Heat + Traffic + Idle = FAIL

I was driving around today with the A/C running full tilt heading down to octopus to get a car wash, I drove down east wash hitting the usual stop and go traffic and bullshit on the way there. I saw Tusk when I was pulling in to Octopus so that was cool at least, I got my little ticket for a wash and waited in line till it was my turn for the Mexicans to take my car. It was taking them forever to vacuum out a fucking minivan so I shut the car off because it hates to idle too long before it starts pushing oil past the turbo seals and smoking. A few minutes later I need to pull forward so I turn the key and do not hear the sound of the engine, only a panicked version of the door ding sound, all my gauge needles are bouncing up and down and having seizures, and no other electrical systems turn on. Not even a click from the starter.

AWWW FUCK, I'm right in the middle of the Octopus line with people stacked up behind me. I take the key out, try again and get the same result. So I have to get out, try and wave people past me which of course doesn't work because they are too fucking stupid and just sit there and stare at me instead. I walk over to the hut and tell the guy my car just took a shit and he needs to get his line moving. I push the thing over to a corner that is semi out of the way and pop the hood. The car wash attendant comes over to tell me that he is sure it's the alternator and that my car smells like an electrical fire so it must be the alternator. No fucking way it's the alternator I tell him, it's a 100 fucking degrees maybe something important just got too hot.......please stop helping thank you.

I wait a few minutes, get back in to grab my phone and figure I'd try it. It started right up as if nothing had ever been an issue, so I left and headed to the beltline to get some air moving and everything seems fine now. There is no point to this story and it's not interesting, it just sucked to deal with.

That sucks, nothing more awesome than pushing your own car.

Heat is unbearable today... 95 + according to my car blehhh

glad you got it started though

say hello to Mazda ecu heat protection lock out. I can't remember where I read about it but, a couple Mazda techs were talking about it and couldn't find an answer really but came to the conclusion it's there...basically when's it's that hot you have to decide to either get turbo smoke, or risk heat soak messing with the ecu

Yeah dude that is exactly what happened. I always wondered why the ram air had a little diverter to the battery cover. Well I have the battery cover off because I just took the battery out to use when moving the supra and didn't put it back on. Today I noticed that the battery box has a hole in it that feeds cool air right on the ECU as well so I guess having those plastic covers off is a bad idea

It's better than the panic scenarios I had going when I was at the car wash though. Oh shit my car is dead, how do I get it home to fix it, why didn't I buy that perfectly drivable supra as a back up, why did I just spend all that money on furniture, where am I going to get a car, fuck I start a new job on the west side Monday how am I gonna get to it......oh never mind, it started.

haha, yea I hear ya it can be pretty scary. on the battery thing idk if it's because the ecu gets hot( cuz then you would want the air vents) or if it is the ecu shutting down due to coolant temps( air vents worthless)

I wasn't monitoring engine temp on my AP but the idiot gauge was reading normal. Either way I will be appropriately paranoid about it for a few weeks.

Thats kinda like at automotion, after I got done racing my car wanted to idle at 3000 rpms, it was a day like today and i couldnt even touch my charge pipes

I got back from the gym and getting some subway. Shut the car off, turbo timer stayed on for the normal 30 seconds shut off then the cars fan kicked in to try to cool it down even more while it sat there. Good thing this isn't a friday or saturday night

Octopus wont even let me take my car through.

Haha why the hell not? Too low to the ground?

did anybody mention its fucking hot out?

I think i overdid it a bit today. I was out working in the yard today (drinking plenty of water and taking breaks) and then I replaced the multifunction switch on my wifes car in the sun on asphalt..... I'm still a bit dizzy and I get chills every so often.....I'd go in to get seen, but I'm at work until 3:30 AM. FML


On a side note, this hot weather has shown me that I need a large trans cooler on my explorer.... after flogging the hell out of it getting around non-driving morons, The thing was slipping a bit going into Overdrive....

[quote="Blackout"]I think i overdid it a bit today. I was out working in the yard today (drinking plenty of water and taking breaks) and then I replaced the multifunction switch on my wifes car in the sun on asphalt..... I'm still a bit dizzy and I get chills every so often.....I'd go in to get seen, but I'm at work until 3:30 AM. FML
quote]

heat stroke. drink water whats your pulse like? get some wrapped ice packs under your arm pits

sounds more like heat exhaustion. either way rest, stay cool, and stay hydrated

Prolly real mild heat exhaustion. I was on the toilet most of the night so far, but I feel a ton better. AC FTW! Heat stroke.... no. If it was heat stroke, I'd likely be dead.


BTW, Its STILL fucking hot outside!

Thanks for jacking my thread with "your problems" fat ass.

haha, peter he could of died!

So could have peter, major car issues are acceptable reasons for suicide

very true

07mz3 wrote:

haha, peter he could of died!

Haha well if he does he can start his own thread about it

Peter MS3 wrote:

07mz3 wrote:

haha, peter he could of died!

Haha well if he does he can start his own thread about it

k good point, what a thread jacker lol

Peter MS3 wrote:

Thanks for jacking my thread with "your problems" fat ass.

LOL You are welcome dipshit!






BTW, any more problems with it the rest of the day? I wonder if there would be a way to set up an old computer case fan on the ECU so it doesnt do that any more.

Nah it seemed cool the rest of the day. I think she just spent too much time in traffic and at idle.

I've been getting tons of calls for odd issues on cars this week. Most I've told to just get the car home, shut it off and walk away. Power windows not working, A/C not blowing cold enough, hard starts, rough idles. Evap codes popping like crazy this week on cars.

My Ethos wouldn't load up yesterday. Put it in the fridge for five minutes and it worked fine.

110 degrees in the shop yesterday along with whatever the humidity is, wasn't even fun to sit and look at the porn machine. Thanks for the info about the Mazada heat soak issues. I hadn't read that one before and it is nice to know.