Doesn't seem fuel related. Dies clean, no sputtering. Like turning off a switch. Sits for 10-15 minutes and starts up and runs fine. What is there that is electrical that would be affected by the engine warming up? I had an old VW Rabbitt that did this because of the fuel pump overheating, but it coughed it's way out.
Anyone have this happen to them? Any ideas would be much appreciated.
TIA

 

what happens when you try to restart it when it's hot? does it fire or does it just crank and no start?

i'm guessing O2...but answer that question for me.

 

no, no cranking. I'm told it may be the distributor? or condenser?

 

AC condenser has nothing to do w/ it.
if it was distributor then it'll happen 24/7.

crank is starter turning but the engine will not start.
start is the engine actually firing and running (poorly or not).

do u remember when you changed your O2? if not it's worth a try to replace.

 

Does the starter just click, or does the engine turn over?

 

Ok, now I'm told that it does crank over after it dies, but won't restart (I'm buying this Max and trying to trouble-shoot before I pick it up). These guys had a Nissan Pick up that they say the same thing happened to and it was the disributor. O2 sensor makes sense to me. How about the fuel pump? Where is it located? Thanks.
Whatever the problem is, I'm towing it home this weekend.

 

My 92 SE died like that but mainly on a hard right turn. But sometimes it would die at other times and be hard to start. On either side of the engine compartment are some relay/fuse boxes. There is a green relay in each one of them. Remove them and see if they rattle and if they do tighten the little screw in the bottom. A no cost, two minute try.

 

theres the ignition module, it hates heat so might wanna check there

i think someone once had a problem with that, they added spacing or something and fixed it

 

the reason i say that it's the O2 is when the motor is cold the O2 is in open loop so it doesn't pick up a signal from the O2. once it warms up it goes to closed loop and it reads the O2...now if the O2 is bad then once the engine gets hot it'll run very poorly. let it wait until it cools down and the engine will run normally again.

with distributor..if that's going bad it'll get funky when it's wet out..moisture and electrical don't like to play together. if it is going bad you'll hear it rattle very loud.

fuel pump...same thing. it's just an electrical motor...when it dies..it just dies. when your TV at home blows up..it totally blows up. don't gets weaker or something. it's always a good idea to check the fuel filter anyway. the pump is in the tank..you can get it from under the rear seat.

NOW...why does the other guy think it's ignition module?

 

cause thats what some other guy said was causing his heat-related problems. I dont "think" its the ignition module, its just an idea tossed up in the air to go along the others if he runs out.

 

Sounds good to me. What kind of "spacing" do you mean? Shielded from heat? Where is the ignition module? O2 sensor idea makes sense too. I think the guys who looked at the car (and decided to sell it) thought it was ignition related because they had solved a similar problem on a Nissan truck by replacing the distributor.
Is it possible to take it in for a computer diagnosis without having them do the work? Think that'd tell anything? Keep the ideas coming in. I'll start playing with it next week.

 

Does this car happened to be located in Tennessee?? I was looking at a car with a similar problem up in TN and I was told it was more than likely the ignition control module. I wonder if it's the same car?

 

I'm not real sure, but the crank angle sensor is also a possibility. That would cause problems similar to what you described.

 

yup, that be the one. Do you know anything more about it?

 

You would do well to listen to DanNY. He is one of those rare people on this board who actually knows what he is talking about. It may or may not be the 02 sensor, but I would encourage you to check that first.

 

DanNY has my full attention. I'll definately be trying the sensor first. It is the good advice and information I've gotten from this board that has saved me much frustration and brought much reward. God bless the .Org

 

well think for a min...what other part is related to the temp of the engine?

crank angle is ALWAYS running...IE cold or hot it still needs to work. the only other part i would guess is the coolant temp sensor...but it shouldn't trigger it to die instantly even if it's bad.

 

Even though the crank angle shouldnt be temp-related, it still can cause wierd stalling problems. My dad's van had a similar issue where it would just die all of a sudden going down the road, then after sitting for a little bit, it would start back up and run for a while. It acted just about like a vapor lock problem.

 

latch area.. If I recall correctly, a hidden access area.. It should be green..interchangeable with the ECCS relay... Older honda accords, especially the 90-91 had the same issue.. It definitely sounds electrical...

 

I should be able to start trying things out on Sunday.
What is crank angle? A thing or an adjustment. Someone please enlighten me. I've never heard of it, used it or adjusted it. Sounds like the set-up for a sex joke.

 

The cranks angle sensor is the black cylinder on the driver's side of the front valve cover. You can use it to adjust your timing also.

 

OK, I've played with that a bit. Advanced my timing after grounding the VTC's on my 92. (Again, thanks to Craig's site) I'll put it on the list to check. Thanks Brad.

 

Update: So the previous owner was told it needed the MAF replaced, so I had one and swapped them. Also the car had a bad exhaust leak near the cat. so I thought I'd get that fixed before trying a new O2 sensor. Car died on the way to the muffler shop. So much for the MAF idea. Sat for 15 minutes then drove to the muffler shop, got the gasket repaced between the flex and the cat ( it was blowing a LOT). Drove home, no problems, disconnected the battery for a few hours (just for good measure) got in and put 50 miles on it with no sputtering or dying. Have to guess that the leak was messing with the sensor? I'm happy. Knock on wood, that was the problem.
DanNY wins the diagnosis award. Thank you!
I do need more advice though. Amoung a few other major problems still with the car (ABS light on, leaking power steering pump, possibly blown front engine seal, front end clunk, both radiator fans on full all the time) is the bad experience I just had when pushing the car over 100 mph. It has plenty of power, smooth accelleration, but at 100 I got the scariest flapping, slapping banging sound from the right front side of the engine. Like a belt had just broken or really like I'd just blown the motor. That's what I thought. When I backed off on the gas it quit, and proceeded normally, but I was sure I'd really messed something up. Little while later I tried it again. Same thing happened. Very scary sound.
So; is there a speed govorner gone berserk? (it's a 93 SE auto) could it be the timing chain slapping only at high speeds? (I had grounded the VTC's earlier), the steering pump? It's the MPH that affect this, not the RPM's. It could hit 5000 RPM's at each gear change and do fine
DanNY? Anyone? Thanks for taking the time.

 

Cripes:
1) ABS. Run diagnostic. FAQs
2) Fans on: Coolant temp sensor / connector failure. Would also cause the run to run like crap when the ecu goes into closed loop

Buy a service manual

 

woohoo..

yeah what Jeff said. sounds like you'll need to pick up a service manual. this car is loaded with problems. hope you got it pretty cheap.

 

A service manual! Now there's a novel idea!
(thanks Jeff, I will look into both of the above)

 

If you're still having problems then you should really check for spark and then fuel when it's dead. You can check for spark by pulling a coil pack and holding it against the valve cover or block and having someone turn over the motor. It might also be helpful to install a fuel pressure gauge so you can moniter it when it dies. Also check your computer codes if you havn't already. I'm too lazy to tell you how so just go to autozone and have them plug it in or something. I have an 88 300zx turbo that had a similar problem to what you're describing. It ended up being the crank angle sensor. The only way I found that out without replacing every electrical part on the car is by finding out that there was no spark when it wouldn't start, and luckily the computer threw a code for the Crank Angle Sensor. I wouldn't recommend just blindly replacing parts or you could spend hundreds of dollars for nothing.