Car shuts off while driving

[Manbear]

Hello, I know there are a few topics of the same title, and although the symptoms are relatively the same, there are differences with my situation. This problem just started about a week and a half ago with my 1997 PB SE. And there really isn't any rhyme or reason as to when it happens.

While I am driving, the engine shuts off, and the check gauges light comes on and a ding alert goes off once this happens. Everything else is still on, power, but the brakes and steering lose power as you would expect. What sets this aside from other discussions that I have at least seen up to this point, is that I can put the shifter in neutral and start the car while coasting. Then just slip it back into drive. Sometimes it happens just once, sometimes it will happen continuously while I am going down a hill with turns. Never has it happened going up hill, which leads me to believe one post about it thinking it's out of gas might be a possibility. The gas gauge is stuck on full, so I have to go by the miles reset gauge to know when to refill. Though, it just happened with a full tank, and I was on a flat surface.

I was driving two days ago, far, and it started happening after 150 miles. I had to restart about five times. I drove around town yesterday and it didn't happen at all. Which makes me think that it has to be well warmed up and used for a few hours to make it happen. Surrounding temperature doesn't seem to matter, warm outside, or night time cold, it makes no difference as far as I can tell. I did catch it one of the times it started to die, as I was putting the gas peddle down, the check gauges light came on, the ding happened, but pumping the gas causing the engine to rev seemed to catch it from dying.

I've looked around, and found that a possibility might be the idle air control valve. But I've been reading up on a lot of people having similar problems, replacing everything they can think of and it still persisting. My roommate has a device he can plug into the car to get the codes off, but cannot get to it until next week.

On a side note, I just read someones similar problem with this, and his other symptoms include going up hill and the RMPs being very low, and sputtering while doing so. I usually get around this by placing the shifter into second gear, and it seems to take care of those problems. Is it possible this might be some kind of transmission problem?

I just bought this car off a friends father about 9 months ago, not having to do anything to the car yet. They treated it like gold, taking very good care of it, not missing any kind of tune up. It's only got 188,000 miles on it. Though having to survive me, and my driving I can't really blame it for wanting to die. It's a strong engine, and a strong car, when it's not doing this. Any input before I get codes and take it to a mechanic?

[Manbear]

Update. Seems to happen when I'm breaking.

[Manbear]

By the way, the batterie is good, the terminals are tight. I've been through that issue where they were not tight and it would only draw so much power. The power stays on, the engine just stops. If the gas pump is going, I would think it would be more consistent, not to mention act like it has a loss of gas. No sputtering, just off. Starts right back up fine in neutral while coasting. It did die once putting it in neutral, thinking that might help with symptoms. Yet nothing I do twice creates the issue. It just happens randomly. Even breaking, or breaking hard, or breaking while going down hill. I can't make it do what it's doing. It just does it when it wants.

[1oldman]

Just my 2 cents, if you can't get it to fail where you can diagnose the problem, change the fuel filter. Put the date and mileage on the filter before you install it, that's what I do. Other than that, the problem could be several things (fuel pump, ICM, defective wiring, and may other things that I'm not familiar with). - BC

[MattStrike]

When was the last time you changed plugs & wires, or trust that the previous owner did it? Can you give a detailed play by play of how the car runs, leading up to the shutoff event and after restart?

[crash93ssei]

Common problem on the '92-'99 for all sorts of odd stuff like this is the ground buss being corroded, especially if you have a sunroof as the drains tend to plug then it leaks into the cabin.

Do a search for ground buss in this section and you will find quite a few threads, some with pics too. Not a guarantee of your issue, but another place to look that is a known common failure point.

[Manbear]

Awesome! Thank you for the information. Every little bit helps. I don't have a sunroof, but I'm not counting anything out. As of now this is all speculation on my part and your parts, and I understand that without getting any of the codes. But this will help in my starting the troubleshooting. Thank you!

