by dadude1425 » Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:24 pm
I have a 1985 Reliant, 2.2 L TBI that has quit working. It sat up for ten years before I started driving it, and it needed extensive repairs to get running again. Almost 4 weeks ago, I ran it out of gas, because after sitting, my fuel gauge has failed, and it has needed many other parts to keep running so I haven't been able to fix it. I put about 20 bucks in it and the car stopped working about ten miles later. It sputtered and died again as though it had run out of fuel again, even though it has not. It would start long enough for about 3 or 4 power strokes, but would die again right after. I replaced the fuel filter first because I figured it had clogged (and it had). Once I did that, the car started and ran at idle for about 30 seconds and died with the same "out-of-gas" type sputtering. It started back up, so I didn't think much of it and drove it about a mile or two, with it dying about 3 times along the way. One of the times, I tried to rev the engine to force more gas through (probably a mistake), but it wouldn't rev. If I barely pushed on the accelerator, it would rev slightly, but anything past that and it acted as if I wasn't pushing on the gas at all. I got it to the driveway and parked it for the past three weeks, with me slowly replacing parts to try to revive it. I checked the TPS with a multimeter and it checked good. I replaced the fuel pump with no results other than hearing the short hum of the pump when I turn the key on. I replaced the ignition coil after it failed to give a reading on a multimeter and still nothing. It cranks, but will not start. Before this, the car accelerated very sluggishly at times, especially on hills, and had a good deal of trouble getting up to 70 MPH, but ran somewhat dependably otherwise. I checked just now and there is no fuel traveling between the pump and filter, insinuating a lack of power at the pump. The on board diagnostic check does me no good, as the codes it gives are not for the year model of the car (the LM was replaced before the car was mine, but I don't know if it was replaced with a computer for the same year model). I get codes like a 44, which I don't know what it could be on any model, a 42, indicating a problem in the ASD system (I'm not sure how running out of fuel would trip this) and a 26 for a bad engine temp sensor, which my car only has a coolant temp sensor that I'm aware of. I'm running out of ideas myself, so I figured I would ask you guys and gals what you think. If you need any more info, please feel free to ask. I need to stop throwing money out on parts I don't need :/ I love my little Reliant and would love to keep it, if at all possible