Intermittent Stalling

[whoareyou4]

I have 96 SC2 that will at times stall. If it happens it usually only does
it one time during the day then it runs fine.

I can usually tell the car is going to stall at the next stop light or stop
sign because I can feel the engine missing. If I put the car in neutral and
keep reving the engine it will stay running or I can sometimes punch the
accelerator a few times and that usually clears it up.

The check engine light is on but autozone could not extract any codes.

Plugs and wires are new. I have had the throttle body off and cleaned it.

I am wondering if it could be a faulty coil pack? I had one go a long time
ago but it was pretty obvious then. Can coil packs act up intermittently?

Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[user]

How old is the fuel filter?

 

[Richard]

I have 96 SC2 that will at times stall. If it happens it usually only does
it one time during the day then it runs fine.

I can usually tell the car is going to stall at the next stop light or
stop sign because I can feel the engine missing. If I put the car in
neutral and keep reving the engine it will stay running or I can sometimes
punch the accelerator a few times and that usually clears it up.

The check engine light is on but autozone could not extract any codes.

Plugs and wires are new. I have had the throttle body off and cleaned it.

I am wondering if it could be a faulty coil pack? I had one go a long time
ago but it was pretty obvious then. Can coil packs act up intermittently?

Any thoughts? Thanks

My 98 SL has been showing a P0341 (camshaft sensor, doesn't exist), wouldn't
start a couple of weeks ago, and sometimes misses when I come to a stop at a
light. The diagnosis I got from the shop is an intermittent problem with the
ignition control module.

They wanted $400 for the part. I can get it at Autozone for $145. Until it
fails consistently, I'm not going to worry about it. At least until winter,
but I have a motorcycle for backup.

If your coil pack checks out, you might consider the ICM. Maybe you can find
a used one and swap it out?

 

[Tom The Great]

I have 96 SC2 that will at times stall. If it happens it usually only does
it one time during the day then it runs fine.

I can usually tell the car is going to stall at the next stop light or stop
sign because I can feel the engine missing. If I put the car in neutral and
keep reving the engine it will stay running or I can sometimes punch the
accelerator a few times and that usually clears it up.

The check engine light is on but autozone could not extract any codes.

Plugs and wires are new. I have had the throttle body off and cleaned it.

I am wondering if it could be a faulty coil pack? I had one go a long time
ago but it was pretty obvious then. Can coil packs act up intermittently?

Any thoughts? Thanks

IMHO,

I would have my throttle body cleaned, and CTS replaced.

hth,

tom @ www.FreeCreditCheckGuide.com

 

[Private]

I have 96 SC2 that will at times stall. If it happens it usually only does
it one time during the day then it runs fine.

I can usually tell the car is going to stall at the next stop light or
stop sign because I can feel the engine missing. If I put the car in
neutral and keep reving the engine it will stay running or I can sometimes
punch the accelerator a few times and that usually clears it up.

The check engine light is on but autozone could not extract any codes.

Plugs and wires are new. I have had the throttle body off and cleaned it.

I am wondering if it could be a faulty coil pack? I had one go a long time
ago but it was pretty obvious then. Can coil packs act up intermittently?

Any thoughts? Thanks

The coil packs are prone to intermittent failure caused by corrosion on the
mounting surfaces and grounding. At ~70 k km I had a miss and a ses light,
IIRC I also had a cam position sensor error code. I found one high
resistance plug wire which I replaced but the problem continued if somewhat
reduced and the code reappeared after clearing. Saturn wanted to replace
the coil packs for big $$$ with no guaranties but since I had another
similar car, I exchanged with the known good coil packs of my second car. A
Saturn mechanic suggested I should clean all the mounting surfaces and bolts
and to install using dielectric grease on all the mounting surfaces and
electrical connectors. The way he said it I suspected that this was what
really cured the problems when new coil packs $$$ are sold to owners. I
have not had another similar problem with either car in >300k subsequent km.
Grease the mounting bolts to prevent corrosion and seizure.

Real dielectric grease is expensive and is not applied at the factory. It
is however a LOT cheaper than new coilpacks.

Good luck, YMMV