1994 88 royale LS jerking and dying on me

[joeyrossmiller12]

It started out small with the car just stuttering right around 52 mph when i was accellerating. it continually has gotten much worse. its not horrible, it doesnt jerk whenever i accelerate. also, it started dying on me. this has also gotten much worse over the past couple months. the rpm's just drop so low that it dies whenever im coming to a stop or slowing down. I have changed the air filter, fuel filter, plugs, wires, and iv had the fuel injectors flushed. nothing seems to be helping. what could it be? thanks guys i appreciate it

[HotZ28]

If you put the car in neutral before coming to a stop, will the engine die? Try this & post back.

[joeyrossmiller12]

im gonna try that. thanks. ill post back again.
but i thought id add that im getting horrible gas milage. around 12 mpg. and it doesnt matter what the temperature is outside. weather its below 0 or 60 degrees. it does the same thing. im just trying to slim down the possibilities. thanks tho

[joeyrossmiller12]

on a trip where i made 14 stops, it died 3 times when i tried stopping normally with the car in neutral. which is the same as when it was in drive and i tried to stop.

[HotZ28]

Originally Posted by joeyrossmiller12

on a trip where i made 14 stops, it died 3 times when i tried stopping normally with the car in neutral. which is the same as when it was in drive and i tried to stop.

Good, now that eliminates the torque converter lock-up as the culprit! This sounds like you may have a bad coil(s)! Have you checked fuel pressure, or changed the fuel filter? Any codes? Try this; hold the brake on while the car is not moving & in drive, then bring engine RPM up to about 1500 and see if it is missing (stuttering).

[joeyrossmiller12]

ill try that. but yes, i have changed the fuel filter, checked the fuel pressure when i had the injector flushed. and we couldnt get the car to communicate with the machine so therefore no codes.

[joeyrossmiller12]

i had it at about 1500 rpms for about a minute straight and it didnt seem to miss at all. but as soon as i let off the gas it did die

[HotZ28]

Originally Posted by joeyrossmiller12

i had it at about 1500 rpms for about a minute straight and it didnt seem to miss at all. but as soon as i let off the gas it did die

Well, this sounds like you may have eliminated the secondary ignition components. i.e. coils, wires & plugs. Have ever noticed the check engine light coming on during any of this "sputtering & dying"? You could have EGR, MAP, or MAF problems! This is hard to diagnose without a scanner. Call some of your local shops and ask if they have a full function capable scanner that can communicate with the 94 OBD 1.5 (OBD I with OBD II ALDL). Your 1994 is an OBD2 hybrid. It is part ODB1 and part OBD2; hence, the term “OBD1.5”. Your 16-pin connector is OBDII and you cannot get flash codes like on the OBDI 12-pin.


Most scanners will not work here, however the GM "Tech-I & II, Snap-On MT2400, (with correct key) Actron CP9140 & CP9150 will work. Try your local Advanced Auto Parts, they sell Actron scanners and some of them use the CP9140 to test customer cars. I use a Matco Tools 9640B professional enhanced scan tool on the 94-95. It has the 16 pin OBD11 connector and reads the OBD1 model specific codes, as well as Global OBDII codes.

[joeyrossmiller12]

well that might explain why i couldnt get it to read my car. ill have to check what kind of scanner they used. but thanks alot. this sends me in a much better direction

[RemyPulse]

Hello, I know this post was from years back...but in case anyone else needs help:

My olds 88 had a (somewhat) similar problem..only I could not get it out of my yard without dying when I let off the gas. Check your battery cable ends for to see if they are dirty and/or corroded. We cleaned mine and my car is back to his normal self and no longer dies.