stalled car

[darknatextreme]

94 grand am daily driver with 94k miles. all stock except vacuum controller for trans for quicker shifts. was pulled off after to make sure that wasnt the cause ot this. was on though for about 4 months before this. ive been reading some of the other topics and they still seem to miss what i have. stalled on friday night. restarted then stalled again just down the raod and wouldnt start back up. right before stalling, it was bucking and all the guages where twitching out. after letting it sit for about 2 hours i start back up (right around the corner from my house). i got it back to my house and waited till saturday monring to check it out. it seemed to hesitate when i went to rev it. changed the plugs and the hesitation went away. drove it for about 10 mins then it did it all over again. only this time it didnt start back up.

[darknatextreme]

car still will only start after sitting for a while but doesnt run for very long. pump will prime each time without a prob. i changed my coils and that didnt help. i had my ignition module changed last year under recall. could my ecu be the fault? and if so do i have to by a new one or can i get a used one that will work? and what years and cars will work?

[geoffinbc]

Sounds like it may be a flakey crank sensor. When it dies does it sputter and try to keep going or does it shut off like someone flicked a switch?

[darknatextreme]

when it starts to stall, it sputters and bucks a little . i can give it gas and itll run a little longer but then it will just stall out. if it helps i live in southern vt. the temp for the area when this happened was on average above 90 and well above on for humidity. its been like this for weeks now. found htis also. http://members.fortunecity.com/slade...leshooting.htm
where it talks about the thermal transfer grease made me think. cuz it wont take long for the car to get warm in temps like this. the 1st time it did this was near nighttime and after dark it cooled down fast, the saturday that it died was near the middle of the day. i had to wait a lot longer for it to restart.

[darknatextreme]

just got home after replacing icm. it seemed to help a little but after a little while it stalls out still. i can restart it though sooner now. after it stalls i can hear the pump prime itself. but the second i put it in a gear it stalls out or any real load against the engine, such as when i coasted it back down the road towards my house with it in neutral and turned onto my road. oh yeah and now it just dies. no stuttering. does it help that it smells like gas around my car after it stalls now.

[bszopi]

How old is the fuel filter?

[Juglenaut]

Or worse fuel pump??

You can hear the pump run for on test prime but is it really... Testing pressure can resolve that. Also a faulty fuel regulator can cause irregular stalling at any time, hard starts, and stalling in motion.

A crank shaft position sensor will effect spark timing and just about anything to do with spark. So a simple check to see if the coils are producing spark by removing the boot while off and placing it as close to a ground as possible, doing this at night or in a dark garage helps, or you can use a timing light set for MFI engines. (you have to completely remove #1 cylinders plug boot). A neat way is to remove the valve cover and shine the timing light right on the push-rod/rocker. The intake valve should be closed on spark. If the spark is to far ahead of compression or behind than that leads to a possible KPS.

Last smell the exhaust, look for black soot on start up only, a rich condition. white with a hint of Grey smoke and hot exhaust is a lean condition on a 2 minute run, and it will run like crap throttle touchy even under no load and can stall very easy.

[darknatextreme]

when in park or neutral it will rev free. all the way to the 4000-4500 or so rev limit. will idle fine for as long as i leave it running. filled the tank with some help and let it idle for almost 30 mins straight and didnt sputter, buck or anything. i can stall it though if i turn the wheel a lot though. still only under any load seems to kill it.

[darknatextreme]

sounds like it could be my problem.

http://www.60degreev6.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=5881

[darknatextreme]

still learning my car so where is the pressure regulator to check on it?

[GndPrxRcr]

still learning my car so where is the pressure regulator to check on it?

Under your upper intake (Plentum) between your fuel rails, its on the thermostat side.

your problem kinda sounds like a vaccume leak. have you tested you MAP sensor yet. if you don't know how check this out Autozone MAP testing if that is to hard just take it to autozone or advance auto and they should test it out for free.

what were the last maintenance/repairs you did before this problem started.

[darknatextreme]

i have not checked my map sensor yet. i now have a new fuel pump, filter and sending unit. the car ran great when i got it last tuesday. thursday it was going ok after work then stalled. no stuttering at all. now it wont start at all. still cranks over but wont start. should i still get the map sensor checked or look at something different.

[darknatextreme]

ok i just got back from checking on my car. i got my icm replaced again under warranty cuz when i would try to start the car, the gauges would flutter. i used heat transfer grease on it and dielectric grease for mounting all the coils and plugs. no gauge flutter and still no start.

[bszopi]

Have you checked all the engine grounds?

[Juglenaut]

I would need a fault code for anymore suggestions