My wagon stalling

rb26dett240z · October 2012

Prior to the stalling, my CEL would come on at times and would go away the next morning. The first stall was on a hot day last week. It stalled when I started to go at a stop. I pushed it to the side and it would not start up. Temps were fine, no CEL prior to stalling. I proceeded with calling AAA for a tow and was almost done speaking with the rep when I tried starting and it started up just fine; that was about 15 minutes.

Next stall was the very next day on the freeway onramp. I was hauling @ss in third gear, and boom it stalled while accelerating in gear. I pulled over to the side as much as I could, I called for the tow right away. I tried starting, but it didnt. It did start as soon as the tow truck dropped it off at my mechanics.

I left it there, and explained the situation to my mechanic; however, he could not reproduce after troubleshooting it for a day. He said maybe ignition coil.

So it drives okay one more day, until this Monday morning. Stalls on the freeway in 4^th gear. Same thing, towed and then Im able to start it when at my mechanic.

Ive read on the boards about the main relay. When I turn the key to On position, I hear the noise from the back for fuel pump. I think it is on because the humming noise goes away after a few seconds. The PO gave me a couple of spare main relays and I tried them both and still it would not start. I have attached a link of how my attempts at starting this morning sounds like after the stall.

Trying to start

So my mechanic is looking at it again. He may change the ignition coil since he has the wagon again. Any other ideas?

Thanks for your feedback

noahrexion · October 2012

Does your tach bounce around at all? Or does it just quit working ever? (ignitor)

When it stalls do you still have all of your dash lights on (CEL, battery...etc)?

rb26dett240z · October 2012

Last time it stalled I was rolling in gear, but I did notice the tach was at the bottom, not bouncing. I'm not sure about the dash lights, but if I remember correctly I think they were off. If this is true, your guess would be that the ignitor is the issue?

I did get the wagon back from the mechanic yesterday, he changed the whole distributor assembly without quoting me. I really wish I did it myself, as a new aftermarket would cost me about $110. You don't even want to know what I was charged - feel bad especially since I trusted this mechanic.
So it's running so far with no stalls, with the same relay. I'll see how it runs.

rb26dett240z · October 2012

Well, first full day running around with new distributor, but now it sputters in at lower rpms. Like when trying to accelerate at each gear. I didn't stall today. I'm thinking maybe he didn't install the distributor properly, or maybe one spark plug wires is not plugged all the way in or maybe bad. I didn't accelerate like this before the change. I'm about to go in and troubleshoot.

noahrexion · October 2012

I'm sure it was the ignitor. Did you get your old distributor back for parts?

Did you just get this wagon?

rb26dett240z · October 2012

Hmm, no I didn't get the old distributor back.

Didn't think of it.

I have had this wagon for over a year now from a friend. It was his daily driver 40 miles one way. When I bought it, I changed the spark plug wires and the the catalytic to pass smog. This past week is the first real issue I've had with it since. My friend is in Afghanistan; I emailed him and he suggested to change the main relay as well when I first described the issue.

Regarding the sputtering at low RPMs, only thing I did to troubleshoot was pull the spark plug wires out and back in at both ends (distributor and plugs). The sputtering actually went away for two blocks. Then it came back. I've read around and some suggest the TPS? I'll try and change myself.
I don't have a CEL, but I want to check the ECU for blinking lights code. This is under the carpet on passenger side, correct?

My wagon stalling

Comments