1997 Buick LeSabre Keeps Stalling

[jsb1022]

The car stalls intermittently. I dont drive it, but my 80 yr old mother does and its got me worried. This car can just stall and someone could rear-end her.

She had her mechanic replace the battery, alternator and starter. Also had the intake manifold replaced with a 1 year warranty on parts. This car probably has 150k miles on it but who knows cause the odomoter does not work and nor does the gas gauge.

Shes very thrifty and wont budge on buying a new car until this one simply dies 100% like all other cars shes owned. Im half tempted to call the mechanic and tell him to break the thing if I pay him.

Anyway, what else could be wrong with this car? I am not a mechanic obviously so Im here. Please, if anyone can shed some light, I would much appreciate it.

Thanks!

[maxwedge]

Stalls when, how? restarts ok? No info to work with here.

[usedranger]

The "..once in a while" or Intermittent thing will be hard to track down. I have a '95 in ok condition (167k on it) that has done this off and on for 2 years. The CkPs was replaced but no other parts have come up bad. {Can't read codes as its the "transition" year. An OBD II connector but seems to have OBD I code}. The mechanic I take the car to has not been able to find the problem or even duplicate the stall. I started doing the simple stuff like clean throttle body, MAF etc. but its impossible to predict when it will happen and usually its when someone else is driving. It will start up without any problem. No excessive cranking. Then it can not stall again for a long time (weeks or months). Does that sound like what your mom is experiencing?

[jsb1022]

Sorry, I'll try to get as much details as possible..We notice that right before it stalls, it seems to lose power then shut off. The car stalls once a day at the most. We can start the car right after it stalls about 2 - 3 minutes after it stalls. Apparently, from what her mechanic says, he cannot get a pertinent reading related to the stalling..does that sound accurate?

[usedranger]

When you say it will start after 2-3 minutes what does it do if you try to re-start it right away? Does it turn over/crank? Or when you turn the key does it do nothing except light up the dash lights? Can you hear a clicking noise under the hood when the key is turned to start?

[Smith1000]

I would try cleaning the MAF sensor with MAF sensor spray/cleaner. I had 2 '97 Lesbares. One of them would stall periodically--usually on a downhill grade when coasting or beginning to brake. I would clean the MAF sensor and the stalling would stop for several months. It never did display a code. I would have replaced the sensor, but they are kind of expensive. I suppose I could have put a salvaged one in. When it would start to stall again, I would again clean the MAF sensor.

If not the MAF sensor, the crank or cam position sensors could be the problem. If you replace one, may as well do both while in there. The harmonic balancer must come off to gain access. I had replaced the cam and crank position sensors on both '97 Lesabres. These are ideas that you might try. It could be one of about 10 different things.

[jsb1022]

Thanks for the tips! I wrote it all down and hopefully this mechanic will try these things I have acquired in the post.

It actually stalled on me twice yesterday. Both times it started right up.

1 - The first time, while I was backing out of a parking spot and had the wheel turned to the right a bit and my foot on the brake. It started up for me right away - no wait time.

2. The second time, after I was pulling into a Rita's water ice. My speed was about 10mph and I was going straight into a parking spot. About halfway in the spot - the car just stalled and shut off. It started up right away - no wait time.

I was going by mom when she said the wait was 2-3 minutes so I dont know if thats really accurate. Probably not. Anyway, thanks for the tips again!