I've been chasing all sorts of idle problems on this car for some time (more on the history later)...but my latest bit of strangeness is this:

After replacing the Ignition Control Module and the Coil (to improve some intermittent bad idle/stalling problems), I was letting the car idle for a while to let it warm up and see how it did.

It was idling about as smoothly as this car ever has - for maybe 5-10 minutes, when it suddenly just quit. No stumble or anything, it was just like someone turned it off.

Then, it immediately started clicking. It sounded like a relay opening and closing and it went on for maybe 30 seconds. I wasn't able to pinpoint it, but it seemed to be coming from under the plenum, maybe?

Is this normal?? What type of relay would be enaging at that point?

by the way, this is a 1991 3.1L Automatic.


Now, the rest of the story up to this point:

I was originally chasing a fast idle problem:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/v6/3...ght=map+sensor

I replaced the IAC, MAP, TPS, and EGR. I also looked for vacuum leaks, but could not find anything.

I took it to a shop and they used a smoke injection type machine and said it was leaking from "all over" the intake manifold...they replaced the gaskets to that and it's no longer idleing fast or reporting code 33 (low vacuum).

However, on the drive home, it suddenly stalled and then would not idle or run unless I revved it up to maybe 2500+. this was after about a mile of driving and I'm guessing that's about when it got fairly warm.

In looking elsewhere in this forum, I thought that maybe the ICM and/or coil might be the problem, so I replaced those.

It seems to be idling way better, although I'm seeing some hesitation occasionally (but not real often), and I had that wierd stall/clicking problem that I reported at the start of this entry...

I'd sure appreciate any help...

 

Oops...the thread that explains my original problem is here:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/v6/3...code-33-a.html

 

My car, an 86 Firebird V6, had this wierd thing going on where sometimes it would turn over, sometimes it would just click. And when I used any big electric stuff like headlights at night, my car would bump violently like it was going to stall down the road and sometimes I could floor it and the throttle just wouldn't go passed a certain point. It was really wierd.

The problem was..... We took it a mechanic who checked over the engine and found the problem immediatly. We had changed the alternator, hoping to fix it and done alot of stuff, but it was the simplist thing. The battery wasn't grounded to the right place. We were wondering why the end of the thick, thick cable kept melting

But anyway, definitly sounds like something electrical. Don't know if my story will help any, but if you've got a melting ground cable, there ya go. Good luck

 

The clicking might be your lifters.

 

Can't be the lifters..it's clicking when the engine's off (ignition still on after the engine died). It definately sounds like some sort of switch opening and closing...

 

It could be you have some arcing plug wires. My 82 berlinetta had a plug wire arcing to my coil because it wasn't grounded properly, so i would hear the "clicking" (arcing) of the wire to coil all the time, even when my car was running, and it would run like junk too because of the arcing.

Also, my dad's 92 bonneville had an alternator that was on it's last leg. Every time the car would die, a clicking noise could be heard coming from the alternator.

So, your problem may be electrical. either alternator, coil, wires, etc. Check them all and see what happens and make sure everything is grounded properly.

 

fuel pump relay