91' Lumina 3.1 Stalls a few minutes after started

[Ranger#83]

Just bought my son a 91' Lumina with the 3.1 in it. When cold it starts right up and after a minute or two the idle starts to lope, a little bit of smoke starts coming from the exhaust pipe, and then it stalls out. It will not start back up until it cools completely down. If you try and start it after it stalls it does fire up briefly for a few tries then nothing. When it first started doing this you'd be driving down the road and it would just quit but fire right back up. We have changed the throttle postition sensor and the crankshaft postition sensor. It's getting fuel. Previous owner said the coil/coils tested out fine. Could this be a egr valve or map sensor or ignition control module or ??? There are no dummy lights on and I am truely baffled, I have never worked on one of these cars. The only reliable shop out here has recently closed due to the economy. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

[BumpRacerX.com]

What color is the smoke?

[Ranger#83]

Smoke is barely visible, dark in color like it's running rich, it's not a bad head gasket kind of smoke. Replaced the IAC (idle air control) sensor and that eliminated 2 of the trouble codes, now I'm just left with a #22 code which is the TPS. Now it acts completely different, starts up and then immediately falls on it's face, no more running for a few minutes and then stalling out. MAP sensor checked out ok. I did replace the TPS sensor last week but upon testing this one the other day @ the auto parts the guy said it appeared to be bad. Going to get a known good working one today and keeping my fingers crossed.

[BumpRacerX.com]

Smoke is barely visible, dark in color like it's running rich, it's not a bad head gasket kind of smoke. Replaced the IAC (idle air control) sensor and that eliminated 2 of the trouble codes, now I'm just left with a #22 code which is the TPS. Now it acts completely different, starts up and then immediately falls on it's face, no more running for a few minutes and then stalling out. MAP sensor checked out ok. I did replace the TPS sensor last week but upon testing this one the other day @ the auto parts the guy said it appeared to be bad. Going to get a known good working one today and keeping my fingers crossed.

Hmm, yeah I would get a known good working TPS and then see what we have. Could be an open loop/closed loop issue. How are the coils? These things are known to be heat sensative and don't always throw a code when they go. Could be a coil pack that's fine cold, gets a little warm and dies.

[Axe_1]

Definitely sounds like it dies when the loop closes. I was leaning towards vacuum hoses, EGR or even timing but I don't know for sure. I drove a 3800 from OH to NC and back with a cracked coil pack and the only time you noticed was if you called for more power the spark jumped across to a mounting bolt. Other than that it ran smooth so I'm thinking it's probably not the coil packs. IMHO

Axe

[snappin]

I have the same problem, did this ever get resolved?

[patrick]

i have the same exact problem. it started stalling as i was driving and would some times die, but it would always start up. but it got worse and then when it stalled it wouldnt start at all i checked the codes and it toold me the ICM so i took it off and had it tested and it was fine. so i put it back on and it started ran for 2 miles stalled and wouldnt start. so i changed the crank shafft sensor it seem'd to solve the problem ran good with no stalling for 30 minets then when i hit the brakes to turn it died and wouldnt start. the olny way to get it to start agian is to unplug the ICM and coil packs then hook them back up. I'm baffeld my self

[pocket-rocket]

When ICMs go, sometimes they will not work when they get hot, so letting it sit to cool off will allow it to work again until it gets hot again. That's why I don't 100% trust those ICM tests at the parts store (unless you have a heat gun on the thing). The best way to check it is as soon as it starts, pull a plug wire and cram a screwdriver in the boot and have someone turn the key and watch for spark.

As far as it getting fuel (I know it's a 1 year old post, but it could help someone in the future), try holding it to the floor while trying to restart. Doing this puts the ECM in "Clear Flood" mode and it shuts off the injectors. It's worth a shot to see if it's getting flooded out when it dies since it's a free test and all.

[TGP37]

Just bought my son a 91' Lumina with the 3.1 in it. When cold it starts right up and after a minute or two the idle starts to lope, a little bit of smoke starts coming from the exhaust pipe, and then it stalls out. It will not start back up until it cools completely down. If you try and start it after it stalls it does fire up briefly for a few tries then nothing. When it first started doing this you'd be driving down the road and it would just quit but fire right back up. We have changed the throttle postition sensor and the crankshaft postition sensor. It's getting fuel. Previous owner said the coil/coils tested out fine. Could this be a egr valve or map sensor or ignition control module or ??? There are no dummy lights on and I am truely baffled, I have never worked on one of these cars. The only reliable shop out here has recently closed due to the economy. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Replace Fuel Filter - Clogged can cause a lean condition and run HOT. Won't restart until it cools down. Seen it before on a friends lumina. Low fuel pressure + heat also made fuel vapor pockets in the fuel line. Try bleeding the schrader valve to see if there is any gases jetting out after key/on prime.

You can also try unplugging the vac line to the FPR, but plug up the vac line to prevent vac leaks. This will increase fuel pressure slightly. If this helps, the issue is most likely in the fuel delivery.

Pour cold water over ICM when acting up - As Mr. Pocket suggests bad ICM, I agree as well.

Unplug upstream o2 sensor - It may be an OL vs CL issue. O2's sometimes fail to the rich side. Unplugged will put the system back into open loop.