I bought this car a few weeks ago from a neighbor. It ran pretty well but needed an alignment and the idle speed was a bit high. Had the work done and a safety inspect. All systems checked.

Started to experience intermittent problem not cranking. Cleaned up the battery contacts and problem fixed then it came back a short while later. Then began to stall when shifting from Park or Neutral into Drive. Now it stalling when turing. Where should I start.

I have taken it back to the shop twice and they claim they can't reproduce the problem.

A car-savvy guy I work with suggested checking vacuum lines and wiring harness. Vacuum lines I think I can handle Wiring harness is scary other than checking to see that connections are good. Any advice appreciated.

 

check your ground to the battery, it may not be making a good connection.

 

i got the same problem. but it runs after a good 5 mins warm up.

 

I second this. The same thing happened to me. I replaced the battery myself, then got this problem. Later on, I realized the ground was loose. Fixed it. Never had a problem ever since.

 

What does "not cranking mean?". If No starter motor but lights go on ok, ign switch ***1, starter, is bad. Otherwise batt conn.

Replace vacuum tubes, clean connectors -add minuscle tip of contact grease. Clean ECU wire/connector contacts also with white carboard piece.

Problem points to idle, it cannot handle any load. I would say that idle system dirty, but that would be 'always on' but you say intermittent. Anyway, clean idle system.

Throttle Pos Sensor is an evil intermittent problem source, still doubt that it does all that... Measure its potentiometer linearity (1k-9kOhm in VG30E) & its switches AND then ...replace... If MAF goes dead, sputtering engine, rev is max2200.

Intermitten stall, drops dead: Maybe Ign sw worn ***1, does not give continuous -on- signal to ECU. ECU also is in charge of fuel injectors.

One question is, does 'drop dead' or slowly 'sinks' (=fuel)?

 

"Not cranking" as in not turning over. There is an audible click when I turn the key but that's it. Again this is intermittent. I thoroughly cleaned up the battery terminals and that helped, but the battery is over 3 years old and the weather has been cold lately. I'll put in a new battery this weekend just to be sure.

The battery condition would not account for stalling. I'm thinking the ignition switch might be bad. Is it normal for this car to continue running after sliding the key out of the ignition? I used to be able to do this with my '65 Ford but thought this was not possible with newer cars. Is this an indication of the ignition switch being worn?

When it dies shifting or turning it just drops dead instantly. It's not a slow reduction in power. I've had several people, here and IRL, suggest vacuum tubes so I'll start there.

'preciate it!

 

The audible click (under the hood) is starter solenoid. Most propably burned contacts. Time for new starter...one lasts about 100-150k?

The ign switches used to have copper plates which chipped sparked during years. This powder will short the pins (and cause running without key or self starting). Or like my friends car: self starting, running FF and got fire... Most propably your stalling villain also. Somebody said that with some 40$ you get new switch.

Typically the starter solenoid draws so much current (the sw arks) that the ign sw is worn before its time. I do add a always second relay for the solenoid, now only minimal relay current stresses my ign sw. Why car mfg does not do it? Well, u know the costs... 50c.

 

nice! thx for the info.. my car has the intermittent stalling problem. it happens everytime a trip reaches ~7km.. and starts up then stalls again for a bit, then drives under 2000rpm for a little while, then drives fine, and then the cycle restarts and it stalls again...

few days ago i pulled ECU code 12 for MAF sensor.. i haven't found a cheap MAF i can replace it with from the junkyards yet.. but at least i know what my problem is so that my stupid mechanic won't be replacing another $500 worth of parts and still give me back a stalling car...

 

Note that there are multiple causes for ECU directed 'safe-mode'. One indication for it is the rpm limit.

Once I had a panic breaking to save my maxima [granpa jumping lanes] and simultaneously something loose in cabin hit the gear lever dropping it to N. I thought the tranny blew as behaviour after that was so poor, just barely got forward. After shutting once engine off, everything was ok.

See:
http://www.4dsc.com/articles/drivetr...s/ve_ecs.shtml

http://www.parttrackers.com/library/1/93/104/

See also MAF etc troubleshooting:
http://www.parttrackers.com/library/1/

 

I've looked all over the factory shop manual and can't find any listing or diagram of all of the engine ground straps. Can anyone lay out where all of the ground straps are on this 92SE engine? They seem to cause a lot of trouble when they aren't well grounded and I'd like to go around and clean and tighten them all.

 

don't know of anything that lists all the ground points short of buying MATT93SE's ground kit for $60