troykshafer

My 1998 Lumina LTZ 3.8L i bought last year for $800. Decent shape for that price except the Service engine light stays on. Eventually the Low Coolant light joined it.

Read the codes this past december and it seemed to point to MAF sensor, so i replaced it. No change.

What happens is, if i let it warm up or not it will stall while driving/cruising. I have can have the cruise set on 70MPH or be driving at 40MPH and it will just die. Most of the time it will restart immediately... every now and then it won't. When it starts acting up it's like the engine has no power and becomes very sluggish, giving more gas definitely raises the RPMs but it will fight it and usually stall out. You can also hear a rattling noise indicating to me Catalytic Converter, but i'm no mechanic.

The only thing that saves it or will keep it from dying completely is shifting into Neutral, which you can definitely feel a jerk or shudder and it will start to idle correctly. This doesn't always work and when you go back to drive it will may still stall.

There is also a slight oil and radiator leak, sometimes it seems to help when i fill the radiator reservoir but it doesn't guarantee it will not stall again at some point.

I'm desperate... i've got a baby on the way and can't afford another car. We're also trying to get out of our small apartment and into something bigger... needless to say... another car is out of the question.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

rugbyboy

What codes are you getting?

91Animul

check the cad converter might be plugd or check out the co2 sensor could be your intake gaskets also give those a try i had some of those problems with mine

troykshafer

I forgot to turn on notifications and didn't see the responses.

It has SEVERAL codes. Some point to MAP (already replaced). I haven't checked it in a while since I posted, just been driving my truck.

I'll check the codes again and repost. hopefully someone will have a suggestion. I see posts like this all over the internet but not usually very similar to my issue, outside of it stalling.

Last weekend I checked the EGR valve (no build up) and... well i can't remember the other valve i checked as I'm at work and slept since then. The directions said to unbolt from the engine but leave the wiring on it. Turn the engine to the ON position. It should then move an internal piston. if it did, then it was probably OK, really wish i could remember the name of that valve.

It was also suggested to have an analyzer hooked up to check the cat conv, that the back pressure wasn't correct because of carbon build up.

Anyway, i'll get codes this weekend.

troykshafer

Not long after i posted that i ended up replacing the engine in my truck and driving it. Truck had less issues than the lumina.

Recently with gas, and 180mi/day commute i decide to take another look at the old lumina. I replaced the throttle position sensor and road tested it yesterday, no stall. so we'll see. It made to work this AM, 90mi approx, without issue.

I now am back to another problem with it. It seems the shift points are screwed up across the board. 1st, 2nd, 3rd will not shift until it hits 4,000RPM. other than that it's baby smooth. Anyone have an ideas on the tranny? I had a transmission place tell me it prob wasn't the transmission itself but the transmission computer? He said a re-flash might fix it or it could need replaced. I've never heard of a transmission computer, but i've also had the same Ford truck for 10 years.

troykshafer

moved to a new thread since it's a different issue.