Hello Everyone.

Hoping someone has experienced similar issues and can help me with this problem as I don't know where to start troubleshooting.

Car is a 93 Lumina Euro(3.1L V6). Has 106,XXX Miles. My Wife primarly drives the car to work as I have another vehicle that I drive. A Couple weeks ago my Wife called me one morning and said she was pulling into the parking lot at work and noticed the temp guage was up alot higher than normal but not quite in the red. She parked the car. I showed up a bit later and added about a 1/2 gallon of coolant to it. Car was fine for several days until my Wife called me one afternoon and said at the stoplight right at our house she was sitting at the red light and the engine just cut off, she put it in park and it started right up and drove it the rest of the way home.

I told her to drive our other vehicle and leave the lumina parked while I could look at it. I started it later that day and it idled fine. I went out to the store a few mins away and came back, car ran fine. She drove it the next day without any problems. Next day we got in it to go to the store and it was a cold start, I started the engine and immediately it started acting crazy. Check engine light was blinking on and off, tach was jumping all around, engine was surging, then after 15 seconds or so it cleared out and was running like normal. I backed out and started up the road against my better judgement. A few miles up the road while doing about 40mph the check engine light started blinking on and off and engine was surging, I turned around and drove back home and right when I pulled in the driveway the engine stalled, I attempted to restart the engine several times and it would start but only run a few seconds and then die. We have not drove the car since.

I have done research on the internet but cannot find anything that seems similar to this, Any help on this would be appreciated, I don't know where to start troubleshooting this thing, Love the car and want to get it back running.

Doesn't seem to have the dreaded Intake Seal leak as I don't see coolant in the oil. I have a slight coolant leak on a pipe close to the waterpump so thats probably what lead the car to getting low on coolant in the begginning of this post.

Sorry for the long winded post.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Matt.

 

Well today i messed around with the car a bit. Fired it up and let it idle for 5 mins or so and then got in and hit the brakes and the engine instantly sputtered and died. I fired it back up and hit the brakes and it sputtered again and died. Fired it up again and sometimes i can hit brakes and it wont die and other times it will. I didnt see any vacuum leaks so i thought maybe the booster was cracked, so i disconnected the vacuum line running from intake to booster and pinched it off. Engine never would die or act crazy with line unhooked from booster.

I then found a clogged air filter so i took it out and closed airbox back up. Hooked line backup to booster and it has not acted up since. I dont see how a clogged air filter would cause the engine to die when brakes were presses though.

There was even one time where i turned ignition switch to position 2 and the tach acted crazy, service engine light flicked on and off, etc and the engine wasnt even running. Maybe its a bad ecu.

 

Tach acting crazy, sporattic idling, stalling after starting; leads me to believe the CPS (Crank Position Sensor) is going bad.
OR The ICM (Ignition Control Module).
That is what it sounded like.

Until you said the air filter was plugged, and removed it. ( Suggest not driving without a filter, buy a new one, its better for the engine).
See if it stalls without pressing the break.
See if it stalls when you turn all the lights and rear defogger on/off, etc...
See if it stalls after just sitting there idling for a while...

The gauges going nutz can also mean the alternator is charging either too low or too high. Try using a meter during the event.
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The above is probably relevant if the issue still persists after replacing the air filter, or not having one.
Yes a plugged up air filter can make the vehicle not run correctly, even stall.
The break booster needs the pulling pressure from the engine to operate.
If the engine is trying to stay on and you press the breaks, a plugged air filter on a choking engine now adding more negative pressure can make it stall.
Even Adding load to its electrical system or putting it in drive could be enough depending on how much of a strain its under to stay on.
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Does these or any problems still exist?
Was the car getting poor gas mileage?
(Plugged filter makes you get bad gas mileage, I was getting 10 MPG in my 90 Beretta with the same engine till I changed the filter, now I get 22-25 MPG).

Here is a neat trick, Being a 1993 Lumina I'm assuming it is the 3.1L MPFI v6.
Disconnect the battery for a few hours then reconnect, this resets the EPROM block learning feature. It should run better, this is assuming you fixed the problem.
(Do it anyways even if it still does this, it should help, it wont hurt, the worst that will happen is it goes back to the problem)
The same should also work for the 3100L SFI v6 (if you have this instead) Just leave the battery disconnected 2x longer.
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Flashing check engine light? Only when it stalls? while it is running?
what is it flashing? how is it flashing?
Try getting an ECM diagnostic computer plugged in while its happening, if its OBD1, it usually does not store codes, it forgets them after you shut it off, usually...
But it couldn't hurt to look.

 

What is the miles on your car?

 

I am leaning towards crank position sensor. This is OBD1. You need to find what is tripping it. I assume you don't have a scanner for that model, so here is a you tube on how to do this.

 

That vidio kinda suz, but there are others listed with it. Here is a link to the codes.
OBD-1 Diagnostic Trouble Codes

 

I would take a look at the timing belt.

 

3.1 Engine does not have a timing belt, it has a chain.

 

Yea was looking at my gm service manual i have for my lumina. I was thinking about the 3.4 witch has a belt and a chain. Yes the 3.1 has a chain from what he is saying it sound like it may be going out.

 

3.4L MPFI v6 has a timing belt?
I don't think so... Its a chain, the belt is serpentine belt.