Who can help me out?

[hammishsqueak]

Hello, I'm hoping that someone here can help me out...

I have a 2000 Hyundai Elantra with about 152,000 miles on it. A few weeks ago, my check engine light came on, but nothing happened and it ended up going away itself. About a week after that, it stalled at a stop, but turned back on. For awhile I have felt like the car was acting a little sluggish.

Last week the car died on me while slowing down to make a turn so that I could cross two lanes of oncoming traffic on 4 in Solomons. When I began to slow down, it cut out. I waited for awhile, turned it back on, and it seemed safe to drive the short distance home. It cut out after about one mile going around 40mph. I pressed the gas pedal to the floor and nothing happened at all...then the engine died. It ended up restarting later, but kept stalling every so often so I had it towed to my boyfriend's house.

At his house he checked codes and it came up with random cylinder misfire and then a bad crankshaft position sensor. He tested the resistance on these parts and they were indeed bad. So, we replace these parts, but we still have a cylinder misfire code being pulled. We replaced the spark plugs and wires, but it still pulls a code-- now for an ignition coil. So, we replace that...still, the check engine light comes on every time we clear it when we hit about 55mph, but you cannot feel it misfire at all. The stalling, however, has stopped.


We eventually gave up and decided to take it to the dealer to run a diagnostic, who is keeping it overnight to run more tests. The mechanic says he believes that we just need to replace our aftermarket spark plug wires from Autozone with Hyundai parts (says the check engine light didn't come on running with Hyundai parts), but I'm afraid it may be the computer or something more serious.

Has anyone had a similar problem? I am at my wit's end here. I've been using Durlast wires for years and never had a problem.

 

[Mousebaby]

He's full of shiat! Sounds like either water in the fuel lines or maybe your fuel filter may need replacing. We will see what he comes up with tomorrow.

My guess with that many miles on it, it's the fuel filter. I could be wrong though, just sounds like it's not getting the gas it needs when it needs it. :shrug:

 

[dustin]

you didn't say that you replaced the distributor cap and rotor. take the cap off and check it for excessive carbon buildup. try cleaning it if its nasty on the inside. clean the rotor too but dont bend anything. if the connection lands on the cap look scored then you need a new cap and rotor. see if that works. cap and rotor is probably cheap.

i bought some bad plug wires at autozone once. i bought the cheapo autozone ones. make sure you get good plug wires. i would try cleaning/replacing the cap and rotor first.

 

[dustin]

then again you may not have a distributor...

 

[Mousebaby]

then again you may not have a distributor...

Chances are they don't. It's a 2000. I suppose it could be the wires, but don't buy into the BS that you have to by the brand name ones for them to work right. That's a good one.

 

[hammishsqueak]

Hey guys. We rode around with the Hyundai wires on and the check engine light went away...we think that Autozone may have sold us a bad set of wires as the light does come on whenever we put the Durlast wires back on. When we brought the wires home, we found out they were emitting 6 OHMS each, far off from the car's requirement.

Now, if the check engine light comes back on, I'll be very upset, but so far it seems as if the wires MAY have been the culprit. Ugh, this is why I hate cars. Too many things can go wrong.

 

[river rat]

Hey guys. We rode around with the Hyundai wires on and the check engine light went away...we think that Autozone may have sold us a bad set of wires as the light does come on whenever we put the Durlast wires back on. When we brought the wires home, we found out they were emitting 6 OHMS each, far off from the car's requirement.

Now, if the check engine light comes back on, I'll be very upset, but so far it seems as if the wires MAY have been the culprit. Ugh, this is why I hate cars. Too many things can go wrong.

Now, that right there is interesting :shrug: Would have never guessed.

So, in the end do you think it was the crankshaft position sensor that was causing it to stall?

 

[Gtmustang88]

Yea, there is no distributor on that. Alot of that aftermarket replacement stuff is crap. I prefer to always use oem parts if I am replacing a factory part with a factory part.

 

[Gtmustang88]

So, in the end do you think it was the crankshaft position sensor that was causing it to stall?

I am sure it is. A bad plug wire will not cause it to stall, it will just run rough, especially if the wire is arcing on something else. The computer needs to know of the position of the crank in order to run.

 

[hammishsqueak]

Now, that right there is interesting :shrug: Would have never guessed.

So, in the end do you think it was the crankshaft position sensor that was causing it to stall?

It was definitely the crankshaft position sensor causing the stall, but the check engine light kept coming on still (after replacing the sensor it wouldn't stall, however).

Well, $100 for the diagnostic and $70 for spark plug wires.

I am very wary of buying aftermarket stuff now...then again, I did use the same brand of wires (Duralast) for years with no other problems.

 

[Hessian]

From the distant corner...

siphon the gas...see if it has any debris from your tank liner.

My minivan would choke out...restart after about 2O minutes...then the intake would start to collect the corroding liner and performance would sputter and die...until the clog separated from the intake.
Had to replace the tank.

Your engine sounds like it has a fuel supply problem.

 

[_MightyMouse_]

Autozone has an OBD scanner that plugs into your ECU and checks to see what code is causing your engine light to turn on. They do it for free. Could've saved you a $100 there.