1990 Lumina 2.5L 4 Cylinder Problems Revisited

[tigerhawk1]

Here's the deal and a quick recap of the problems I've been having with my car.

On August 27th 2004 my car started dying from my drive home from work pulled over to the side of the road let it sit for about 15 seconds started right back up made it home just fine. The following day it did the same thing with the AC on. So being a person that doesn't know jack about cars I took it to Tuffy's explained to them what the problem was they hooked the car up to their diagnostic machines and told me they could get it to pull codes. So they started testing everything manually they sprayed some seafoam into the Air Intake just incase there was anything clogging or getting in the way. Also the battery on the car was replaced, they said the previous battery had two dead cells. Total cost of that was about $130.

My car ran fine for about 1 day after that. That friday when Cedar Rapids, IA had a huge thunderstorm I had trouble getting my car to start at all it would not turn over at all. So I opened up the hood come to find out the piece of plastic that covers the fuses for the radiator and cooling fans had been left off. No doubt that water got in there and messed things up, finally got the car started I had my friend follow me home after it stalled several times. We changed the spark plugs and wires car started up just fine. Finally I thought my problems were over surprise we drove over to best buy my car stalled again. This time instead of chugging before it died. It just did a clean stall. Managed to start it up and get it home then drove it to work one day where it's been sitting for almost over 2 months. I had the fuel pump looked at it was fine.

My question is if I'm going to let it sit for the winter and then try and fix it in the spring or part it out what preventive matience should I take so the engine is not ruined. Also if you have any idea what could be wrong be it the starter or alternator feel free to chime in.

Thanks in Advance.

[dwalmop]

well, if the box that houses the fuses for the radiator fans (relays) got wet, then that may be the core of your problems. If you were to look at the bottom side of that box you'd notice that that is kind of the "hub" for a LOT of other connections. If that was wet, or has been getting wet for a long time, those wires underneith there could be extremely corroded and could be making "dirty" contact. just going by what you described, that'd be the first thing I'd check. As for storing it, it's not a bad idea to drain the gas and make sure that you have any openings where rodents, etc. can get into sealed off. If you are able to place it on jackstands it would prevent having flat spots in the tires next time you drive it. there are engine treatments you can spray in the intake specially made for storing engines, also.

[Kooterskkar]

Im not sure what they may have suggested in the older topic about this but that sounds to me like a bad ICM or CPS.

[richtazz]

check for spark when the car dies. IF there is no spark, you have a bad ignition module or crank sensor. IF it has spark, your problem is fuel related. dwal makes a good point to check the underside of your relay center for corrosion, but normally that will cause the whole car to go dead, not just stop running.