Well, I finally bit the bullet and bought the Spectra (formerly Rich-Porter) MA-157 MAF from Rockauto.

I noticed an immediate improvement when I installed it and drove the car. The engine would stall and buck a little when cold with the old one. This one was nice and smooth.

When I got her home, she stalled on me as I came to a stop. I tried several times to re-start, and she hunted at idle and then stalled. The good news is that the SES light went out.

Now it runs well when cold, but after it warms up the idle is inconsistent. Sometimes it is smooth, sometimes it hunts, and sometimes will not stay running unless I give it a little gas.

I suspect that the TPS may be at fault here. I had previously checked it with an ohmmeter and it was right on the money and smooth through the range... but I only checked it when cold. I read somewhere that sometimes they only act up when warm. We shall see.

 

UPDATE

I performed an idle reset and TPS adjustment, and it seemed to do the trick. I also replaced the ignition wires, and completed the air conditioning install. Everything seemed to work well for the first few days.

However, every once in a great while she will stumble as I am driving at low to moderate speed and the SES light will come on. After I stop the car and restart it, the SES light stays off.

It seems to happen only on cooler days, often when raining. On hot days, I usually have no trouble. Most of the time it is fine, but every now and again she will stall at idle and then catch and die when I try to restart. If I apply just a slight throttle, she will stay running. This only happens when the car is hot. I noticed on another forum that some TPI expert was saying that the MAF sensor connector sometimes fails intermittently, so I ordered a new one, and will replace it this weekend.

 

Whats the error code you get? I have nearly the exact same issue
(The car stalls only once in a long while now since I replaced the TPS + the relays at the firewall)

 

I am recently back on this Forum, because I am once again, a Third Gen owner.

Having been away I want to convey my deepest sympathies for you and your families loss.

Prayers sent for the Soul of the dearly departed and all those who miss him!

 

When it stalls I never get a code. When it stumbles while driving, I get the code 33 which is a MAF error. It has not stumbled since I replaced the ignition wires, but I did get the code 33 while underway one time. That's why I am looking at replacing the MAF pigtail. I hate to throw parts at it, but it's very difficult to troubleshoot intermittent problems, and the pigtail was only $13.

 

Thank you for the kind words. It means more than you know that people such as yourself reach out in this way.

 

MAF ERROR UPDATE

I actually ordered two of the MAF sensor pigtails, since my GTA has similar problems that I had been unable to trace.

I've had the pigtails for some time, and finally got around to replacing the one in Nellie today. I noticed something interesting when I inspected the old pigtail:

When I worked in aircraft maintenance, I worked primarily on electrical systems. One thing that most people might not concern themselves with is something that we called "pin grip". After a connector has seen a lot of "use", ie plugging and unplugging, the female pins sometimes lose their grip on the male pins due to fatigue. (I can hear all the smart remarks now).

In low voltage and/or low current applications, this can have a noticeable effect, not unlike a dirty or corroded connection.

Take a look at the old connector and the new (pix below). You will notice on the old one (left) that especially on the center pin, the openings are wider. This means a potential pin grip issue. The center pin just happens to be the one that will generate a code 33 if the connection is poor.

I'm feeling good about this. A week or two of driving her should prove it.

 

Good detective work!

 

Thanks. I hope this nails it.

 

Well, more than two weeks later, Nellie has not hiccuped even once. I'm calling her cured.

The only remaining issue is a relatively minor one:

Sometimes when I come to a stop and the engine idles down, it will "hunt" or "roll" just a bit at idle for 5 or 10 seconds and then smooth out.

At this point, I'll call that "fine tuning".

She gets just over 20 mpg just driving around on country roads, and I love driving her. The interior still has a few cosmetic things to fix, but I am OK with waiting until I don't have more pressing things to do.

 

Well, it's been a while... Nellie has been a faithful servant, but as soon as cold weather set in, the SES light problem, code 33, starting coming back.

It was intermittent at first, and then happened with increasing frequency. I finally pulled codes again, and saw an EGR code. I checked, and the EGR was frozen, so I replaced it. I also changed the incoming air temp sensor, as the problem seemed to surface only under cold conditions. At first, it seemed to do the trick, but a week or so later, the problem returned.

No matter what I checked, all seemed well, but the problem persisted. The car drove fine for the most part, but usually once a day I would get that familiar quick stumble, and then it would recover and run OK, but with an SES light until the next time I shut it down.

After some time, the engine started bucking and sputtering at low speeds, so I replaced the distributor. Once again, she smoothed right out and ran infinitely better, with no stumble or SES light. A week or two later, the stumble and SES light came back again.

Finally, it started doing strange things like stalling at low speeds and idling rough. I replaced the IAC, and it made a world of difference. Two or three weeks later, I am not seeing the return of the problem, and the idle is better than it ever has been. Not to sound redundant, but I hope I have it licked this time.

 

Glad to see she's still serving you well. Hopefully you've finally found the root of the problem!

 

Well, after a lot of hair pulling and messing with the intermittent SES code 33, the car kept getting worse. On a pure whim, I removed the Rich Porter MAF and put the old MAF back in. The car runs fine now. Apparently I had solved the problem, and then the replacement MAF had failed. I'm just glad it's finally fixed.

 

thats good to hear