Hello.

My car hesitates bad intermittently. It seems to be getting worse. Sometimes it will cut the engine off and the the volt light will be on. Then I start it up and off I go. Now today when it died, I restarted and every time I put the car in drive the engine died but it would go in reverse. I let it sit a bit and I can go in drive normally again.
So far they replaced the coil pack and back plane, mass air flow sensor.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

check the transmission fluid color, if it runs fine in reverse only, look at the tranny.

 

"Every time you put it in drive the engine dies"

This sounds EXACTLY like a stuck TCC solenoid in the transmission, I had this problem before, kept stalling, after it cooled off, I could go again until it got stuck again...

What engine and trans do you have? Please post as it will help to better evaluate this problem.

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Did it sputter then stall when you go to stop with it in drive?
Did you fee a kind of thud when putting in drive and it stalling?

The voltage light will always come on when the engine is off and the key is in run position, its there to say hey, we are using electricity and not charging.

Please post back so I can help you better with more info as well as other actions of the vehicle.


If you have the old 3 spd auto trans, unplug the plug in the front of the transmission and the try the car and see if it still happens.

This plug is located on the drivers side of the transmission towards the top of the trans and the front of the car.
The plug is like a square almost, it has about 4 wire in it.

Now if you have the newer trans that has a bit round plug with like 6-8 wire in it, then don't touch it, that can't be unplugged...

I need to know the engine and what trans you have.

Is it the 3.1L v6 MPFI with the 3 SPD auto?
or the 3100L v6 SFI with the 4 SPD auto?
Or something else???

 

Thanks for your reply. It's a 3.1 but nor sure of the trans. I have it at my parents house since they have more room to store it. I eneded up getting another used car but I would like to fix it and sale it.
Once it would **** down when going into gear. Other than that it runs fine but once it warms up it buckles and dies. Let it sit and it will drive again. Seems to be dieing more frequent now.
One strange thing I did notice the car was not dead while driving but it was acting up a little so I threw it nuetral and when I hit the gas I wasn't even getting any revving from the engine.
I will check on the trans type n the next couple days.
Thanks for the reply.
After 3 different mechanics and a bunch of parts didn't fix it I gave up.
Here is what was replaced: Coils, ignition module and back plane, crank sensor, fuel pump, fuel filter, mass air flow sensor. Throws no codes.

 

If it has an inline filter ( i know you replaced it) replace it again. Could be someone has added another inline filter, trace to fuel line. It sounds like lack of fuel to me.

 

sounds like a failing injector.

Because it happens even in neutral, when you go to rev it acts like its dying.

Check the fuel regulator and make sure its proper and not ruptured, also check the fuel pressure, should be around 40-45 PSI.

But it does sound like a failing injector.

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The heat causes them to start not working properly, and the ECM detects this, so to protect itself, it shuts them all off.

When the engine cools off, the injector cuuls off, so the contacts go back to how the were, until they heat up again and either open circuit or short circuit happens, then the ECM shuts them off again.

The bad revving sounds like the ECM has not detected it because it might also be a stuck open/closed injector, and its bad.

And then if it does just stall, thats the ECM shutting them all off to protect itself.


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In the 3.1L MPFI engine, they are wired in 3 and 3.

1-3-5 are in parallel on circuit A and 2-4-6 are in parallel on circuit B

Each circuit is puled at either "HIGH" or "LOW" independently based upon engine demand, the pulse alternates between high and low based upon what is needed for fuel.
(This part I am not sure as to what high, low really means if its the frequency or duration of the pulsing, I'm guessing its the duration time within the pulsing)

either way, I hope this helps, unfortunately there is no effective way to test intermittent injectors easily.

And they are expensive to replace, I suggest going to a junk yard and pulling a set off a car with not so many miles.


these other engines injectors will work on the 3.1L MPFI v6 you have:

3100 SFI v6
2.8L MPFI v6
3400 SFI v6

Some people have said the 2.2L I4 injectors will work as well, but I wouldn't chance it...

 

Thanks for all the info guys. Now I'm not real good with cars thats why I take them to a mechanic but I was looking at it a bit myself and the pcv hose has some cracks but seems tight.
Also there is a hose to the right of the throttle body. It runs to the back. I'm guessing what is called the crank case. Well I found the grommet was broken and the hose really is not plugged in to where it goes. Not sure if these will fix it but I may as well try these two easy things first. I would think if it was because one of the hoses it would happen all the time but I'm not sure.
Not my car but heres a pic. You see to the right of the throttle body the smaller hose coming out the bigger hose. The small runs to the back and not connected.
http://images.gtcarlot.com/pictures/54870828.jpg
Wish one of the mechanics would have caught that and checked.

 

My last post was assuming there were no vacuum leaks.

You should fix those vacuum leaks first.

And you have the 3100 SFI v6, which does the same thing as the 3.1 MPFI v6, but the mpfi v6 has more vacuum lines.

Its acting like it does not have enough gas, which is understandable as there is exas air from leaky hoses.

If the issue still happens after you fix the vacuum lines and you can confirm there is no more leaking of any kind, check the fuel injectors next, because you have spark, then you'll have air, fuel is the last thing.

Good luck, be careful with some mechanics, sometimes you find ones that try to take your money.

Also, each successive post of mine is different given the new info for me to evaluate with, this is why its hard to diagnose over the internet.

I should change my approach with helping people, be like it sounds like this, but can be something else because I dont know if I know all the symptoms...lol :P

 

If I think that you are pointing out is crank case vent hose. That is just a clean air supply for the crank case. The pcv valve up front is one that will cause grief if open to atmoshpere, or leaks.

 

The funny part is my 3100 v6 Beretta had this issue when the hose for its PCV valve got a crack in it.

Until that got mentioned I went under the assumption they were find and then it sounded like lack of fuel, but now they are mentioned it sounds like exas of air, which both sound just the same almost so sometimes its hard to tell either or...