[Manbear]

I have another issue that possibly might be related to this, I minus will put this in here as I just thought about this. I live in California, and a month ago it was raining quite heavily. It seems that this car has a leak somewhere around the heater vents, as it fills my driver side floor. For about a week and a half the heater motor seem to just stop. I checked all fuses that I could under the hood and under the dash and nothing seemed effective. I was about to write the heater off until the sun cleared up and all the sudden the heater came back on. The entire heating and cooling system for the heater seems to be stuck on just heat, which I have found is a common problem with the adjusting valves for allowing it to turn from heat to cool. Perhaps this has something to do with it.

I bought this car off of a friend nine months ago, and I have not had to put any work into it as I have previously said. So I have no idea exactly what other issues might have persisted before I got the car. But my friend's father says that it has had no other issues other than the heater and the gas gauge. So again, thank you for the advice and please keep em coming as you think of them.

[1oldman]

You need to find that leak and determine if any of that water is getting your wiring wet. If so, that could be the main source of your grief. I have a leak too, but so far it hasn't gotten any of my wiring wet. I've decided I need to buy a can of the stuff that's advertised on TV where the bottom of the boat is replaced with a screen door coated with the stuff - lol. I have used electrical duct seal to eliminate 99% of my leak. - BC

[pbrktrt]

It may be something as simple as the Crank Position Sensor. Classic symptoms.

[skregal]

I agree that the Crank Position Sensor is suspect. Especially if it acts worse
when the engine is hot.

[Manbear]

Update: I am a Courier, meaning I drive my car long distances. Over the past week since I posted this, the car hasn't done it all. And of course I have not touched the car other than putting oil in it since then. I have been gathering all of your possible information, and have been waiting to get the codes off of my friends device any plugs into the car sometime this week.

Today as I drove, it did not happen until I put about 90 miles on the car and I was going downhill. My first indications that it might be happening, is that I felt the power steering start to get slightly stiff in places as I was turning the car going downhill. All going uphill, it does happen when I'm going downhill or going straight on a level surface. So I have not ruled out that position of the gas tank is not a factor. Anyway, as the power steering started to get stiffs, I look over at my RPMs which since I have my foot on the break slowing the car down it is idling as I'm driving. I notice that my car idols usually between 1000 and 1500 RPMs at a stand still, or going downhill with my foot on the brake slowly. In this case I look over and is soon as the needle gets to 1000 it starts bouncing Between 1000 and 500 RPM. So I continue watching the car every time it does this and another time It bounced between 1000 and all the way down to zero as I was driving on a flat surface. Felt slight losses in the power steering as I'm driving, leading me to believe that the engine is wanting to die more than it does, only not succeeding because I have my foot on the gas peddle.

Again, thank you for all of your speculations, And I do apologize for the wait in my starting to get to work on this problem replacing sensors and getting the codes.

-Jon

[Manbear]

My roommate is a mechanic, and is going to bring his computer home on Thursday to start a diagnostic on my car. I had a really long talk about this with him. Besides needing to do actual trouble shooting to rule out wiring ect, his first impression is that its the Cam shaft sensor. Just thought I'd toss that on here. Keep y'all posted.

[skregal]

Did your mechanic friend say "Cam" sensor or "Crank" sensor?
I don't think the cam sensor would make the car die, but the crank would.
Maybe the cam sensor would if it already had other issues and was running poorly.

[Manbear]

He said cam. I will get a better explanation from him as to why on Thursday.

[crash93ssei]

Don't buy anything until you check that grounds bus. It may not be the issue, but with the water you said is leaking in it very well could be and is free to check out. No computer diagnosing will find that one either.

[1oldman]

Don't buy anything until you check that grounds bus. It may not be the issue, but with the water you said is leaking in it very well could be and is free to check out. No computer diagnosing will find that one either.

i'm with ryan. processors don't like crappy grounds. they do really strange things if the ground is not really good. - BC

[Manbear]

Okay sorry for the lag in all of this but it's been a long haul trying to figure this all out.

These are the codes I got:
Po102 Mass airflow circuit signal low
Po300 engine misfire detected
P1641 output driver module

I've checked these codes with two different machines two different people and these are the codes that I got. As far as PO 300, we figure that that is the spark plugs and wires. That the wires are touching each other and creating art between one another. We looked at those wires and they look like they are factory wires. So I separated them for now and put some electrical tape on them where they touch. I also separated the wire from the actual frame of the engine so that is not arcing on the metal.

