Without writing a book here's what's happening:

-come to a stop car shuts off, usually starts right back up
-car does not stall all the time when it stops, only sometimes, but it *appears* to do it more in wet weather
-when it doesn't stall when stopped, the idle sometimes drops really low and other times it's fine
-I think that when the car is warm the idle begins to get rough, however the boyfriend disagrees on this one
-tonight (raining) it stalled, I started it but it wouldn't stay running, tried about 10 times then pushed it to the side of the road where it proceeded to start fine

I searched and found it could be fuel pump, fuel pump relays, IAC, vacuum leak, torque converter, coil, distributor shaft, etc. So that leaves me with where to begin. The car has a new cap, rotor, spark plugs and wires, new cat so that's not clogged, and new fuel filter. No vacc leaks, we've checked, but the rest? I do think the torque converter misbehaves, but would that cause intermittent stalling like this?

 

You can usually check by unplugging the wire for the torque converter lockup. I forget which wire in your transmission plug it is, but you can find it in the wiring schematic at the back of a Haynes manual or in the middle of the Chilton total car care manual. Sometimes the solenoid gets sticky and locks up the convertor which will make it stall.

The rainy thing makes me think more about the module in the distributor. I've had intermittent problems with those more than I can count. Checking it at the auto parts store won't help because it is not consistently bad. All you can do for that one is replace it and see what happens.

Good luck!!

 

Thank you. I'll have to check that out this weekend.

 

Well it did it again this morning, now it seems to be getting more consistent. I tried to start it again about 2 hours later, same thing. Then I held the gas pedal down and it sputtered and started. It had a really rough idle, then it smoothed out and is running normally now. Still thingk I should try the module first or is this sounding more fuel related?

 

Hey, did you pull the air filter off and look at the injectors while someone turns the key? That would let you see if your getting fuel.

 

I still think that there is an ignition related problem.

If you search around (it's difficult, I know, because I spend hours doing it and I feel like I can't ever find what I'm looking for) you will see that these cars are plagued with ignition hardware problems due to mounting locations.

Apparently the coil burns very easily because of it's mounting location and I have had this part go bad as well. I would definitely check the coil and module.

When you hold the throttle down full during cranking I think the computer goes into "clear flood" mode and double pulses the injectors and coil firing. That could be why it runs a little after that.

Lower the hood to make it dark and have someone crank the engine over while you are looking at the coil. My 90 Firebird coil was arcing into the frame that it was bolted to and would not start until I changed it!

Good luck and I hope this helps...

 

Don't forget to check the fuel pressure as well!!

12 psi for you, I think??

 

We checked the injectors and EGR valve this afternoon, both appeared to be functioning fine, but it's hard to tell w/o the problem actually occuring. There was a vacuum hose with a crack in it, so we fixed that, but that didn't seem to really have an effect. It was a line that connects up to a round box up by the driver side headlight, what is that btw?

 

That box is the vacume canister

 

Hey Kris I looked it up and that line actually went to the "servo assembly" for cruise control.

 

I thought you wanted to know what the "box" was :head hits wall:

 

Hello Sexy. I am having the same problem with my 86/TA (lb9). Originally the car sat in storage for about ten years. When I took possesion of the car it wouldn't start at all. After we replaced the fuel pump it ran great for a summer. Driving the car this summer I have run into the same intermittent problem as you seem to be having. Most times the car starts right up and drives fine. Every once in a while it won't start unless I give the excellerator a nudge and hold it slightly, when I release the excellerator it emediatley dies. Some times this problem will also arise after I've been driving it awile and come to a stop light, as soon as I release my foot off of the gas and the rpm's go below 700 or so the car dies. I have found that when I am having this problem in both instances I am able to fix it by turning off the car (and the ignition) and letting it sit for 10-15 seconds and the simply turning it back on again. It has worked for me in every case so far. Its strange because it never throws the fault light. Anyways in trying to figure out what is going on with this I came across this article https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tpi/...=stall%2C+idle , look for the post by Sciguyjim about the IAC (air control valve). I'm not sure if this helps but Im trying to find what sounds to be a similar problem and I thought I would pass this along. It doesn't seem to make a difference whether it is raining or not with this problem on my car. Are you able to clear the condition by turning the car off for a bit and then restarting?

 

sorry, I can't seem to get the link to post correctly. The thread was started by Mark_ZZ3

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tpi/...=stall%2C+idle

http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/tp...=stall%2C+idle

 

Yeah Smity that sounds like what my car does exactly. It doesn't do it when the car is cold, only once it's warmed up. I can almost hear a "click" like something turning on or off when I'm stopped at a stop light and that's when the funny idle starts. I really don't want to just throw parts at it to see what is wrong, so I hope it doesn't come down to that.

 

Coming home from the boyfriend's house tonight it stalled everytime I came to a dead stop, rolling-ish stops it was fine. Finally it stalled at a light, I put it in neutral to start it up and it would start but then just die in about one second, not enough time to get it into drive. After a couple tries I let off the brake and let it roll once it started and I was able to move from there. I don't know if that is related or just coincidence though. Afterwards everything was fine, the only thing I noticed was that the idle was at 500 which is a bit lower than usual. The rest of the ride home was good as gold. One thing I have noticed when it does this is that it makes no difference if I give it gas when I start it, it still dies in about one second once it gets into this stalling cycle. Any ideas?

I should also add that it stalls every week, it just usally starts right back up again. As for if being related to rain, I do think it is. About two weeks ago I was out driving and it was running great, then it started to rain. Next time I came to a stop it stalled and several stops thereafter.

 

It's going to be much easier to determine the root cause if you can verify whether there is adequate fuel pressure during the no-start episodes. I know it will be tough, but if you can induce the damp/wet conditions to cause the poor running while testing fuel pressure, you might learn which direction to go next.

 

I knew there was a reason I got the boyfriend a fuel pressure tester for Christmas. We will give that a shot this weekend. Perhaps a good hose down for some rain simulation would be good as well. Thank you.

 

Fuel pump relay?