i got off work at 5am i stopped at the shell station to fill up. (i only use premium) i made it home with no problems. on the way to work tonight all seemed well until i pushed the gas peddle just a enough to do the speed limit all a sudden my car bogs down, the engine icon started to flash and the restricted engine performance reading is displayed. the further i drove the worst it got. i was roughly 20 miles from home. i knew i couldn't make it to work so i turned around and headed home. my car was not able to go no faster than 30 mph but most of the time only went 10-15 clattering and spuding along. i assume this is a safety measure to keep from harming the engine. i started to smell a "over heat" smell. but my temp gauge was fine. i pulled over, shut the car off popped the hood, all seemed well under there. i laid on the ground to look for anything unfamiliar underneath. i noticed the plastic rear passenger fender shroud was melting that was close to the exhaust. my past experience with exhaust and catalytic converters getting this hot meant my car wasn't burning the fuel properly. here in Houston we have had record breaking amounts of rain i believe i got a very watered down tank of gas how my car started to run after my fill up i can only trace it back to this.
does anyone feel it could be something other than bad gas? also any advice on how easy it is to drain the tank? and what all i need to do other than replace fuel filters.

here is a pic of the rear shroud.

 

 

@ otis, well the car did sputter and would stop running but i kept on goosing the pedal to make it home. I'm going to have to buy a code reader sometime today and pull the codes at home. i don't want to take the chance on possibly damaging the motor if i haven't already.

 

Did you get the yellow or red warning light ? A red one normally means you should recover the vehicle, rather than drive it. The fault codes should give clues as to the cause.

 

fraser no it was just the yellow, that yellow light is my only glimpse of hope that its a easy fix like an overall tune up. thats one of the reasons why i thing i have watered down gas. yeah, if it was red i would of towed it home. i found a fault code reader for sale at my local part store I'm going to buy it and see what all comes up. i'll post the findings soon as i get them. *fingers crossed*

 

First thing that comes to mind is a fuel pump/regulator going Tango Uniform. We need codes! :-)

 

Water and gas do not mix. Even if you pumped water into your gas tank, the gas would separate immediately and float to the top. The only effective way to inject water into the intake is to atomize it and mix with incoming atomize fuel. Also, if you got enough water into a cyllinder to prevent ignition you would have bigger problems - water does not compress and would bend valves and such.

Fuel tanks at gas stations are built/designed to accommodate water in the bottom of the tank. I'd highly doubt you were pumping water into your engine.

This sounds like a timing issue, or possibly an intake problem. I do agree that it seems as if not all your fuel is burning and is making it to the catalytic converters, causing the catalyst to super heat. If that's the case your cats are most likely toast.

Given what you describe as the sounds of the engine I am gonna lean towards a timing chain jumping a gear or two and the ECM cannot compensate electronically.

I hope it's not that serious though. As ooootis says the codes will illuminate all (maybe).

 

Codes will point you in the right direction, but i've learnt that cheapo codereaders don't pick up everything. I've got a little Autel thing that showed nothing on a mates XJ. Plugged in the IDS/SDD and there were two pages of codes waiting!

Not sure where you are in Houston but I can only suggest you get an email off to Brutal & try to get the car over to his place, on a flatbed...how far are you from Sugar Land?

 

My wife recently had a bout with bad gas. It was only the premium pumps. Turned out this station had to fix about a hundred cars. They replaced everything in her Volvo that touches gasoline including flushing the tank. Her car had to be towed to the dealership as it would barely run. My Vote is for bad fuel. Drain the tank,replace the filter, and see if it improves. Save a sample of the fuel in case u have to go after the station.

 

I see you caught my drift LOL

 

okay got a p0300 listed as generic misfire. cylinders 2,4,6,8 misfire codes. p1316 misfire rate exceeds emissions. and p0430 catalyst system efficiency below threshold (bank 2.) does it mean anything that the misfires are all on one side?

 

I removed the scroll drawing

 

I removed the scrolling drawings

 

First thing I would do is to verify fuel pressure. If that is say below 40 psi (operation range is 42 2 idle to 73 @ WOT) figure out what is causing the low condition. Then move on to compression. I would look very closely @ the plugs when removed for wetness discoloration, gap and smell them.

 

Couple of interesting facts: From Alldata

"The electronic returnless fuel system utilized has the following advantages:

• reduced fuel tank vapor generation
• requires less electrical power
• does not require a fuel return line

The intelligence of this system is contained within the Engine control module (ECM).

The ECM determines the required fuel flow and communicates this information to the rear electronic module (REM). The REM has the fuel pump driver functions fully integrated into the microprocessor. The fuel pump relay is activated by the ECM power relay and provides a fused power supply to the REM. The ECM and the REM calculate the frequency and determine the current required by the fuel pump to maintain the correct fuel pressure at the fuel injectors.

The fuel tank is of a saddle design which incorporates a pump/sender unit in both sides of the tank on vehicles with superchargers. On vehicles without superchargers, the right-hand side houses the fuel pump module and the left-hand side houses the fuel transfer pump. The fuel pump cross over lines are internal to the fuel tank to reduce potential leak paths.

Fuel is supplied at high pressure to the injectors via a fuel rail which incorporates a fuel pressure and a fuel temperature sensor. The ECM increases the fuel pressure to minimize fuel vapor formation to maintain fuel flow across the injectors. An inertia type fuel shutoff switch will cut power to the fuel pump in the event of an accident."

Fuel System - VIN Range: G00442->G45703 - Vehicles With Supercharger


What I find interesting is the ECm is your fuel regulator and therefore no need for a return line.

 

thanks Otis for the codes diagrams, seems what I'm going to do is start by installing new plugs, check the coils for fire by swapping them around. get some gas out of the fuel line and check to see if it's contaminated and go from there.

 

It is not possible to drain this tank with normal siphon equipment. It is a "saddle" tank with a high center divider, thus preventing one side from draining across the other. There are two pumps in this tank to keep the level even on both sides. One is a fuel pump for the engine, the other is module-controlled to just pump fuel to the other side of the tank. When the computer says the level is lower on one side, the other pump comes on until they are even again.

 

To me, this is the most significant fact, in essence, you have one duff 4 cylinder engine, and one that is OK !!

If it was bad fuel, surely this would affect all cylinders ? My money is on duff plug coil or coils. If no spark, the fuel passes straight into the hot catalyst where it burns and heats up the exhaust downstream.

Has any work been done on the car recently ? Anybody been fiddling under the hood at all ?

 

If it was not supercharged that would be correct. According to Alldata, which can be wrong, both saddles have thier own pumps and feed banks 1 and 2 independantly controlled by the ECM so no regulator or return flow is needed. ;-)

 

The us drivers side does not have a electrical pump but a ventury mechanical pump