What does a car choking after turnning off key mean?

[rc5]

My car recently has a weird problem. After I turn off the key, the engine doesn't stop immediately. Instead, it keeps choking for several rounds before a full-stop. That choke shakes the whole car body and doesn't seem quite right.

What could be the problem?

 

[John]

Bad gas is a possibility.

 

[Polgara]

Timing is off. You need to go to Western Auto and get a Timing Light. You can do it yourself.

Sarah <== Daddy taught me all about cars.

 

[Thegonagle]

I'm guessing you have a carburetor, because this symptom is common and it's almost always caused by a carburetor running too rich or too lean. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about carburetors and I never will.

If it is happening on a FI engine, then your injectors are extremely leaky.

Edit: or it's the timing, duh! Thanks, Polgara!

 

[rc5]

Yes, it's a carburetor. It seems running fine, no choke while driving. Only chokes when you turn off iginition.

Why would the engine keep running after ignition is off? There shouldn't be any spark inside engine.

 

[Electric Amish]

There doesn't have to be spark for the gas-air mixture to ignite.

amish

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

This is usually caused by carbon buildup in the combustion chamber. Here are Tom and Ray's tips for remedying this.

 

[LordMaul]

Mwuahahaha...I thought the thread title said, "What does the chick choking after I turn off the car mean?"

:Q

 

[Thegonagle]

<< Why would the engine keep running after ignition is off? There shouldn't be any spark inside engine. >>


You're right, there is no spark in the engine, and you'll notice that it does not run particularly well because of it.

Ignition is actually caused by hot spots on the inside of the cylinder head.

These hot spots are caused by improper combustion due to mixture or timing issues, or possibly because your engine is overheating. Check for low coolant first.

 

[Polgara]

If this is the only symptom, I'm telling you that it's the timing.

If the engine is louder than normal at idle it might be that the idle is too high.

Since I'm just a girl, I copied the following so you would pay attention.

Sarah <== Daddy really did teach me all about cars.





Symptom: Engine continues to run when you try to turn it off

Description of problem: The car seems to run fine except that it doesn't want to turn right off. After you have driven awhile, you turn the key to stop the engine and it continues to run for a few seconds. At first you notice that this happens once in awhile, and now it happens quite often.


Probable Causes:

1. One or more of your fuel injectors are leaking.

2. The engine's idle is set too high.

3. The ignition timing is set wrong.




TROUBLESHOOT YOUR VEHICLE



EDIT: Read Tom & Ray's article. Don't trust those guys. Pouring water into the carb is a VERY bad idea. I know I'm just a girl, so go ahead and try what everybody else says. When you fix the timing PM me, OK?

 

[Amused]

I remember this. It used to be called "dieseling."

 

[psteng19]

<< Sarah <== Daddy taught me all about cars. >>


whoa, a girl that visits a computer forum AND knows about cars.
MARRY ME!!!

 

[Squisher]

<<whoa, a girl that visits a computer forum AND knows about cars. MARRY ME!!!>>

I was thinking the same thing



Polgara, you wouldn't have fondness for Tequila too, would you?

 

[Zenmervolt]

<<EDIT: Read Tom & Ray's article. Don't trust those guys. Pouring water into the carb is a VERY bad idea.>>

You are correct, if you're running a garden hose into the air intake. If you have the air-cleaner off and are using something like a spray bottle to put just a miniscule amount of water into the engine, then it's not really that different from driving in a dounpour. I'd recommend Techron myself though.

ZV

EDIT: Fixed boldface.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

The term that I used for that is dieseling. I always ran the guts out the car to burn the carbon out of it to fix it.
DOHH AmusedOne posted it first. Its called that because like a diesel engine it runs without a spark for a while.

 

[Cyberian]

A tank of high test and a wide open Interstate should fix it.

 

[SuperSix]

It's probably a combination of both. I've had good luck trickling water into the carb, a LOT of nasty black soot came out of the exhaust. For bad engines, GM makes something called "Top Engine Cleaner", available at your local GM dealer.