# 1988 Buick Skylark - Hesitates / sputters

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/1988-buick-skylark-hesitates-sputters/143985>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** buick\
**Created:** [July 9, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1988-buick-skylark-hesitates-sputters/143985 "2019-07-09T15:10:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Don56](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/74df32/32.png) [@Don56](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Don56)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1988-buick-skylark-hesitates-sputters/143985/1 "2019-07-09T15:10:58Z")

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2.3L Quad 4. 77K miles. After driving in city traffic, shutting off engine during a stop to shop car starts OK but once moving occasionally hesitates/sputters usually clearing up to run smoothly…until the other day when it completely stalled and after repeated start attempts for 30 minutes finally ran OK.

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**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/1988-buick-skylark-hesitates-sputters/143985/2 "2019-07-09T20:10:58Z")

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A failing ignition control module can cause this type of problem.

[https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/buick,1988,skylark,2.3l+138cid+l4,1024063,ignition,ignition+control+module+(icm),7172](https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/buick,1988,skylark,2.3l+138cid+l4,1024063,ignition,ignition+control+module+(icm),7172)

Tester