'97 Cav dies going down the road

[kblkstone]

I have a '97 Cavalier with 207,750 miles on it. No problems ever outta this car, ever. I am going down the road the other day and the car just dies, I limp to the side of the road, it idles, roughly, and lets me limp at about 2mph almost 6 miles to a gas station.Unbelievable! It barely runs, spitting and sputtering. I have it towed to where I live, it won't even start by then. The tow driver said its either bad gas or a clogged converter. I change the spark plugs, the fuel filter, add fuel treatments, & cut open the converter. Nothing helps. It will crank & crank, sounding like its misfiring. I try one of those testers for getting codes, it gives me a bunch of generic codes that amount to nothing I am told. I then take it to the Chevy garage @$40 an hour for them to put it on the computer & diagnose it. They tell me there is spark, fuel pressure and the computer is good. They change the TPS and the MAP sensors. Nothing. Still will not start, unless you have your foot jammed to the floor, and that is only a few seconds at best. Any suggestions as to what could be going on? I read thru here and a few people have had similiar problems with the fuel pumps going bad. I don't know if the Chevy garage was yanking my chain as to what was tested, as it is still not running. As I said, I have never had a problem in the three years I have owned it, putting on 130,000 of those miles.
I would appreciate anyone perspective or guess as to what to try next.
Thanks!

[danstrong]

Sounds like you've done all the right things, but still haven't found the solution.

I have an older Cavalier, 1985 that had similar issues. It turned out to be the ignition module. For some reason, my car burns out ignition modules once in a while, Every 3 years or so. Take out the module, (I'm guessing it is under the distributor on your car like mine) and have it checked. However, one module I had checked, checked OK, but the car did not run with it, so the check did not work on that part. So I would recommend buying a new one anyways to try.

When you reinstall the module, be sure to use the special grease. I believe I was putting too much grease on and caused my module to fail earlier than normal. Use only a very thin layer of grease, I have not been burning them out quite as much. However, I was also trying different brands.

Just one more thing to check, but it might not be your problem.

Good luck
Dan Strong

Originally Posted by kblkstone

I have a '97 Cavalier with 207,750 miles on it. No problems ever outta this car, ever. I am going down the road the other day and the car just dies, I limp to the side of the road, it idles, roughly, and lets me limp at about 2mph almost 6 miles to a gas station.Unbelievable! It barely runs, spitting and sputtering. I have it towed to where I live, it won't even start by then. The tow driver said its either bad gas or a clogged converter. I change the spark plugs, the fuel filter, add fuel treatments, & cut open the converter. Nothing helps. It will crank & crank, sounding like its misfiring. I try one of those testers for getting codes, it gives me a bunch of generic codes that amount to nothing I am told. I then take it to the Chevy garage @$40 an hour for them to put it on the computer & diagnose it. They tell me there is spark, fuel pressure and the computer is good. They change the TPS and the MAP sensors. Nothing. Still will not start, unless you have your foot jammed to the floor, and that is only a few seconds at best. Any suggestions as to what could be going on? I read thru here and a few people have had similiar problems with the fuel pumps going bad. I don't know if the Chevy garage was yanking my chain as to what was tested, as it is still not running. As I said, I have never had a problem in the three years I have owned it, putting on 130,000 of those miles.
I would appreciate anyone perspective or guess as to what to try next.
Thanks!

[kblkstone]

Originally Posted by danstrong

Sounds like you've done all the right things, but still haven't found the solution.

I have an older Cavalier, 1985 that had similar issues. It turned out to be the ignition module. For some reason, my car burns out ignition modules once in a while, Every 3 years or so. Take out the module, (I'm guessing it is under the distributor on your car like mine) and have it checked. However, one module I had checked, checked OK, but the car did not run with it, so the check did not work on that part. So I would recommend buying a new one anyways to try.

When you reinstall the module, be sure to use the special grease. I believe I was putting too much grease on and caused my module to fail earlier than normal. Use only a very thin layer of grease, I have not been burning them out quite as much. However, I was also trying different brands.

Just one more thing to check, but it might not be your problem.

Good luck
Dan Strong

Dan,
Thanks for the input. I have one of those Power Packs on the back fo the motor instead of a distributor. It looks like a wonderful thing to try and remove. I will look into this though and see what if any improvement this will make.

Any other input from someone would be great!! I am ready to lose my mind over this car!

[Three_Fingers]

If ya got spark-no need to suspect the ignition coil pack or module.
I would look at the crank sensor-the module uses this sensor's signal to know when to fire.
Sometimes the crank sensors just break for the hell of it or only work intermittently.
Dunno what motor you got, but if it's a four cylinder-tell the guy at the shop to look inside the timing cover at the belt (if it has one) and see if the camshaft is turning. Even if it is-it coulda jumped far enough out of time to no run atall.
New belt and a retime fix that quick enuf.

[kblkstone]

Originally Posted by Three_Fingers

If ya got spark-no need to suspect the ignition coil pack or module.
I would look at the crank sensor-the module uses this sensor's signal to know when to fire.
Sometimes the crank sensors just break for the hell of it or only work intermittently.
Dunno what motor you got, but if it's a four cylinder-tell the guy at the shop to look inside the timing cover at the belt (if it has one) and see if the camshaft is turning. Even if it is-it coulda jumped far enough out of time to no run atall.
New belt and a retime fix that quick enuf.

Thanks, I will look into this as well. I combed thru the Haynes manual on this car, and haven't found where this is mounted. I have the 2.2L motor. I have replaced the alternator before, is it under all that mess on that side of the motor? Whatever happened to the days when you could actually work on a vehicle!? I hate disassembling half the motor to get to something. Those coil packs look like a joy to get off!

[Three_Fingers]

Ah! Be damned glad you don't have a 2.0. It's a real hop inna nuts to get to half of anything in there.
The crank sensor should be in either of two places.
At the front of the crank or the back.
Look around by the crank pulley for a raised area with wire/s going to it or right on the end of the block by the trans bellhousing for it.
There's not much visible of it externally-just the wires/connector. Most I've seen fit a specially machined hole and have 1 bolt holding it in.

[kblkstone]

Originally Posted by Three_Fingers

Ah! Be damned glad you don't have a 2.0. It's a real hop inna nuts to get to half of anything in there.
The crank sensor should be in either of two places.
At the front of the crank or the back.
Look around by the crank pulley for a raised area with wire/s going to it or right on the end of the block by the trans bellhousing for it.
There's not much visible of it externally-just the wires/connector. Most I've seen fit a specially machined hole and have 1 bolt holding it in.

Thanks!
I will find that thing tonight. Is it possible to test the power pack/coil?
Someone suggested it could be bad, but still throwing spark, just not in the right order and causing the car to misfire and NOT start. It sounds like it's misfiring when you try to start it. Of course, the crank sensor could be sending the computer the wrong timing signal as well.

Beginning to think its time to take the local dealer up on his $3000 minimum trade, push pull or drag it in! Of, course that is a figure of speech, they'll sh#t when I do drag my 200,000+ car into their lot!

[Three_Fingers]

Heh. Sounds like ya drive 'em like I do. My two GM's got 400,000+ miles on 'em collectively.
You can test the coil pack, but usually if the spark timing is wrong, it's either the CPS or the module-unless ya got a 2.0 with the one-piece coil pack-they're known for "tunneling"-One coil gets weak and the spark, having no where to go-tunnels thru to the adjoining coil, causing a 1-3, or 2-4 misfire. A real bitch to troubleshoot.