1992 Olds Cutlass Supreme stalling but differently

[juggalette]

Ok, my car really scares me first off. Its an automatic and shouldn't be stalling out like it does. To give some background on the car, my aunt had it last. It shut off on her and she didnt care. She had the alternater replaced on it but it still shuts off. I've had this car for around 3 or 4 months now and i want it to burn lol.
I frequently find myself sitting along the highway for hours at a time waiting for my car to decide it wants to run. I make a drive home from college every weekend that consists of 3 hours each way. The car runs fine on the interstate for around 2 hours, then once i have to slow down to speeds around 45 and below is when it shuts off. It also likes to shut off at stop lights and going up hills as well. I've had it to the garage twice now and of course, it wouldnt shut off for the mechanic, but he changed the fuel filter and cleaned up the transmition.
It goes on these spurts of a week or two it shuts off all the time, then it runs great for a few days. The best way i can describe this is, it shuts off like its out of gas. It jerks, the RPM's jump around like crazy and then it shuts off but my lights, radio and everything else still works, just cant turn the wheel or go lol. I have a car starter in my car that my cousin decided to disconnect and cut some wires. a lot of people are saying that its a problem in the wiring but i just dont know. Im at my witts end with this car. please help if u can. I appreciate it!

[cutlassthatstalls]

ok im gonna give u alot to digest here. this problem could be electrical, these cars commonly have loose connections & bad grounding on the battery cables. my diagnosis though is that the solenoid in your transmission is sticking. i believe its called a tcc soleniod or ttc solenoid and its similar to a thermostat sorta. it seems its sticking open so that when your driving fast and then slow down, your transmission is not downshifting and this causes u to stall, much like trying to start a manual car in 5th gear. also if your car is slow going up hills a) drive it in 2nd for safety reasons when going uphill and b) get tour tourque clutch converter checked, because the is a very common culprit of that on this model car.
hope i helped cause i only really know these cars in depth.
peace.

[juggalette]

i've had the clutch and trani checked. a few friends of mine have been telling me about an O2 censor that might be bad. Im a chick and just learning how to deal with cars so i dont really know that much hehe. Im learning how to repair a 46 CJ at the moment. completely different from my car but hey, gotta learn somewhere. Anyway, now that its cold outside, my car hasn't shut of in a little over a month. I'm not quite sure why it just quit shutting of but its working for now. so, is there an O2 censor and would that be my problem?

[GTP Dad]

I doubt the O2 sensor is your problem since it only monitors the amount of oxygen in the exhaust system. As cutlasthatstalls says this could be an issue with the torque convertor solenoid not releasing properly causing it to stall. If you have had it checked then it could be an electrical issue in the computer not sending the proper signals to the solenoid. I really think this is the issue and because of the cold weather the solenoid is not sticking since the transmission fluid is cooler and not heating up to a point where the solenoid sticks. If this starts up again in the spring then I would recommend that you have the solenoid changed.

[juggalette]

an elictrical problem might be possible. i noticed that when i put on my heater and so on my headlight brightness changes. i had a new alternator put in it so i dont think that would be why. my uncle is dead posotive that its an electrical problem. i just dont have the money to fix that one at the moment but thank you for the input.

[Hearts88]

Originally Posted by juggalette

an elictrical problem might be possible. i noticed that when i put on my heater and so on my headlight brightness changes. i had a new alternator put in it so i dont think that would be why. my uncle is dead posotive that its an electrical problem. i just dont have the money to fix that one at the moment but thank you for the input.

Hey Juggallette,
cutlassthatstalls I believe is right. This seems to be common on some GM models... although GM can't figure out the problem with hours of testing and diagnosing. My mother has a 94 Sunbird and the same thing was happening.
cutlassthatstalls is dead on right about the Transmission solinoid. GM puts these on and it acts like an Overdrive without really giving the car an extra gear. The solinoid sticks and it won't shift down to the right gear.
Like cutlassthatstalls said, it's like trying to get your car started in 5th on a manual transmission.

On my mothers car... the Mechanic disconnected the solinoid... haven't had a problem in years. We never did replace the solinoid.. The Mechanic said basically on the highway you might rev 500rpm higher. Just watch your temp 'cos it could overheat.

Well it's been about 4 years and not a single problem since the solinoid was disconected.

Apparently these are not a cheap part... hence why we disconected before replacing to make sure this was the problem. Even if we never did put a new one on.

The other thing it could be (although I would be it's the tranny solinoid) is if your car has a Electronic EGR valve. These are BAD BAD BAD for getting full of carbon and clogging. But this would make your car Bog our more so then stall vioently.

Hope this helps.
Hearts88

[DANGORDON666]

another problem not mentioned that is real likely is bad coil pack or packs, there are 3 on a 6 cylinder and they have a bad problem of intermitent failure before total failure and this problem gets wors the hotter the engine gets, it will run great while blazing down the highway due to air flowing around ti displacing the heat but when you slow down or esp. when you stop the heat builds quickly as the coils are directly under the exhaust manifold on front of motor and if it will not retsart after you stall or even if you go for a drive and shut it off and try to restart shortly after and can't this is verry likely if not
having these types of issues then i would also bet on egr valve.