OT - car stalls

car question, but you guys know a thing or 2: we have a 94 Buick Park Ave. It has been stalling and we replaced wires, plugs, ignition coils, ignition module & cam shaft sensor. I put a new alternator in month ago and a new battery this morning, as it stalled out on the kids about a dozen times in last week until they wore battery down re-starting it. Plus, power steering fluid was low. So, I just test drove it and the charging needle is in the positive range but fluctuates into discharge range when you let your foot off the gas. It feels like it is going to stall right then, then the needle jumps back into charge range. Any ideas on the symptoms here?

Might try putting charger on battery to bring to full charge. My neighbor had a similar issue with her Toyota. Got a new battery from tire place and it would die if she let off on gas. She droe it to town to get diagnostic check and all was ok, but after she drove it some it was fine. I thought batteys came fully charged now but maybe not.

My first impression is a bad ground or cable with an internal fault. They can be a bear to find. with it running, wiggle and move harnesses and check the chassis grounds. Jim

It sounds like you have covered everything electrical. You should have 13.5 -14.8 volts. You could try a fuel pressure check. When was the fuel filter last changed?
I would disconnect the battery terminal and wait for a full minute , then reconnect. This should let the computer reset and in so doing any relays that are involved with ignition or fuel should reset and then try function. I had a GM with a dieing battery that hardly made it up the street , every electronic device was malfunctioning in the fuel and ignition modes , even after a new battery I had to disconnect and let the computer reprogram...only takes a minute and won't cost you a cent..

I thought about that too...bad ground can cause those symptoms

Neighbor went to town one time to do a little shopping, his fist stop was a local truck repair shop. He bought a reconditioned Deka 4D-LT.

He told me he then went to:

Walmart for 30 min
Big R for 30 min
Coffee/Breakfast for 1 hour

and then started the drive home, about 20 min into the drive he claims that he heard a muffled pop kind of sound, but didn't think anything of it. He got home 20 min later, and found that the battery in the bed of his truck, had frozen and blown the side out!!!

It was 6 Degrees outside that day, so apparently it was just too cold for the battery, or it was dead from the start!!

(quoted from post at 11:34:18 12/14/14) 94 Buick Park Ave. Any ideas on the symptoms here?

Click to expand...

"For most 1994 and back (OBD 1, 12 pin ALDL) short terminals A & B.

In 1995 GM changed to OBD 1.5. Some late 1994 models are also OBD 1.5. For these (OBD 1.5, 16 pin ALDL) short terminals 5 & 6.

Turn key on, but do not start engine. Find and Short terminals with a paper clip. The check engine light will begin to flash. The ECM (computer) will display a "code 12" by flashing the "service engine soon" light, indicating that the system is operating. A code 12 is simply one flash, followed by a brief pause, then two flashes in quick succession. This code will be flashed 3 times. If no other codes are stored, code 12 will flash until the diagnostic terminal ground is removed. After flashing code 12 3 times, the ECM will display any stored trouble codes. Each code will be flashed 3 times, then code 12 will be flashed again, indicating that the display of any stored trouble codes has been completed."

We had an Olds Cutless Cierra that would die on us after about 1/2 hour driving. The fuel pump was bad.

I used to have a 96 Bonneville that had a similar problem. It had a bad battery cable. Fixed that and it was good again.

While you were throwing parts at it, you might as well have started with the idle air control motor.

It's a GM product; just shoot it and put it out of it's misery!

If this is a Series II, the MAF sensor can cause issues with stalling. Try unplugging it and see if the stalling stops.

That model of Buick also has a ground in the driver's kick panel/rocker panel area that is overloaded. When resistance gets high on that ground it affects the fuel pump and sometimes the lighting. Some models also have a ground in the trunk on the driver's side with the same issue.

If nothing else works I would look at the crank shaft position sensor.

Check the insulation on the wires by the plug to the crankshaft position sensor. On my 95 leaking oil disinigrated them causing them to short and stall engine.

I had similar problems with my 1992 Pontiac Trans-Sport with the port fuel injected 3800. It was bad wiring from the main wiring harness to the ignition module. The insulation had completely disintegrated off of all 13 wires beneath a section where they were wrapped with electrical tape. Only corrosion and remnants of the insulation were keeping the wires from contacting each other. When I would hit a bump in the road, the engine would occasionally start to misfire due to a poor/corrupt cam/crank signal through the harness (some of the injectors would miss, but I still had spark on all cylinders). This was a very difficult problem to diagnose, since the harness tested fine with a multi-meter.
To me, it sounds like you have a short in your electrical system, or a poor connection to your alternator/battery. Look for burned or worn through wiring. Also, make sure that the ends of all of your charging system cables and connectors are tight and in good condition. Keep in mind that stalling problems can be caused by a faulty security system switch or worn ignition tumbler. Additionally, the ignition module probably gets its ground through the frame of the module and its mounting bracket. A bad connection here will cause all sorts of intermittent ignition/injector problems, and these will show up first at low rpm.

Just talked to my local battery dealer yesterday, he said Deka and Exide are the only US-made ones left. Everything else is from China and very poor quality.

If it is like my pickup when the battery has been out or dead it takes a while to relearn the idle speed and shift points. It also sounds like an idle position sensor or air flow sensor. I hate modern vehicles.

Hi,I don't know if 94 is the same as a 99 with 3.8L V6 Series II that I had.
It had two cables going to the +ve side terminal on the battery. One cable fed the starter and the other cable fed the rest of the electrical. The problem was where the two cables were mashed together on the one stud into the battery terminal. Corrosion would develop between the two cable ends, it would crank the starter and start but when lights, AC and other electrical loads came on, it would stall. Another indication was dash volt meter would read low. Solution was to clean the cable ends where they mashed together at the battery terminal. You put in a new battery but another problem I had was with the -ve side terminal on a battery would open up when you hit a bump.

Good luck
JimB

Use a volt meter and measure the charging voltage across the battery terminals at 1/4 throttle and at an idle. Should see 14.5 volts. Hal

I didn't see any where that you changed the fuel filter. Just a thought.