‘It’s like choking on gas’: Woman’s car makes disturbing sound after barely starting, then every dashboard light starts flashing at once

A TikTok user who goes by Heaven posted a video showing the trouble she was having with her Buick. The video got more than 65,500 views as people watched her try to get her car working. She was clearly fed up with the ongoing problems and wasn’t sure if the vehicle would even turn on.

According to Motor 1, Heaven asked her TikTok followers in a sarcastic tone if they wanted to see whether her car would start. It didn’t work the first time. The engine made some noise but nothing actually happened. She decided to try again to see if the car would at least tell her what was going wrong. The second attempt was even more concerning. 

The Buick did start this time, but everything looked wrong right away. All the dashboard lights came on together, and the speedometer and mileage display started jumping around like they were broken. Then she heard a worrying noise coming from the engine. Heaven said she was kind of scared and didn’t think she should try driving it. A warning popped up telling her “Engine power is reduced.” She told viewers “It’s like choking on gas or something” while filming what was happening.

She figured out what went wrong

Heaven shared more videos later explaining how she bought a scanner to find out what was causing the trouble. After plugging it in, she said the scanner showed two things were broken. The fuel pressure wasn’t right, and something was wrong with the crankshaft.

When your car tries to start but won’t go even though it has fuel pressure, it usually means the fuel isn’t getting where it needs to go. The engine is doing its part, but something important like fuel, spark, air, or timing isn’t working right. Problems with fuel delivery happen a lot. 

The injectors can get blocked up and stop fuel from moving through. Sometimes the engine compression is too low. When that breaks down, the engine might get way too much fuel or not nearly enough, and either way it won’t start.

Problems with the ignition system are another big reason cars won’t start. A broken crankshaft position sensor causes a lot of crank no-start issues because the engine timing gets completely messed up. Old spark plugs can also stop the fuel and air from lighting up properly. Even the security system can go bad and prevent the engine from starting no matter how many times you turn the key. In one weird situation, a driver’s dashboard displayed people around his truck while he was alone in the woods.

Lots of people who saw Heaven’s video made jokes about the car brand being the real problem. One person commented “hahaha you got the Buick Cruze”. Other viewers jumped in to offer advice based on what they went through. “low in blinker fluid I had the same issue,” one suggested. “Check your oil”, another user said. 

Someone else shared “I have a Buick Encore and only 10 months, I’ve put $2k into it so far.” Car problems can lead to surprising discoveries, much like when a husband pressure washed his wife’s vehicle and found something shocking inside.