OK, folks, here's what happened:

 

Yesterday, after driving 10 miles, making a quick stop, starting again and driving another 6 miles, as I was driving uphill at ~35 mph, I heard a clunk and then scraping sound from under the car. This was followed immediately by a loss of power, the engine was still turning for a minute up to ~3000 rpm, and then engine shut down. This was all within 200 yards on a fairly steep incline. I stopped the car, got out to look for loose dangling parts on the road, etc., and didnt see anything. So I backed it down the hill and off the road onto a side street where I attempted to start it again without success. The engine would turn over, but acted as if it was out of gas. That was just a brief turn and when it didn't fire, I shut the car off.

 

Here's some background: The temperature outside that day was in the high 20s, not very cold for me, but here in the NW, colder than earlier in the season. Also, I've been experiencing very poor fuel economy or mileage for the past few months. 20% less than average sometimes. There was a small amount of fuel in the tank at the time, based on my experience with the fuel light, about 1.5 gallons. Maybe I was out of gas? Wouldn't I be stoked/embarrassed if that was the case?

 

213,000 miles on the engine. At 203K, I replaced plugs/wires and fuel filter.

 

Any ideas you might have would be fantastic.

 

Thanks.

manual or automatic?

Was the clunk from the front or back of the car

 

nipper

manual. From the front

When was the last time you replaced the timing belt and/or tensioner and idler pullies

 

 

nipper

I can't say for sure (>35K), but long enough to consider it as the culprit.

I can't say for sure (>35K), but long enough to consider it as the culprit.

 

It sounds like that may have been the clunk, and would match all the symptons.

 

nipper

Thanks for your help nipper.

 

Best,

Cameron