i've been having a problem for a couple months where usually after driving kinda hard for a little while, then trying to accelerate at lower RPMs the car would feel VERY sluggish for a short amount of time, then gain all its power all of a sudden and take off like normal, usually after 3k rpm or so. well today it seemed to be slightly more obvious than usual, might have somehting to do with the fact that i had been driving for almost an hour straight of city driving because it was becoming worse and worse the longer i had been out. keep in mind the problem is almost non-existant on shorter trips. earlier on i had gotten a pretty good idea that it was my spark plug wires/distributor cap,rotor (haven't been replaced in quite a while). but i have yet to change those (planning on ordering soon if that seems like it could be the cause of my problems). well later on today i got around to attempting to remove my upper timing chain guide, but unfortunately, after removing ALL the valve cover bolts and such, i got screwed when the last 2 bolts holding the injector conector housing wouldn't budge so i pretty much gave up for the day and put everything back, but i could only get about 5-8 lbs of force on my front 2 bolts before they felt like they were starting to strip my head, so i laid off and tightened the rest without the torque wrench and just the ratchet and lighter force.here comes the fun part... i took a quick run out to get some chinese food and my car almost stalled out everytime when i was cruising and would push in the clutch to slow down or stop. instead of the rpms coming down to idle, they would drop like normal then go past idle and either stall or almost stall. i also noticed that my idle was around 1k or so when i started the car.
what do you guys think my problem is. here are my ideas:1) my first thought (i hope i hope) is that when i was trying to take off my valve cover and took out my spark plug wires i somehow bumped or mesed with the connections between my distributor and the spark plug wires and thus cause'd a loose connection, making my former problem much worse.2) another idea i was having was that the valve cover seal was leaking due to possibly stripping 2 bolts and thats causing an oil pressure drop possibly?? i didn't think this was a possibility since the valve cover seal is a "low pressure" area.3) another possibility i've considered, but i'm not too sure about is that while trying to get the damn injector connector housing off i somehow loosened a connection there. this is a good possibility since i was messing around in that area for a good half hour trying to get the 3 bolts off, but i really don't think i did any damage (other than a small crack around the inside part of the plastic). is there a way to check and see if this is my problem cause i am clueless to this part of my engine. if it means anything my car revs/idles smooth and i feel like i have plenty of power most of the time.
thanks for bearing through my explanations and any thoughts are appreciated. if u need anything cleared up be sure to ask because i know i'm not always clear. i'm plannin on taking a look tommorw but if i don't know what to look for i'm gonna be pretty clueless
Stalling problem.. possible causes?
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ka24de_510
- Posts: 66
- Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2002 9:28 am
I had that exact problem and it turned out to be my MAFS. The connection inside wasn't making a good contact.
It's basically just a symptom of running rich, regardless of what's causing it.
Don't open up your MAFS unless you're prepared to do some soldering because the contacts will bend or break completely if you remove the screws and pull the little plate off. You'll need spare wires to connect the pins inside too unless you have superhuman abilities. You'll see what I mean if you open it up.
Prior to finding that problem I had:
replaced the plugs, rotor, and distributor cap (superstition mostly)checked all the plug wires checked the fuel system pressure checked compressonreplaced the fuel filterchecked the coolant temp sensor and external connectionchecked and replaced (with a resistor) the air temp sensor (I put the sensor back)run some seafoam through the oil and fuel system
It never died until it warmed up, which I still don't exactly understand - I guess the intake air just lost a little too much density or something.
One thing to check, if you have an aftermarket filter, try covering up part of it with your hand. If that helps smooth out the idle, I'd bet on the MAFS.
Hope this helps.
It's basically just a symptom of running rich, regardless of what's causing it.
Don't open up your MAFS unless you're prepared to do some soldering because the contacts will bend or break completely if you remove the screws and pull the little plate off. You'll need spare wires to connect the pins inside too unless you have superhuman abilities. You'll see what I mean if you open it up.
Prior to finding that problem I had:
replaced the plugs, rotor, and distributor cap (superstition mostly)checked all the plug wires checked the fuel system pressure checked compressonreplaced the fuel filterchecked the coolant temp sensor and external connectionchecked and replaced (with a resistor) the air temp sensor (I put the sensor back)run some seafoam through the oil and fuel system
It never died until it warmed up, which I still don't exactly understand - I guess the intake air just lost a little too much density or something.
One thing to check, if you have an aftermarket filter, try covering up part of it with your hand. If that helps smooth out the idle, I'd bet on the MAFS.
Hope this helps.
actually i'm pretty sure i found my stalling problem, i was playing around with the injector wires the other day and everything was fine until i got to this part right here. whenever i shake it the car starts idling VERY rough and will stall if i shake it enough. is it possible to just rewire this plug or would i be better off getting one out of a junkyard? by looking at it, it didn't look complicated at all, just 8 wires if i remember right... on a more positive note i got the injector connector housing bolts off, finally found my 1/4" 10mm socket and it fit unlike the 3/8" socket i had been using earlier.
someone also reminded me to try some electrical connection cleaner from an autoparts store. i'll try that before anything else but i don't see how that would help in my situation.
someone also reminded me to try some electrical connection cleaner from an autoparts store. i'll try that before anything else but i don't see how that would help in my situation.
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ka24de_510
- Posts: 66
- Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2002 9:28 am
actually i fixed my stalling problem the other day by using some electrical connection cleaner. it no longer stalls or idles rough when i shake the wires or when i'm driving. i still have my hesitation problem when driving for longer periods of time where the car feels like its running on 3 cylinders under 3k or so rpm .. i must say this is a very annoying problem too 
yep... new(er) spark plugs and fuel filter and ran some STP fuel injector cleaner through my car probably 3 months ago and it seemed like it may have helped for a little while. i'm going to replace my distributor cap/rotor sometime this week as well. from searching on different forums it almost seems like a fuel system problem, i'm gonna check for vacuum leaks and run a little toulene through the system to hopefully clear it up.
