problems started about two weeks ago, maybe three weeks. I was driving around and felt was seemed like hesitation, played it off, drove home, no biggie. Next morning, i'm driving to class, and boom, she's dead on a main road. Car seemed as if it "turned off" , i think "strange" pull off, re-start, and continue on. Later in the day, i was driving to get some lunch, had the same troubles, car didn't want to move, hesitation, but now it's un-ignorable can be felt like crazy, and it's not just "dying out". I drove it to work, and parked it while i started trying to figure out what was wrong.

I was thinking it was ignition related, so i started pulling components, the normal stuff, cap/rotor (both looked good) had the ignition module tested, seemed good, then decided to pull the pickup coil, so i yank out the distributor and replace the unit, re-install, re-time, car runs great. But i soon found out i had forgotten a washer and castle at the base of the distributor, re-yank, install parts again, put engine back together, and troubles start again. Well, i traced the first part of my troubles (car didn't want to run) to a vac line that was knocked off the iac motor. Now the car will idle for some time, but eventually, it'll die, but unlike last time, it'll stumble and die, seeming like it wants to stay on. I checked for codes and am only pulling a code 12. Everything seems in-tact, but i need this vehicle soon (bumming rides is really annoying) and i don't want to wear out my welcome w/ people. Anyone have any ideas?

 

Is the idle rough at all? does it still hesitate upon acceleration when it runs? I had a similar problem in mine. Went thru everything like you did, only got code 12 which is no pulse from the distributor which is normal, replaced the distributor, cap/rotor, tested the coil. Come to find out i had 2 problems. well three. Egr vavle was screwin up, couple injectors fired only when they wanted to, and I replaced my fuel pump for the hell of it to rule out the fuel pump since it was original and car has 176000 miles. So i replaced my egr all the injectors. Now she runs great Hope this helps.... Your injectors being clogged or not working up to par will cause you hesitation, whens the last time you changed the fuel filter?? that will to. How do the spark plugs look? did you pull them out to see how they look? Start with those things I mentioned if you havent.

 

So the engine will restart immediately? That tends to rule out fuel delivery (not completely, but mostly) and should point you toward the ignition and power systems to start. Have you checked the fuse link connections at the starter?

 

well at this point the car won't start at all, restart, or anything. If you hold down the accelerator, it'll kick over quick (like it just started) but she won't idle or continue to run. I did find that i've got a bad O2 sensor wire (probably not the sensor, but the wire) it must have gotten to close to an exhaust line and burned up, so that's on my fix list. however, a bad o2 sensor shouldn't effect the car in open loop, so i think the problem is unrelated.

Past that, there is the potential of a fuel related problem (filter) since pressure is good, volume could be insuffecient, might go ahead and change it to see what happens. Also, there's the possibility of a bad coil giving me weak spark, so it's on my list of possible changes. Normally, getting a car to run is simple, and tuning takes time, so i've gotta get over this first hump.

Also, i haven't checked the fusible links at the starter, could you give me some info on doing that as i've never really heard of a procedure, and have never messed w/ them before, although i've heard them mentioned over the years.

thanx for the help.