I’m hoping someone here is able to provide some insight. I have a 1988 Omni, so a 2.2 non-turbo with TBI. Within the first 10 minutes of driving, regardless of the amount of fuel in the tank, the engine will stall out. Throttle position does not matter - it stalls the same way under full throttle as it does idling. It always starts back up on the 2nd or 3rd try immediately after stalling, and runs perfectly. When it stalls, it’s as if someone actually shut the ignition switch off - the motor completely shuts off without sputtering or running rough. All of the other electronics seem to be unaffected (for example, the radio and lights still work during the motor drama).
It may do this 3 or 4 times in the course of 5 minutes. After the engine is up to operating temp, the problem disappears entirely and only resurfaces whenever the car has had a chance to cool back off.
I thought it was the coil, but replaced that with no effect. I also recently did plugs and wires (2 months ago, long before this issue surfaces). I just remove the air intake assembly and watched the fuel injector. It ran perfectly normally for about 10 minutes again and then I saw the injector suddenly stop spraying, and the engine stalled instantly. The injector seemed to be working fine before the stall and worked fine again after I restarted. No weird noises or anything.
Does anyone know what this could be? ECU, maybe? Something specific in the throttle body assembly or fuel system? Any help is greatly appreciated. The little car is in great shape otherwise, and I drive it 100 miles every day to work and back to keep miles down on the newer thirstier car.
