Car died while going 65mph
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2016
Posts: 321
Likes: 110
From: Columbus OHIO
Car died while going 65mph
This is kind of an "fyi" for anyone that may run across this situation.
Nice day out today, took the '93 Ruby to work at 6:45am. Get to Downtown Columbus, doing about 65 and all of a sudden the car just started decelerating. No lights, nothing. At about 60 mph after hitting the accelerator and figuring out that that wasn't helping, I shifted into neutral, and the dash lit up like a Christmas tree.
So, at least I knew the engine had stalled, tried to restart it while coasting, all the while knowing that I'm running out of room to get out of the high speed lane and three lanes of traffic to the right and a cement wall to the left. Talk about an "oh crap" moment, when I saw that the berm was narrowing, I had to stop and pull to the left before I was trapped in the high speed lane, sure to have been squished by someone not paying attention.
This car, in the 2 1/2 yrs I've owned it has been great, always starts right up, never has stranded me. I tried restarting it, and it would try to turn over, but then immediately die. Tried pumping the gas first, etc. I thought it may have been the fuel pump, but normally they don't go out while it is moving. After a harrowing half hour during rush hour where big trucks were going past at 65, and people on their phones and not looking at the road, the rollback arrived and a cop showed up to help direct. Had someone veered a little left, I wouldn't have been able to type this tonight. I had to get out of the car because I was dead if I had been hit while in the car. Car was towed to the closest AAA place and they finally put in on the $105 diagnostic machine and told me it was an ignition coil? Really? A $50 part just shut that car down. Oh well, at least I have a new one of those!! Car just turned 100,000 miles.
Anyway, if anyone has this happen to them where it stops while running just fine, it could be the ignition coil...
Oh, and the tow truck driver, while real nice, was a big guy and while I was in talking to the repair place, put the car in park. He said "how the hell do you get in and out of these things?" I told him it was a secret, you have to buy one to find out...
Nice day out today, took the '93 Ruby to work at 6:45am. Get to Downtown Columbus, doing about 65 and all of a sudden the car just started decelerating. No lights, nothing. At about 60 mph after hitting the accelerator and figuring out that that wasn't helping, I shifted into neutral, and the dash lit up like a Christmas tree.
So, at least I knew the engine had stalled, tried to restart it while coasting, all the while knowing that I'm running out of room to get out of the high speed lane and three lanes of traffic to the right and a cement wall to the left. Talk about an "oh crap" moment, when I saw that the berm was narrowing, I had to stop and pull to the left before I was trapped in the high speed lane, sure to have been squished by someone not paying attention.
This car, in the 2 1/2 yrs I've owned it has been great, always starts right up, never has stranded me. I tried restarting it, and it would try to turn over, but then immediately die. Tried pumping the gas first, etc. I thought it may have been the fuel pump, but normally they don't go out while it is moving. After a harrowing half hour during rush hour where big trucks were going past at 65, and people on their phones and not looking at the road, the rollback arrived and a cop showed up to help direct. Had someone veered a little left, I wouldn't have been able to type this tonight. I had to get out of the car because I was dead if I had been hit while in the car. Car was towed to the closest AAA place and they finally put in on the $105 diagnostic machine and told me it was an ignition coil? Really? A $50 part just shut that car down. Oh well, at least I have a new one of those!! Car just turned 100,000 miles.
Anyway, if anyone has this happen to them where it stops while running just fine, it could be the ignition coil...
Oh, and the tow truck driver, while real nice, was a big guy and while I was in talking to the repair place, put the car in park. He said "how the hell do you get in and out of these things?" I told him it was a secret, you have to buy one to find out...
