Thread: It's doing it again!! help!!

Dam it im pissed off, My car is stalling out again, i mean is it dies as soon as you let off of the gas. you have to give it at least alittle gas to keep it alive. it did this ab out 3 or 4 months ago, but it went away after a few days. It did tht the first time when i washed my car and i sprayed up underneath it a whole lot im thinkin thts wat it could of been the first time. well its been wet out l8tly and it just ended up doing it. It seems to always start off when the car is sitting. When i first noticed it the first time it was sitting in a parking lot for a few hrs, then today at work i came out to the car to get something and im always weird i always start my car up to see how its runing and it did it all over again like last time. Well im hoping it will kick out of it. But i wanna kno wtf is goin on and wat i could do to stop this mayhem. Anyways i would love some help or advise or something cause this is getting on my nerves!!!!!

I would need more details, but so far it sounds like the crankshaft position sensor.

Does it start right back up?
Do you see the tach go to 0?
Does the TCS light come on?

That should get you started. But without more info Id lay money on a CPS. I suppose it could be a coil pack getting wet. That happened on my last GP but the packs were a lot lower on the motor and was missing one of the little rubber seals so everytime I chased a storm and was in lots of water it would start missing until it dried out.

Let us know if there are any other symptoms. Could help us isolate the issue.

IAC Valve. $30 at NAPA or try to clean it out (not really worth it usually). that's my guess...

Hmmm, that I wouldnt have thought of.

My guess would be ignition system, hence the condition starts/gets worse with moisture, check the wires by running the motor and lightly misting the wires with a spray bottle full of water, if there is a short, you will see and or hear it....

Also how many miles on car, and how many since rutine service, IE plugs, wires, pcv, fuel filter, air filter.... This may also help diagnose

Their is almost 150,000 and i have owned it since october. I change the oil every 3,000 miles, and i put a cai on it. It did this before when i had my new cai on it but i dont think thats the reason. I also have a new pcm on, but i put that on like three weeks ago and everything is going fine for that. im the third owner of the car, the other two women who owned it before toook very good care of it, the last women who owened it her husband was a mechanic who drove it back and fourth to work for the last 6 months before they sold it to be. Now anyways It will start right up again as soon as i let it die, but you just have to give it a little bit of gas or it will die. Now when i drove it home from work which was 6 miles by two footing it at stop signs After i pulled her into the grage it didnt die right off it went straight down to around 500 rpm very low and idling for like 3 or 4 seconds and then died. When it does this the tcs if fine no lights come on or anything.Yes i see the tech light go right to zero.

In that case, I rescind my previous diagnosis of the CPS and I would kinda lean in 8sec-z's suggestion of it possibly being the IAC or I suppose it could even be the MAF. The CAI you put on there, did it happen to have a new K&N filter or was it one you cleaned and re-oiled.

Two things you can do that would be cheap and start the ruling out process. First get you some electronics cleaner from the parts store. Then get you some security torx bit set if you dont already have one, they are the torx bits with the hole in the middle of them. I dont remember the specific size you will need but if you want to replace it with more common socket caps I believe it is an M4 x .8mm bolt. Pull off your MAF sensor and IAC. Spray down the MAF with the cleaner, the wire portion, you'll see what Im talking about when you pull it off. Then spray down you IAC and get all the carbon build up off it. Might as well clean the connector and plug as well while your at it.

Put it all back together and drive it around and see what happens. Pay close attention to the MAF sensor before you clean it and after. Take note of any dirt or build up on it and you can report back on that as well.

If you really want to isolate it, then do one at a time and then drive it around. Do the MAF first. If the issue clears after you clean the MAF, it is likely your K&N filter (if that is what you have) dirtied up the MAF with the filter oil that is use.

Yea i got a new k&n filter when i bought the cai, it is a little dirty from road use too. Anyways ill try that tonight or tomorrow when i get some time, i hope thats what it is.

UPDATE!!!

Ok soo i drove to the bank, on my way back i decided to give it to her well anyways i go up to 80 and let off of the gas and it doesnt die, get goes right down to 500 rpms or soo and doesnt die anyways even better news i get home get into the driveway and let it idle it stays alive on its own at 500rpm it idles pretty rough it wants to die then i shut it off and turn it right back on and it runs fine now, its running perfect just like that. :-) soo my guess something is defently getting wet. But im not sure, it could of acted like that when it rained a month ago or three weeks ago or one week ago soo idk.

I could be wrong but I would still get you some electronics cleaner and clean that MAF particularly and if you especially motivated, clean the IAC as well. It gets warm enough under that engine bay to evaporate any moisture that would cause an issue like that after just a minute or two of running unless its puddling somewhere and I cant imagine where it would do that at.

K&N Filters, and basically any oiled gauze or oiled type filter are KNOWN to dirty up MAF sensors and cause nearly identical issues that you are experiencing. I would think it would be just a safe thing to do in cleaning the MAF at a minium.

Yea i will defently do that, im sick of this random thing happening.

Unplug your MAF and start the car. If it's doing the same thing it's your MAF. IF that doesn't work plug the MAF back in and unplug the IAC. I doubt it's the IAC because one time i unplugged mine buy accident installing my intake and the car idle at like 2000rpms. Freaked me out until i found the IAC unplugged. When doing a VE tune you unplug the MAF sensor and it will run real rough and want to die at times, unless you give it gas.

An unplugged IAC will act totally different than a slow or bad IAC. My wife's car was acting very similar to this, changed the IAC, and good to go. I would definitely not rule out the IAC, as I would start there.

well ill try everything i can.

Originally Posted by archemedes

cleaning will probably help, but my car had a similar issue, everyone said to do an iac, and it was a shorted module harness. Don't buy parts with no diagnosis unless you like wasting money

I completely agree. Test twice, buy once to borrow from a carpenters rule.

Originally Posted by archemedes

cleaning will probably help, but my car had a similar issue, everyone said to do an iac, and it was a shorted module harness. Don't buy parts with no diagnosis unless you like wasting money

This is why I like to have spare used parts on hand. I can throw them on in a couple minutes and troubleshoot that way. Works very well.