My car stalls when I come to a stop but only in warmer weather (50 degrees or higher) and only after I have driven the car for 20 minutes or so then come to a stop. There is no check engine light on, no high temperature warning. I can start it back up (not a battery problem) easily, but as soon as I take my foot off the gas to put it in drive, it stalls. However, when I’ve let the engine cool, it’s drivable again (until I come to a stop again). I have taken it in to the repair shop after it has done this twice. Their computer check shows everything working fine and there ar no errors. Of course, by that time, then engine has cooled and they can’t reproduce the stalling. I am dreading the upcoming warm weather (I live in Kentucky) because it’s just a matter of time before I am stranded again. I don’t know what to do if I can’t get a diagnosis and repair!
“as soon as I take my foot off the gas to put it in drive, it stalls”
Are you saying that in order to get it running again after it stalls you have to give it a little “gas” to get it running & keep it going? If it will run as long as you are pressing the gas pedal some but stalls as soon as you let go of the pedal then the first suspect is your idle air control (IAC) valve.
Maybe you need a new shop. If you report a warm-only problem and they can’t be bothered to get the car warm enough to reproduce it then that’s not a good sign.
When Seeking Help With A Car Problem, It Is Helpful To Always Give The Model-Year. When Seeking Help With An Engine Problem, It Is Helpful To Give The Engine Size, If You Know It.
Also, about how many miles on it ?
Have you kept up with recommended / required (by the manufacturer) maintainence ?
CSA
It’s a little sporadic as to getting it to stall. I don’t know if simply idling it in the shop would do it. Yes, I can start it again fine, but I do need to keep the foot on the gas and it stalls as soon as I let go of the pedal. Thanks so much for your guess - it’s more than I got at the shop! They would not even wager a guess. I’ll take it to a new shop and give them your guess.
Yes, thanks, I should have specified this is a 2001 Ford Focus wagon with 124,000 miles. I have kept up with maintenance, most recently with a 120,000 mile “check up” maintenance service. The dealer near me closed their shop, so I am taking it somewhere else. I’ve had pretty good luck with this repair shop, except for this problem. They won’t even give me a guess. I’m getting worried about not being able to get this repaired.