My brother has an 89 GA with the Quad 4Cly engine. He was driving last week when the engine started stalling on him. He can start it with no problems but as soon as he puts it in gear it will stall out. When we put it in gear and kept the gas pedal down, the car started backfiring and the engine seamed to start shaking.

We disconnected the TCC solanoid and changed out the fuel filter but the problem continues. My brother says the engine sounds "quieter" so wondering if some of the cylinders may not be firing.

Your comments and suggestions please.

I think this is a common problem. I thought someone last week was having the same trouble, but with a new model GA. I had an 89' GA v6 and it done the same thing. I rebuilt the engine replaced all the sensors, crank,cam,TPS,MAS, coils and the ECM and it still wanted to die when put in gear. I was told it was transmission related so I sent it away to the Trans. shop and shazam, it ran fine. the lockout on the torque converter wasnt dis-engaging letting it turn freely when stoped, kinda like a clutch. hope this helps

xeroinfinity, thanks for the reply. It ended up being a coil that the neighbor was able to help him with.

Great! thats a lot cheaper and easier than transmission extraction.