1994 Olds 88 shut off while driving

Hey, I was driving today and my CEL came on. It has come on once before (a couple days ago) but turned off after I shut the car off. The car sounded fine, and drove fine so I did not think much of it because the car has been through a lot.

When it came on again, I figured I would finish the short drive to my friends house and check the car out, but the car turned off twice on my way over there. this is the first time that this has happened in the 2.5 years and 15k+ miles that ive driven it (105K on it now). I had noticed what smelled like coolant burning off of the front exhaust manifold on the tranny side. This is following a couple days of sub 32* temperatures, and possibly insufficient amounts of antifreeze in my coolant. Cracked block? My water level has stayed around normal.

The car also has a tempermental transmission. In the cold mornings the car will not shift into drive unless i pop it into 1st gear first, then back into drive. I fixed this problem around 8 months ago by changing the transmission fluid filter, but the problem has since come back. I replaced the fluid filter again to no avail. Im thinking it might be the fluid (I reused it).

Any tips on what to do about the stalling would be great. I dont know why my car would shut off because of a cracked block, and I know it doesnt have to do with the tranny. Should I clean my TPS? Check my EGR? Im tempted to bring it in for a diagnosis to an auto place.

Thanks in advance,

Ross Love

thats 1st on the list cant tell anything until you read the code

Okay, small update. I found that the car shuts off when I dont keep my foot on the throttle. When the car goes into vacuum, it will turn off. This problem doesnt happen all the time, I can drive somewhere fine, but on my way back it will start to act up turning off when I let off the throttle.

I am trying to get it scanned but im pretty busy during the hollidays. And ive also read online that it needs a special scanner/ adaptor because it is inbetween OBD1 & OBD2, with an OBD1 computer, but an OBD2 plug?

Also, where is the OBD scan plug on the car?

Any help is appreciated, sorry I have not got it scanned yet. Im thinking it might be a TPS, but not sure, I obviously wont throw parts at it without a good idea of what it is.

First, Merry Chistmas. Sorry to hear about your car problems during the holiday season.

You'll find the connector under the driver's dash, above the brake pedal. And you're right, it may have an OBDII connector, but the OBDI computer (which itself is a silver box mounted against the firewall on the passenger side, just above where the passenger's feet would be).

I had to buy an Autoxray scanner (which would read both computers), then pick up a separate OBDII cord to plug into it). Good luck!