Hello everyone. I am a newbie who knows little about cars. I purchased a 92 Lumina Euro with a 3.1 and 101,400 miles on it a little over two weeks ago. It has been having problems since I got it.
It stalls intermittently, typically after I drive to work, shut it off for two hours, and then start it to go to my next client(home health aid) sometimes it stalls right after starting it then, and/or sometimes when put in reverse and/or drive and occasionally at stops signs after the aforementioned problems occur. It has also stalled out twice after highway driving after the car is shut off and started shortly afterwards, for instance, when I ran into a tobacco store for some cigs.. After the problem occurs it usually drives ok if I continue to drive it awhile even if I shut it off for a short time and restart.. I added some fuel injector cleaner when I filled the tank but it didn't help.
After about a week of the stalling issues the car refused to start after dying and didn't start for two or three days. As I was unable to get an answer from the dealer my step-father, who went with me when I bought the car, called him and he said if I could get the car there he would fix it. So I borrowed a bundle to have it towed the 25 miles or so to the small town car lot.
His mechanic supposedly fixed it by replacing the TPS and the dealer informed me that they had cleaned the throttle body before I bought it and apparently the TPS needed replaced to. However the issues again started after one day of it running fine. I tired to get a hold of this guy again and again I get the voice mail and no return call so as soon as I got off work I drove it over there and again he said he would fix it. He had it for three days and I again tried to get a hold of him without success and he again answered the phone for my step-dad and told him they had ordered some kind of module that would be in Monday. So Wednesday he calls me and tells me that they didn't replace this module because when they took it out it tested good five times but they noticed some gunk build up at the contacts of the wires that hook to the module and now the car was fixed. Why did they order the part before testing??? This doesn't make sense so it throws doubt on what the man said. I went to get the car and when I got back to my town and went to get those cigs it died twice after restart and put into reverse. That was two days ago and it has been dying once or twice each day since then although it is somewhat better than before as it isn't taking as long for the idle to even out at sufficient rpms after I throttle it at idle or drive awhile BUT now it seems to be sucking the gas hard and I am wondering if this guy just did some jerry-rigging because he sure isn't fixing it.
So, I tried to call him again a couple times and goes to voice mail so my step dad called and got him and the guy said the car was fixed that it was running just fine when it was at his shop and the computer showed no codes as if that proved the car was fine. My dad chewed him out as he misrepresented this as a good car that he drove to work because he liked it so much and a one person owner(not) etc etc.My dad threatened to go to the states attorney and the guy ended up saying he would fix it or get someone else to do it if he can't but he can't do it till Tuesday because he is out of town but I don't know if I want to give it back to him again after all the bs and now the gas guzzling. It's just I don't have the money to take it to a mechanic and I don't know how to work on cars or have the tools needed to even try simple things arrghhh. My dad/step dad is in his eighties and knew how to work on tractors back in the day but doesn't know about this modern sh#* so he can't fix it or he would. I think the guy is just altering the conditions a little bit in order to make it seem fixed and hoping I will get tired of driving or towing over there and just take it somewhere else as I would right away if I had the money. Also I still owe this guy money on the car---arggh.
Sorry for the long ramble but this is so stressful and depressing. I did make an appointment with a local mechanic for Sept 13 but I really don't have the money for it. I am not sure I want to take it back to the dealer at all anymore because I now have no trust in him.I guess I am just wanting some moral support/advice and any info about this problem that I can get to help when I speak with the blasted car dealer or the local mechanic about it.
A few more details. The rpms drop rapidly when this occurs, it has a couple of times had a rough idle at the same time but more often the rpms drop and it dies.Sometimes if I use the throttle and keep it up around 1000 rpms for a short time it won't die. I have smelt a burnt smell a couple times when I shut the car off, like electric burnt, not oil burnt or stinky exhaust. Lets see, I felt a very brief loss of power feeling when driving on the highway on two different occasions, so brief that it was barely discernable. It runs over the halfway point on the temp gauge after driving awhile in town, seems a little hot to me but I read these cars don't kick on the fan till 220. Sometimes the rpm bobs a little up and down at idle and slow speeds and once the battery power dropped and popped right back up when it was idling funny and when it had that no start an acquaintance tested it by putting a screwdriver in a plug wire and pointing it towards the engine as I cranked it and he said it had no spark and it did crank every time I tried to start it during the no-start condition. It has also done a bit of surging from time to time when the prob happens. The car is recovering from the stall condition quicker than it did before since this last "fix" but still stalling.
I don't have the tools or knowledge to do any of the diagnostic tests I have seen recommended on this and other forums but any info would be useful, especially anyone who solved a similar problem.
Thanks much.