I just had a tuneup done on my 97 Geo Metro. Now, when I have driven a short distance and turned the car off, it will not restart until I have let it sit for a while. What could be the problem?
Go back to where you got the tune-up and have them do it again!
Thanks! In the meantime, I am stationary…
What the heck kind of “tuneup” does a Metro need? Replacing three spark plugs takes, what, maybe three minutes if you’re really slow?
Exactly what kind of work was done? There’s really no such thing as a “tune-up” these days, so we’ll need a better idea of what work was done to figure out what might have gotten messed up.
If I were you, I’d push and pull on the spark plug wires to see if maybe one was left a little loose.
But your main course of action would be to take it back to the goons who did the “tune-up” and make them sort it out. Make sure you get a manager and/or a different mechanic on the case.
I think by '97 they only sold Metros with the four-cylinder, so it’d take them four minutes.
Can you, original poster, elaborate on “will not restart”? No crank? Cranks but doesn’t fire? Does it drive fine otherwise? How long does it have to sit before it restarts? How long ago was the tune-up done? Does it have the problem when you drive a long distance?
There’s nothing you do in a tune-up that I think would be even remotely likely to cause a non-restarting situation without any other symptoms. I’d bet on it being a coincidence. We need more information to give you an idea of other probable causes to the problem.
Thanks for all your help! The engine cranks but does not start. It has to wait two hours before it starts. It does not have the problem if I drive more than twenty minutes. The problem appears to be getting worse; at first it would restart after a few minutes.
I have had the car for five years, and this was the first tuneup it got from me. I took it in three weeks ago because it was idling very rough, and the engine light came on. I am not sure exactly what they did, but afterward it smoked a lot for about 20 minutes. The mechanic said that was to be expected, because they did a throttle job? or something that would clean everything out. It ran better after that for a while. Then the engine light came on, so I took it back. He said I needed to replace the catalytic converter; but the engine light was off when I picked up the car, so I ran it through the state’s emission inspection and it passed. Therefore, I did not replace the catalytic converter.
I have kept up with the oil changes and replaced the timing belt, but other than that have done nothing to this car except the brake pads.