crazymayhem
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
Yep.. you read that right.. couple of weeks ago I hit a broken off pitchfork head lying in the road. It must of been lying in the road with the pitchfork tines curved up and forwards, so the splitter pushed up the broken off shaft and that was jammed into the rear drivers quadrant, im guessing somewhere in front of the rear axle, general area of the rear passenger seat on the drivers side. All this happened at around 50 mph and a pretty decent bang and shudder...
Long story short - stopped the car amid a massive amount of metallic scraping coming from underneath the car. Saw the pitchfork, car started no issue, drove maybe 1/2 mile to a tire store where they jacked up one side and pulled it out. Nothing leaked, no weird noises, car started again - seemed fine. Drove another 1/2 or so to the garden center I was actually going to, and went in. Came back out maybe 20 minutes later, and the car barely started. Turned over a coupe of times, gauge cluster went dark a few times, cam to life, fuel gauge and miles to empty went to 0, then climbed back up to what it was. Checked the ground, no fluids.
Drove off to the dealer, they had the car up on the lift, looked around, saw nothing. Since then, no issues. Maybe 4 weeks or so. As of 2 days ago, very similar reaction. Slight hesitation, that has been getting more in the 3 starts or so since then. I came back home earlier, parked the car on flat ground to check the oil level, which is fine. Put the dipstick back in closed, the hood, turned on the car, and bam, couple of turnovers, darkened cluster, dimming notice in the cluster panel, fuel gauge and miles to empty go to 0, then go back up to what they were.
Searching the forum I only found one thing of interest - Fuel gauge problems. That issue seems to have been the fuel sender. Looking at parts.ford.com its definitely the area where It hit.
Ill be heading off to the dealer tomorrow, but in the meantime any thoughts?
- Could pulling the dipstick trigger something like that? Vacuum or something?
- I might be mistaken, but after I parked at the garden center after the incident, I think the gas lid was popped open. Pressure, Vacuum, something like that?
- Maybe it nicked the fuel sender power line, or maybe the fuel sender itself? Maybe bent and/or punctured something?
Thanks!
Long story short - stopped the car amid a massive amount of metallic scraping coming from underneath the car. Saw the pitchfork, car started no issue, drove maybe 1/2 mile to a tire store where they jacked up one side and pulled it out. Nothing leaked, no weird noises, car started again - seemed fine. Drove another 1/2 or so to the garden center I was actually going to, and went in. Came back out maybe 20 minutes later, and the car barely started. Turned over a coupe of times, gauge cluster went dark a few times, cam to life, fuel gauge and miles to empty went to 0, then climbed back up to what it was. Checked the ground, no fluids.
Drove off to the dealer, they had the car up on the lift, looked around, saw nothing. Since then, no issues. Maybe 4 weeks or so. As of 2 days ago, very similar reaction. Slight hesitation, that has been getting more in the 3 starts or so since then. I came back home earlier, parked the car on flat ground to check the oil level, which is fine. Put the dipstick back in closed, the hood, turned on the car, and bam, couple of turnovers, darkened cluster, dimming notice in the cluster panel, fuel gauge and miles to empty go to 0, then go back up to what they were.
Searching the forum I only found one thing of interest - Fuel gauge problems. That issue seems to have been the fuel sender. Looking at parts.ford.com its definitely the area where It hit.
Ill be heading off to the dealer tomorrow, but in the meantime any thoughts?
- Could pulling the dipstick trigger something like that? Vacuum or something?
- I might be mistaken, but after I parked at the garden center after the incident, I think the gas lid was popped open. Pressure, Vacuum, something like that?
- Maybe it nicked the fuel sender power line, or maybe the fuel sender itself? Maybe bent and/or punctured something?
Thanks!
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