During the winter my car runs just great - but during the summer months, after driving about 10 miles or so, the car starts to act raggedy - wanting to stall out, like its not getting gas. tried gas treatment and fuel injector cleaners - helps somewhat, but problem still exists. If I turn off the ignition, wait about 1 minute and start it back up, I get another few miles before it acts up again. This is a work car, with many stops and starts daily. Any advice.
Crankshaft position sensor. when it gets hot and your car starts acting up pour some cold water on it. if your car works fine for a few minutes then thats it. You will find the cps on the forward side of the crankshaft behind the pulley. Also look to see if it is positioned correctly. ie the metal splines on the pulley are passing through evenly with clearance on both sides. there is a through bolt on the sensor bracket that you loosen to adjust the sensor back and forth.
Hot starting problems are usually fuel related. When a hot engine is shut off, the temperature of the engine and everything on it continues to rise for awhile as the engine undergoes a period of "heat soak." This can cause fuel to boil inside the carburetor bowl, fuel lines and fuel filter. When you attempt to restart the engine, "vapor lock" obstructs the flow of fuel and the engine doesn't want to start.
This is much less of a problem on fuel injected engines because the fuel is usually under much higher pressure inside the injectors and fuel line. Even so, a fuel line routed near an exhaust manifold or a fuel rail that's exposed to a lot of heat may still suffer the same kind of problems.
Heat soak problems such as these can sometimes be cured by wrapping insulation around affected fuel lines, and/or installing an insulating spacer or heat shield under the carburetor.
A Seasonal Problem
Hard hard starting tends to be a seasonal problem, but may be worse in the early months of spring when refiners are switching fuel blends. Gasoline refiners produce fuel with a slightly lower volatility rating (called "Reed vapor pressure") during hot summer months because lower volatility fuel is less likely to boil and cause hot starting problems. During the winter, they switch to a higher volatility fuel because it makes cold starting easier. But if you still have "winter" grade fuel in your tank when warm spring weather arrives, you may experience some hot starting problems. The problem will go away, however, as soon as the refiners in your area switch to their summer grade fuel.
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