Car Abuse, at Its Worst

The Mazda 626 had been hauled in on a rollback early that morning. The service order was written via a phone message left by the owner, who we'll refer to as Ms. Smith. She reported that her car would not crank Saturday morning, and that her husband had worked on it, but couldn't get it started.

When we called Ms. Smith to discuss the car, I immediately found myself on the phone with an upset lady. Ms. Smith was concerned about her car; it was her car, "not his!" she repeated several times. I asked what was her concern for the car. Could she explain the cranking problem?

"Well it was running fine and would not crank Saturday morning." Ms. Smith allowed.

"Was the engine turning over?" I asked.

"The engine turned over, but would not go," she replied. I wrote down a few other important details, such as it did not run when her husband pushed it and, "He worked on it all day."

An in-town dealership had recently charged her more than $400 to service the car. She said I should call her husband if I wanted to get the technical information. Ms. Smith reminded me again that it was her car, and she would be paying for it.

I called Mr. Smith to ask the "technical questions." He was short with me, saying only that the dealership had serviced the car and messed it up. I asked him to explain. He said only that it was her car, and he and his friends missed a day of football games working on "her" car that the dealer had messed up after charging $400 to service. I came away from the 30 minutes of conversation thinking that there are some other things I need to know, but this family's home life problems are not my business. I turned to the car and began my inspection.

First things first

With any no-start or no-run situation, I check the basics. Something did not look right under the hood. The battery's positive cable was disconnected. I checked the state of charge on the battery. My meter read close to 9.5 volts. I knew any reading below 10.5 volts might turn over the engine. However, it would not properly run the electronics and the computer would probably not fire the coils or operate the injectors properly.

I disconnected the negative battery terminal and charged the battery at 10 amps. Whoever had worked on the battery did not know that to prevent an arc or unwanted spark, you always disconnect the negative cable first and reconnect it last for safety.

While I was waiting for the battery to come up to at least 12.5 volts, I looked at the air cleaner and found it was new and clean. I decided to check the fuel filter next to assure the vehicle was receiving clean fuel. Many times I have found a "new" fuel filter stopped up. I feel that fuel filters are like baby diapers: You put them on clean and never know when they will get dirty.

This was the standard metal filter unit located on the firewall bracket behind the engine. It looked new and was full of fuel, although there was no pressure when I disconnected the lines. My standard procedure is to relieve pressure and disconnect the outlet side first; then I carefully disconnect the inlet. I always catch a sample of the fuel from the 'dirty' inlet side of the filter and keep it to show to the customer if I have to justify removal of the fuel tank for cleaning.

I did a visual inspection under the hood and of course checked the fluid levels and crankcase oil level. It was all good, but still I had this feeling I was dealing with a case of 'Car Abuse.' I have found car abuse in the best of families, from the high-dollar car owners who can afford the best of care to the struggling student in college with a hand-me-down car who forgets to check the oil until the light comes on.

Back to the battery

After an hour, I checked the battery and found over 12.5 volts. I turned the key and the engine spun. The cranking voltage was above 10.5 volts, ensuring that all systems would have the power to operate. It did not run, but it turned over. It turned over fast – too fast even for a small inline four-cylinder. I removed the top half of the front cover and valve cover. I removed the number one spark plug from its recess deep between the dual overhead cams. The plug was new, was oily and flattened on the end with the center electrode crushed.

I wanted to check the cam timing, so I carefully turned the engine over with a wrench on the crankshaft bolt until the front pulley timing marks lined up. I placed a long, thin screwdriver in the spark plug hole to check for top dead center. The tip of the driver touched nothing. I quickly selected another hole that is more than a meter in length. The screwdriver fell through to the bottom . . . of the oil pan that is! I had struck oil.

I shone a light down into the spark plug hole and saw shiny, jagged metal. The top of the piston had a hole all the way through to the crankcase. The screwdriver should have touched the top of the number one piston if the crankshaft marks were correctly lined up. A look at the cams would tell if the piston was at TDC of number one or number four in this four-cylinder engine. I checked the cam timing and found that the cam marks were in position to fire the number two cylinder. A check of number two piston showed it was at bottom dead center. I definitely had a case of car abuse, but who is to blame? The timing belt was new with all the bolts and tensioners tight, but the cams were just not in time. I asked myself, "How could this happen?"

