Stalling

[yodawill2000]

Got a weird problem happening.
A few days ago I was driving home at highway speed and I suddenly lost power for a few seconds , then it came back.
That happened twice that day.
yesterday it happened even more. And a few times it shut off!!
It seemed like a starving for fuel thing so I replaced the fuel filter, and it had alot of junk in it.
Thought all was well but I'll be danged if it didn't happen again today.
Sputtered and barely stayed running, shut off. it would start back up but struggled to run.
Then all of the sudden it ran normal again??
Seem's to happen well after it reaches operating temp.
What the Heck ?
At this point I don't know if its lack of fuel or some weird electrical issue.

[jester4666]

obviously i'm no expert. lol. but, it sounds electrical to me. maybe a wire has rubbed through somewhere and it's shorting out.

[fourdrinie]

Sounds like MAF to me..
Last time cleaned? Connection cleaned and tightened.
Might want to get a replacement or find someone to switch with you

[yodawill2000]

I cleaned the sensor Tuesday night and it didn't stumble at all yesterday.
We will see how it goes today.

[jester4666]

well, good luck

[yodawill2000]

So far two days round trip to work and back with no stumble.
The only thing that has me concerned is the ambient temp has been lower.
It seemed to happen well after the engine was warmed up. (Temp Related)
We shall see.

[jester4666]

it all just comes down to, she's getting old and tempermental. lol.

[yodawill2000]

lol yeppers.
It just seems odd to me that a dirty maf sensor would be so Intermittent.
Seems like it would be a constant stumble.
But so far so good !

[fourdrinie]

The MAF is controlled by a circuit board inside the black box. The J30 is known for weak circuit board solder joints...very heat sensitive with warmer temperatures causing solder joints to expand and lose contact with their resisters and capacitors..if you're good with a soldering iron you can open up the top, gaining access to the circuit board and look closely at the solder joints...resolder if you see any suspected loose solder joints. I redid mine a few years ago and got a few more years out of it before having to buy a replacement. There used to be some good forum posts on taking the MAF apart and showing what bad solder joints looked like. Search, and I am sure you will find them.

[yodawill2000]

I might give that a shot.
I used to repair laptop circuit boards a few jobs back and can see a cold solder joint a mile away
Toshiba's were notorious for cold solder on the RJ45 port.

Thanks.

[driverdriver]

I've had bad gas cause my car to stumble, a fill up of Octane 94 usually cures it.

[yodawill2000]

: Update !!!
I used a knock off MAF from ebay ($38 Bux )
And it fixed the Stalling AND the engine runs much better !!
At first it ran rough until the ECU did the "Relearning " thing.
But now Its purring like a kitten !!
Even if you don't need a MAF now it would be a good thing to put in your parts bin !
http://www.ebay.com/itm/120863377339?ss ... 1497.l2649

[yodawill2000]

ALSO

Its pulling harder, Fuel mileage appears to be better, And I swear I'm not imagining this...
Its not hunting between fourth and Lockup now ??? What the heck ??
It has been hunting for about 6 months now.
As soon as I reached temp, It locked up and stayed locked up(75 MPH @2600 steady)
I wonder if resetting/relearning the ECU is what I needed.?

[fourdrinie]

Put the old MAF back and see what happens....

[yodawill2000]

It was cutting the engine off in traffic.
I pulled the cap off and if I tapped on the circuit board the engine would shut off instantly.
Even after I resoldered everything on both boards.

[fourdrinie]

Guess that would be good