Engine Keeps Cutting Off, pissed off & broke Options

[Jen]

All of that has been replaced.

Does the car seem weak at all when it does run? I managed to get water into one of my spark plug wells some time ago, ruining my #3 plug wire, and making the car run like a go-cart. I never got a CEL, but it could be worth a look.

No.

[Jen]

bump.

[Kwanza26]

Sounds like a fuel problem... or lack thereof. Did you check the fuel filter yet? Easy way to do this is to unbolt the top bolt on the fuel filter then crank the car (so the fuel pump fires). If you have fuel spray... then there's something else wrong. If not... then it's probably your fuel filter... assuming your new fuel pump is in working order.

[stephen_lee]

on my car actually something similar happened. it was the cam position sensor. a wire got cought in the distributor and ripped the pickup coil to hell. ran like crap, and got progressively worse. i say get the whole distributor replaced. but if its not, keep your old distro.. you might need it eventually(or sell it)

[Jen]

the distributor was replaced

please read the whole thread. =(

[lagos]

are you SURE they replaced the fuel pump? you have a receipt for the part and laybor?

if they did, then the next thing i would check is the fuel pump relay. they can burn out sometimes, causing issues like this.

where is the car now? still at the shop or at your house?

too bad you dont live on the east coast. there are a lot of people here that would have your car running in no time.

[Jen]

are you SURE they replaced the fuel pump? you have a receipt for the part and laybor?

if they did, then the next thing i would check is the fuel pump relay. they can burn out sometimes, causing issues like this.

where is the car now? still at the shop or at your house?

too bad you dont live on the east coast. there are a lot of people here that would have your car running in no time.

positive.

at the shop.

i do live on the east coast. just in the south.

[supradog1]

were is the car now??? what dealer ship did you take it to keth pirson???
my B/F said, if you have replaced all the parts in the list... he would say its most likely some thing with your timeing, meaning crank position sensor, cam position sensor... i would also replace fuel filter for extra mesure... but he is all most 100% + thats what it is if every thing eals has been checked/replaced.... he also said to check all the harness conectons under the hood and make sure thay are all clean and pluged in all the way... also check for any cut harness or wires as these things could cause the problem also... your going to need a sharp eye cause the other shops might have not noticed the problem because its in a tight spot and very hard to see... good luck...

[alltracman78]

not working still. i told you that the engine code thing didn't work. i've been carless for over a month now. i hate this.

You need to read a little better as well.
I'm not talking about the regular jumping TE1 and E1.
This is a DIFFERENT diagnostic mode. Go back and carefully read what I said.
I can't promise that out of all the techs that looked at your car none of them tried what I'm telling you, but I do know it's not a commonly know procedure.
Even at a dealership.

You don't even need a tech to do this, you can do it yourself.
All you need to do is take a paper clip, jump 2 connectors, and run the car [I guess that would be the hard part]. Once you get a code [if you get any] we can go from there.

This is an OBDI thing, and only went for 4 years on certain cars.

I also can't promise it will solve your problem, but it is a better way to look at it.

Also, has anyone looked at the ECU itself?
If you are having all these different codes, it is a possibility.

my B/F said, if you have replaced all the parts in the list... he would say its most likely some thing with your timeing, meaning crank position sensor, cam position sensor...

Your super car wizzzzz boyfriend needs to learn a bit more.
There is no crank position sensor on her engine, just as I've already stated.
She has a 95.
96 and newer have the crank position sensor.

Also, her dist has already been replaced.
Which houses the cam position sensor.

In addition to this, if her timing was off it's rather unlikely it would intermittently start, and intermittently run good and bad.
It should either not run or run like poo.

[Jen]

They are now saying it's the PCM? What do ya'll think?

They're doing it for free, because 3 mechanics have given up on my car already.

You need to read a little better as well.
I'm not talking about the regular jumping TE1 and E1.
This is a DIFFERENT diagnostic mode. Go back and carefully read what I said.
I can't promise that out of all the techs that looked at your car none of them tried what I'm telling you, but I do know it's not a commonly know procedure.
Even at a dealership.

I know exactly what you said, and understand it. What I was attempting to say was, the engine codes never told me exactly the problem. They told me 8 different things, 8 different times. So, it was never right.

[Bitter]

it could be an issue where the main wiring harness has been damaged in some way that some wires dont make good contact all the time, or some tricky intermittent ground issue.

[alltracman78]

Also, has anyone looked at the ECU itself?
If you are having all these different codes, it is a possibility.

They are now saying it's the PCM? What do ya'll think?

The PCM is the Powertrain Control Module.
AKA ECU.

They're doing it for free, because 3 mechanics have given up on my car already.

You need to read a little better as well.
I'm not talking about the regular jumping TE1 and E1.
This is a DIFFERENT diagnostic mode. Go back and carefully read what I said.
I can't promise that out of all the techs that looked at your car none of them tried what I'm telling you, but I do know it's not a commonly know procedure.
Even at a dealership.

I know exactly what you said, and understand it. What I was attempting to say was, the engine codes never told me exactly the problem. They told me 8 different things, 8 different times. So, it was never right.

:shrug:

Codes won't always give you an answer.
That mode can help in solving it when regular codes don't.

However, if it's your ECU codes on an OBDI are useless.
Hopefully if it is you can find one used.

[Jen]

If it's my ECU, they are crediting my account for everything that was done thus far that didn't fix the problem.

I pick it up tomorrow.

[lagos]

well at least they are willing to keep hacking away at it without extra charges.

[Jen]

Okay, update. It's finally fixed.. at least.. it's been driven for a couple of days without it breaking down. I got $1200 back, which went straight to the credit card. At least I'm no longer sporting the soccer mom look with a mini-van.

All of this sht has forced me to postpone a trip to SoCal that I was supposed to go on next week. ='(

Time to sell the car. Thanks for all of your help.