Disabled vehicle sold for scrap

By Doug McAllister

Q. I previously owned a 1997 Chevy Blazer. The car was great and had almost no problems until the very end. While I was at college, the car developed a major problem when sitting at a stop sign or stop light. Once in a while, I would stop, the car would die and completely lock up. This even started happening while driving.

The car would die, engine and electronics, and I would coast into a parking lot. After a few attempts, it would start back up. This problem persisted for about a month and, being a poor college student with little knowledge of cars, I figured the Blazer would make it until I could come home. After all, the car was a tank and never let me down before.

One afternoon, my girlfriend and I were leaving a restaurant and it died. I got it started, parked it and that's where she died once and for all. Being in a small college town in rural Illinois, the mechanic had no clue who I was and what the car's problem was. At this point we just sold the car to the mechanic for scraps as he said it would surely be more to tow and fix the problem than what the car was worth.

So the question is, what the heck was wrong with the car? We probably should have done more investigating but because of the circumstances, it was better to cut our losses and take the money.

A. Without having the car in front of me, it's pretty hard to know for sure, but it could have been a fuel pump that was going bad and then finally died.

There are many other possibilities, as well. I am sure a qualified diagnostic technician would have found the answer in short order. That make and model year vehicle tended to require a fair bit of maintenance and was not GM's finest showing. It's good you had good luck with it for most of its life. A lot of our clients had to invest a good bit into theirs.

Thanks for the question!

Q. Can you tell me why my windshield wiper fluid might come out on only one side of my window? This is the second car (first a Saturn, now a Honda) that I've had this problem. The windshield wiper fluid will come out of the driver's side, but not the passenger side!

A. Typically this is an easy problem to solve. Because the fluid is coming out one side, that is telling us the pump is working. Most likely it is a clog, or ice, that can be blown out with air and things will work like new.

Occasionally a hose can get a crack or come off altogether. You would know if this was the case because you will see the blue-colored fluid flowing to the ground.

In most cases, repairing the hose would be a fairly easy repair, as well. Take it to your repair shop and you will be back in business in no time!

• Douglas Automotive is at 417 W. Main St., Barrington; 123 Virginia Road, Crystal Lake; and 416 Northwest Hwy., Fox River Grove. For information, visit douglasautomotive.com. Send questions to underthehood@dailyherald.com.