I’ve got a '98 Park Avenue that stalls at the most inopportune times… usually when I’ve pulled out into an intersection. It’s worse when it’s hot out…and it usually only happens ONCE on a trip. Let’s say I’m pulling out of my alley, trying to get over into the far lane of the cross street. The light at the corner turns red, and I hit the gas. I get about 10 feet out into the road, the car feels like it’s going to shift, when JERK…JERK…JERK… the car sounds like it’s choking and everything dies. I can throw the car into neutral and restart and all is well… but, needless to say, it’s not a lot of fun.
I’ve brought the car over to my service station that can usually fix anything. Of course, they can’t duplicate it. Any ideas?
Gary
I had a somewhat similar problem with an 86 Pontiac Bonneville. Romp on the gas and she’d stall. Let the cruise control do the driving and she’d stall on hills. My problem turned out to be a clogged fuel filter. It was just rust from the tank and a tiny filter on the carburetor that caused the problem. I cured it by installing a large filter near the tank.
Hi,
It is not uncommom for this car to have a problem with the crankshaft position sensor (CKP) causing intermittant stalling. Trouble is, as you have found, intermittant problems are hard to diagnose.
You first need to get someone to connect a scan tool to the car and see if there are any codes that might be related to your concern. Beyond that you have three choices: 1.Keep driving and hope for a hard failure before you stall out in a dangerous place. It should then be easy for a qualified tech to diagnose it. 2. Find someone who is willing to drive your car with a scanner and possibly a lab scope connected to the CKP and hope to catch it in the act and prove it is or is not the culprit and 3. Take a guess and replace the sensor. Obviously there is no guarantee that replacing the sensor will fix it.
You could also have a fuel pump causing this or some intermittant electrical connection in either the fuel or ignition system or a failing ignition control module or engine computer. Usually GM computers are easy to test. Remove it from the car, leave it hooked up and with the engine running do what we call a tap test. Yes, tap on it GENTLY in various places. You can also grab it by the ends and GENTLY twist the metal case. If the engine stalls, your done. Replace it with a rebuilt unit purchased from GM. I recommend a qualified shop for all of these proceedures.
Good Luck