97 bonneville

[scotts96gt]

My wifes 97 bonneville has gotten this bad habit of stalling whenever it feels like.. The car is always in drive when it dies, but you could be at a complete stop or doing 50mph down the road then ding ding ding.. You look down and hey what do you know, NO RPM'S. Pop her in neutral turn the key and off you go again. never having to stop. Then engine code is the TPS. I replaced both the TPS and MAF. The car now runs fine for about a week and then the engine light comes back on and within no time shes stalling again. Any suggestions? I have heard i should check the vaccume booster and ground buss for the fuel pump.

[maxwedge]

Welcome to AF. Ground buss is under the l/s ft carpet just inside the sill plate, possible.

[scotts96gt]

is there anything that i can check myself other than the ground buss? Ive taken it to the shop 3 times and they come up with nothing, all they check is what was stated in the starter thread.

[maxwedge]

Of course, when it dies do you have fuel pressure and/or spark, these are basic diagnostic steps.

[scotts96gt]

That i do not know. It usually dies while driving down the road.. Never seems to do it when at idle or in a position that i could actually check anything. When it stalls there is no hesitation it just turns off. It does this for a few days multiple times and then we could go for a week without the check engine light being on or it stalling. Im baffeled.

[Mickey#1]

How did that driver's side ground bus look?
Also check the battery cables for corrosion. If you have one of years that have 2 cables that come together under a single rubber then you have to remove that boot to check for the corrosion. If you find any (I bet you will) then clean with sandpaper or wire brush & coat with dielectric grease before reassembling.

[scotts96gt]

Havent had a chance to check the ground buss yet. But i did pull the battery cables and yes the positive is pretty nasty with white powder. i cleaned the cable off but i think its actually eating the inside of the battery terminal.

[Mickey#1]

I'll bet that cures your stalling problems. Let us know one way or the other.

[scotts96gt]

Well guys, hopefully today will be the day of truth.. I went out to our local auto parts store picked up a new battery, plugs and wires.. Before doing anything though i checked the drivers side ground buss which looked like brand new and no loose wires going into the harness. I pulled the slightly bloated battery out, cleaned the cables with baking soda and wire wheeled all the corrosion off. Replaced all the plugs (All looked exactly the same slightly white gray Powdery looking) and the wires. She started right up and seems to be running fine.. It stalls so intermittently that im just going to keep my fingers crossed for the next week or so.. Thanks for all the help

Also what exactly do good spark plugs look like w/ 60k miles on them?