Is my car dead or just need new parts?

[infamous]

okay so recently my car has started to just suddenly shut itself down. I took it to the shop YET again and my mechanic asked me if ive noticed that the fuel gauge was on E when the day before I had the car filled up.

today i forget what my dad told me but he had talked to the mechanic again after my car was looked at and he told me that the car at any moment will probably just shut off and die.

oh btw i have a 98 Lincoln continental

now from what ive read around the internet, my problem could be a fuse, wiring, or just needs a new sending unit.

but the current history of this car this year has had a bad year starting this winter. I used to run the car til empty then fill it up the next day making the car sit in cold cold weather on empty during the nights which made my car collect water and I had to send it in to clean out water water they could and change the fuel filter and i think changing a dirty spark plug

well anyways do you know if my car is done for or if its really not that big of a problem and just needs like a new sending unit or just check the fuse or wiring


but once i get the car back i'll check the papers on what the shop did
thanks

[Mr Car Guy]

Running the tank empty is very very bad!

That fuel pump is lubricated and cooled with fuel. Run it dry too many times and it will quit on you. Fix the fuel gauge if needed, but don't make a habit of running dry. Sucking up water is not good for the pump either.

When the pump goes, it can just quit, or it might still run, but put out less pressure.

I recommend to friends and family to fill up before it hits 1/4 tank.

[infamous]

yea i later found that out cause i no nothing about cars

but will my car be fine because its been recently shutting off on me and well my mechanic from what my dad told me couldnt find anything wrong and said that probably at any time the car will shut down and it wont start up again

so is he right or from what ive been reading from different sites that i just need a quick fix here and there

[Mr Car Guy]

If the car just shuts down, and won't start up again, first check for spark.

If you got spark, you need to listen for the hum in the tank of the pump when the key is turned to "run". No hum, means the pump isn't running. Then you need to check for power at the pump.

[infamous]

by spark do you mean spark plug cause again i know nothing about cars cause i raelly like the car and well i dont want to be driving somewhere then just have the car shut off and wont start up again and find out that, thats it

[Mr Car Guy]

I'm not sure what the engine has for ignition. If you see spark plug wires, remove one, stick a screwdriver with an insulated handle inside the wire connector. Have someone crank the engine while you hold the metal shaft of the screwdriver about a 1/4 inch from a metal surface.

Some engine have what's called, Coil on plug. This means that each spark plug has it's own coil, not shared. With this you might be able to do the same thing by removing the coil, wires still attached, screwdriver inside the plug connector.

You need to confirm whether it's spark or fuel related first.

EDIT: a little research says this engine has coil on plug. You need to remove the coil over top the spark plug and then check for spark. Wrong, I must have missed it by a couple of years. If you see wires running down from under the cover, pull one of them off to check for spark.

OK, I can't find out for sure, just look for the wires running over the engine to each side, 4 of them.

[cluffenstein]

I don't even need to stick a screwdriver into my wires (insulated or not, I'm not being stupid). I just took my wire off the plug and put it down (on the coolant return) and it sparked onto the return line... kinda wierd.

[Mr Car Guy]

The high output of many newer cars will get a spark to jump up to an inch, you don't want to be holdin' on to that wire! I've been jolted by much lesser voltage than that.

I just don't want to have him mis-diagnose as no spark because he might not have it close enough to ground.

Speaking of high voltage, I remember when I was just a young kid checking out the timing on an old VW air cooled van, type-4 engine. I had my head completely inside the engine compartment with my face over the distributer. That's about 12 inches between distributer and floor. The owner had something up top that was screwed to the floor inside,... screws poking through inside the engine compartment.

All of a sudden I got my cheek zapped, I yanked my head upwards and got jabbed by a screw. Then I yanked my head down away from the screw and got zapped by the distributer again. This cycle repeated itself several times before I got my head out of there. My fellow workers were very impressed :applaud:

[infamous]

alrighty well my dad told me that they put the computer on my car to find out what was wrong and he told me that it was the fuel pump regulator that was supposedly making my car suddenly sputter then shut down. would they be right and if so is this an easy fix? cause i need this car to get to school, so having it die on me driving thro the city and being stuck there isnt something i need to happen to me

[cluffenstein]

All of a sudden I got my cheek zapped, I yanked my head upwards and got jabbed by a screw. Then I yanked my head down away from the screw and got zapped by the distributer again. This cycle repeated itself several times before I got my head out of there. My fellow workers were very impressed :applaud:

LMAO thats hilarious!!!!

[Mr Car Guy]

infamous - if it is the Fuel Pressure Regulator, they are fairly easy to change, but can be expensive on some cars. Don't know in your case.

cluffenstein - LMAO thats hilarious!!!!
Glad you liked that one! I've more stories like it. It seems I learn best by making a complete fool of myself.

[infamous]

alrighty im back with more, we FINALLY found out there was a rusted little whole in our gas tank so water and dirt was getting into it during the winter...

but now the problem ive had for a while now is the radio. it doesnt work for whatever reason. Ive checked all the fuses in the box and only one busted was the cigarette lighter which i dont even use anyways cause im not a smoker, but i replaced it anyways. But i dont know what else it could be besides the obv of the wiring connection. The thing is that I dont know how to pop out the radio configuration in the car cause its one of those factory ones where it takes up a pretty big amount of space

[Mr Car Guy]

Hi

You need to determine if you have both power & ground,... at the radio.

You will need to either remove the radio or get behind it to check the connections.

A grounded test light to test for power. A "hot" test light to check for ground.

If you have both, then the radio is kaputz.