Daughter's car quit-Solved
The long story- 2014 Sonic 1.8L auto 62,000 miles.
About two months ago, the CEL came on. The car was still running fine. Oreilly's scanned it and said misfire on cylinder 4. Daughter continued driving it, still no symptoms, with the CEL on.
A few weeks later, she was on her way to a friend's. On her way there, a few times there was a lack of power when the accelerator was applied (at highway speeds). She said there was no obvious missing or surging, just a lack of power for a few seconds. The same thing happened on her return trip.
The next morning the car wouldn't start. She bought a set of plugs from Orielly's (because of the earlier misfire code). I came and installed them. Car still wouldn't start. It would occasionally try to start, stumble and die. When that happened, it would produce lots of smoke with an obvious smell of fuel. Classic flooding sign.
She had a friend come over and pull the codes. P0171 and P0324.
I did some research. Lean condition and knock sensor. I read about the common intake tube split, had her check, her's was split. Replaced the intake tube. Still wouldn't start.
While messing with it, I figured out the car will start and run smooth while spraying carb cleaner into the intake tube. That eliminated a lot of possibilities. But it would also produce lots of obvious gas smoke while trying to start it, at other times. How can it be both flooding but start and run smoothly on carb cleaner (as if it were getting no fuel)?
On a hunch, I Googled the spark plugs Oreilly's had sold her. There was no application for her car. The old plugs looked fine. I reinstalled them with no change.
I tested the fuel pressure at the fuel rail- 55 psi.
I bought a cheap scanner. No codes in the computer.
I have a Cruze 1.4L. The MAF and MAP are identical (same part number) as her 1.8L. Swapped them in, no change.
I'm stumped. I've never taken a vehicle to a mechanic in my 44 years but it's coming to that.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
ETA: Solved in post #12
The long story- 2014 Sonic 1.8L auto 62,000 miles.
About two months ago, the CEL came on. The car was still running fine. Oreilly's scanned it and said misfire on cylinder 4. Daughter continued driving it, still no symptoms, with the CEL on.
A few weeks later, she was on her way to a friend's. On her way there, a few times there was a lack of power when the accelerator was applied (at highway speeds). She said there was no obvious missing or surging, just a lack of power for a few seconds. The same thing happened on her return trip.
The next morning the car wouldn't start. She bought a set of plugs from Orielly's (because of the earlier misfire code). I came and installed them. Car still wouldn't start. It would occasionally try to start, stumble and die. When that happened, it would produce lots of smoke with an obvious smell of fuel. Classic flooding sign.
She had a friend come over and pull the codes. P0171 and P0324.
I did some research. Lean condition and knock sensor. I read about the common intake tube split, had her check, her's was split. Replaced the intake tube. Still wouldn't start.
While messing with it, I figured out the car will start and run smooth while spraying carb cleaner into the intake tube. That eliminated a lot of possibilities. But it would also produce lots of obvious gas smoke while trying to start it, at other times. How can it be both flooding but start and run smoothly on carb cleaner (as if it were getting no fuel)?
On a hunch, I Googled the spark plugs Oreilly's had sold her. There was no application for her car. The old plugs looked fine. I reinstalled them with no change.
I tested the fuel pressure at the fuel rail- 55 psi.
I bought a cheap scanner. No codes in the computer.
I have a Cruze 1.4L. The MAF and MAP are identical (same part number) as her 1.8L. Swapped them in, no change.
I'm stumped. I've never taken a vehicle to a mechanic in my 44 years but it's coming to that.
Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
ETA: Solved in post #12
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