Does Over-heating cause Hard-Starts/Stalling?


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Old 02-28-04, 01:25 PM
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Does Over-heating cause Hard-Starts/Stalling?

I have a 91 Volkswagen Jetta with 94,000 miles. After being in shop for alignment and shocks, the car is hard to re-start after short drives and sometimes stalls when I slow down to turn. If I wait 20 minutes for engine to cool, it will start. There is no problem with the first start of the day.
After re-starting from a stall, I notice the engine runs hotter than normal. The mechanic thinks it needs a new battery. Is this problem battery-related? Yesterday, it stalled and the mechanic advised me to wait 15 - 20 minutes for engine to cool and try to start it again, which I did and it started immediately.
 
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Old 02-28-04, 08:43 PM
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You say that this problem began after you had the alignment and struts. This type problem should not be related unless the technician mislocated something when he was replacing the struts. Not likely, but always possible. Did you take it back and ask them to look at it? Its possible that the guy who worked on it may be able to go right to the problem if he remembers disconnecting or hitting something. Its worth a shot.
Hope this is helpful to ya,
Billy
 
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Old 03-03-04, 03:09 PM
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Thanks for your reply. The mechanic claims that he didn't go near any engine parts.

However, I became aware that the fan (to cool the VW 's side-mounted engine), which usually clicks on in traffic or after a long ride, hasn't been going on. That would explain why it seems to be running hotter than usual. Is it possible that the technician did something to disable the fan. And if so, would a hotter than normal engine cause extra load on the battery.

Thanks.
Pattbaa
 
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Old 03-04-04, 04:15 AM
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Not unless you had a fire under the hood. Batteries work fine in the desert in the middle of summer. Good possibilty there is no connection between the work previously done and your overheating (referred to in the trade as the "but you touched it last" syndrome). Get the fan problem fixed and take it from there.
P.S. I wouldn't be real crazy about doing business with a mechanic who equated an overheating problem with thinking it might need a new battery. My $.02 worth.
 
 

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