Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches New England Clutch? Problem?

Bring it to have codes scanned, even though you have no CEL.

You can throw a code and not have a CEL for certain ones.

how old is your alternator?

how many miles are on your car?

When was the last time you replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires and ran a bottle of fuel injector cleaner with a tank of gas?

If your car has over 75,000 miles on it and the serpentine belt that runs the engine accessories has never been changed, it should be.

Worn spark plugs with a larger gap require a higher voltage to build up before the spark jumps the gap and becasue a higher voltage needs to be achieved the resulting spark is not as hot. Degraded spark plug wires will have a similar effect.

Lower spark temperature will cause a notable change in the ability to initiate the fuel burn especailly when there is a rapid change in manifold pressure like when you step on the gas a little as you let the clutch out. Cold wether only aggrivates the problem.

Worn serpentine belt can allow the altenator pulley to slip slightly, just enough that it turns slower than the engine but not so slow that it squeels. This ammount slower is just enough that the altenator can't make the power it needs to when the engine is idling. Also if the belt is worn, cold weather will only make allow the belt to slip all the more before it starts to squeel.

If your car has over 70,000 miles it is not unresonable to suspect the altenator is nearing the end of its life and is getting tired and sometimes doesn't make full power.

Thanks for the suggestions.

My car has over 118,XXX miles. The plugs and wires were changed less than a year ago. I run some injector cleaner through pretty regularly. I've done it several times in the last few weeks. B-12 specifically.

Alternator? I'm not sure. I don't remember that ever being changed. I had some electrical problems 6 weeks ago and thought that might be the culprit, but it was a short. But the alternator still might not be at 100%.

I'll see if they will pull the codes for me. One time I tried that (I was trying to make sure I had fixed a problem) and they said that they wouldn't try to pull the codes unless your CEL was on, because there would definitely be nothing to read. AZone.

How hard is it to change out an alternator? What do they run? Are there different kinds? I'm pretty ignorant about that sort of thing. How do you test one?

What about the killing thing? The car starts right back up, so unless I'm missing something I doubt the alt. is the cause there.

Darn, I sure like this car, and can't really afford to replace it right now. But DAM there are lots of problems beginning to come up. I know, I know older cars do that.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Man, I gotta learn how to use my software for my laptop. I have have all the stuff to read codes and run diags, I just don't know how to use it. Tried using it once and got impatient. Brapple, you gotta walk me through it!!

Anyway, did you check the TPS (throttle position sensor)? When they go, it messes with your idle and can cause it to stall.

I hope your thinking of something else, because the TPS is mounted on the throttle body. There's no need to remove the tranny to replace it. Should take under 2 minutes to replace. To check it mecahnically, remove it and check to see that the part that looks like a flat head screwdriver moves freely. I'm not sure how to tell if its fried electrically.