ok i am about to give up on this problem and take it to a shop. i have a 86 gt stock eng/auto. (173,000 miles) that stalls at the light after sitting idle a few mintues, i get no SES light, idles at 850-900 rpm and i get 22-23 mpg. (SES does light up and goes out on start up.) i have done the following: REPLACED IGN. MOD, COIL, ECM COOLANT SENSOR, IAC, MAP, SP wires, and pick up coil and are less than a year old I clean out the IAC vent ports on the throttle body. Replace coil wire from ign mod. to coil, i disconnected the TCC connector, no change still stalls, fuel and air filters repLaced, fuel pressure is 42 psi at idle, and no pressure drop after shut down (NO LEAKING INJECTORS ?) if i place the car in park or neutral its fine. my alt. voltage is about 13-17 volts " ANY HELP OR TIPS APPRECIATED " DONT WANT TO GO TO THE SHOP IN TAMPA FRANK
The fluctuating voltage makes is sound like a bad ground or lose cable on the battery. The stalling sounds a LOT like a TCC solenoid that's going out. Both are easy to test.
1.) Make sure your battery cables are tight. 2.) Unplug your TCC, it'll be the green'ish blue plug on the drivers side portion of the transmission when looking down into the engine bay.
------------------ -Chris '85 V6 SE 4sp (SOLD) '88 GT Auto (fun car) '03 Sentra SE-R Spec V (Daily driver)
Does it stall like you are turning off the key, or does it stall by slowing down untill it doesn't run anymore? Does the idle surge before it fails? I assume it doesn't surge when you first start idling.
btw Chris - you must have missed this
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Originally posted by jetblue319:
i disconnected the TCC connector, no change still stalls...
This also would be something where WinALDL would be very handy. Look and see if a sensor is creeping out of range ect.
[This message has been edited by phonedawgz (edited 04-03-2010).]
Since its NOT the tcc I'm thinking its also power related. At idle the engines vibrate more than while driving. I'd check the red wires on the power studs under the C500 are both clean and tight. Make sure the small black ground wire from the NEG of the battery to the frame near the battery is clean tight and not rusty. Add a couple more grounds if you can. If it continues I'd unplug the tach filter and see what happens. Check you coil body to see if it's loose in the frame. If it is add some ty-wraps or something to tighten it up and see if it helps.
There's another ground circuit you should check. It is the ignition ground circuit 453 which connects to the ECM. On the '87 2.8, per the shop manual, this connects to the ECM at the 24 pin connector. Other end is at distributor. I fought a similar problem on my 2.5 and I believe (no proof as it was intermittant) I fixed the problem by reseating the connections at the ECM. 453 is just another ground necessary for proper idle function.
well i cleaned out and tighten the following grounds: G101/102, lt and rt ft compartment gnds, G 502, and cable connector from under the egr soldnoid to G502 . also G 202 NEAR ECM. I had added a 4 gauge grounding cable from that same bolt under the egr solenoid to the trunk deck lid bolt. It still stalls when i engage tranny, i can have it under a full load ( lights, radio, a/c, ) in neutral and it idles at 950 when i engage tranny a few seconds it dies ??????????? frank 86 gt/auto
When I bought my 87 gt manual trans it had 174k on the clock and would die at idle after getting off the freeway. Turned out to be a pair of cylinders had really low compression. Swapped in a fresher used 2.8 and nows runs like a champ. I see your mileage is 22 or so, I never checked mine before the swap becuase I started pulling the engine the next day! I run an MPGuino now and am getting about 30 mpg. I dont know if you have access to a compression tester or not but its an idea...hope yours turns out to be something easy though! Good luck!
i did a comp. test on 10/29/09 these are my results: dry: 1-140 2-145 3-140 4-140 5-145 6-130 books says: no cyl. less than 100 psi and no cyl. less than 70% of highest reading frank 86 gt
well i cleaned out and tighten the following grounds: G101/102, lt and rt ft compartment gnds, G 502, and cable connector from under the egr soldnoid to G502 . also G 202 NEAR ECM. I had added a 4 gauge grounding cable from that same bolt under the egr solenoid to the trunk deck lid bolt. It still stalls when i engage tranny, i can have it under a full load ( lights, radio, a/c, ) in neutral and it idles at 950 when i engage tranny a few seconds it dies ??????????? frank 86 gt/auto
So can you keep it running with a little throttle or does it die no matter what?
