Been having a no start problem lately that I wanted to get peoples input on. What happens is after driving a period of time and shutting the car off, when trying to start the car I get a lot of what seems like missing and knocking, and the engine stalls. It will do this indefinitely until the car cools down and then it restarts fine. I haven't seen a pattern as to how much time it takes before the engine starts doing this (one time was probably 20 mins, another time closer to an hour of driving) and I have no SES light and no codes at all. When the car has not been able to restart, the smell of fuel is clear so I am pretty sure it not fuel related.

Last night I let the car run in the driveway for over an hour, revving it, idling, and shutting off and restarting but couldn't get the car to duplicate the problem to check for a drop in fuel pressure.

Car has 108K and the opti, cap, rotor, and ICM are all original. Coil is an MSD and it also has a MSD 6A box (both about 3 years old).

I tried searching and couldn't find anything that was quite the same. One thread I read with a similar problem replaced the ICM and solved the problem.

Can the opti fail randomly and without codes? how about ICM or coil?

 

It could also be a leaking injector. Connect a fuel pressure gauge and check with Key On Engine Off, then check with engine running (regulated and unregulated pressure), then turn the key off. When turning the key off, watch to see how quickly the pressure drops. If it bleeds quickly then you may have a leaking injector.

 

I will tell you this it took me about a week to figure out what the problem was. I finally replaced the distributor and all was fixed. It is a pain in the butt to replace and will take a good part of a day to do. Ensure that you have the new distributor handy.........

 

checked the fuel pressure earlier, no drop in pressure when turning the car off. Pressure is at 40 psi with engine running at idle.

I am thinking opti as well, but can it go bad without throwing codes?

 

take your icm off and take it in to a auto parts store and have them check it, its worth a shot and its free. if it is the icm don't buy it from the auto parts store go to a dealership they are about the same price and they are alot better.

 

Mine did, started cutting out at hight RPM's

 

ended up being the fuel pump. pressure showed fine when it was cold, but once it was hot it showed 0 psi and would stall and not restart. put another pump in and it was up and running perfect again. just figured I would post what the solution was since a lot of people don't.

 

Thanks for the conclusion. You live in the sunbelt like me in Kalifornia. As of 1/1/08, the fuel companies can increase the alcohol content up to 15%. Some areas are holding back but other "high-smog" areas are being tested. Anyways, the alcohol can really tear up the rubber seals in the fuel pump if it isn't fitted with the proper seals.

Check the pump where you fuel and look at the sticker. It may have changed to a higher alcohol content. Has your mileage dropped?