I have a weird problem.
I had a problem driving home one night two months ago when the car fluttered and died.
I restarted and drove a short distance and same problem.
I restarted and manged to get it home.
I let it sit for two months without the time or desire to fix it.
Last week I started to repair it. The battery was dead.
I charged it two days and off one day, had it tested at the local store.
Definately bad, (blown cell). I bought a new one and installed it.
It ran great. I took it to the car wash and drove around a bit.
A day later I drove to the grocery store. When I came out I opened the hatchback threw in the groceries and the hatchback wouldn't close.
The motor hadn't lifted the latch mechanism up.
I thought I could just let it rest by the weight and get it home.
I got in it started and died. I restarted and it died.
I thought there must be a security problem with the hatch not secured down.
I tried to "fool" the car and had my son hold the plastic switch on the mechanism down. Still same problem.
It seems that there is an engine ignition/fuel problem now by coincidence. Well I tried to troubleshoot that.
I tested the voltage at the coil and there is 12v present when the key is at the run position. It still starts but dies when I release the key to run position.
I removed the Ignition module under the distributor cap. Had it tested and was told that it wasn,t bad. I bought a new MAP module and installed it.
Still same problem. While fooling aroud with it I noticed thet if I held the key at the point that the starter disengages it will run but not smoothly and if I push the accelerator it dies. After doing that a couple of times, it just starts running correctly. Yeah everything is OK idles great, let go of key and still alls fine. I tried to clean up the area and put things away to attempt a quick run to see if all is well. Nope it quits again. After a couple of attempts and the key holding trick I get it to run normal once again. I am stumped.
Any help out there?
Sorry about the long setup.
Thanks in advance.
Phill

 

I think you had the problem in your hand, "holding the key," may provide some force on the ignition connections, which maybe disconnected by vibrations.

 

Thanks for the reply.
I planned on removing the steering wheel and column/key shroud next.
You could be right.
Phill