Pontiac Repair: 1994 Pont Bonneville, crank shaft position sensor, obd 1

Question
QUESTION: I recently purchased this 1994 Pontiac Bonneville and it has run great for about 8,000 miles now it has started cutting out during driving sometimes will completely knock off while driving or idling. I have added fuel system cleaner and gas treatment to it for the last 2 fill ups and it is only getting worse. Also the service engine light started coming on right after I got the car but now doesn't stay on. Not sure what to try first. Can you tell me if there is a way to get the engine light to blink the codes on this car? Thanks
Daniel

ANSWER: Hi Daniel:

when it does does it spit sputter then stall out or does it just cut out like someone turned off the key? does it die cruising down the road or at a stop light? chnace are ther are no codes in the computer if the service engine light has not come on at all. depending on the connector under the dash if it's OBD2 or obd1 is how you flash the codes out obd2 you can't OBD 1 you can you jump a/b together with a piece of wire or a paper clip and wtah the lamp flash on the dash. the obd 1 connector is rectangle the obd2 is not rectangle one row has more terminals then the other it is tapered looking. 1994 was a chage over year to pull ahead pre obd2 so it could be either one. good luck :)


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: it will die occasionally while driving down the road, when it does that the speedometer and rpm gauge will jump up momentarily then sometimes it will cut off sometimes it will pick back up and continue to drive fine for a bit after that. It has also gotten to where it will cut off sometimes while idiling, not always. Also it appears to have the obd2 it is slitly tapered instead of rectangular.
Thanks
Daniel

ANSWER: Yes that is obd 2 so no flash codes.

With it dying My first though is a crank shaft position sensor that is the most likley cause of a stall on this engine but the fact that the speedo jumps is strange. I can see the Tach jumping up and down being a crank sensor issue but the speedo cutting out would make me belive you some other issue going on like a bad ground connection or power feed to the engine computer.. with it running you can tap on the engine computer and see it it dies out do it with it running and hot when electronics heat up they tend to act up more then when they are cold. the engine computer is under the dash on the right side of the car it has 3 connectors on it I belive the colors are red white and blue the computre is a aluminum silver colored module tap on it with the palm of you hand aor gently wiggle the connetors and see if it stumbles and stalls is so thats the issue. good luck :)


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QUESTION: How difficult is it to replace the cam sensor? Would you try this first if there is no responce when taooing the computer?
Thanks
Daniel

Answer
The cam sensor will not cuase a stall. A crank sensor will. You have to remove the harmonic balancer off the crankshaft. You need a special tool to remove it but if you have the right tool it's an easy job. Once it's off the crankshaft the sensor is just held o nto the engine by 2 bolts.