QuestionRoland,
Thanks a lot for the quick informative response! I managed to drive the car back to my garage, however the next morning it would not start. It made a sound similar to a machine gun when the key was turned. anyway, the next morning it made no noise when I tried to start it and wouldn't start at all. Anyway, the fluid looks ok and I heard since the car wouldn't start it isn't a transmission problem. This is the first time this has ever happened and the coolant has leaked randomly only a couple times in the past two weeks. No white smoke from the tailpipe, and I recently drove the car 2000 miles across the country. Maybe a head gasket? anyway, if you have any suggestions before I take it to the dealer let me know! Thanks so much!
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Followup To
Question -
Roland,
Hi I have a 91' PLmouth Acclaim 6 cylinder and for the past couple weeks it has been jerking when putting it into gear. today at a stop light i tried to accelerate, but it was acting like it was in neutral. It did this for all gears. Finally it jerked into gear and accelerated for 30 meters, then turned into neutral again. It did this ever 30 seconds until I pulled over and stopped. When i looked at the engine, coolant was squirting out a pipe next to the coolant tank. thanks!
Answer -
Hi Jonathan,
I assume you have an automatic transmission, if not let me know. Take the problems separately. The failure to go into gear may be due to insufficint transmission fluid, so I would check the level on the dispstick for the transmission which is located on the front of the transmission. Measure it with the engine warm and idling.
It can also be due to internal problems with clutches in the transmission which unfortunately if this is the case is quite expensive to fix.
Were you aware that the transmission has an electronic control unit which has the ability to recognize problems with various parts of the unit and identify these as numer- ical fault codes, two-digit numbers stored in the memory? You can have the memory read out at a Chrysler dealer. Find out what the codes are, ask them what is the recommended repair. Then if you like, write me back, tell me what the code numbers were and we can compare notes on the fix suggestions between my manual and their recommendation.
On the loss of coolant, I don't know what to make of that because I am not sure where the "pipe" is located and also do you mean by the 'coolant tank', the 'overflow' or coolant recovery container? I can't picture what you are describing.
Was the temperature gauge reading high at the time. Have you been loosing coolant recently? If the engine wasn't overheated and yet the coolant was squirting out, this implies that the cooling system was being pressurized by the engine exhaust gas, which means you have a head gasket leak. So tell me a little more about this aspect of the problem as to its history: first time this has happened, any chronic loss of coolant lately, excessive white smoke out the tail pipe when you start the engine?
Let me know some more and maybe I can be of help beyond this response.
Roland
AnswerHi Jonathan,
If the sound made when you tried the starter was kind of a rapid clicking, then that was likely the starter solenoid trying to make the starter motor circuit close but not having sufficient voltage to operate the starter motor, which drags down the voltage, opens the solenoid, raise the voltage, solenoid tries to start it, fails, and this repeats over and over. It means the battery is run down and needs recharging. The fact it wouldn't even do that the next day also suggests the battery is discharged. So I would suggest you either get small charger, or pull the battery and have a shop recharge it. Then see if you can get it to start.
If the water loss is from a head gasket leak, you ought to find water coming from the tail pipe, water and oil (froth) in the crankcase oil (as seen on the dipstick) or exhaust gas in the coolant system (detectable at a radiator shop with an exhaust gas detector). So when/if you get it started you could check those possibilities. Tell me what happens and we'll try to get this resolved.
Roland
