Hello all! I was hoping some one out there has had this problem and could point me in the right direction.

While driving my 1990 loyale non-turbo ea82 5 speed, randomly it will sputter and die. When it happens, I hear some relays clicking under the driver side dashboard and all of my warning light come on. I've discovered the only way to get it running again is to pulled the battery cable for a few seconds and everything is back to normal. I've got a new ignition coil and distributer. The fuel pump appears to be doing its job, however I have not done a pressure test.

It will go months without dying and then it will die every morning on my commute. I can't find a pattern here!

Thanks!

 

-K

Hmmm.  months means seasons, and seasons means temp and humidity.  I'd start looking for a compromised ground.

Hmmm.  months means seasons, and seasons means temp and humidity.  I'd start looking for a compromised ground.

You might have a damaged ground, or loose connection. I had this problem with my 85 GL. My nut on the negative terminal of the battery would vibrate loose over a period of time, I replaced the nut and bolt and haven't had that problem since. 

Thanks for the input guys! I don't think it's a loose battery cable. After she dies I still have power (radio, headlights, etc work). It will turn over but acts like there's no spark??

Sorry, that should have been in the original post.

ahh, ok. i would say timing, but that happens a bit more frequent. Maybe your solenoid.

When it's running, poke around at wiring harness on the engine. Obviously avoid moving bits and spark plug wires. There are a couple of engine ground wires worth checking also. One near the thermostat, on on a tab on the coolant pipe that goes into the water pump. And the one from battery neg to the body. Intermittent electric problems are a pain.

Well,

I wiggled every wire I could get my hands on while the engine is running and could not replicate the problem. Could this be a stuck ignition relay???? I'm pretty sure it's not emissions related (MAF, O2, ETC) since I'm not getting a check engine lamp. 

What I would be doing.... swap all of the fuses around -they can fail intermittent and you can't tell by looking at them. Add a temporary pilot light / test light to likely circuits to monitor if the power drops when the event happens. I once had the wire in the engine harness that goes to the iac valve break - inside the insulation. The engine would shut off if I let go of the gas pedal. It would still run as along as I feathered the gas pedal.

I'm in the process of trouble shooting electrical (kinda hard after work 6 12hr days in a row) here's a quick video to show exactly what it's doing

Did you shut the car off at the end of that video? And the clicking in the background, is that the relays you were talking about? I would suspect one of those relays is going out.

I did kill the car at the end, It started smelling really strong of gas I really don't want to burn my garage down But that is what it does while driving and then it dies completely. The clicking in the video was what I was referring to in previous posts. It's coming from somewhere under the driver-side dash.

After doing some searching on USMB I've seen a couple mentions of the ignitor AKA power transistor, AKA ignition amplifier. I think it allows the ECM to control the coil. I can't find this part for sale. Has anybody had experience testing this part? any clue where I could get a replacement if it is in fact bad?

Thanks!

Update: tested the coil and the primary was a little out of spec so I replaced it. Checked every ground wire I could find and cleaned it up (nothing looked too bad). Also every connector has been double checked and cleaned. I had a code 35 purge valve but I don't think it's the source of my problem

After a test drive it did sputter again. Not as bad as in the video, but it seems the problem is still there.

You are correct, the purge valve code has no drivability effect .

You might try cleaning the MAF sensor if you have one? Normally two small screws on top of the air filter housing hold it in place. Lift it out and spray it gently with CRC mass air flow cleaner. It's a e-z fix if its just dirty. They don't always throw a code when they start acting up. The clicking is possibly your fuel pump relay.

1. Replace all relay switches under the dash. 

2. Look for hardening in the black wire that comes off of the hot lead on your battery.  That black wire goes to the bottom of the fusible link box.  If it is hard then you are going to have to splice in a new section of wire by splaying the new wire with the old black wire, because standard couplings do not work.

3. Look for hardening in the ground wire that lies in front of the battery and connects to the frame.  The frame end of the wire at the connector gets hot when that wire needs to be replaced.

4. Look for hardening in the hot wire coming off the back side of the alternator.  If hard, then splice in a new section of wire using a coupling.

Edited October 13, 20169 yr by scoobiedubie