91 caprice stalls when put in gear

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Oh yee wise car people please help me.



I have a 91 chevy caprice 5.0 with 71k miles on it.



The car (when it was running) would shake like crazy when i started to accelerate from a dead stop, then it just started stalling whenever I put it in gear.



I had the muffler replaced 2 years ago and it already is falling off.(i dont know if it helps i just thought i would add that.)



please help, I love my car and am hoping for a simple fix. I cant drive it to the mechanic right now it wont go that far however, I can follow instructions and my dad is pretty good with cars so let us know what the problem is and we can give it a go

2

Let us start with basic maintenance, have you ever replaced air filter, gas filter, or spark plugs?

3

air filter is good, spark and gas, I have not, had the car about 5 yrs

4

first stab at the cat would be a new fuel filter, check the manual for spark plugs.

5

There are a few things which you can do before thinking about preforming any troubleshooting. Change the spark plugs. Change the fuel filter.
Here are the instructions for changing the fuel filter. http://www.autozone.com/shopping/repairGuide.htm?pageId=0900c15280047464 The TBI looks kinda like a carburetor. Can you tell if your engine has one, or the other? Do that;then, get back to us.

6

fantastic, thanks for giving me a start, i will do that asap and get back with ya

7

Waterboy, What in tarnation do you mean by “cat”? (I think, I understand “stab”. I think.)

8

It is a generic reference, no malice towards cats or first kick at the dog etc.

9

I got my late Father-in-Law’s 93 Caprice in 2002 with 44k miles. It had been sitting for 3 years before that.

The car ran surprisingly well at 9 years of age without a tune up. The following was done over the first few months I had it.

  1. Change the following: Engine oil and filter, lube suspension. Transmission fluid and filter. Rear differential oil. Drain radiator and replace coolant.

  2. Replace four shocks at the recommendation of the mechanic. The mechanic serviced the fuel system using the “Motorvac” system.

  3. Full tune up: Replace spark plugs, the right rear plug was the most difficult to remove, just took some patience. Replace plug wires, distributor cap, and rotor. The distributor cap and rotor is a little difficult to get to since the engine is so far back under the hood. The cap is attached with two screws, the back one is hard to reach, and you have to be careful not to strip them. I used Ac Delco for the plugs and wires and an Accel cap and rotor. The air and gas filters, along with the PCV valve were changed also. When in doubt stick with OEM parts.

I can’t say if a tune up will fix your problems, but at 18 years, your car is long overdue for a tune up.

Perhaps some of the stuff I did on mine was overkill, but after seven years the Caprice runs like a champ and sailed through emissions last September.

Here are two forums that might help. The 9c1 forum is for the police version of the Caprice, the 91-93 models had the 5.0 (L03) and 5.7 (L03) TBI motors same as yours. The TBI forum specializes in GM Throttle Body Injected engines.

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/9c1/?yguid=288452351

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/GM_TBI/?yguid=288452351

Good luck with your Caprice

Ed B.

10

Sounds like a torque converter locked up. (not disengaging)