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I moved from New York to Florida about 5 years ago, and since then I have had my car mostly off the road since living here, main reason being that we can not afford to keep it on the road at the moment.
When I say off the road, specifically I mean it's in the garage, and once to twice a week I start the car and take it for a drive for 15-30 mins. I know short drives are not good for the car, but considering we can not afford to keep it on the road, we are limited to driving it around our apartment complex. I believe the engine gets sufficiently warmed up when going for these drives, but I can't go to very high RPM's since we are in an apt complex. Correct me if I'm wrong but I would think that a short drive is better than no drive.
Recently there have been some issues though. A couple of months ago the Service Engine Soon light came on, which we intend to do when we can afford it, but have not yet. Shortly after it started giving a little trouble when starting up - so with our very little bit of car knowledge, we suspected it may be something with carburetor or the fuel line somewhere.
The symptoms were: The first turn of the key the car trying to start but quickly dying off with a clicking noise sounding like it was coming from the engine (was a different sound than I remember a dead battery sounding). Second turn of the key, clicking noise is still there but car goes a few more 'chugs before dying off. Third attempt the car actually starts up, no more clicking noise, but it's sounding like its dying off and the car gets pretty shaky. Next attempt the car was going better but almost sound like it died off, at which point I just tap the gas pedal for a split second and then it would get going and be started up normally.
I should note that once it actually got started, it ran perfectly. The issues were only with starting up, and every time turning the key it got closer and closer to starting. That's what said to me it doesnt seem to be the battery since that would be dying out each attempt. And this problem was fairly intermittent, only happened sometimes, and usually if it was going on close to a week - didnt happen as much starting multiple times in one week.
But tonight going out to start the car there seems to be a different issue. I think this may be because it's much colder here tonight (in the 40's for the first time in 6+ months) and may be because the gas tank is pretty low right now. This time it still had the clicking noise with the first starts, but it did not stop. 3rd, 4th, 5th attempts, it sounded like the engine was running when I turned the key, had the clicking noise, but as soon as I let go of the key the engine stopped. I kept trying for awhile, since I'm used to seeing progress each attempt, but it took probably a good 20 tries before it got going. Once it got going, things seemed to be okay. I let it warm up a bit before trying to move it. I listened to see if there was any strange noises, and I thought there might be, but it was a little bit hard to tell with the echo from the garage. So I started to back out so I could listen better, but as soon as I took it out of neutral, the engine sounded weaker like it was about to stall. I put it back in neutral, things cleared up. I put it in reverse again it got weak again... thought maybe if I start moving it will run a bit better? But before even fully backing out of the garage it nearly died, so I just ended up pulling it back in. I noticed upon leaving the car that there seemed to be some liquid on the ground near the exhaust - I could not smell any odor from it so I'm thinking it's most likely condensation - possibly from the cold.
So after reading up a bit on the net, I read that it's not good to keep a low gas tank on cars that are in storage. But it's a bit too late for that. I also must note that I'm a bit worried of all the talk of rust damage, because florida is very humid, and cars from NY have a bad reputation here from getting a lot of rust damage due to the salt used during snow up in NY. I planned on trying to get rust removed when I get the check engine soon light checked, but I'm really hoping that the damage is not already done.
Another thing I read is that it's bad to have a low gas tank if your gas tank is metal, especially in humid areas (like Florida...). I did not know this prior, and I have no idea if the gas tank is metal. So that's yet another thing that is worrying me...
Any ideas on what the problem might be from the described symptoms? Does our assumption of carburetor sound like it could be correct?
I also must ask what can I do to try to maintain my car in the current situation? We don't have the money to do anything expensive... and as mentioned I can't drive too far, and I don't know much about cars so I'm probably limited in what I can do myself... so I don't have much to work with..
With it not being ran at high RPMs for so long, and possibly rust damage, what do I need to look in to get checked on it?
About the current issue... I'm going to fill the gas tank up tomorrow and see how it goes. Heres to hoping that fixes things up.
