Flashing CEL, Solid Battery Light, clunking sound

[ikeepblowingengines]

my car ran completely out of gas last night.. today i put a gallon of gas in and start the car up to head to the gas station..

my at temp light starts flashing then goes out so i thought it was related to running out of gas last night..

put some more gas in the car today and everything is good for a few miles and then my cel starts flashing, i hear a faint clunk... kind of and my battery light is solid..

what the hell is up now? i just fixed the misfires by swapping plugs

[2000gtb]

running out of fuel at high rpm is bad... blinking CEL is not good either... Battery light on, check your alternator belt, alternator or the battery itself

[ikeepblowingengines]

if it makes any difference, it was just speeds under 35, and i was almost coasting when i hit my driveway..then it died

[2000gtb]

Will it start again.. I have a feeling you threw a rod.. I don't like that clunk sound based on experience... Blinking CEL means shut off engine asap..

[ikeepblowingengines]

ya i just went out there, it started..CEL but not flashing.. battery light still solid, and the noise sounds like a machine gun..but clunking.. it seems matched to the rpms

[ikeepblowingengines]

rod knock maybe.. judging by some youtube vids

[ikeepblowingengines]

this happened when it was very cold outside, but the knocking didnt start until the temp gauge was at normal, in the center

[2000gtb]

Spun a bearing

[ikeepblowingengines]

fuck. think i can make it to my house a mere 3 miles away on the backroads?

[Huffer]

Check your oil and other fluid levels, check your battery connections. How is it idling? Thumpy etc?

You're unlikely to have spun a bearing or rod just from running out of gas going under 35mph and not cornering hard.
Oil yes, gas no.

[ikeepblowingengines]

its idling normal, albeit very loud and obnoxiously.. but normal high rev at startup in this cold weather then as it warms up the rpms drop to normal..

i literally just put gas into it too, lame.. wish i had that money back, ha

[Huffer]

Fluid levels...?

[ikeepblowingengines]

well holy shit, the belt that goes around power steering and the alternator is off, and it looks like it moved the other belt over a bit, what the hell do i do now? what was the banging noise?

[2000gtb]

Fix the belt and you'll fix the battery light

[ikeepblowingengines]

why did it pop off? maybe the noise was the belt hitting the fans? i doubt it but are those two really unrelated?

[Huffer]

FIX THE BELT. Then reassess.

[2000gtb]

The acc belt has nothing to do with that noise inside your engine

[Huffer]

The acc belt has nothing to do with that noise inside your engine

If it was banging around and hitting the hood, then that could easily be mistaken for internal noise if the hood isn't open at the time.

I'm blaming poor diagnostics - the owner.

[2000gtb]

yeah, i was thinking he had the hood popped and heard noise in the engine... engine noise is very distinct compared to a BELT HITTING THE HOOD... ok maybe for the more experience...

DID YOU EVEN POP THE HOOD UP BEFORE YOU STARTED YOUR DIAGNOSTICS..

[2000gtb]

Dont even answer that... that would just piss alot of people off... I figured if you opened your hood, the first thing you wouldve seen are the belts..

[ikeepblowingengines]

haha wow.. live and learn..

what a jackass

[2000gtb]

humor... dont take it the wrong way... :lol:

[evolegacy]

humor amongst all of us here at SL-i tends to sometimes sound jackass-y, but its all meant to help you learn from your mistakes so no harm done

[ikeepblowingengines]

the end result of this was the wheel of the crankshaft was completely loose, the bolt broke off

[ShadowGT]

I broke my PS / alternator belt at highway speeds once. It sounded like all hell broke loose under the hood for a little bit. I couldn't exactly stop where I was but I started slowing down looking for a place to stop. First thing.. power steering gone. That was immediately noticed. A few minutes later, battery light started fluttering and stayed on.. then went out. Car ran like total shit, misfiring, sputtering, making horrible sounds, I coasted into a gas station parking lot, checked under the hood. Belt was missing but shreds of rubber everywhere.
Good thing I keep a set of extra belts in the right rear fender compartment in the wagon. I also have a little tool bag I keep wedged in with the spare tire.

I was in the middle of fucking nowhereville Texas at a closed gas station at night. I was back on the road in 20 minutes because a Texas State Trooper came by to check on me and let me jump start off his cruiser. So I was lucky otherwise I'd was going to resort to roll starting my car and I hate doing that.

That trooper was cool as shit. He didn't run my ID, just hung out there with me and put his spot lights on my car to help me see.

So the moral of my long babbling story:
Broken main accessory belt, all sorts of mayhem occurs under the hood. Sounds like everything broke and your car runs like crap a few minutes after that until it just dies.

[GTDrifter]

Don't you find the original poster's issues and his username kind of fitting?

[ShadowGT]

Don't you find the original poster's issues and his username kind of fitting?

Heh.. yeah I just realized it.
After rereading this thread I realize now I know less about what happened with his car.

The belt broke off.. but wasn't noticed when he swapped the spark plugs?
I'm not judging the OP, just saying this is all sort of weird.