Engine stalls on 1991 Olds Toronato

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

Dear Mechanic,



I have a 1991 Olds Toronato, gently used since for the past 10 years, it has been used most for local 10 mile/day driving. Until several months ago, it never had any mechanical problems. However, lately the engine would stall, most of the time this happened while I stopped before making a turn, but it has also stalled several times during driving. The places it stalled during driving seem to be related to turns in the road. A local car shop that i have been using for yrs worked on this several times, but the problem seems to persist.



The only thing that i can recall that might be slightly related to this was— for the past few years, on longer drives, at some point the car seemed to have a bit of hard time going. But it had never really stalled until recently.



I really like this car. Is it too old to keep? I wouldn’t think it would be wise to spend a lot of money to get it thoroughly checked out by a dealer (it is actually hard to find a GM dealer nearby).



I understand that a car would like to have a ride at around 50 mph for some distance once a while. I wonder whether my car has been used too much for local driving, but i am afraid of taking it on a highway with it’s current problem.



I’d appreciate your advices!!!



Hong



2

Your vehicle has a power steering pressure switch. What this switch does is, when the steering wheel is turned and the hydraulic pressure increases in the system, this switch closes and tells the computer to bump the idle speed up for the load the power steering pump imposses on the engine. If this switch fails, and the computer doesn’t bump the idle speed up while turning, the engine will stall.

Tester

3

Dear Master Mechanic,

thanks so much for the answer. how should i get it fixed? would it be very expensive? does this need to be done at a dealership? (we live near philly zip 19095)

Hong

4

You can bring the vehicle to any independent garage and they can replace the switch. The switch may cost $30.00-$40.00, and should take less than a half hour to replace.

Tester

5

Dear Master Mechanic,

thank you for the reply. I just called the local shop that i use, they will do that. I’ll be sure to give you a follow up.

hong

6

Dear Tester,

I brought the car to the local mechanic whom i always use. He called parts store and dealer. Part store does not have that switch listed for my model yr, dealer does not say that the car has it. He will physically look for it today.

Any help would be appreciated. (

several observations:

i am light on the gas peddle. for the past several yrs, when i got into a longer drive, the car would occasionally struggle when it is uphill combined with some curviness in the road. but actual stalling is recent. The very first time it stalled was in the past winter, at a red light. It was a few days after the battery got changed, since the it was found to be a bit low at inspection.

  1. Another thing is that the radio reception is getting worse and worse. 1st is FM bad for a couple of yrs; now it’s AM. seems to be worse after the car got worked on. I kept on reminding them to see whether there is any interconnection in that general area.

thanks!!!

hong

7

Mitchell on Demand describes the power steering pressure switch as being located at the power steering box, at the rear of the engine.

Tester

8

Dear Tester,

thanks for the reply. Just talked to the mechanic, read him your email. He called a dealer again, was told that this model year does NOT have a power steering pressure switch. The mechanic could not find it on the computer nor by searching. Not sure what to do.
He will test drive the car again tomorrow morning, try to reproduce the stalling.

any suggestions?

thanks!!!

hong