1993 Bonneville SSE dies in traffic at rush hour....

[twotimeskc]

And ONLY in traffic and ONLY at rush hour.



It's driving me nuts.
I'm thinking about hiring a tow truck to follow me around everywhere.

Here's my problem.

First off I can't tell if the dying problem and THIS problem are related.

Several months ago I noticed that my dash gauges were going nuts. Oil, water and charging gauges were bouncing back and forth and sometimes freezing. The driver information center on the dash was flickering on and off and sometimes would just go dark. When it came back on everything would reset itself and I would get the "ding-ding" like when you first start the car up. This was all happening as I drove the car both on the highway and in city traffic.

One day the gauges were bouncing back and forth VIOLENTLY and the displays on the dash were flickering and next thing I knew I felt the steering get tight and I realized the car had shut off. I managed to pull off the road and the car would not re-start. I waited 15 minutes and it started back up again. The gauge problem persisted.

The dealer can't tell me anything other than he suspects the stalling problem and the gauge problem are unrelated.

He has sent the instrument cluster out to be checked and repaired, but he still feels it's not going to fix the problem with the stalling.

What could be causing the car to die, usually in traffic?
Why does it start right back up again if you wait about 10 or 15 minutes?
If you try to re-start it sooner, it will turn over, but it won't start.

Should I just replace the following?
Fuel relay, crank sensor, fuel pump and ignition switch and hope that one of these things are faulty?

The car runs great, even with 125k and I don't want to just junk it!

H-E-L-P!!!

[jdq]

Sounds like something to do with Vats (or alarm system) I think this will cause the 15 min wait to start the car once it is shut off ,that being said I dont think it will cause the car to stall though.It seems like you have a grounding problem ,maybe check grounds (clean them up)there is one on the floor where you open drivers side doorunder carpet directly below inside door latch,if this gets wet can cause problems.One on passenger side ,also check your ground from battery for corrosion.Make sure alternator and battery are working properly first.

[maxwedge]

During the no start event check for spark and fuel pressure , this is basic diagnostics here.

[Spartan312]

I am having the same problem in my '92 Bonnie. I wish I had seen yours so I didn't start a new thread, but I am desperate. Mine won't even crank. I have a sneaking suspicion that the gages and the dying are somehow related, though.

[Rae_o_Sunshine]

Has anyone figured out whats causing this????
I have read plenty of forums with the same problems,but noone ever answers!
i'm having the same problem with my Bonneville....it can drive fine for miles or stall and can't start for 15minutes or so.Then it will stall every few blocks!
But after cars sit like overnight it will be back to driving fine!
It seems sitting at a light or leaving car idling to long makes something go wrong!!
Because i have drove for at least 20 miles none stop.... she drives fine!!

Any help would be great,this car keeps leaving me on the side of the road with 3 children!!!!

Thanks

[maxwedge]

This thread is too old please start a new one, but as was suggested, when this happens fuel pressure and spark must be checked, again this is just basics.

[clutch492]

Sounds like the same problem I had with a Lumina. It would run fine and then just die. Here is what I found and what I did to repair it...........

This might sound strange, but I kicked the tire and the car would die. Yes it is true. What I found was that the resistor in the key was not making good contact with the terminals in the tumbler. By kicking the tire, I was trying to simulate a bump on the road. It led me to the steering column and to the key. I could just wiggle the key a little bit and the car would die.

I measured the resistance of the key, found a resistor in a radio that matched the resistance in the key, cut the 2 little white wires that follow the steering column, soldered the resistor in place on the car side (not the clumn side) and the car has run fine ever since.

The only downfall to this is that the security system is disabled. The upside is that you can get a key made now that has no chip (resistor) in it.

By the way, there is only 5 different resistors in these keys.