95 Riv chk eng/trac cont off/stalling

Ok, my wife's got a 1995 Buick Riviera non supercharged 3.8L.
Car ran ok till about march, then one night the check engine light came on at the same time the "traction contol off" light came on. The car seemed to keep running fine. Periodically since the first occurance, the same thing would happen, but it kept running, but on very rare occasion, when she would slowly back out of the driveway, or be at a stop light it would stall, but never when running down the road. Always started immediately, and continue to run fine. Today we were running some errands, and for the first time it stalled while running down the road, and it spent the rest of the day doing the same thing over and over. No warning whatsoever, and starts immediately afterwards. I've replaced and verified all ignition stuff to the plugs, and have good spark. While idling, it seems to be a little rougher than normal. I tried disconnecting the three sensor plugs near the TPS on the throttle body to see if it would make any difference in the running, and it seemed to. When I went down to my local auto parts store, they scanned it and found the following

Cam sensor out of range
TPS out of range
Another one I can't think of that seems like it would have its connector in the same spot as these two, so I'm assuming that because I disconnected the three sensors, that is what caused these three codes.

The last thing it said was a transmission param out of range.

Seems to get worse the warmer it gets.

Any ideas where to start looking? I've gone back to school, and she is supporting us, and I really can't afford to start dragging it to the dealer.

Also, any particular reason my generic obd II checker gives me a link error, and the parts stores GM specific obd II will read? Aren't all OBD II cars suppose to give at least some generic codes? And why does OBD II work at all when in the engine compartment it says OBD I certified? Just curious if anybody knows about this.

I had the same problem with my 95' Riviera. After having everything replaced only to see the problem get progressively worse over a one year period, I finally crawled it to the garage, had the Engine Control Sensor/Starter Coil replaced for around $400.00 and no more "Check Engine Soon/TC Off" lights. It runs like new now. I wanted to post this because after searching the internet for weeks I saw many people posting this problem but never saw one post about the solution.

Hope this helps :)

Thanks, you're right. Lots of posts on the problem, very few "solutions".
We brought it down to the dealer yesterday, they called a little later and said it was just the crank position sensor and the cam position sensor. Said it would run great for $400.00 out the door. I told them to go ahead and do it. They called me back right at the end of the day and said it was ready to go. So we go down to pick it up, and 15 minutes into the trip home, the light comes on, and the car stalls. Brought it back down today, and they said they had tried to replace the coil, but that hadn't worked. Hopefully by tomorrow they will have figured it out. I'll post something once we get it locked down so maybe it can be used by others. Thanks for the reply, and if the dealer doesn't get it, I'll give your suggestions a try on my own.

got an update? my car is doing this now just not staliing and the shop is wanting to put new cam sensor and crank sensor in.

got an update? my car is doing this now just not staliing and the shop is wanting to put new cam sensor and crank sensor in.

My 95 riv was doing same thing. Dealer did a decarb on injection system and replaced oxygen sensor. Car now has more pickup and no stalling. That was a relief.

My son-in-law's 95 Rivi just develped the same problem.--check engine light and trac control off lights came on simultaneously. Car stalls when coming to a stop. OBDII reader gave the following:
History Code: PO131 Bank 1 #1 Current Code: Oxygen Sensor Circuit low voltage.

Just a few weeks ago he had to have the intake manifold replaced as it was defective allowing antifreeze to go into the combustion chambers. No damage to engine however.
Two questions: Could the "History Code" be related to this problem and code was never cleared?
Also I have a Ford Windstar that had the familiar leaking head gasket problem which was replaced under warrenty. A few days later had to have the oxygen sensor replaced as the dealer said it was contaminated by antifreeze, which dealer also paid for. Could the same thing have occured with the Rivi --antifreeze contaminating the O2 Sensor? Don't want to replace the sensor if there is a different problem as it is a $65.00 part for this car. Thanks for any help you can give!!!

Most if not all 1995 Riviera 's are ODB1 not OBD2
What makes for all the confusion is they have OBD2 connectors . Thats why your OBD2 scanner wouldnt link up .

There is a way to jumper your OBD1 reader to work with the OBD2 connector. If you need info on that PM , I have a link for info to do that .

I also have the same Traction control prob as you do , it seem to start right at the same time my fuel pump died . Not sure if it has anything to do with it or not .

Wow, just relized how old this thread was,lol

Any one have a good solution to the traction control off light comming on after a few minutes of driving ?

My check engine light does not go on .

Any help would be appreceated Thanks, Kevin

MINE turned out to be a the main computer or the car was bad and giving bad signals. Im having a brain fart because I should know what the computer is called.

Pcm?

my 95 riv supercharged is having the same problem.. my fuel pump went a week later my harmonic balancer pulley broke and than about a month later my ck engine and traction off lights came on at the same time.. i checked it w/ the modis and a cam sensor code came up... i replaced the cam sensor because it was fairly cheap and was oe anyway but the code came right back..

i have 99k on it and there is some slight noise coming from the timing cover so i was thinking that maybe the chain has some slop and the button on the cam may have fallen off but that wouldnt explain the traction off light.. anyone else have any ideas??

plathegame; You could start a new thread on your problem, anyway this link may help you.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=217926&page=1&pp=15&highlight=crank+position+sensor+replacement
Crank position sensor - '95 LeSabre Dies Without Warning

plathegame; You could start a new thread on your problem, anyway this link may help you.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=217926&page=1&pp=15&highlight=crank+position+sensor+replacement
Crank position sensor - '95 LeSabre Dies Without Warning


thanks for the link, but mine doesnt stall out and runs pretty much the same just gets less gas mileage and very slightly less power like it maybe in default mode..

Wow, just relized how old this thread was,lol

Any one have a good solution to the traction control off light comming on after a few minutes of driving ?

My check engine light does not go on .

Any help would be appreceated Thanks, Kevin


I have the same problem, and I researched found mostly it's the box that needs replaced. $300 used and $800 new! I don't think I need it that bad!


Do you have the link to make the OBD1 work with the OBD2?

My 95's main computer was eventually swapped out after the mechanic attempted replacing the ignition controller to no avail and also checked my wiring harnesses for any shorts. Took them 3 days to whittle it down to that computer. End quote $700.