engine backfired now wont start

[mark vb Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mark vb]

hi all.
driveing my car 98 prado i pulled up at give way sign when pulled up and went to take of . a lowd sort of po 9backfire or somthing . engine stoiped. tryed to start is took a bit but started reversed back 5 meters then it stoped again. and will not start ..
it turns over and popes wants to start but wouldnt. car was running on gas when first stoped then tryed staring on fuel it wont start..
when lifed up bonnet . the air cleaner intake box was open ( where hose clamps to) and tabs opened like it backfired out air intake ( hope you know what i mean )..
replased it all togeather. tryed starting on petrol wont star well trys to runn but just pops over if foot on throtal or of . wont start at all turns over . if it trys to go it just pops like running out of gas/fuel. . i have switched it to start onefuel one and no go and tryed it normaly still no go ... my car was running on gas lpg, when it first did this sort of pop bang stall .
i dont know how els to explain it ... but any one have any idear whats going on ..... timing belt sliped??? ... EFI problems????? ... fuel pump problem???( is fuel pump still active somhow when running on gas ) ??????????
im realy stuck at to whats going on ..............
( all help very much apresiated......

[raydes Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close raydes]

Have a look around the inlet manifold, it may have blown a pipe off when it backfired. Brake booster pipe,,, engine breather,, ect ,it wont start if its sucking air in from somewhere and the air is not going through the air flow metre

[mark vb Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mark vb]

ok cheers ill have a look. any idear why it would back fire....it must have been big to pop the air intakes of.......im just pulling at straws now.........

[PradOz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradOz]

i had a 90 series on gas and got sick of the back firing. tried everything so no need trying to solve it with ideas. only one thing i didnt do but tell you that in a sec.
if you have a look by feeling with your hands under the air box you will find it has split open. the force of the bang has popped the clips open on the air filter and also split your airbox. to find air box just look for squarish plastic box between airfilter and engine. feel under it and you will find it moves where it has split. you have to take it out which is easy to do. just remove the air filter and undo clamps etc to pull hose assembly and box out. look at it and you will see the problem. just dont pull it apart or you wont have an easy fix. the engine is getting too much air so thats your drama. once the car is driving you will find that at high speed and high revs it is ok enough to drive to get home

now you have it off, grab a soldering iron (even a cheapie) and when its hot work it along the break and melt the two together. just dont leave it in the one place to long. you can melt the plastic and melt the join together. i done this i dont know how many times so that i became very good at it.

if you get stuck away from home grab some duct tape or insulation tape and wrap it around and around the airbox to seal the broken joins together until you are home for a repair

now to prevent it, my only suggestion is to fit an air sock. look at other type cars for ideas on how. i never got around to it as i just sold it and moved into my 120. even porsche have a pop off valve which works the same as what you need. any "explosion" and the air is forced out and the pop off valve closes again. you need to make something to do this. i have read about people even using a stubby holder as a cheap alternative somehow.

i changed plugs, leads etc etc and it kept backfiring. i dont know where you are located as its not in your avatar, but in melbourne there is a place called ice ignitions who have great service. they advise to change plugs to a real cheap one and leads to a spiral lead, which they supply (both items). they are very prompt. i ordered friday arvo in sydney and received mid morning at my door on the monday. michael at ice ignitions says doing this will prevent it. in my case it didnt. most gas mechanics say you need to change plugs and leads after it happens. this is an expensive answer and negates any gas savings really. so work on the air sock idea

suggest you either pack duct/insulation tape in the car ready for when it happens next, or a 12v/gas soldering iron or both

best wishes

[Pedro Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pedro]

Sounds like it might be your air flow meter .
Please see my post on exploroz a few years ago
http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/...LD%29%26pn%3d3

[mark vb Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mark vb]

wow you guys are the best........
ive found the problem .... i fownt that there is a sort of half u shaped bug half way under the airintake..... i fownd a hole and hose clamp and nothing . then got hand down next to motor and found this sor of u shaped like plug????. re instaled it and wamo all good agan. it seems like all the air intake hose clams are loose. so ill go over all and retighen thme ..

thenk god i was not out in the bush and this happend ...
\
guys thanks for all you r very usful in fo.. and ill look at it better fist thing in the morning....

cheers..

[PradOz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradOz]

mark, your symptoms are exactly what i used to get. let me know what you find. i would be very surprised if it isnt as i posted above. you can clean your air flow sensor too but that wont help you out right now. leave that till your airbox is plastic welded back together. then go buy yourself some MAF Cleaner from repco. dont use anything else like crc or wd40 etc or you will have bigger problems. then undo the 2 screws holding the mass air flow sensor in your air line, undo the electrics by pressing on the clip and gently pull apart. pull out the sensor and use the cleaner to clean it by spraying it thoroughly as per the instructions on the can. dont put it back in straight away. weight an hour then reassemble and off you go. you will find plenty here on PP about this, even showing pictures if you search. if you have trouble searching, use google and use the word pradopoint in amongst the words you are searching, cheers [ps let me know if it is your airbox, cheers]

[Seththecursed Member Find all posts View Profile Close Seththecursed]

Holden Rodeos on gas do the same thing. I now the LPG installers put a rubber flap in the airbox to prevent it from blowing apart. Have seen a lot of cars on gas with this setup. Commodores as well if i recall but my memory is a little foggy on them.

[mark vb Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mark vb]

yer it seems to be ok , found the hose clamps around the air intake were preaty loose also.
them mapfuel/air senceser thingo was cleaned a cupply of months ago have got the canin the shed it map spray (think from repco also). gas was rather low so i wonder if that can cause pop of back fire .
no other holes or spilts were founds. and all runns smoth on gas and fuel again . it actuly seems to be smother bit more power so i wonder if it had been sucking extra air throw all the joins and loose hose clamps....

will defanatly keep tools on board and soem hand gaffa tape also . if that spilt thing happens.
motor is duw for survace and plugs ... and also timing belt . its got 220000, on the clock and last time timing belt was done was at 99000, so i gess that due to be next on the list to be done , althow is remember seeing somware that some get changed every 150000,kls??.

cheers agan guys.

[GH4wd Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close GH4wd]

yes Mark loose hose clamps will cause problems for sure

Timing belt needs to be replaced at every 150,000 k's according to my owners manual, my vehicle is an '02 model I assume your '98 would be the same.

[glen_ep Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close glen_ep]

The timing belt replacement schedule for the earlier 3.4's was every 100k, but was later increased to 150k. I don't recall if that adjustment was purely a revised service plan (due to reliability), or based on actual engineering changes to the engine.