I'm hoping that since it runs great once it's actually started (aside from today that is) there is no serious permenant damage done to it... so I would really appreciate any advice on how I could keep things that way. It would be a damn shame if this car does not get a lot more use out of it because it does not even have 20,000 miles on it...
So I filled up the tank today. When I tried starting it, there was no clicking noise, but turning the key once did not start it. Each turn of the key sounded like it was making it "putt putt" but as soon as I let go of the key it stopped.
After a few tries it finally started, but the engine did not sound right. It was "putt'ing" still (best way I could describe it - sounded like one of the very old cars that had noisier engines) and was making the car shake as if it was about to stall.
It did stall once or twice, restarted to let it warm up a bit. But even after warming up, it still was shaky, still was near-stall (every once in awhile the RPM dropped and it sounded like it was going to stall), and still did not quite sound right.
So once again, I left it in the garage.
There was some condensation outside of the tailpipe. It was dark so I could not see very well, but I wiped up some of the liquid and it seemed to be clear (aside from some dirt that it was mixed with from the dirty ground), tried to smell it and it did not have a very strong smell, so I don't think it was any other fluids from the car.
Oh, and I noticed that the "Service Engine Soon" light actually shut off. Except for when it stalled. Which I thought was strange.. now it's acting worse and the light is off?
I would start by putting in a good quality injector cleaner into a full gas tank, like Seafoam. The put-put sound you're hearing might be from the exhaust, where there could be an accumulation of corroded material, and if that is affecting the O2 sensor, that could also explain your Check Engine light.
Check your belts and hoses, which are subject to age-rot. Although they would not be implicated in any of the symptoms you presented, they could suddenly give out when you start driving regularly. Make sure your coolant level is up to snuff, that can evaporate out if the overflow reservoir is not sealed.
I would start by putting in a good quality injector cleaner into a full gas tank, like Seafoam. The put-put sound you're hearing might be from the exhaust, where there could be an accumulation of corroded material, and if that is affecting the O2 sensor, that could also explain your Check Engine light.
Check your belts and hoses, which are subject to age-rot. Although they would not be implicated in any of the symptoms you presented, they could suddenly give out when you start driving regularly. Make sure your coolant level is up to snuff, that can evaporate out if the overflow reservoir is not sealed.
Thanks for the advice.
One thing I forgot to mention is that while I did not notice much smoke coming from the exhaust, there actually was a fairly strong smell of exhaust.
I'll give your advice a try and respond with how the results are.
Yeah I think seafoam would porbably help and it will also help to stabilize the fuel sitting in the tank. Also rev the engine a bit, give it some gas and blow out the crud. You dont have to be moving to get the engine going. Also how old is the oil? Its probably time to change it out also maybe the coolant.
Honestly though why keep the car? An 03 Galant isnt exactly a collectors item and you shouldn't have a problem selling it. In excellent condition you could get $5-7K+ depending on the model and options.
Yeah I think seafoam would porbably help and it will also help to stabilize the fuel sitting in the tank. Also rev the engine a bit, give it some gas and blow out the crud. You dont have to be moving to get the engine going. Also how old is the oil? Its probably time to change it out also maybe the coolant.
Honestly though why keep the car? An 03 Galant isnt exactly a collectors item and you shouldn't have a problem selling it. In excellent condition you could get $5-7K+ depending on the model and options.
A friend is able to get Seafoam for a cheaper price than normal so I'm waiting on that right now.
Question- Should I still start it before using the seafoam, even if I can't drive it around in this condition? I'm not sure if starting it will be better or worse.
On selling the car... well the body itself isnt in the best condition - the rear had some damage near the rear tire from someone that hit the rear side. So I'm not sure how much that reduces the price, but it may not be worth the price reduction.
Also, the mileage is so low on it still. Not even 20,000 miles. Assuming there is not any major damage from letting it sit around so long, I would think it probably still has a lot of life in it.
I don't know much about cars though... think it might actually be worth the sale even with such low mileage?
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