Today after school I started my car, started up like normal but a second later it died. I started it back up and it was fine after that. Then 2 to 3 hours later I was leaving work and the same thing happened. I tried starting it again and it stumbled and the rpms bounced around at 2 to 4 hundred and died, I had the drivers door open so the indoor lights were on, but they flickered and nearly went out while the engine was stumbling. It started on the third try and was fine, so I popped the hood and checked for any sparks or anything but everything I could see looked fine, no loose connections that I could make out, etc.

What are your thoughts on it? Im hoping to get under the car and see if anything is spraying getting the opti wet or making the belt slip more than usual (Normally I can hear a faint whistle, with a regular beat) .

I got my oil changed last saturday but it has been fine up until today.

Is there anything I should check inparticular?

 

You got the bad connection blues. Add to that the cold weather in Ill. and you don't have enough current to keep a squirrel on an excersize wheel. You may have an old battery??? But the first thing to do is check all the connections from the battery to the starter and don't forget the grounds at the frame and the engine. Clean them up and be sure they are secure when you're done.

You need to do some rudamentary tests to the battery both before and after cranking the engine. Check the voltage across the battery with a volt meter while eveything is off. Then have someone crank the engine and check the voltage across the battery while they do it. If the voltage drops below 11 volts when cranking, you need to look at the battery real well.

 

thanks, would something like this be fine? http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...iption#tablink

 

Just drive to autozone...they have a portable thingamajig that measures everything from your battery to your Altinator...and it's FREE! why spend money if you don't have too?

 

Yeah but its sleeting over here and my front tires are nearly bald, so freezing rain/snow doesnt sound too appealing, plus im sure it would come in handy again

 

No that's only good if you have points and condenser. The voltmeter works but you need more functions than that. Get the DVM from a Snap-on dealer for $100.00. Good deal and warrantied for a long time too.

 

Assuming all your tubing is connected from the MAF to Throttlw Body:

Try to Clean your Throttle body with some Throttle body/Ait Intake cleaner, and clean the Idle air control Valve.

When my IAC was crapping out on me it would start , and then die, and then I would have to gas it to keep it running. Some times the idle was fine, but usually it would either be too high, or too low. Just a thought.

Pulling the throttle body is cake, and it probably needs a good cleaning anyway.

 

alright thanks, im glad i didnt buy that then. What kind of stores could i pick that up at? I have monday and wednesday off so I'll look into it on one of those days, in the meantime I'm not driving it much.

 

I think i've come to the conclusion that the throttlebody just needs a good thorough cleaning. When I started it yesterday, It died, started it again, stumbled and died with my foot on the gas (didnt rev up or anything), third time i had my foot on the gas when starting it and it hung at 3k for about 3 seconds before it slowly dropped. What do you guys think? Oh and I could never find the Deep Creep seafoam, but I have a bottle of the normal stuff, could i just douse that on a rag and clean it out like that?

 

I sell both seafoam and deepcreep and I was told they are the same. One is aerosol. As far as the volt meter, get a good one from Sears. Make sure it's digital and does DC/AC as well as current to 10amps.

With regard to cleaning the throttle body. Hey never hurts to be clean. However, unless something drastic changed at the throttle body, it should not be causing your problem. The EGR could be stuck open causing it to die and should be checked for contamination or sticking at the pintle.

If that doesn't help you, I would check fuel pressure and if needed, pull a couple of spark plugs to see what they look like and check for spark while you're there. BTW sears has fuel pressure gages with a hose so it is more versatile.

 

sounds good, i think i know what im doing wed.

How would I check out the egr stuff. Does shoebox have instructions on his site?