Okay here it goes. I replaced my car battery last saturday, and then right after that, when I'd come to a stop, my car would stall out sometimes. Thinking it was my alternator, I got it checked, and I'm getting a good charge from the battery and alternator. Nothing wrong. Then last night I shut my car off, and I could smell gas fumes. I'm at a loss. Anyone have any idea what it could be?

thanks

 

When the car was stalling out what made you connect that to the voltage system? It could be a number of things you need to post more info I think... is it carbed? If so that may be the first place to look... especially if you're smelling gas.

 

Whoops, should have explained that a little better. It's my '92 bird 3.1 V6 EFI. This guy at the Pontiac dealership checked out the alternator, which is where I thought the prob was coming from. I'm at a loss.

 

Okay, here's what the shop told me. My throttle bottle is badly carboned up which is causing the car to stall when I stop. Also the IAC sensor is pretty shot too. They told me it would cost about $500 to have the throttle body cleaned out (time/labor). My question is this, how hard is it to remove the throttle body and clean it myself? The only other option is to buy another one because I'm not spending $500+ to flush out carbon, that's rediculous.

thanks

 

$500 is way way too much for cleaning the throttle body. At dealer shop rates thats still like 7 or 8 hours of labor. I'm not totally familiar with the v6 tb but surely it cant take more then an hour or 2 max to remove, disassemble, clean, and replace.

 

You may not have to even remove the TB. Remove the intake hose/ductwork and manually open teh throttle valve. Using spray cleaner (safe for EFI/sensors) clean all exposed areas, including the IAC ports. You may want to remove the IAC stepper motor (NOT "sensor") and clean the pintle and recess in the TB. The whole process may take an hour.

If you haven't adjusted the throttle valve position, you shouldn't have to do anything else after you finish.

 

check the fuel pump

 

Thanks for the help guys. As for the cleaner, all I've been able to find is carb cleaners. What's a good cleaner to use? And as far as the IAC stepper motor, does this just get sprayed off with a cleaner as well?

thanks