im clueless! any olds gurus out there???

ive emailed a few times on this subject.....i own a 97 olds 88 LS.....for some unknown reason, the car just DIES...only after reaching operating temperature.....i mean no sputtering like a fuel problem...just dying no matter if you're going 5 or 90..it was starting right back up immediately after dying but now its taking a minute or 2 to start...it gets me nervous when im in a corner and lose power steering and brakes...i means its like.. someone turned the ignition switch off......i just got my car back today from the DEALER...who had it 5 days and couldnt get it to duplicate! they checked crank sensor,computers,fuel,everything and now im stuck with a car that dies whenever it wants to and i have to clue what to do next...any ideas all??? please help!

You could put 10 guess work parts in this and the 11th would be the one to fix it. Most people would say the crank sensor, wiring fom the sensor to the icm , or the ignition switch ,again with out on the spot diagnosis or luck it would be guess work.

You could put 10 guess work parts in this and the 11th would be the one to fix it. Most people would say the crank sensor, wiring fom the sensor to the icm , or the ignition switch ,again with out on the spot diagnosis or luck it would be guess work.
whats icm?

Ignition control module, under the coils.

Do any lights in the dash turn on or off at times? Check your battery terminal. It might sound dumb but for some reason my car did the same thing and i checked the battery and it is fine now. I also have 97 88 LS, great car.

how hard would it be to change the ignition control module?.....ive changed out all 3 coils...that was a piece of cake :) what makes you think its the i.c.m.? im curious...thanks!

while im sitting at the light with my kids today,the car died again....nw something new came to light...after a few minutes it finally started i was so aggravated,i reved the heck out of it...now-at 3k rpm it started cutting out...ive never reved it that high before....anyone have any ideas?...still igniton coil module?

FYI, there is a rev limiter that cuts in when racing the engine in neutral or at this point any other problems would have been moot. Unless you have some one check the circuits that control the fuel and spark you will continue to put parts in that it may not need, a scan done when it won't start will reveal whether there is cranking rpm and the problem can be narrowed down, this will not get fixed anyway other than guessing at parts or having some one familiar with this car/condition get involved. I guess I am repeating my self here!

im sorry maxwedge.....im at my wits end...especially when the dealer has the car for 5 days and they cant even get it fixed....they said it wouldnt duplicate.....but im listening to you about the module......i checked and its 135 bucks.....have you had this happen to your car before? thanks

Yes, but the crank sensor could also be bad with the same symptoms. Didn't know it was at a dealer you never mentioned that in your post. They cannot go and drive it around like you do, get stuck and check it out on the road, no one will pay this kind of time consuming diagnostic fees, they won't put in a part on a guess, and worry about a customer complaint over improper repairs. You could speak the SM and ask them replace their best guess part as an attempt to fix it.

Someone before asked if you still had lights in the car and other such items. I, too, would like to know. I few months back my car had similar problems where it would just die on me. It turned out that one of my battery cables was corroded. There are two cables, one to the basic electronics like radio and lights, and another to engine components such as brakes and power steering. If the cable to the engine is corroded, it would causes that stuff to shut off. This could also explain why a diagnostic check wouldn't pick it up. I'd have your battery cables cleaned or replaced before you go into computer module, since a diagnostic check should have picked up something wrong with it. If your battery cables are clean, then, from what I've heard anyway, there's supposed to be a fusable link somewhere on the battery cable that could be causing the problem, but I'm not positive on that.

hey maxwedge...have a question......can i replace the c.p.s. myself? is it a pain?.....new update on the olds.....someone told me they replaced the thermostat on their car<gm> from a 195 to a 180 and the problem stoped.....now this is where its interesting...when i took off the radiator cap...ive never seen so bad rust/sludge in a car before! im fixing that problem today but-3 days ago i replaced it<thermostat> and it was cooler outside those 2 days.....the car never died once..on the 3rd day it was warm outside and the car died again when my wife drove it......any ideas?.....now someone told me it might be my battery cables?....what would YOU replace first? crank sensor,icm.....thanks max......

You could put in the sensor, it is not expensive they historically have been un reliable, you will need to pull the balancer off to do this, so some special tools are needed here. Go to autozone.com/repairinfo for more spcific details and decide if you feel up to it, all 380011's are the same with this procedure.

You could put 10 guess work parts in this and the 11th would be the one to fix it. Most people would say the crank sensor, wiring fom the sensor to the icm , or the ignition switch ,again with out on the spot diagnosis or luck it would be guess work.

Hi. I'm new and a little confused...Anyway, my 88 has been recently stalling (everyday for the last week). I brought it to a mechanics who told me it could be many different problems...he was not really of a help.

My problem:
- car stalls whenever it feels like it (speed decreases, steering wheel jams, check engine soon light comes on)
- the scanner at the mechanics gave the code 42 (electrical spark timing - whatever that means !) or maybe it's "fuel" related
- my car often smells like gas
- a few months back, I would start my car in the morning and it would stall when I wanted to leave so I had to start it up again

Except that, my car is in good shape.

Please help me (I'm a woman and scared of being screwed my a mechanics who thinks I don't know what I'm talking about...) I just don't want to pay more than what my car is actually worth.

THANKS! Renée

ive emailed a few times on this subject.....i own a 97 olds 88 LS.....for some unknown reason, the car just DIES...only after reaching operating temperature.....i mean no sputtering like a fuel problem...just dying no matter if you're going 5 or 90..it was starting right back up immediately after dying but now its taking a minute or 2 to start...it gets me nervous when im in a corner and lose power steering and brakes...i means its like.. someone turned the ignition switch off......i just got my car back today from the DEALER...who had it 5 days and couldnt get it to duplicate! they checked crank sensor,computers,fuel,everything and now im stuck with a car that dies whenever it wants to and i have to clue what to do next...any ideas all??? please help!


try checking the temperature sensor... its in the front of the engine, and next to the MAF sensor