Cavalier Starting in the 1980s. the Cavalier made a name for itself by offering an affordable 2 and 4 door compact.
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2004 Cavalier stalls while runing.

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Old Aug 15, 2013 | 10:27 PM
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Ihavenoclue's Avatar
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Unhappy 2004 Cavalier stalls while runing.

I have a 2004 cavalier 2.2, 5 speed with 132k I have replaced fuel filter (really restricted) pcm, crank sensor, Ign control module, coil pack, ignition switch, cleaned out IAC and throttle body, and currently I am waiting for the ignition cylinder from chevy house.
I drove it with a fuel pressure gauge and did the same thing while the pressure held at 57 psi. no drop at all. this is what it does.... while driving or parked at idle just stalls with out warning regardless temp or rpm or anything else for that matter
it just dies without warning cuts off completely which leads me to believe is electrical I try to restart it but it just cranks checked with a noid light for injector pulse and it lights up, removed coil pack and there is no spark coming out of the spark plug boots
checked for power and ground at the ICM and checked out OK. It only starts up again when cycling ignition key just to stall again within the next 2/10 minutes. I have replaced brown wire at ICM (From PCM to ICM)
checked powers and grounds at PCM and Ignition switch (they check out OK) have checked and cleaned out main ground wire at trans stud (front of transmission) there is no codes in the theft system at the BCM and the theft light does not remain on
theft system is disable while no start, and like I said there is injector pulse and the car starts just fine only after you cycle switch. there is no other signs that I can tell and the engine idles fine until it stalls.... I am hoping that the new ignition cylinder takes care of the problem because if it does not
I am ready to chunk this stupid car out the window. I forgot to mention that the cluster was replaced because the fuel gauge wasn't reading accurate and it read just fine now. I wonder if anybody out there has seen this problem before or have heard of something like this. the only things I haven't replaced are the BCM and the fuse block, ALL fuses are good. I strongly believe that the problem is inside the car under the dash but this car does not have a switched relay (ASD)that powers fuses or modules like Chryslers I do not get any Trouble codes, it had P0340 at one time but it went away with the new coil pack and ICM (here the reason why I relaced brown wire which tells PCM timing for spark (no Cam shaft sensor in this engine) if anybody has any clues or question ALL are welcome. thank you!!
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Old Aug 15, 2013 | 11:28 PM
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Lightbulb Just a suggestion

I'm not a mechanic. All I can do is offer suggestions. Try the fuel system. Fuel filter, pump, etc. It has been my experience, lately, that this happens with fuel system problems as well.
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Old Aug 16, 2013 | 2:36 PM
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Ihavenoclue's Avatar
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thank you for taking the time to reply and for your suggestion slimkim, I am almost convinced it's not the fuel pump for 3 reasons

1 the pressure didn't drop on my test drive when the car died and I had the pressure test gauge attached to the fuel rail even with the old fuel filter the car had wich was VERY VERY clogged. I did open the metal canister with a chain cutter and the filter had a film of gunk you would not believe it. I was very surprised the car still ran with this filter, it had the ac delco on it telling me that it was the factory filter (not sure on that since I got the car used and it could've been replaced with dealer parts. (wish I had taken a picture of it)

2 when the car dies I have removed the fuel pump relay wich disables the fuel pump then I cycle the ignition switch and the car starts and runs for about 25 to 30 seconds until it starves/struggles for fuel and the gauge gradually drops from 57 to about 15 PSI. This tells me that the fuel rail has good pressure right before the engine stalls and also tells me that the theft system does not go active because that is what the theft system does, it disables the fuel pump/system.

3 I am able to see live data in my scanner and the STFT and the LTFT are reading +/- 5% of fuel adjustmet. Also I have never had a lean code that would tell me that the engine is laking fuel.

I just refused to throw a new pump because of all the above and it is really upseting to drop tank and do all that work just to see that the car is not fixed (#frustrating)
back to the drawing board
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Old Aug 17, 2013 | 5:22 AM
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Have you cleaned the throttle body, including removal of the IAC valve? Reason I ask, my 03 does something similar. Intermittantly, it dies on decel coming to a light or stop sign. It idles down to about 400, and sometimes just dies. No codes, fuel trims are great. Spraying the TB helped, so I removed it and scrubbed it with Seafoam. BIG improvement, but it still does it intermittantly, leading me to believe it is something electrical.

Back on topic... scrub that throttle body. Remove the IAC and scrub the pintle on it, too. I am almost certain I saw a bulletin on this sometime ago, but I can't find it right now.
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Old Mar 12, 2014 | 10:31 PM
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"ihavenoclue", were you able to figure out the problem? I have a similar situation and believe it is an electrical issue too. Let me know if you fixed the problem or not. Thanks.
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Old Mar 15, 2014 | 9:10 PM
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sorry for the late response Prizmatik..... yes I was able to figure it out......... turns out that I created the problem when I replaced the ICM the seal that goes around the connector wasnt sitting properly and it was in the way of the pins that it suppoused to portect from the elements. once I took it apart and found the problem, the engine ran just fine to this day. I know I am an idiot...... how else are we going to learn?

I am attaching a picture of the seal that I found on google so you'll know which one
as for your car.. what have you tried so far?




[ATTACH][/ATTACH]
Attached Thumbnails 2004 Cavalier stalls while runing.-ddddd.jpg  
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