My car will start but it will not stay on unless my foot is on the gas.Once i take my foot off the gas,it instantly goes dead.Can someone tell me what the cause of this could be?I have no antifreeze in my radiator but I do have water in it and it does have oil.It was reported that a small amount of oil is leaking.Also,before it completely started going dead yesterday it would hesitate to pull of.Example,every time I stopped at a red light it would hestitate to go when I pressed on the gas,it acted as if it was going to go dead.And every time I turned on the air it would go dead.Its been years since I had a tune up.ANY HELP PLEASE???
It’s time to change spark plugs, air filter, and fuel filter as a beginning. At least, you admitted your neglect.
I would look for a huge vacuum leak somewhere. Maybe a vacuum hose broke or got disconnected. You might also have some badly burned valves. While changing the spark plugs and filters may be a good idea, I really don’t think it’s going to fix this problem.
You’re describing a problem in the Idle Air control circuit.
There’s a component on the throttle body called an Idle Air Control/Air By-Pass motor, or IAC/ABP motor. This controls the engine idle speed anytime your foot is off the accelerator. If this IAC/ABP motor is malfunctioning, it can cause the engine to stall out anytime you release the accelerator. Or if the idle air bleed port on the throttle body is restricted with deposits, this can also cause this problem.
The cheapest thing to try is, have a throttle body cleaning performed. This should include removing the IAC/ABP motor so it and the idle air bleed port can be cleaned. If doing this fails to solve the problem, then the IAC/ABP motor is the next suspect.
Tester
In addition to the already given advice. You best get some proper coolant in there or you will be in for expensive repairs including a new radiator, heater core, water pump, maybe more. Coolant does more than prevent freezing. Spend $20-50 on coolant or thousands on repairs; it is your choice.