P1641 could be one of the connections between the male and female side of the wiring coming in behind the firewall. It's possible that some of that water might be getting into that connector module. I have not dealt with that yet though.

As far as the mass airflow sensor, it is been interesting. My friend could not get a new one for less than $200. I decided to wait on that. My symptoms kept getting worse, including while the RPMs were losing speed, the power output would drastically draw on my battery gauge. Thinking that it might be my alternator giving me some issues, and not wanting to chance having to buy new battery, I went and got a new alternator. Although that did not fix anything, at least I have a new alternator.

I finally got the mass airflow control sensor, and I put that into my car the other day. My car has not stopped working cents and it has been running pretty much tiptop other then having a few hiccups with other issues that have nothing to do with this. I believe I just need to change out the spark plugs and wires and possibly give a fluid change to the transmission. But my car was having the RPM shut off problem because of the mass airflow sensor.

[Manbear]

Okay sorry for the lag in all of this but it's been a long haul trying to figure this all out.

These are the codes I got:
Po102 Mass airflow circuit signal low
Po300 engine misfire detected
P1641 output driver module

I've checked these codes with two different machines two different people and these are the codes that I got. As far as PO 300, we figure that that is the spark plugs and wires. That the wires are touching each other and creating art between one another. We looked at those wires and they look like they are factory wires. So I separated them for now and put some electrical tape on them where they touch. I also separated the wire from the actual frame of the engine so that is not arcing on the metal.

P1641 could be one of the connections between the male and female side of the wiring coming in behind the firewall. It's possible that some of that water might be getting into that connector module. I have not dealt with that yet though.

As far as the mass airflow sensor, it is been interesting. My friend could not get a new one for less than $200. I decided to wait on that. My symptoms kept getting worse, including while the RPMs were losing speed, the power output would drastically draw on my battery gauge. Thinking that it might be my alternator giving me some issues, and not wanting to chance having to buy new battery, I went and got a new alternator. Although that did not fix anything, at least I have a new alternator.

I finally got the mass airflow control sensor, and I put that into my car the other day. My car has not stopped working cents and it has been running pretty much tiptop other then having a few hiccups with other issues that have nothing to do with this. I believe I just need to change out the spark plugs and wires and possibly give a fluid change to the transmission. But my car was having the RPM shut off problem because of the mass airflow sensor.

[chevrolet.power.420]

Okay sorry for the lag in all of this but it's been a long haul trying to figure this all out.

These are the codes I got:
Po102 Mass airflow circuit signal low
Po300 engine misfire detected
P1641 output driver module

I've checked these codes with two different machines two different people and these are the codes that I got. As far as PO 300, we figure that that is the spark plugs and wires. That the wires are touching each other and creating art between one another. We looked at those wires and they look like they are factory wires. So I separated them for now and put some electrical tape on them where they touch. I also separated the wire from the actual frame of the engine so that is not arcing on the metal.

P1641 could be one of the connections between the male and female side of the wiring coming in behind the firewall. It's possible that some of that water might be getting into that connector module. I have not dealt with that yet though.

As far as the mass airflow sensor, it is been interesting. My friend could not get a new one for less than $200. I decided to wait on that. My symptoms kept getting worse, including while the RPMs were losing speed, the power output would drastically draw on my battery gauge. Thinking that it might be my alternator giving me some issues, and not wanting to chance having to buy new battery, I went and got a new alternator. Although that did not fix anything, at least I have a new alternator.

I finally got the mass airflow control sensor, and I put that into my car the other day. My car has not stopped working cents and it has been running pretty much tiptop other then having a few hiccups with other issues that have nothing to do with this. I believe I just need to change out the spark plugs and wires and possibly give a fluid change to the transmission. But my car was having the RPM shut off problem because of the mass airflow sensor.

QUESTION- My bonnie does exactly the same things. all the way down to the heat not working sometimes. i replaced the MAF with one from a salvage yard and it was better for all of a few hours, which doeesnt mean much since it happens whenever it wants. throws code P0102 as well, but thats the only code. my question is, you said here (in like 2013) it was fixed, did that last? still run good? please contact me, im at my whits end with this..