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Rough idle causes stalling
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posgrandam
Anonymous Poster
spaceman1882@yahoo.com
Apr 2, 2007, 7:41 PM
Post #1 of 2
(2418 views)
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Rough idle causes stalling
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'97 Grand Am SE 4Cyl 2.4L 4-door 85,000 miles:
I just bought this car a few days ago for $900, and I thought I was getting a good deal because the body and engine seemed decent. When I test drove it the only problem I noticed was that the instrument cluster was inop. Every light is stuck on, none of the guages work, but the odometer does work.
The day after I bought it there was what I thought a major tranny slip, so I put some Lucas Trans Fix in, no go. Put new plugs in, no go. Every single time when I accelerate from a stop or park I get some major sputtering and misfiring, but then it catches and is fine until I get around what I think is 60-70mph (speedometer is inop) and it sputters/misfires some more. Once I'm driving for 15 minutes+ and come to a stoplight, the car idles really low/really rough and will shutoff. It does start right back up, but I just have to crank the ignition a little longer than normal. Now when I come to a stop I put it in neutral and do a brake stand to prevent it from shutting off, but it still sputters when I start to accelerate. Is there a dial somewhere that regulates how much gas the engine gets while idling? Would notching that up help?
I took it to the local GM dealership to get diagnostics done, and all that showed up was:
P0300 Misfire, P0335 Crankshaft Sensor, and P0341 Camshaft Sensor. They said to replace those sensors I'm already up to $220 and that wouldn't guarantee a fix, not to mention the cluster problem they said would cost $300+, so I paid the $80 diag fee and left. At autozone the cam and crank sensors are $19 each. I called a junkyard and they told me $30 for the cluster, but they said that it could just be bad wiring or a ground.
Now I do have a buddy who will put all 3 of those in for "50% of what a shop charges." For you mechanics out there, about how much is that? He is somewhat of a rookie mechanic, but he can do it if he knows exactly what to replace. Is there anything specific I can tell him to look for regarding fuses or the wiring and grounds behind the cluster so I don't have to drop that $30? Neither of us really know much about electrical problems, but is that rather simple?
Sorry for the long post, but I just don't want to spend hundreds of dollars for nothing. Is there anything else it could be? I saw a post on another forum that was similar to my problem and a new EGR valve and vacuum hose fixed it. I really don't want to replace hundreds of dollars worth of stuff if I don't have to.
I think the dealership's diagnostics were a ripoff. They didn't even look into the cluster problem, they just told me to replace it. I think I'll try Autozone's free diagnostics. If something comes up I'll post it shortly.
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Guest
Anonymous Poster
Apr 5, 2007, 9:30 PM
Post #2 of 2
(2399 views)
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Re: Rough idle causes stalling
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try doing a throtle body service try not to spray t.p.s. and clean i a c vavle
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