Dying at Stop Signs

[griffey]

Hi Folks!

I have a 1997 Aurora with 125,000 miles on it. The other day I left home to go to work, and about 15 miles into my trip I turned off of a two-lane highway onto a country road and as I slowed down and turned the engine died. I quickly put it in neutral, kept coasting, restarted the engine, put it back in gear, and kept going. A couple of miles later I had to stop at a stop sign and sure enough, as soon as I stopped, so did the engine. Again, I put it in neutral, turned the key and it started right back up again, and off I went. Next stop sign, same thing. I'm able to keep it going if I shift into neutral before I have to stop, and rev slightly before putting it back into drive and continuing.

The only other weird thing that has happened recently was that upon stopping at stop signs my "low oil pressure" ding-ding-ding would happen each time I stopped. A pal told me my main bearing(s) are/were worn out and that I should switch to thicker oil and that might work "for a while longer." I instead added a thing of STP oil treatment in hopes of thickening things up slightly. That was three weeks ago, and it seemed to do the trick--no more oil pressure warnings. I can't see that it is related, but figured I'd mention it just in case.

I fear that I'm approaching end-of-life with this poor car, but I'd obviously like to keep it going (and not have a car payment) for as long as possible.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Mike

[55624096]

Stalling very likely to be EGR valve. Switch to 20-50 oil made my oil pressure prblems dissappear on two Aurora.

[griffey]

Thank you for the information. After doing some Googling, the EGR valve makes perfect sense.

I've read some instances where people have taken it off and cleaned it instead of replacing it (AutoZone lists a new one at ~$165).

And pardon my naivete, isn't 20w50 thicker than 10w40? Should I switch to 10w40 as a first step, and then go thicker (to 20w50) if that doesn't do the trick?

Thanks again for your help--I think I have a date with an EGR valve first thing Saturday morning.

Mike

[tjm]

try replacing the oil pressure sendy. (they are known to go wacky)

If the sendy is telling the PCM that your oil pressure is low then the PCM shuts down the fuel pump.

A sticky EGR would cause rough idle/stalling but the rough idle would be noticable.

[jonnik]

My '95 was doing this and it turned out to be the fuel pressure regulator. Look for a "flying saucer" shaped device on the fuel rail with a vacuum tube attached to the top. Remove the tube and look for fuel leaks. If fuel is coming out of the tube, the diaphram is shot and the intake is sucking an excess of fuel into the engine, bogging it down and killing it. I think I paid $45 or so for a new regulator at Pep Boys.

[griffey]

I took off the EGR valve that weekend, soaked it in some brake cleaner (or something like that...), cleaned all of the gasket debris off the valve and the engine, got a new gasket (one of the ones with the screen in it), and put it all back together.

My car has stopped dying, but the Check Engine light is on most of the time now. If I make a bunch of short trips in town that'll usually be enough key-turns to reset the light and it goes off, but the next time I go out on the highway as soon as the car heats up and shifts into overdrive the light comes back on. I need to get it checked but haven't had the time (and I don't know if Autozone has a code checker that works with Northstar engines, and I certainly don't want to pay a dealer to look at it...).

I'll take a look at the fuel pressure regulator--my mileage has been slightly worse than normal so maybe that has something to do with it.

Thanks!

Mike

[JJ69]

Mine stalls occasionally and the GM dealer told me it was probably the crankshaft position sensors. The computer told them that, apparently. I haven't had it fixed, though.

[jagchick]

I went through the same stalling issue around 130,000 miles. I replaced absolutely everything (fuel filter, gas cap, fuel pressure regulator, fuel pump) with no results. Finally, I had my mechanic replace the crankshaft and camshaft sensors (around $150 for parts and labor). Apparently the magnets in them go bad and it's best to replace all 3 at once. So if you have the stalling issue at stoplights (no warning either, like rough idling- just flat stops), please consider the cam/crankshaft sensors!

[BNaylor]

Originally Posted by jagchick

I went through the same stalling issue around 130,000 miles. I replaced absolutely everything (fuel filter, gas cap, fuel pressure regulator, fuel pump) with no results. Finally, I had my mechanic replace the crankshaft and camshaft sensors (around $150 for parts and labor). Apparently the magnets in them go bad and it's best to replace all 3 at once. So if you have the stalling issue at stoplights (no warning either, like rough idling- just flat stops), please consider the cam/crankshaft sensors!

Thanks for the input. Sorry but please check the date and do not resurrect old threads. Thread closed.

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