1990lumina Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 Alrighty...I dunno what the hell was going on with my car today. Today was -12*C or (20*F maybe) or something plus the wind chill. 3.1 MPFI Anyway, after school today I go to start her up and she turns over fairly slwly, but fires up like usual...then almost immediately the idle goes really low (400 or so) and the engine just dies. So I say well what the fuck...go and start it again....turns over faster and it fires up again....again, immediately starts stumbling and stalls. The third time I said fuck this, this thing is gonna start...so I turned it over, it fires and I held the gas so the revs would go to around 1500rpm. It was running pretty rough for maybe 20-30seconds (maybe I flooded it??)...anyway and after that it was all good. So, what do you think caused this stalling? My car has only ever stalled on me one other time and that was because the alternator took a shit. Could this be caused by a weak battery not providing enough voltage to the ECM?? Something else?? Tomorrow I'm gonna do a load test on the battery before I start the car while it has sat over night and see what is has for CCAs. What would be a decent CCA reading??? I believe this battery only puts out 650CCA (piece of shit Delco 3 years old)... Thanks for the help. As far as I know there are no codes, but I'll check tomorrow just to be sure! Thanks in advance guys ! Quote
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 IAC x2 Was something I had to constantly clean on my 2.8MPFI .... Quote
DiscoStudd Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 Have you used a coolant tester to test your coolant lately to see "how good" it'll take you down to? The shit could be either slushy or frozen solid, and I think you can see where I'm going with this... Quote
1990lumina Posted November 17, 2005 Author Report Posted November 17, 2005 Have you used a coolant tester to test your coolant lately to see "how good" it'll take you down to? The shit could be either slushy or frozen solid, and I think you can see where I'm going with this... Sorry, I should have mentioned...the coolant is good past -45...(our tester only goes to -45 and the needle shows lower) I'm gonna go test the battery right now...we'll see what it says...update is 15mins or so Quote
1990lumina Posted November 17, 2005 Author Report Posted November 17, 2005 WEll looks like I have around 600CCA which should be good I think. However, it isn't need as cold today as it was yesterday so I dunno. Maybe I'll take the IAC off and see how dirty it is...thanks for the help...I'll tell you if it happens again Quote
Prospeeder Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 My moms grand am 3400 does that ALL the time, start, stuble, die, start, die, start rev it up and then its fine, brand new battery and all, i dunno whats up with it, do they have the IAC that could be cleaned? Quote
5speedz34 Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 My moms grand am 3400 does that ALL the time, start, stuble, die, start, die, start rev it up and then its fine, brand new battery and all, i dunno whats up with it, do they have the IAC that could be cleaned? Yeah, they do. Probably the IAC, but how are you plugs. My engine is running rich as shit, and I know when I changed my plugs it helped it out alot! Quote
Bossman429 Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 Long shot, but how much gas did you have in it? Sometimes at those temps if you have something less than 1/4 tank it can get a little slushy as well. Could lead to starting problems. Quote
slick Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 Long shot, but how much gas did you have in it? Sometimes at those temps if you have something less than 1/4 tank it can get a little slushy as well. Could lead to starting problems. Yep, come wintertime, you should never let your car below 1/4 tank, hell, even at summer time also. Quote
5speedz34 Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 Long shot, but how much gas did you have in it? Sometimes at those temps if you have something less than 1/4 tank it can get a little slushy as well. Could lead to starting problems. Yep, come wintertime, you should never let your car below 1/4 tank, hell, even at summer time also. Doesn't the cold air make moisture develop in the tank if it gets that low? Quote
slick Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 I think the actual water in the gas mixture itself starts to freeze, and with that little amount of gas mixture in the tank, thats not much to get it started. Quote
ns87 Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 Fuel injectors/pump? idk much about engines but that happened to my supreme. Cause alll kinds of erratic problems Quote
1990lumina Posted November 17, 2005 Author Report Posted November 17, 2005 I'll pull the fornt plugs tomororw after school and see how they look. As far as fuel...I had a full tank just bought (maybe bad gas?? ) Anyway, everything is running fine now...but it isn't as cold...When it gets colder again I'll keep an eye on it Quote
Pabz Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 Clean the IAC dood, cold weather=sticky IAC, take it from a fellow -40 degreer. Quote
3pt1lumina Posted November 17, 2005 Report Posted November 17, 2005 run some gas line antifreeze in it... maybe that could be whats going on.. then check IAC Quote
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted November 18, 2005 Report Posted November 18, 2005 run some gas line antifreeze in it... maybe that could be whats going on.. then check IAC Gasline antifreeze made my 2.8 run okay (from stalling and stuff) but after cleaning the IAC I no longer needed to use it. Quote
1990lumina Posted November 18, 2005 Author Report Posted November 18, 2005 Okay so I'm looking under the hood today....where exactly is the IAC?? Is it the thing by the throttle body with wires going to it?? Sorta in front of the TB?? Quote
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted November 18, 2005 Report Posted November 18, 2005 Okay so I'm looking under the hood today....where exactly is the IAC?? Is it the thing by the throttle body with wires going to it?? Sorta in front of the TB?? yes There are a couple torx screws or whatever that hold it on. Take it out and it has like a spring, probably covered in black goo... clean with brake cleaner or whatver. Quote
1990lumina Posted November 18, 2005 Author Report Posted November 18, 2005 Like in this pic...is the IAC the sensor to the left of my left outline???directly above the oil filler cap in the pic?? http://members.shaw.ca/mustangrepair/pics/15.jpg Quote
1990lumina Posted November 18, 2005 Author Report Posted November 18, 2005 OH okay....so when I take it out it is spring loaded??? I don't wanna take this thing off and have spring flying out everywhere if you know what I mean Quote
88Regal Limited Posted November 18, 2005 Report Posted November 18, 2005 wait, if your problems mean your car is cursed, my regal must be satan. Quote
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted November 18, 2005 Report Posted November 18, 2005 OH okay....so when I take it out it is spring loaded??? I don't wanna take this thing off and have spring flying out everywhere if you know what I mean Don't worry you'll be fine. Very easy job... Quote
Pabz Posted November 18, 2005 Report Posted November 18, 2005 Just make sure you dont loose the o-ring, mine fell and was almost lost. Quote
1990lumina Posted November 18, 2005 Author Report Posted November 18, 2005 Just make sure you dont loose the o-ring, mine fell and was almost lost. Thanks for the advice....should I have a replacement just in case (how bad a shape will a 15 year old "O" ring be in??) And thanks for the moral support C-BAD Quote
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