Capitone

iTrader: (1)

Whats happening:

Intermittent stalling/shutting off at idle and sometimes while accelerating.


Little background:

This stalling issue was the reason I got this ride for $275. Sweet, I know, but I’ve been trouble shooting it for the better part of two years now. My A to B just bit the dust last week so I find myself relying on this project ride a lot more. That said, She rides! It’s just this somewhat random idle issue. I say somewhat because I notice it happens most when cold or if I haven’t driven it for a while, but it has happened while warmed up too, just much less often.

What I’ve done:

Changed the upper intake Manifold gasket (thought the idle issue was a vacuum leak)

Did the best I could to test the coil paks, but I don’t really know how effective anything I’ve done is without putting them under some sort of load. Sufficed to say, they all checked out as far as I can tell.

Changed fuel injectors

Finally gave in and had a shop look it over. They said my fuel pump may be on the way out. They couldn’t say with certainty though.

Observations:

My best lead thus far being the fuel pump, it should be noted that I've never had an issue starting this car. If the battery is in good order she'll start like a champ every time.

Though she isn’t above flat out shutting off while driving or at idle, this seems to happen much less since changing the fuel filter. May be unrelated but it’s something I noticed.

When the jumpy idle/sputter starts, if Im idling, a smooth 3-5 second touch of the accelerator USUALLY prevents it from shutting off

When the same thing happens under load, releasing the pedal for a 1-2 seconds USUALLY prevents it from shutting down.

Early on, when it was acting up, mashing the accelerator would get you a good “limp mode” sputter, now however it seems to help stop the problem. Very confusing.


So there you have it. Im giving serious consideration to dishing out for the fuel pump but I dunno….she rides so strong when she’s not acting up it just make me wonder if that would be a waste of money.

Thoughts/comments appreciated.

Capitone

Cliff Clavin

iTrader: (11)

Replace your coil packs. It might even be just one, but they will show good resistance, but fail under load.

Mine did that, but the car only died under load. Usually, it would start back up immediately. I just swapped in 6 used coil packs from someone that wrecked their car, so I knew theirs was running fine. I still have the original fuel pump in mine, too.

One of the big problems is the ECU won't throw any codes, so it's basically trial and error. Throw more money/parts at it until it fixes the problem.

I did read on some car repair site once that someone had this problem and it was the cam position sensor. I replaced mine twice and it didn't solve it. I thought my coil packs were good, so I replaced the ECU, ignitor (little black box), pretty much anything else I could before finally getting those new coil packs.

I am not guaranteeing this is your problem, but that's what I went through. I even had an extra set of .org hands on it, as MrGone helped try to figure it out, too.

Capitone

iTrader: (1)

Hi Cliff. Thanks for your input man! It’s so funny you say that because I had the same issue on my 4th gen and coil packs is what fixed it too. Only thing was, one of my coils definitely tested bad, when I replaced just that one, the problem got better but didn’t go away until I replaced ALL of them. Yea, this possibilities definitely been in the back of mind. Hearing your situation, I think it’s a decent enough next step because it’ll be cheaper than the fuel pump. Im gonna give it a go!

Thanks again,

Capitone

maximo018

iTrader: (6)

Hah! I think this may have solved a similar issue I am having but rather have not wasted a thread on. I was just gonna tink around until I figured it out, but now that I have a certain direction to go in instead of wondering around cluelessly I'll do that.