I have not posted anything on here in a while ( mostly because my car has been running great) but I have run into quite the problem. 

 

So .... about two days ago I was driving through town at about 20 miles an hour and poof the engine completely died. No puttering or sputtering just dies.   However it was just the engine the electrical was working fine.So I pulled of the side of the road and immediately tried to restart it to no avail. Then about 10 minutes later I tried starting it and it started right up. I thought maybe before I take it on the highway at 55 mph I should putter around town to make sure it isn't going to die again, but once again the engine died but for some reason it started right back up while I was moving without me trying to start it. So I thought weird but I need to get to my house. So I got up to speed and drove the 10 miles to my house at 55 mph and had no issues on the way home.

 

The next morning I replace the fuel filter and that whole day I drove it all over the place and had zero problems. I was thinking great just a dirty fuel filter. But then .... Today on my way into town it died again while I was going 55 mph.   SO I pulled off to the side of the road and waited about 10 minutes and it started right back up. Drove it back home with no problems.

 

When I got home I checked to make sure the fuel pump was pumping gas and it seemed like it was (I'm not really sure of the best way to check this) and nothing seemed really wrong with it. The engine idles at about 700 rpm once it is warmed up and I find it impossible to replicate it dying on me. It seems to be just random.

 

So now I turn to you guru's to try to help me get my car running back to its normal state so I don't have to worry about it dying on me during an inconvenient time.

 

I appreciate all of your responses in advance.

 

That's a tough one. 

It pretty much has to be loosing spark, or fuel.

 

If mine was doing what you describe -

 

If I thought it might be fuel, I'd tee in a fuel pressure gauge.

Throw a spare fuel pump wire set in the back, maybe a pump.

 

Maybe a coil and a disty.

 

And an ECU.

 

And the tools needed.

 

But I have all this stuff laying around.

 

I have not had a similar problem.  Intermittent failures are a BIG pain in the butt to troubleshoot.

if it dies when it warms up then i think i know what it is, its your distributor, mine used to do it, it would work perfectly and awesome and 15min later it would just stall and die and never turn back on no matter what i did unless i waited 10-15min for it to cool, then it would start up like nothing happened. it drove me insane but inside your distributor theres a metal disk with alot of holes on it and a sensor that reads these holes, either your disk is dirty or the sensor (little tiny rectangle sensor) is failing when it warms up, im not talking about the rotor, more deeper is a metal disk that spins inside the distributor, thats why theres regular wires coming out of your distributor, took me a while to figure out why a distributor needed power (not the coil, just regular wires) mine failed because i washed the engine and i fried the sensor and it woukd fail on me only after driving for 15ish minutes.. if its not that, good luck. but try to put an ice pack around the distributor and see if your vehicle lasts longer with it on, thats how i found out about my problem.

Edited April 11, 201510 yr by Subasaurus

Well in regards to Subasaurus,

 

I ran the car tonight for about 20 minutes pushing it really pretty hard, and it got warmed up fast. In fact I think I have rarely pushed it that hard before and it did not die on me, but I will look into the the distributor. I have had it last around a hour with no problems thus far but hey I'll try anything at this point I just can't have it die on me when I really need it.

Edited April 11, 201510 yr by samisunjp

it could be that its just now failing on you, sometimes it does it sometimes it wount, once you take the rotor cap off, theres a rotor that has a side screw that holds it, and then 2 phillips i think holding a metal plate that covers the rotating disk and sensor, i pulled my distributor out to work on this better but please do research on how to reinstall your distributor, i pulled mine stupidly and it took me forever to get it back working again, all i know is to leave piston #1 at TDC (top dead center) this would be the piston closer to the passenger headlight. i can't remember the rest of the steps since its been a year, but #1 on the distributor should be the one closest pointing to the driver, but when reinserting it you want to be pointing like at the battery or coolant reservoir since you have to compensate for it turning, please look this up further in detail before you start throwing tools like i did. and make sure you own a timing light!! since this is your first vehicle, im guessing you don't have many tools.

Edited April 11, 201510 yr by Subasaurus

and theres no way your going to test this unless you get yourself another distributor from the junkyard or atleast that rectangular sensor (about a centimeter by 2centimeters) its held by 2phillips i think.

Edited April 11, 201510 yr by Subasaurus

Had a similar problem with an El Camino years ago. Turned out that the liner in the fuel tank was blocking the fuel pump.

Had a similar problem with an El Camino years ago. Turned out that the liner in the fuel tank was blocking the fuel pump.

or that too, it could honestly be anything, check for basics like DaveT said, pressure in your fuel.

Check for spark when it dies and will not start.

Thanks for all of the replies and keep em coming! I do have one question about the distributor though, is there a way to take the distributor in and out without replacing it but only to clean it that does not require me to have to have a timing light?

Mark the position of the distributor body in relation to the engine.

Mark the rotor position relative to the distributor body,

If you duplicate these settings upon reinstallation,you are golden.

 

I would not do it though.

quite risky, if you screw up, you screw up bad unless you have a timing light, i would try other things that have no risk before you try mine.

If you are going to take out a distributor and may have to put another one in, line up the flywheel mark on the center of three tick marks on the flywheel.  That is where you start when you are replacing timing belts, which may happen.  Then do the marking that others mentioned.

 

Or, you just leave 10 minutes early to every place that you go.

any update?

Try replacing a couple key relay switches beneath the dash, to the left of the steering column, that keep the engine running.  You can figure it out when the engine is running, by pulling the relay switches one at a time.  Stick with genuine OEM switches.

Good advice @scoobydube, but this is an eight year thread update request from 88glonthadl. 

Long shot to get a reply but sometimes worth asking. 

Cheers 

Bennie

@ Bennie

On USMB, ----> 10 years? Yes it's possible...😁

Edited April 21, 20241 yr by Crazyeights