It started stalling out off and on. Thought maybe bad tank of gas and waited it out. Since then i have had the catalytic converter replaced. Ignition coil replaced complete tune up with new wires distributor and rotor button. Stillstalled so they said fuel pump now thats been replaced and on my way home it stalled again. Any ideas?
Oh my. Sorry to hear you are having this car trouble. It’s very frustrating when your old reliable car stops being reliable.
hmm … well first thing to ask, are there any diagnostic codes stored in the engine computer?
What conditions does it stall? Cold engine? Hot engine? Idling at a stoplight in neutral? Idling in Drive (if automatic)?
It is almost certainly either a problem with the spark, gas, intake air, or exhaust systems. But that’s of course not of much help to you. If there are diagnostic codes, that would provide a clue as to which system to start with.
If you want a pure guess, what I’m seeing in my admittedly pea-sized brain while reading your post is a problem with the air to fuel mixture, specifically that it is too lean. Ask your shop to do a thorough check for vacuum leaks.
The problem with the engine stalling randomly might be caused by a faulty crankshaft position sensor.
https://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=445627&cc=1180370&jnid=414&jpid=7
If the computer loses the signal from this sensor, the computer see’s no reason to operate the fuel and ignition systems. So the engine just shuts off.
Then if you wait, the engine restarts and runs again. For a while.
Tester
It will stall while driving. Its very unpredictable. Sometimes hard to crank others just fine. Will stall while driving 70 mph even. It started backfiring the other day so i was sure to tell them to tune up first then troubleshoot from there. A minth ago i took it in for the stall and they said it was the catalytic converter so replaced that. When he showed me the problem it was strange like the inside came loise and was rolling around inside the pipe. He said when it turned sideways it choked the car out. Made sense so it was fine for about a month then the same problem. Thats when all the new repairs were done. Pucked it up and on the way home stalled while driving and backfired. Could there be pieces of the old catalytic converter stuck in my pipe or muffler?
I guess there could still be a problem with the exhaust system. As it heats up the stuff inside could expand or shift around if it wasn’t secured properly and clog it up, which would cause the engine to stall. But that seems like a bit of a reach to me.
What Tester says above seems more likely.
Another idea, the ignition switch. Try removing everything from the key ring, run the car with only the key in the ignition, nothing dangling from it. See if that helps.
Edit: Just curious where the Magic City is?
Tester,
Would this show on a cpu diagnostic. Im planning to go to a bigger shop that will have a nice diagnostic cpu. At the parts store it only had two codes low trans fluid and ignition coil.
Birmingham Alabama aka magic city
I’m reading this book “Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell”, about magic, that’s the reason I asked. I’ve never heard Birmingham have that nickname, thanks for the info.
Nope! Not always.
The crankshaft position sensor is one of the primary inputs into the computer. So if the sensor suddenly fails, all the computer see’s is that the engine isn’t rotating. So the computer say’s to itself, “Why the hell am I running the fuel and ignition systems if the engine isn’t rotating?”
And the engine shuts off.
Tester
Wow Tester,
just looked up the part and it solves every problem. Im hoping thats the last thing i will need to replace. Thank you for your input. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge so very much. I will advise the outcome.