It sounds like the engine is stopping "just a few seconds after putting it in gear" which sounds like maybe as soon as the hydrulic pressure engages the gear. Correct? No longer the "idles for a while in gear and then dies"?
Can you drive it or is it dead before you get moving?
So with those compression numbers, if you were haveing the problem back then also, then compression isn't the problem.
[This message has been edited by phonedawgz (edited 04-03-2010).]
The ECM will vary the injector pulse depending on voltage at the fuel pump. So if your voltage is varying from 13-17 volts then your injector pulse width is all over the place. That's why others said check your grounds. Is your voltage really varying that much?
Yes can you keep it running with some throttle in gear. Another possibility is although your unplugged the TCC that connector runs a solenoid that runs the TCC valve. If that valve is stuck you can still have the problem of it dying from the TCC. Not sure how you could trouble shoot it though. You could remove the converter bolts from the flex plate and push the converter away from the flex. Then run the engine and put the transmission in gear. Of course it will not run but it would still send the shift singles to the ecm to see if that has any affect.
Since you have changed the MAP (hopefully a good one) it should not be dying from a light load so must be a big drag.
when i get to the stop light or slow to a stop a few seconds later it will die it will start right up and if i leave it in neutral /park it runs fine, as soon as i place it in drive a few seconds later it dies , if i have the a/c on even faster. today i took it to advance auto to have the ALT/BATTERY CHECK and the rep said both battery and alternator pass the test. i cleaned the battery grds i like i stated before with no changes. the gages reads between 13 -16v. on start up it reads higher around 16 then as i drive it drops down to 14 v which is what the rep at the part store said it read. lately i have been driving up to the light and placing it in neutral to save wear on battery and starter. is there a web page where i can download WINALDL PROGRAM and buy the cable with a usb port. parts store no longer have a OBD I SCANNER. FRANK
Yes can you keep it running with some throttle in gear.
I asked that to see if there was something totally locked up in the tranny and maybe as soon as the pressure built that the engine stopped. Doesn't sound like that for sure.
it started in feb of this year, if i give it gas it wont stall, but as soon as i slow down and stop, bang, it dies. it does the same in reverse, as soon as i get ready to go in reverse and place it in gear it wil stall if i dont give it gas thank again everyone for your advice. frank
How are you reading this 16V? Are you using a meter? You should never read anything over around 14.5 or 14.7 volts. More than that is a possible bad regulator and the parts store should know that. If you are using the voltmeter in the car then it's probably off and may explain the reading.
Have you checked the fuel pressure? It changes at idle vs off idle. Engine not running you should have 40-47psi. At idle is should drop 3-10 psi. Might be interesting to see what you actually have.
[This message has been edited by Dodgerunner (edited 04-04-2010).]
I had this exact same problem and after replacing nearly everything I read on this site, it was taken to a mechanic to see if he could find the source. After some searching he figured out that one of the wires in my wiring harness has partially melted. He replaced the wire and all the problems I was having with a bad idle disappeared.
I can't tell you what wire it was because I'm not sure myself. It might be a good idea to pull the harness though and look for any bad wires.
EDIT: I had to do the same thing you did, engage the car in neutral and rev the RPMs to keep it from dying. My father did that for years apparantly and thought it was normal.
[This message has been edited by Bradley Jay (edited 04-05-2010).]
i have no way of checking timing. i had rebuilt my distributor (new pick up coil) ign.mod. I also had to replaced the harm. balancer a few months prior. Well when i set the wide timing mark on the balancer to 10 deg BTDC mark,. and verified by blowing pressure over spark plug hole covered with thumb. i set rotor pointing to NBR 1 Spark plug terminal. and set distributor into eng. i short out the terminals at the aldl terminal and if i set the distributor to the marks with timing light, when it does align. car backfires and does not start after it dies. so i have to go by tach readings and sound. anyone have an ideal why. any way of knowing if i have the right balancer. anyone knows the distance the marks are suppose to be from tdc mark to the wide mark? frank tampa 86 gt/auto
well my stalling is fixed, i took it to the shop, they found, EGR valve, sticking open, causing problems with IAC, also a small vaccum leak from the tee fitting running between the map sensor and fuel press regulator. Now it idles at 850, with AC on, full load, and no stalling. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP JETBLUE TAMPA
