Friday, September 23, 2011

My car has been operating without a fuel filter, not it won't start, what has happened?

I have a 1992 Astro Van that I bought used. It was running fine for a month or so, not it wont' start. It's getting gas to the engine and spark, i changed the spark plugs and it started then stopped. Now it won't start. I went to change the fuel filter and saw that it didn't have one! Just a rubber hose where the filter should be. So now I ask, if it's been running without a filter and now it won't start, what might of happened? is the fuel injectors clogged or something??
My car has been operating without a fuel filter, not it won't start, what has happened?
Yikes! I would first get someone to stand at the the end of the van. When you turn the key up once but not all the way to start you should hear the fuel pump start up. It will sound like a humming noise. If no noise then your fuel pump is bad. Usually a sign of clogging fuel injectors is when the vehicle sputters a bit when you hit the accelator. If the vehicle wasn't doing that before this it is probably your fuel pump.
My car has been operating without a fuel filter, not it won't start, what has happened?
The fuel line is clogged. Running the car without a fuel filter would do that. The fuel has some sediment in it, and now you have clogged a fuel line by not filtering it out.
Sounds like you figured it out. Install a new filter and pull your injectors and clean them with a spray cleaner. Check for fuel on the fuel rail again. You may also want to check the fuel pressure.
Put on a fuel filter, can I guess that it was spewing black smoke? which is an indicator of unburned gas which would be the reason that with new plugs it ran before they fouled out. Put in the filter, add some STP to the gas, clean or change the plugs again and you should be fine.
yes your fuel injectors are clogged or your fuel lines might be clogged
It would seem that is the case, if not the injectors, then the fuel line itself.