My buddy has a 92 rs with the 3.1 v6, im trying to figure out this problem hes got but im not much help because my car is carbuerated and pretty much a whole different animal.

We were driving along the other day when the engine started to sputter and cut out and then finally die all together. We roll to a stop and it fires right back up and drives fine for another couple days. Then does the exact same thing again except with no warning whatsoever.

The problem was quite obviously electrical because all the lights/radio and everything in the car shut down with the sputtering. At first I was thinking the alternator was going...then the other day it wont start. It acted as though the battery was completely dead, jumping it didnt work and after about 10 mins we came outside tryed it and it fired up like nothing was ever wrong.

So we went through every wire under the hood, battery is good, grounds are all good, wires all run where there supposed to and they are all secured and there doesnt seem to be any breaks. Only we thing we didnt check was the alternator, I figured the starting thing just about ruled that out. Any ideas?

 

This happened to my brothers Bonneville. It ended up being the alternator. The bearings were out of it, laboring the engine making the starter work to hard. Take the belt off, and see if the alternator spins freely, if not then thats your problem. An OEM replacement alternator for the 3.1L is only about 50 bucks from Advance Auto.

 

thanks next time i see him we'll try that

 

It sounds similar to what happened to mine. I made up a deal that makes it easy to see where the voltage is at when driving around and/or starting which will confirm what is happening. The parts were around $5 at Radio Shack.

 

Check the connections at the battery and the starter terminal. If the positive battery cable connection at the starter is loose or corroded, it will cause this (has happened to me before). Take the cables off of the solenoid and clean them up good with a wire brush along with the nut. Also check for a voltage drop between the battery and the starter solenoid to check the battery cable.

 

corroded battery terminal on the starter, steel wool and elbow grease and no more problems whatsoever

amazing what that can do to a car

 

I prefer a cordless drill with a wire brush attachment.

Anyways, how it works is this: Corrosion increases resistance in the circuit. Resistance increases heat. Heat increases resistance along with the extra heat generated by the exhaust running right next to the starter. Resistance gets to be too much for the current in the wire to handle so current flow stops until resistance drops when the termperature drops. Hence why a car will unexplainably die for a few minutes and then crank back up. Well, sometimes, anyways.