What is wrong w/ my car?

Question

My car just died. It wants to start and if it does start it bumps for a few second and shuts down

Answer 1

you need three things for a car to start. fuel, compression and spark. with these three, it may not run well, but it will run. So start the process by checking to see if it is getting fuel to the motor. you don't say if it is a carb which is easy to check for fuel,it's tougher if it is fuel injected. If you have fuel, check spark at the spark plug. WARNING: new high voltage ignitions will shock you right thru a spark plug wire. DO NOT HOLD THE WIRE TO CHECK FOR SPARK. either buy a spark plug tester at the auto parts store for under $20.00, which is the best way to do it, or, with the ignition off, pull a sparkplug wire off one of the spark plugs, place another sparkplug into the boot of the wire, ground it against a good ground on the car (like an exhaust manifold bolt)without having to hold it, and have someone try to start the motor while you watch for a spark to jump across the bottom of the plug. If it sparks, you have no problem there, move on. Lastly, check for compression with a compression gauge at each cylinder. It has to be one of these three. I'd bet on a fuel problem. IE: fuel pump, plugged fuel line or filter. Second bet would be ignition problem preventing spark
Good luck

Answer 2

How about providing the make, year, and model. THAT would help us a lot.

For instance, if it's an older car with a carb, I would say your choke is not opening when it should. The vacuum should open the choke slightly and keep it from dying.

Answer 3

Yeah it sounds like a fuel delivery problem to me too.

Answer 4

Have the fuel filter checked. It may be clogged. good luck

Answer 5

many things alternater fuel pump, battery(alternated causes that) spark plugs