automatic stalling

[rpatton]

Hi, I've got a '89 240, auto 114k miles. The car stalled on me last night, when I came to a stop in rush hour traffic, it took about 5 minutes to get it to start again. For the past few weeks I've noticed that sometimes the car seems to hesitate when I accelerate from a stop, and it did fully stall one time a while ago but started right back up. I took it to my mechanic, who did not have these problems when he test drove it a few times, so he told me it was probably the transmission (this is before last night's stall). This morning I called a transmission shop and described the problem to them, they said it probably isn't the trans because the car didn't start right back up, and something about a torque converter. They guessed at the fuel system. Now my regular mechanic still says he doesn't know what it is, perhaps the fuel pump but he has to have it happen while he is driving to be sure. Does this sound reasonable? I searched and checked the FAQ, I did not see this problem mentioned anywhere (all the stall related problems were a bit different, and mostly with manual transmissions). Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Rob

[float_6969]

well if the transmission place told you that there was nothing wrong with the transmission, but maybe the torque converter, they were kinda lying, but kinda not. The torque converter is the connection between the motor and the transmission, though it's usually considered part of the transmission. Do you have a FSM? If so, check you're computer codes and see what comes up.

[rpatton]

Thanks, I'm not sure what the FSM is, but I'll dig around and see if there is a way to check the ECU codes like I can with the 300zx, hadn't thought of that before. I don't think the guy was blaming the torque convertter, I didn't understand it all but it sounded more like he was saying because of the converter the transmission wouldn't cause this kind of problem.

[Mayhem_J30]

definately doesn't sound like anything transmission related. stay away from that mechanic! LIke previously stated, sounds like a fuel problem. Check the fuel pump and filter.