92' SL2 stalls out
 

About the car:

2 door 92 SL2 DHOC.

this car is having issues, that seem to be related to temperature, or possible usage. i will name off symptoms and things that have been tried and things that have been replaced

(we dicided to work on this car for a family member, and we took it from the shop that could not get the car to shut off)

all the shop told us is that they got it to quit once, and when it quits it seems like the fuel pump and the coil both quit.

while leaving the shop we start the car, drive across the street, shut if off. wait one half hour while eating and the car will not start.


things we tried at that time:

Swapping fuel pump relay
un hooking battery to reset computer
battery was dead from cranking so once we got assistance, (about a hour after it didnt start) and then it started.
it started, but all it took to shut it off was a little tap on the gas pedal. we could not get it started after that.

somehow in my mind it made complete sence to replace the ECTS because i had a hunch that if the sensor was bad that it would tell the ECU that the car was overheating, and shut the car off. so the ECTS is brand new. problem persisted immedatly after installing it

the odd part about this issue, is that if i were to go start the car right now it would fire right up with a jump pack (cold start)

Starting issues:
Usually failed ects will cause PCM to think coolant is at -40 and will therefore create a super rich condition (not super lean), making the car very difficult to start. But sometimes they fail the opposite direction.

Make sure you use a brass tipped ECTS replacement (if you did not) and replace the connector as well (dealer only part) --- corrosion on this connector will make it appear to be an artificially high resistance to the PCM -- which will then think the coolant is still cold. This car is 17 yrs old...just replace the connector.

Stalling issues:

Sounds like the shop is saying it loses both spark and fuel when it stalls out. This is classic behavior of a Crankshaft Position Sensor (CPS) on its way out. These often intermittently go bad while dying -- causing sudden intermittent stalling that is difficult to trace. By design, if there is no CPS signal to the PCM, it cuts off pulses to the injectors and inhibits spark.

Running issues:

Stalling with a tap on the gas could be many things. I'd start with a thorough throttle body cleaning. If no luck, pull the EGR and clean it -- if this has never been done before, it is probably crapped up with carbon from all the oil burning. Use choke cleaner or similar to clean until the pintle moves freely. Make sure the vacuum line to the EGR is intact.

Once you get these two out of the way, we'll try to determine if the throttle actually behaves normally or if there are other issues..

By the way -- how does the car idle once it is started?

Any SES codes?

once the car is started and decides to run, the car will run like nothing was ever wrong with it. sounds great

no codes

Changed the crankshaft position sensor, car gave me a few hours worth of false hope, but the problem remains.

New testing information.

When the car does NOT run it is allways been driven within 5 hours

when the car has not been driven in 24 hours or more you are gaurenteed a good start and it to run

When the car stops running it is only a problem with spark, i have done some testing and it seems like the FP relay is on when attempting to start the car.


Somthing else interesting to add.

when the car is not running, every time you try to start it, you will crank for a bit and get one "putt" out of the engine, just one small burst of spark. it seems that if you can turn the key to the run position hold it as close to the off position as possible it will try to continue running. this in my mind says that the ignition switch could possible be bad