'92 Lumina stalling when brakes applied

[Blue_Turtle]

I'm sure this issue has been tackled many times, but my sister is having a difficiult time. She has a '92 Lumina that frequently stalls in stop and go traffic when the brakes are appplied to swiftly or suddenly. Most of the time she can restart the car with few glitches, but occasionally the car dies altogether and she cannot restart the car. She recently had the ignition switch replaced in hopes of correcting the problem. I did not think that would have anything to do with her problem. I think it's completely electrical, but I am not a mechanic, much less even a novice. Any experiences or advice would be welcome. Thanks.

[Bruticus]

what else goes wrong does any lights come on like the ANTI LOCK light or it just stalls out.

[The Burning Rom]

Does the car have ANTI-LOCK brakes or standard vacuum brakes?

[Retardo]

Either there could be a vacuum line loose somewhere (the engine would probably run rough if this was the case), or there could be an electrical wire that grounds out when the brakes are applied. This could be the case since the car only does it when the brakes are mashed suddenly, causing the front of the car to dive. Maybe when the car dives down, the wire touches something and grounds out?

[pudda]

I have a 97 lumina 6cyl and I am having a similar problem. The car runs fine unless I am spending the day in stop and go traffic. It will stall unless I leave it sitting for hours. It seems to loose all feeling in the gas peddle then it will stall out as I try to roll to a safe stop. There is no indication of a heat problem and I have brought it to Car Max several times without them finding out what was wrong. My car is now out of warranty but I still have this issue.

[emerrill]

Originally Posted by Bruticus

what else goes wrong does any lights come on like the ANTI LOCK light or it just stalls out.

Why do you ask this? I have a 96 lumina APV, and for about 2 months, the ANTILOCK light has been on (it did go off once, indicating to me that it is a bad wire). A few days ago, it was intermittently stalling. For a short while, I wouldnt get it into drive. It would start, but stalled as soon as i tried to move it/put it into drive, even if i was holding the gas some. Because its only when its actually trying to move the vehicle, it makes me kinda doubtful that its a wire shorting, but i really dont know. Any help would be appreciated.

-eric

[pudda]

I live in Florida first of all which gets quite hot but I have driven the car long distances with no problem. I think the problem is probably associated some how with the brakes because this stalling problem only occurs on days where I have been in stop and go traffic. I can leave the car in park all day long with no problem. This is probably why the folkes at CarMax can't find the problem. They cant hook their computers up to my car while it is in motion.

[artth]

Hi,
Don't know if this will help. I had a 91 APV that did the same thing. Turns out it was the clutch switch in the transmission that went bad. This acts like a manual depression of the clutch if you had a standard transmission. If it doesn't work properly, you will stall when you apply the brakes but before you actually come to a stop.