Yestetday my daughter calls saying the 99xk8 she is driving stalled in the middle of morning traffic. A couple of guys helped push it into a parking lot out of traffic. Got there and asked what happened. While in traffic it just stalled.

Checked and there were no codes. Noticed that she was low on fuel. Tried starting car and by playing with the throttle I could get it to barely run but would eventually die. Thought she might be out of gas and the gague might have been off a little. Put 3 gallons in it and didn't make any difference. Had it towed to my shop.

With no codes I guessed it was something to do with fuel dilivery possibly fuel filter since she ran it so low on fuel and could of picked up crap from the bottom of the tank, this car also sat for 3 years before I got it. Changed fuel filter and it started right up. Pic below show what came out of filter after blowing air through it.

Left car at my shop for her to pick up after she got off work. Said she started the car and shut it off after about a minute because she had a few things to do before she left. I had warned her about bore wash but she had in her mind that she didn't want to run the gas too low again.

This morning got to car and it wouldn't start. Put the accelerator to the floor and cranked it for about 30 seconds. Took foot off accelerator cranked it and it started after about three revolutions.

I have never dealt with bore wash before. Does this sound like classic bore wash or it there still some underlying problem?

 

Bob, bore wash let's engine spun without oil to seal the compression in the cylinders. Gosh I'm not an expert, only maybe saw it once. Back when car was newer to me I decided to see how short of a starter pulse could start the engine. Guess I figured it would be really cool to give it just a tiny blip turning the key to start and having the engine roar to life. After testing and falling 1 or 2 times, I went to start her normally - disaster. The engine sounded as though she was spinning twice as fast but no ignition! She sounded quite different you couldn't miss it.

Luck, patience and several prayers later, she got back to normal and started.

I tell this story because what I saw there plus what I've read shows that bore wash sounds markedly different as you use the starter.

Many more experts are sure to jump in, correct me if needed and help you out.

Let me bounce an idea off you. After my incident I got to thinking. Bore wash = gasoline washes oil from cylinder. Continued engine cranking perpetuates problem because of gas delivery. What if you pull the fuel pump fuse. This terminates gas delivery to cylinder, yet any 4 stroke engine will deposit oil with each sequential stroke right? Could you run the starter with fuse pulled and restore proper compression after a few seconds? Then just reinsert fuse for ignition.

Just brainstorming to help you out my friend. John

 

Guys, the owners manual covers this problem, but of course they don't call it bore wash.

Bob used the procedure in the manual. When you floor the pedal power to the injectors is cut, so no fuel is added. Several 10 second shots to the starter will distribute some oil to the cylinder walls, then the engine will fire with the pedal slightly depressed.

 

John, what I have read on the forum is that when you put the accelerator to the floor on cranking it cuts off the fuel supply. I might be wrong cause I'm getting old and the memory doesn't work as good as it used to. But the process I used seems to have solved the problem.
Fingers crossed!!

 

I love it. I always feared that one would have to go through the spark plug pull routine. I was about to ask you how cold it was when this occurred. It's been quite warm in north east, so I figured it must be in TX. Since bore wash occurs in cold Temps, I thought perhaps your daughter's car might "think" it's cold out an enriched the mixture. Keep that in the back of your mind in case things aren't quite right. You could check to ensure the car senses proper temperature. Hopefully you will not need it.

Glad you got it running,!

John

 

Well my fingers are now uncrossed and my middle is in the air. My daughter called and it stalled again. I'm in the process of getting back to my shop, she was only about a mile away. It has stalled on me twice getting back. It acting like it is running out of fuel. My best guess is the pump pick up is clogged.

Can I put low pressure air in the fuel line that comes from the tank at the filter. Trying to release any crap that is blocking the pickup, or am I wasting my time and need to remove pump to clean the pick up?

 

I doubt the filter bag on the pump is clogged, that's a lot of surface area. How confident are you that the pump isn't failing?

 

RJ, it might be the pump. Thinking on how it behaves it seems that the car stall after being ran for a several minutes, the pump warms up. Then it won't restart until I let it sit for awhile, the pump cools off. This is also the car I had the problem with the fuel pump relay a couple of months ago.

I would like to thank Gus for his recent thread on fuel pump replacement. Sorry he had the problem on his car but the timing couldn't be any better for me.

Any suggestions on sources for replacement.

 

I would first read the fuel pressure and see what you have. If possible let the car idle with the pressure gauge on and see what takes place.

Most of cylinder washing takes place with short engine run times and not when sitting in traffic.

Gus
www.jagrepair.com

 

Gus, he isn't suggesting borewash when hot, just said it quit a couple of times, indicating it started again.

Bob, I bought a Denso from Rockauto NIP 950-0172 and cut the deck to install. I also have a $15 ebay pump that I carry as a spare when travelling, and with the deck mod I can change it out in a parking lot if necessary.

 

Great RJ, since your experienced do you want to come by and give me a hand.

Maybe next year. I plan on getting out of this state and looking at the Hickory, NC area.

 

Then you can start a new collection of cars to save from the breakers.

 

Unless it is a super deal I'm not going to get anymore until I get caught up on my current collection.

I did test the fuel pressure. Turn key on got 30lbs. Started car and stayed about the same. Drove arround parking lot and the pressure went to zero and stalled. Turn key to on position and showed zero pressure. Waited for 10 minutes. Turn key to on and got 30 lbs of pressure and then car started right up.

Pretty sure it's the fuel pump. Ordered a new on and it should get here next week.