this isnt a constant problem, only happens after about 45 miles (a day, not necisarily consecutive) today i listend to everything watched every thign etc after it happend, ok--first was a sweet smell, not cookies but like a sweet rubber? maybe i dunno hard to explain, sweet but strong, then the "stall" felt like a stutter or complete loss of engine power, then 3 seconds later, service engine light comes on, then stutters (only after the light coems on , when its cold no problem) stays on till next day then its fine again....what could it be? also w/ no engine light on, at high rpms 4900-5000 hard acc. it stutters

 

Stuck EGR valve?

 

? i removed all that with the headers, where would it be at? and woudl it not do it but sometimes?

 

IF you removed it then logically that cant be it

 

This is just a shot in the dark here, but have you been having any overheating probs too? The sweet smell sorta sounds like coolant, which you would smell if the water pump went out. Then it could dump coolant all over your opti, and cause stumbling/missfiring probs, and a check engine light.

 

My car had that problem, water pump went out (sweet smell, though i find that it smells more like maple syrup than rubber) dumped coolant all over the opti and then BAM, fluctuating RPM's like a **** and eventually a stall. Car could run ok cold for a while, then eventually it came to the point where it would run like crap and die all the time. Sounds like your having a similar problem.

 

im not overheating thogh...at all staying at a constant temp right below the middle mark (although my coolant light is 90% of the time on) (duno why its full of coolant)

 

Why guess. Get it scanned. Once the light comes on, the code is stored and can be retrieved within a reasonable period of time.

 

i got it scaned 1nce, payed 15 bucks and "no trouble codes" light was on though...but NO problems............ and i kicked it today and it stumbled every time i was at WOT but light didnt come on imediately...about 3 minutes later, and i had the sweet smell again right b4 light came on

 

Just drop the dough on a decent diagnostic tool, it's WELL worth the money it can save you in the long run.

 

well it has to be something electrical it does it at any given time doesnt have to be under hard acc. just seemed to happen most then, still seems nto to do it when its cold though....any ideas? how do u tell if opti is bad? or maybe its coil pack? how do u pull coil pack