94 Grand Am SE wont stop stalling out. Scared 2 drive

CARTERLOVE

MEMBER
1994 ALL OTHER MAKES ALL OTHER MODELS

Hi I have a 1994 Grand Am Se, 83,000 miles. It is a 4 cylinder and I believe a 2.3 liter. I am now very scared to drive my car because of the way it stalls out. I can drive my car for hours and it will be fine. My car will drive just fine and then when I start to slow down it will stall out. Just out of the blue it will stall out but it has always stalled out when I am ready to stop. The car will restart but the second I put it in drive it stalls out again. It will do this repeatedly. So when it has stalled I will let it sit for a bit and will be able to get it off the road or luck out and be able to drive it home. I am so scared to drive it. The last time it stalled out which was the last time I drove it, my husband drove it home but it just kept stalling out all the way home. I have a baby on the way and I just bought this car. It just when it stalls out I am stuck on the road because I cant put in drive or it will stall out again. My thing is how will I know if it is truelly fixed. The way it stalls out makes me question that. The car will drive fine and then just stall out, out of nowhere. My husband aslo figured out that when we have the heater or the ac on the idle boggs down. But when we found that out I didnt have either of those on and it still stalls out. I am really afriad to drive the car for that reason. My son will be arriving next month and if I dont have this car fixed I cant drive anywhere. We may have one idea of what it is and a friend said it sounds like an idle control sensor. Also he noticed that when you push on the gas or let go of the gas the car kind of jerks hard. Please help me with this. No one can figure out whats wrong with it. I need this car fixed

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006 AT 9:29 PM

2 Replies

GM PROBLEMS2

MEMBER
19 POSTS

I have the same car and had a similar problem but my car just died and wouldn’t restart. When you get it started does it run rough or misfire at all? Here is a simple check to eliminate a weak link in the ignition system. Take off the shroud on top of the engine and remove the coil housing which is the white castle looking thing. With it removed use an ohm meter to check for continuity between the contacts on top. If there is continuity the housing is bad. If there is no continuity it could still be bad. Look inside the housing to see if any of the plastic tubes look discolored or a darker yellow, like they were heated up. If it is it could be arcing between two of the cylinders mainly #1 & #3 and killing them just enough to make the engine die for the moment. It could be in the beginning stages of the problem. I had three different housings that were bad, two were making contact or were fused already and the third one checked out but was discolored a little between the top right and lower left tube. It took two of us, one a mechanic of 15 years, and 6 days to figure it out. The part only costs $38 at Auto Zone and is easy to change. So check it out before you invest a lot of time or money into it. Hope this helps.

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Wednesday, April 5th, 2006 AT 7:56 AM

MVANNESSJR

MECHANIC
223 POSTS

CarterLove,

The problem sounds like a faulty torque convertor clutch solenoid. To verify my theory, drive the vehicle below 40MPH and see if it stalls out. If it does not, then take it to a safe place and get it over 45MPH. Try to slow down. If the vehicle stalls, you have a bad torque convertor clutch solenoid. On this vehicle it can be repaired at a shop for 300$ or less. If you are experienced and have the tools and time, you can fix it for under $100.

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Saturday, April 8th, 2006 AT 10:38 PM