I am having very difficult time with diagnosing my 96 chevy van 5.0
The engine buckles and stalls, unless i give it some gas. It seems it has this problem every 2 minutes, it runs fine for a minute or two and then sputters, sometimes it shuts off, sometimes it recovers. It doesn't always recover, for example, when I give it some gas, but usually it does.
Driving the car in such state is impossible. It even does this at highway speeds where the engine just shuts off and starts (at least that's what it sounds like) although the power steering, brakes and gauges never shut off.
When it does shut off, it doesn't want to start, it turns but as it wasn't getting any spark.

The only code is P0118. Will that trigger such behavior. I had done some research and read that P0118 will trigger engine into running rich as it thinks that temp is still below 40.
I don't want to throw money at it and start replacing every sensor. I have already replaced fuel pump.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

The problem had been solved. P0118 code was the key.
After I purchased multimeter
then researched here
http://www.obd-codes.com/p0118
then researched here
http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/may98/techtotech.htm
then did some research on autozone website,
I found the ETC sensor located in front of the engine by the upper radiator hose and thermostat. Sensor had two wires, black and yellow. Unplugged sensor and measured Volts output with multimeter. It was 5 Volts (which is correct). Then I plugged the wire back into sensor and touched red multimeter probe to the yellow wire and black probe into ground, I was getting the readings of 2.5 Volts and dropping. That seems to be correct also so then I decided to take the ETC sensor out and test for OHM resistance. The resistance I was getting was 2.38 (or is it 238 or 2380, still figuring out OHMS). Either way it seemed to be way below what it should be so I decided to buy another sensor from autozone for $11.99. Put it in, filled up with water and the car runs great, doesn't skip a beat. Took on the highway, check engine light went off and everything seems to be fine.

 

I don't know if this will help, but I found this on another forum.

http://www.z28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48880