Calling the parents

I called the owners after writing up charges for diagnosis and asked for permission to disassemble the engine to evaluate the damage. Ms. Smith was angry that I had not finished, and her car was not ready to be picked up. She told me that I had been recommended as the "best" place to have a car fixed.

I explained that the car's timing belt was out of time and that serious engine damage had been done. I then told her the cost so far for diagnosis and that more time would have to be charged before an estimate could be written for the repair. I tried to explain to her the difference between the problem and symptoms. I tried to get more information about the car, but all I heard was an angry person vent about her husband, his friends, a car dealer and my inability to fix her car now.

I called the husband, thinking maybe we could communicate. The story began to emerge: The car dealer had charged big bucks to replace the timing belt a few weeks back. So, he and his buddies just knew that was the problem. After running the battery down spinning it over, they split a 12-pack and decided to check the dealer's work. A few more beers and they had that belt off, and they decided it was out of time. A few more beers and it was back on, only now the engine would not turn over, so they pushed it down the hill and popped the clutch when it had up enough speed. When it did not start, they pulled it around with a truck. Finally they gave up and decided that I could fix it on Monday.

The husband said to find out what it would cost to fix because he was going to make the dealer pay for it. I called Ms. Smith to get approval for more charges. She agreed, but still wanted to blame the dealer. I asked if the car ran OK after the dealer had serviced it. Ms. Smith said, "Yes. It ran just fine until it quit Saturday."

Somebody call a doctor

We disassembled the engine and found that the valves were pounded into the pistons because of the out-of-time belt. Even the slightest bend to a valve destroys it, so it can't be reused. The number one piston had a valve head go all the way through the top of the piston. The head was destroyed, but maybe the block and crank were salvageable.

I had a long conversation with Ms. Smith and recommended a replacement of the whole engine assembly. This time after presenting her options and making it clear that this case of car abuse was not the dealer's fault, I informed her of my understanding of what had happened to her car. I also told her I did not know why it wouldn't start for her last week at this time. I again explained the relationship between symptoms and problems, and I also told her that I wanted to be part of the solution. Ms. Smith told me she would call back later with her decision. When her call arrived, she approved the engine replacement.

A few days later, we were putting the finishing touches on the job, and when the technician spun the engine over, it cranked but still would not run. We checked the engine and noted that the plugs were firing and the injectors were clicking. We checked for fuel and found no pressure, no flow, nothing. A tap on the fuel tank revealed that it had something in it. The fuel gauge read quarter of a tank, but we have learned not to trust gauges.

We pulled the fuel filter and connected a tee fitting and a gauge to monitor pressure. Checking the fuel pump circuit, we found the fuse to the pump was burned out. With a new fuse installed, we spun the engine and got fuel pressure at 38 psi. We spun the engine once more; it started and ran great, then died and failed to restart. The fuel pressure was gone and so was the fuse. We replaced the 10-amp fuse with a circuit breaker with an amp probe on it, and current draw was more than 18 amps when we tried to start the engine.

In the wiring diagram, we saw a relay and a pump, so they were both removed. The relay had been so hot it melted the plastic of the case. The relay has a wiring diagram on the plastic case that shows a resistor in the circuit to suppress voltage spikes. I ordered a new relay and a new fuel pump from Mazda. I knew from experience not to substitute any other relay for this one. A plain relay may work on a fog light circuit, but any circuit controlled by the computer requires suppression diodes or resistors to prevent damage from spikes. We called the customer, and I patiently explained the fuel pump's role in the problem. I was told to replace whatever was needed; she just wanted the car back. We replaced the relay and the pump.

The happy couple arrived to pick up the car, and I explained the bill. The husband wanted to know if the pump might still be under warranty; I told him probably not.

Then he asked if his wife's habit of driving the car empty several times could cause the pump to go bad. It seems that Ms. Smith drives the car to work about 50 miles each day and fills it up only at a certain gas station. If that station is closed, she will run around on near-empty, maybe putting in a dollar's worth to get by, or occasionally just running out of fuel. I carefully explained how a fuel-injected automobile uses the fuel to cool and lubricate the electric fuel pump and that repeatedly running low on fuel could cause the pump to have a short life. The couple looked at each other, and I knew this discussion was not over. But I was not invited to the next session. The customers left with the car, and another case of car abuse was solved.