QuestionQUESTION: My car is a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire, 4 dr, 4 cyl, 2.4 L ecotech engine. It stalled the other day after starting it, it ran for about 5 seconds then stalled. It took about 6 tries to get it restarted and that was after pressing on the gas alot. After it did start it smelled strongly of gas. Took it to GM service, they replaced spark plugs, fuel filter, air filter, and did transmission service, also ran diagnostic and checked fuel pump and said they could not find anything else wrong. Second day after bringing home stalled while driving while turning a corner. Took about 5 tries to get it restarted. After stopping and shutting off engine then restarted fine. Seems to have no pattern to stalling, happens when stopped or driving. The battery is less than a year old, radio and etc still work when it stalls. When trying to restart it does try to turn over just is not successful.
ANSWER: Hi Amanda:
This is a bit of an odd one. For the most part this is a pretty solid engine package in that car and we do not see amny stalling issues at all with them. before it quit running aor once yougot it back running was there an service engine soon lamp that has come on? that would be a place to start looking.. when this quit running each time was there about the same amount of gas in the tank? I'm thinking possably a fuel pump issue here. was this the first time the filter was replaced? If so it may bave been plugged solid and stredd the fuel pump out to the point where it' cutting out from time to time.. Whan need to be doe is wheo ever is fixing it has to drive it and hope it quits on them so they can find out what is missing here as to why it quits running.. second though would be an ignition system issue like a ignition module or crank shaft peosition sensor. But agin with out it quiting on someone it's just a guess as to what the issue is. Good luck :)
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QUESTION: Thanks for the advice, I did google the general issue, and most things did come back as a fuel pump issue. I am wondering if that is it and maybe they just missed something. There were never any check engine lights or any other warning lights that came on the dash at any time. Both times the stalling happened there was a bit over half a tank of gas in the car, other than these two times there has never been a problem like this before. The second time when I finally got it started I had tried a few times and the final time I had to turn the key and hold it for several seconds, maybe 7 to 10 seconds while the engine repeatedly tried to start, then it finally turned over and started. The service technician said that they could not get the car to stall or fail to start properly, of course when you take a car in it won't do the problem for them, isn't that always the way. Would you mind to explain to me what the crank shaft position sensor does and how that would cause it to stall? I'm not that knowledgeable about cars but would like to know what to ask when I take it in for service.
thanks
ANSWER: The crank sensor controls the ignition system and if this sensor cuts out th car will quit running because there will be no spark and the engine computer doesn't know the engine is running so it will shut down the fuel delivery as well. I still think you have a pump issue but would like someone to verify it before they guess at a pump and that not be it. when this quit running did it start to loose power spit and sputter then die or was it just like someone tuned off the ignition switch? If it spit sputtered and lacked power that is a sure sign of a fuel pump.
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QUESTION: All of the times when it has stalled there was no sputtering at all, it was as if someone just cut all power to the engine in a split second. The time when it did it while driving it was so sudden that at first I didn't even realise it had died, I just noticed that I had lost my power steering and then realised that it had died. I am going to take it back to the service place to have them check it again and hopefully it acts up while there.
AnswerIf that is the case A fuel pump USUALLY doesn't just cut out like that it may be an ignition system issue.. Anything that you can tell them to try to duplicate the conditions that you were in when it died will help them out. Intermittant stuff like this is SO HARD to figure out especially if no trouble codes set.. Was it damp out when this happened? Possably a spark plug boot/conntor issue between the coilsd and the plugs?? Well what ever it is good luck :0
