I don’t know a great deal about cars and odds are you don’t either. In all seriousness though, I’m interested to get some thoughts on what might be wrong here, and I should find out something definitive tomorrow.
Yesterday we were driving on 10 Loop around Athens in my wife’s Kia Sportage. It’s well-maintained, but she’s had it about 10 years now and it has around 175k miles on it. I’m going probably 60 mph and move into the left lane to pass a truck in front of me.
I don’t stand up on the accelerator or anything… didn’t do anything abnormal, didn’t hear anything abnormal. All of a sudden, I had no engine power. The battery light came on and the oil pressure light came on. We still had radio and lights, but the accelerator was totally non-responsive. I think that the engine was still running. I still had power steering. Just no response from the accelerator, no increase in RPMs with the accelerator.
Fortunately we were going down hill. I got the 4-ways on and was able to coast to a stop on the side of an exit ramp. Probably coasted half a mile that way, which is why I can say I still had power steering.
After coming to a stop, I got out to see if the headlights were still on, were dim, etc. At that point the RPMs were down to 0. I tried to start it back, but no dice. It sounded like a very low battery, in that it just wouldn’t turn over. But again, still had radio and lights, etc.
Any ideas? I don’t think it’s the fuel pump as I didn’t hear any sounds before and it happened suddenly. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Had it towed to the mechanic I use up here in Jefferson, which is closed until Monday. So I guess I find out something in the morning
Yesterday we were driving on 10 Loop around Athens in my wife’s Kia Sportage. It’s well-maintained, but she’s had it about 10 years now and it has around 175k miles on it. I’m going probably 60 mph and move into the left lane to pass a truck in front of me.
I don’t stand up on the accelerator or anything… didn’t do anything abnormal, didn’t hear anything abnormal. All of a sudden, I had no engine power. The battery light came on and the oil pressure light came on. We still had radio and lights, but the accelerator was totally non-responsive. I think that the engine was still running. I still had power steering. Just no response from the accelerator, no increase in RPMs with the accelerator.
Fortunately we were going down hill. I got the 4-ways on and was able to coast to a stop on the side of an exit ramp. Probably coasted half a mile that way, which is why I can say I still had power steering.
After coming to a stop, I got out to see if the headlights were still on, were dim, etc. At that point the RPMs were down to 0. I tried to start it back, but no dice. It sounded like a very low battery, in that it just wouldn’t turn over. But again, still had radio and lights, etc.
Any ideas? I don’t think it’s the fuel pump as I didn’t hear any sounds before and it happened suddenly. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Had it towed to the mechanic I use up here in Jefferson, which is closed until Monday. So I guess I find out something in the morning
