Car almost died today ... any ideas?

S_Mazza

Registered User
Hi everyone. I recently bought a '90 SC auto with 71,000 original miles. Today I was driving it at lunchtime. I stopped to get some food, and when I left, it took an extra second or two to fire up. Then, I went around a corner on some rough pavement, and things got very wierd. The car started running VERY rough. I pulled over, and the engine was idling at about 400-500 rpms (very low, very rough, and erratic). I shut down and restarted, and the same symptoms were still there. I popped the hood to check for loose plug wires or something, but didn't find anything. Coolant level looked ok, and no smoke out the exhaust. So, having no more ideas, I got in and restarted again. It ran rough for a second or two, and then smoothed right out and acted fine. Does anyone know what this might be? I hope it's not a crank or cam sensor. Thanks in advance!
 
well you know mine idles at 600 easy so thats a good thing its low but 400 it too low try makeing it idle a bit higher set it to about 700 and it should fix it self mine did and its been running like this for a while
 
Could be a few things...Crank sensor to my knowledge does not mess with idle...It is however a flakey part when it starts to go bad, but I doubt this is the problem.

Cam Sensor...I doubt that is it either but I have not personally exp. one going bad...

Eratic idle, along with the other issues you describe seems to match up with:

Motor Mounts "One or both broken"....This is pretty common.

Seems most logical to me...


Brad
 
Hi everyone. Thanks for the replies. I did find the problem, and I got it fixed. Monday night, when I went home from work, the problem reappeared, much worse. I could barely drive the car around a parking lot. It barely held idle. I was worried I wouldn't get home, but (honest truth) I said a prayer, and a minute later the engine smoothed out and I went home with no issues. That night, I pulled codes, and it gave a 45 (ignition coil #3 failure). The next morning, I was still worried about the problem, but I had to get to work, so I left for work. About 3 minutes later, the car ran like crap - instantly, like someone flicked a switch. It got progressively worse and worse, until it would no longer run at all. I replaced the coil packs, to no effect. Then a mechanic did some tests and replaced the ignition module, and now it runs fine.

Final analysis: ignition module went bad. From no problems to completely dead in one day. Too bad the part cost over $250, and forced me to call off work for a whole day. But at least it didn't fail at a dangerous time, and that's the important thing.
 
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