1990 Lumina Stalls After Exiting Highway

[Andres_S427]

I have a 1990 Lumina that stalls after getting off the highway. When I am driving on the highway around 55 mph and exit to a stop it will shake for a second and then stall. I can restart it and sometimes drive off right away just fine. Other times it will take 2-5 restarts before it goes into gear without stalling.

[sad-lumina-owner]

one thing that can't hurt is to check the oil and perhaps also the temperature when you pull off the highway.

Have you tried putting a can of oil treatment in, one that coats old parts, gives extra lubrication, (maybe even switch to synthetic oil on next oil change), and increases compression?

What does the car sound like? If there's an exhaust leak, maybe your backpressure is wrong.

Is the car noisey? maybe the oil is not being circulated, for instance because of a clogged oil filter. Is the oil really black and dirty? Or clean, with little noise from top of engine?

What condition is the fanbelt in? Mine was being eaten by a damaged pulley on the AC unit.

Also, can you post the mileage on your car/engine? and the actual engine?

(3.1? 3.4? v6?)

[Andres_S427]

Thank you for the help!

The Lumina is a 4-cylinder/2.5L with 31,700 original miles.

The oil looks clean and is light colored. I have not tried oil treatment or synthetic oil.

The car sounds good except when accelerating from start for the first 1.5 seconds; the noise is loud and sounds similar to a diesel truck. The fanbelt is in good condition.

I will check the temperature tomorrow when pulling off the highway.I can also check to see if the oil filter is clogged and get back to you.

[dwalmop]

The first thing that actually popped into my mind was a torque converter issue....although I'm not sure if it would cause hard starts after a stall.

[DnaProRacing]

yes it does sound a lil like tcc lock. try taking a pint of tranny fluid out, replace it with a pint of seafoam transtune. drive it normally for 3 days then flush the tranny. let us know how it works out...