Okay, so my 91' RS is a daily driver, its actually in good condition compared to most 3rd gens out there. It has a little over 107k miles, everything is stock except the magnaflow muffler. Heres the deal. I can drive it fine, but randomly (almost as if it picks a random time limit) it will start sputtering and eventually die. It drives fine up til that point. And it always seems like its on a random time limit, sometimes i get more time, sometimes less. It died on me on my way to work tonight so ive gotta get it fixed or find a new car right away.

At first i thought it was the throttle body, so i took it apart and cleaned it, then it started over-heating so i figured that might be it, fixed that, still nothin. Then i thought maybe the battery terminals were loose, wha-la! They were! Yayy problem solved...nope, although they needed tightening, that wasnt the problem either.

The car will sputter and the electronics will flash, the lights stay on (all lights, interior and exterior) but the electronics flicker like my radio and the SES light, that happens when the car sputters, or when its about to do it the SES light will just shut off (odd for my car).

Any ideas? I gotta get this fixed. Im thinking the computer could be going out, thats kinda my last idea on it actually. If not that, im completely boned

 

Check the ground wire from back of the head to firewall. Then the power junction block next to the battery should be 4 or 5 wires going to it, they can get corroded and might need cleaned up. Don't forget to disconnect the battery first. Ouch!

 

Will do, thanks. The negative terminal has some corrosion on it actually

 

Had this happen to me check the wires going to the starter they were just loose to make the car die out

 

Would loose wires to the starter make the car die while on the road though?

 

Thats how I found out that the wire was loose for me. I was going down the road and then stalled I checked the wires on the batt the wire going to the coil and the starter wire and thats what it was

 

Check the fuel delivery system. and were you running any air conditioning components?

 

Didnt even think about the fuel pump going out. But yeah, i was running my heat. Also the motor makes a clicking noise, sounds like it comes from the throttle body or around tha area for a few seconds after it dies. its not loud but its there

 

I only say the Ac components because it sometimes can cause the engine to surge, and at low rpm, kill the engine. The fuel could also have contaminated particles in it, from the gas tank in particular, not the gas though. and what kind of fuel system do you have, a TPI, TBI, or carb?

 

Its a TBI, the filter is rather new but ive never replaced the fuel pump

 

I had the same problem was my TPS, changed it and was fixed.

 

TPS? Sorry if im a little slow here ive been working more with big blocks and carbs, this pretty much the same but still a few things here and there im not up to date on

 

i was planning to do a full top end swap, vortec heads (059s), intake, MSD distributor, XE270 comp cam, headers/exhaust, and a carb swap, was thinking that would fix my problem while giving the car a lot more pep, but now im considering selling this and moving on to a 4th gen

 

Ahhh Vega, you will miss your third Gen FOREVER!!! Throttle Position Sensor.
Sound like the problem I had, I changed out temp sensor, Oxy Sensor, then the TPS, and never had a problem after that. But I have to drive with my ECM unpluged. So you might want to try that. My car runs better with it unpluged. The forth gen going to have some of the same problems. I know it sucks when our cars are not running right. But when the do, good times!!!

 

Vega, why would you want to buy a catfish?

 

Yeah, the car is pretty sentimental to me so i hope i can keep it lol. I'll look into the TPS, thanks guys. I like the 4th gens myself especially the later WS6s for the looks, LS1, and T56. But my car has the sentimental value so if i can fix it that would rock, and save me some money. Plus its still a pretty nice car, especially compared to the 3rd gens around here that are all ratted out and terrible looking haha