Was Running Sweet; Now, Missing, Spluttering, Barely Idling

[johnhenry 20]

And i've not touched anything in the engine bay today

 

Ive been packaging the wiring into the dash on the interior

 

> Its low on fuel, low into the 'orange'

> still starts, barely idles, about 500rpm, sounds like its running on two,

> Spark to all 4 Cylinders

> throttle input provides virtually no response

> became progressively worse

EDIT - battery still have good (12.78) voltage across it

> Spark plugs were removed, pretty black and sooty

 

Potential issues ( i have thought of)

 

> dragged the sludge through into the fuel system,

> I've messed up a wire under the dash - is there anything im likely to have ruined that is paramount to the operation of the engine?

>if its run out of fuel, would it splutter/struggle on and have no response from the throttle?

 

things ill be doing tomorrow -

> getting fuel cleaner and put it into the tank

> getting more fuel

 

If that doesnt clear it up, its over to the electrical side of things, which is where i need your help!

cheers

John

Edited July 21, 2013 by johnhenry

[eastlondonpug 6]

I would check whether you have enough fuel first. The fuel sender sometimes reports slightly higher fuel than really is there in the tank. The car will still turn over momentarily but the lack of fuel will cause the car not to idle and just get 2-3 cylinders firing.

[Goliath 94]

Potential issues ( i have thought of)

 

> dragged the sludge through into the fuel system,

 

things ill be doing tomorrow -

> getting fuel cleaner and put it into the tank

> getting more fuel

I have never understood how that can work, personally I don't think that running low on fuel will drag sludge into the system. The fuel pickup is (almost) at the bottom of the tank all the time, it doesn't move as the fuel lever goes down, therefore if it is going to suck up slufge from the bottom of the tank it would do it all the time regardless of the fuel level surely?

 

I would try just putting more fuel in and don't bother with the fuel cleaner. If I am mistaken above and it has sucked up sludge then it won't have got passed the fuel filter so changing the fuel filter will have more of an effect then adding fuel cleaner into the tank.

[johnhenry 20]

turns out i'm a bell-end, ran it out of fuel, day of panicking not required

 

in other news - the subaru ruined its driveshafts today, officially carless