Chevrolet Repair: Intermittent Problem, air control valve, gmc sonoma

Question
Van-

  I'm a fellow expert in the Ford area but I own an '01 GMC Sonoma (a GMC S-10 2WD 4.3L V6) and I know just about jack about GM models.  I've been having trouble as of late with the car dying on me.  I commute between school and my home town (about a 120 mile drive either way) and after trips my truck seems to like to die at stoplights/stop signs.  It'll run like a chamo for about 5 minutes then I'll pull to a stop and it'll just die.  If I put it in park and shut everything off it'll restart (after a little coaxing sometimes) and then run fine for the rest of my trip around town though the power seems a bit less.  At said stops, I don't notice a downshift from 2nd to 1st (though it still may shift down without me noticing) and the rpms will go from the idle point of 500rpm to 0 the up and down for a second and then it'll just die.  No check engine light so I assume there's no codes.  Also, it seems to have some sort of electrical problem where the radio resets itself while slowing down and soemtimes the dash resets as well.  I'm hoping this is transmission problem but am bracing for a dreaded electrical gremlin.  Any help would be sorely appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

Steve H

Answer
Hi Steve,
I'd rather have the electrical gremlin. Usually it is a bad ground, or dirty battery connections.
Make sure there is a ground from the block to the firewall.
Under the dash there is a ground buss...make sure everything is tight on it, and it is well grounded.
There is an idle air control valve that can be removed and cleaned whth carb cleaner.
And then there is the EGR valve that might be not seating, and demonstrating as a vacuum leak.
While you are messing with it, run some injector cleaner through the tank.
But check those battery connections, and the firewall ground.
Van