92 Cutless Engine quits intermittently, 3 yrs now

[Gopher]

My 92 olds cutless ciera has been intermittently cutting out while driving or coming to a stop or already stopped. This has been happening for the past 3 years. No codes show up and does not quit running when I have it at the service station or they run it on the computer, spend hundreds of dollars trying to fix this problem. It used to ONLY happen in temperatures around 80 degrees and higher..two years in a row..say from end May till Fall. Then this year, the past month or two it is cutting out at temps anything from 50's and higher. It is not daily usually. It can happen 10 times in an hour or two and then be ok for 2 weeks! It does not happen at high speeds (like highway driving). What happens is it just quits as if I turned it off. No prior notice, just suddently all the brake lights, engine lights, etc. come on and I have to steer it to safety and restart it. Usually it will restart but I have to keep foot on gas heavily for a while else it quits immediately again. I have had fuel pump replaced, ignition module and 3 other plug things and their wires (cant recall names), had a new computer put in, had fuel injectors cleaned but still doing this. Oh yes, at times I can be driving and the car will hesitate and then "take" again as if nothing happened (not quiting on me - but most times when it acts up it does not hesitate but just quits without any warning). Sometimes I seem to feel a stiffness in the steering column when it acts up. Would appreciate some advice!!! Potentially dangerous when turning across a street too!
Thanks..Gopher

[scholin]

I had the exact problem on my 1992 olds 88 a month ago and the GM dealer could not find any problems either. I posted my problem on another car site and two people (only two people) both said the problem was my crank sensor. I took the car back into the dealer and said to replace the crank sensor and he said that he seriously doubt that could be it but he would replace it.

Sure enough, that was the problem and it has been running fine ever since! Total charge was like $170!

Let me know if that is the problem - I am curious?

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[inconnel209952]

Have u had the fuel pump checked.....sometimes a flat spot on the fuel pump motor causes these symptoms...

[Gopher]

Originally Posted by inconnel209952

Have u had the fuel pump checked.....sometimes a flat spot on the fuel pump motor causes these symptoms...

Yes- I had the fuel pump relaced 2 years ago, when problem was quite new still, no change. Thanks for your suggestion

[doug46052]

Had the same type prob in my 91 Ciera, also turned out to be the crank position sensor. About $150 repair at the dealership.

[Krusty20]

[/quote] Thx for the advice - I just experienced the same prob with my 92 cutlass ciera and when the shop couldn't find anything wrong or get the car to repeat the stall I asked them to replace the crank sensor - not sure what they thought but has been no stall problem since. My car has over 220,000 kms and still running well (too bad about the rust though!) Thanks again for the suggestion.

[Mrbizness1]

Originally Posted by Gopher

My 92 olds cutless ciera has been intermittently cutting out while driving or coming to a stop or already stopped.

Stalling while slowing down, or coming to a stop can be caused by a sticking torque convertor. Had that problem on my 88 ciera, unplugged the convertor plug on the front of the trans, end of problem. This would only happen after warm up. Drove it unplugged for 3 years

[53bruce]

I had a simular issue on my 91 3.1 mfi cutless supreme. symtom was intermittant cutout for no reason, seemed to be somewhat heat related. I replaced the crank sensor ( helped!) but still had the issue. I also check ALL of the wires with an ohmmeter and they checked out fine.
Finally, I found the issue: the connecters on the ignition module had worn somehow and were too big and would intermittanly would lose contact on the ignition module. when this occurs, no error codes were set.
The fix that I used was to disconnect the battery, the remove the 6 pin cable from the ignition module ( some only have 5 wires as the tach position is not used) Then I push out the connecters and squezzed them ever so slightly so the conductors would make good contach with the ignition module pins. That seemed to stop the issue.
problably a better solution would be to get a new cable connecter assmbly, but who knows where to find them?

anyways, Hope this can help you out, good luck