97 lesabre "Stumbles"

[BNaylor]

The best thing to do is follow the wiring diagram you have and check the wiring point to point for continuity and also a possible short to ground. I'm not sure on the '97 LeSabre but the wiring harness for the ICM and the crank position sensor should be all one piece and terminate at a big connector (gray?) in the middle before the PCM inputs and outputs. The one I worked on had fried pins at the connector. It was located right by the purge solenoid at the front of the UIM plenum.

[Smith1000]

I looked at the gray connector over fairly closely and it looks fairly good. I might go ahead and rewire the by-pass and ignition wires to the pcm in the morning. The problem has been occurring frequently all day, but there has been no code set since this morning. Seems kind of odd. I keep expecting the code, but no code or check engine light.

I have another 97 Lesabre, so I swapped out the ignition control modules. The problem is still present with the icm out of the other Buick. It seems like it is happening more frequently at lower rpms, particularly when coasting or moving very slowly. When on a section of bumpy road, it is happening quite frequently-kind of like a loose wire (causing complete loss of power). Our road is gravel and the county just put new rock down, so at low speeds moving along the bumpy gravel, it is really cutting out (tach just drops out too). I have a Jeep that did something similar once and it turned out the be the ignition switch. Kind of reminds me of that problem. I have jiggled the Lesabre key and it doesn't change anything though. The problem is definitely a complete loss of power and seems to happen only when hot. When pulling up and braking, it will sometimes do it and will occasionlly die (no codes or check engine light today). Kind of makes me think there is something else loose in the ignition system causing the problem; something that is not setting a code. Maybe the 1361 code was a symptom or side effect of this other problem which involved loss of power in the circuit.

I may check tomorrow to see if the ignition feed + (pink) is powering out when jarred. Looks like this wire runs through the fuse block. I'll have to look at that closer. Not sure where it routes through exactly.

[Smith1000]

I cleaned up several more connections, pulled out some fuses and relays and re-installed them. It hasn't done it since early this morning, but it has been cooler and rainy today. This morning, it died once or twice while in park sitting in the driveway. I tend to think it was a bad connection and is fixed or, it will do it again when hotter out. If so, I think it may be a relay heating up and shorting out (possibly). Under the glove box on the pass. side, there is a relay that is fairly hot to touch. I believe it is the fuel pump relay. Some of the relays on the firewall are very hot, hotter than some, but that is a hot spot under the hood. I'll see how it runs tomorrow. I guess I'll go ahead and drive it. Oh, there have been no codes set since Saturday morning.

[Smith1000]

I haven't had the stumble back. It must have been a bad or loose connection. I have put about 200 miles on it without any problem. I think I have a fuel related problem though that is responsible for my poor gas mileage.