HELP!
I have a 2000 nissan sentra 1.8 liter manual transmission that has about 115,000 miles on it. I have owned it about seven months now and I am clueless as to what is going on right now with my poor car! We recently, as in last week, replaced my alternator. It was fine for about a week, than suddenly the battery and brake light came on again and it ran fine for a couple days. I was headed to work tonight and my air bag light started to flash which is what it did when it was almost dead before we replaced the alternator, but instead of just dying on me while driving it made it to my work and I shut it off, it wouldn't start back up. I left it alone for a while and went back out to try and see if it charged up enough to turn over... it wanted to but didn't. I got a jump from co-worker and it started right up. I headed down the road and got bearly a mile down the road and had to stop at a light, i tried to give it gas to keep it running but it died on me, I got help to push it into the store parking lot and we jumped it again, it started right up again but immediately when i tried to drive away it started to act like it wasn't getting gas, I tried to feather the gas pedal and gear up and down and it jerked back and forth and made a clunking noise.... it only made this clunking when i was trying to drive forward, it didn't clunk when just idling.... I parked it and got a ride home, Now here is the totally retarded piece of my story... I MAY have been out of gas at this point..
. I will find out tomorrow when we take some gas up there to put into it,, i was low but i really thought i had enough to make it home so it could be very possible that it died after the jump due to my stupidity...BUT i am really worried about the noise it made when it was chugging forward, could it be possible that i threw a rod? I have kept oil in it, it is overdue for the oil change but i have kept oil in it the whole time and the oil looks clean still... There is water in it and it was not smoking or anything, I am curious if this could still just be as simple as my battery being drained dead from the alternator going out, but would it have taken a week to finally die completely? It did start right up with the jump and before work it seemed to me that as long as it was running it would stay running. When i go and put some gas into it tomorrow i will post an update as to if it will stay running now or not... if it wasn't out of gas tho than what could be going on now? I am terrified that now I have some kind of rod knock or something because of how it clunked.it wasn't violently jerking and i was told if it was a thrown rod it would be smoking?.. but could that have just been running out of gas? I know that it may be the MOST retarded thing EVER to have ran it out of gas like this but I am just wondering if anyone has ANY insight into it as of right now? I feel horrible my dad bought this car for me seven months ago and has had to shell out money now for things and I just want to make sure he dosen't have to spend anymore money than he has to on me. Basically I am hoping that aside from the fact that it died on me like that, if that was due to being out of gas than is this just my battery needing replaced or could it be the belt needing to be replaced? I thought that the squealing noise was my wheel but now think it could have been my belt making this noise...not sure if thats what it would do. I am NOT mechanically inclined and I am very limited on sources of help from anyone I can trust so I am on here to see if there might be anyone who can shed some light on my situation. If it was a rod knock wouldn't it have been VERY loud and would smoke under the hood? I guess there really isn't a whole lot anyone can tell me until I go put gas into it tomorrow and update on here if it will stay running or not. I was giving it gas and it felt like it wasn't getting any, i feathered the pedal and tried to keep it running and it just jerked back and forth and made that noise..
GOD i am so confused. This car was taken care of too, i bought it from a girl in college who's parents had kept up on the maintenance and i have all the records. Right before i bought it they put it into the shop to replace the catalytic converter also. I love my car, and my dad really did me a solid buying it for me so i want to keep it as long as i can possibly keep it. if once i put gas in and i jump it again, it drives ok for me and doesn't make that noise or die but the battery light is on and once i shut it off it won't start right back up, but after an hour or two it tries to crank over, than is it most likely just my battery or the belt? but if i put gas into it and jump it and it does that jerking again and makes the clunking noise, doesn't respond to giving it gas, and dies again... what could that be? Please don't make fun of me for how retarded i know i sound posting this before going and trying to see if i did actually just run out of gas because either way there is something going on with it as far as the charging system, i just don't know if it would be the battery or the belt..... geez i am stressed out. I haven't stopped crying
all night worried that the clunking is going to mean the rod threw out or something.
Let's get your baby back on the road. Let us know how it goes!