dont have the machine to do it.

For the stalling do what chewie uk told you also check the carburator it might be cracked and letting in some air

carburator, i believe its fuel injection... but thanks for all the tips guys. Oh the oil is the right color, but the tranny fluid isn't bright red, more of a dull brownish red

So have you had any luck yet with the car?

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Originally Posted by Duffman

carburator, i believe its fuel injection... but thanks for all the tips guys. Oh the oil is the right color, but the tranny fluid isn't bright red, more of a dull brownish red

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not the carburator, sorry :ermm: i meant the throtle body

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Originally Posted by rossco

So have you had any luck yet with the car?

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Can't really do anything yet, its pouring out for like the nth day in a row here, and I have no money til friday, however my spedometer/odemeter are now on the fritz, so I have a good shot its all electrical.

You never did mention how you put the fire out....

fire extinguisher, I went down the dirt road, got to the house, went oh shit that s a lot of smoke, and some dude ran out with a fire extinguisher. I went over the mechanic yesterday to have a little talk about what to do, he said my best bet on my own was to start taping up all the wires and repair the burnt insulation, if that doesn't fix anything, its gonna be a few 100 bucks to repair provided the shorts haven't fucked anything else up.

might cost you more to fix up this car then just get another used car

Well I'm really hoping to get lucky and either have it be a cheap quick fix, or something I can do myself... which would be a hell of a lot easier if every person I talked to didn't have a totally different plan and opinion on the matter.

I don't know if you said how long the fire was burning before you put it out, but I imagion that it could have distroyed the temper in all the metal parts of the engine. in otherwords, it is entirely possable that the manefolds, heads, hell, even the block are in danger of cracking and leaking in the future. as I see it, you have three options-
1- fix the current problems and hope that no more come up but run the risk of nickel and dimeing yourself to death
2- replace the entire engine, wiring harness and tranny
3- look for a different vehical- if you start looking now while the other is still running, you don't have to something right away- you can wait till a really good deal comes along, rather than wait until you are out of transportaion and have to buy the first overpriced thing that comes your way.

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Originally Posted by Tempestv

I don't know if you said how long the fire was burning before you put it out, but I imagion that it could have distroyed the temper in all the metal parts of the engine.

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A fire of that magnitude would have reduced all his wiring to slush and this thread would never have started.

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Originally Posted by clocker

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Originally Posted by Tempestv

I don't know if you said how long the fire was burning before you put it out, but I imagion that it could have distroyed the temper in all the metal parts of the engine.

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A fire of that magnitude would have reduced all his wiring to slush and this thread would never have started.

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oh thank god....

Ok one problem down, more than I care to count to go now. My dad suggested I check the tranny fluid because it was slipping more and more. So a smack in the forehead and a good I'm dumb moment, I got some fluid in there and it's fine now. Before I ran out of daylight I started to examine the melted wires more closely. Theres 2 or 3 runs of wires with the plastic hoseing around them, I peeled the melted protector off one and the wires feel like jelly, so that could be the culprit. All 3 have connectors on the engine side of the firewall which makes it possible I can fix it my self. 2 of the connectors look like they might be a little difficult to get at though, might require me to remove the air filter assembly, but I'm off on saturday so I'll take some pics for you guys, and maybe start calling junk yards, we'll see...

Ah, junk yards.
Many the hour I've spent blissfully wandering through them.

Make sure your tetanus shots are up to date.


Seriously.

wooo... saturday, in the yard, i think theres something in my eye... lol, to the tune of that song about saturday on the 4th of july of course.

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Originally Posted by Duffman

wooo... saturday, in the yard, i think theres something in my eye... lol, to the tune of that song about saturday on the 4th of july of course.

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You live in Chicago?

Alright so it seems that almost all my problems were cause by the vacuum seals.
Had it repaired today, car is running pretty smooth now. Only problem is the signals not blinking. And me and my friend and his dad changed my breaks and roters too!

Congrats!

Made me think of my troubles last week . I blew a fuse while trying to fix a speaker so replaced all as their 19 cents each . Thought hey might aswell check all the running lights and replace as needed .

No problems there but as I was exiting the truck to check the back up lites I hit the light switch with my knee and broke it in half ! $150 .oo cnd for a used one , crappy luck but installed a cheap two way switch so the head lights and running lights work but no dash lights .

Moral of the story , I can fix a computer but I leave the auto mechanics to my father in law . :rolleyes: