huber16

I've done a lot of searching but I have not found a thread that seems to talk about my problem. I have a 1991 3.1V6 with auto trans and about 200,000 miles. Its winter time here so temps are mostly in the 20s-40s. The engine starts and idles just fine. It stumbles and sometimes stalls when accelerating from a stop until it warms up. When it stalls it takes a lot of cranking to get it started again. After warm up it drives OK. Last summer I had similar problems and it turned out to be low fuel pressure and the pump was replaced. Since it acts the same, I already checked the fuel pressure and it is fine. Last summer I also replaced cap, rotor, wires, & plugs while chasing the fuel pump problem. The fuel injectors were replaced with bosch injectors about 3 years ago. Nothing else has been messed with. When I brought the car into the shop to look for this problem I discovered a bad water pump. The water was very low but would still circulate when the engine was run at driving speed. I doubt that they are related problems but thought that I should mention it. What do you folks think?

tonymcc3

Is your water always low? Maybe you have a blow head gasket. You might want to try doing a compression test. There could be some water getting into the cylinder and when its hot enough its just burning off.

huber16

I don't know how long the water was low. The pump has been replaced and water level corrected. I once thought that I had a blown head gasket but then found the leaking water pump and also do not see any bubbles in the radiator. I also do not notice white smoke or antifreeze smell in the exhaust. I started to drive it today (13°F) and it was stumbling in the first 1/8 mile so I parked it and got in my Magnum. I will drive it further tomorrow to see how it behaves.