Stalling when taking off

I have a 1997 Buick Skylark Custom, that I've owned since it was about
a year old, with a 2.4L engine with about 179,000 miles on it and for
about 2 years now it has been stalling when I accelerate from a stop or
slow coast and intermittently when coming to a stop from freeway
speeds. I've had the local parts shop put a scanner on it and only got
that it was running rich, I'm assuming to compensate for whatever the
problem may be. I also noticed that my mileage has been affect since I
used to get nearly 30mpg on the freeway and I'm now getting about
23-25mpg on the average. The stalling is the worst during stop and go
traffic, usually I have to sit there and give it a little gas (about
1000 or so rpm) before I start moving so it will not stall. It doesn't
seem to matter if I place into park or neutral, it will stall about 50%
of the time. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated since I
really do love this car.

wrote:
> I have a 1997 Buick Skylark Custom, that I've owned since it was about
> a year old, with a 2.4L engine with about 179,000 miles on it and for
> about 2 years now it has been stalling when I accelerate from a stop or
> slow coast and intermittently when coming to a stop from freeway
> speeds. I've had the local parts shop put a scanner on it and only got
> that it was running rich, I'm assuming to compensate for whatever the
> problem may be. I also noticed that my mileage has been affect since I
> used to get nearly 30mpg on the freeway and I'm now getting about
> 23-25mpg on the average. The stalling is the worst during stop and go
> traffic, usually I have to sit there and give it a little gas (about
> 1000 or so rpm) before I start moving so it will not stall. It doesn't
> seem to matter if I place into park or neutral, it will stall about 50%
> of the time. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated since I
> really do love this car.

I'm thinking something simple, like a dirty MAF sensor or a bad MAP
sensor if your engine has that instead and could be a borderline Oxy.
sensor if it hasn't been replaced in a while, Do you remember what the
code was? If you can, maybe some of the others can give you a better
idea. I think someone here on this group had a link to a web page that
detailed the cleaning of a MAF sensor, so you may be able to Google and
find it.
If it's running Rich these sensors may be giving the ECU the wrong
signal! And it could be the Throttle position sensor as well...I'v seen
these with a bad spot on them and they make the ECU go nuts and may not
show up on a scan. You have to check it with a Analog type multimeter
on the connector and watch for a smooth swing of the meter needle
Anyway just my two cents.

HTH, Rick

I installed a new precat O2 sensor in March, problems started before
that & didn't get any worse after that. The codes I wrote down were
P0113 - Intake Air Temperature Sensor Circuit High Voltage (no longer
shows up), P0172 - Fuel Trim System Rich (still shows up) and P0440 -
EVAP System (no longer shows up). The last (P0440) is just a general
about the EVAP canister.

I did look around the groups some more (should have done that first,
getting upset with this problem) and found something about
disconnecting a 4-wire connector from the TCC. I did this and the car
seemed to run better for a bit until i had to sit and idle for a couple
of minutes at a gate, then it stumbled before accelerating. The only
other thing I noticed after disconnect the connector was that I no
longer had any indication of PRND321.

wrote:
> I installed a new precat O2 sensor in March, problems started before
> that & didn't get any worse after that. The codes I wrote down were
> P0113 - Intake Air Temperature Sensor Circuit High Voltage (no longer
> shows up), P0172 - Fuel Trim System Rich (still shows up) and P0440 -
> EVAP System (no longer shows up). The last (P0440) is just a general
> about the EVAP canister.
>
> I did look around the groups some more (should have done that first,
> getting upset with this problem) and found something about
> disconnecting a 4-wire connector from the TCC. I did this and the car
> seemed to run better for a bit until i had to sit and idle for a couple
> of minutes at a gate, then it stumbled before accelerating. The only
> other thing I noticed after disconnect the connector was that I no
> longer had any indication of PRND321.

Now I would think that the O2 sensor for bank 1 needs to be tested. A
P0172 is system too rich bank 1.

Rick

wrote:
>
> I installed a new precat O2 sensor in March, problems started before
> that & didn't get any worse after that. The codes I wrote down were
> P0113 - Intake Air Temperature Sensor Circuit High Voltage (no longer
> shows up), P0172 - Fuel Trim System Rich (still shows up) and P0440 -
> EVAP System (no longer shows up). The last (P0440) is just a general
> about the EVAP canister.
>
> I did look around the groups some more (should have done that first,
> getting upset with this problem) and found something about
> disconnecting a 4-wire connector from the TCC. I did this and the car
> seemed to run better for a bit until i had to sit and idle for a couple
> of minutes at a gate, then it stumbled before accelerating. The only
> other thing I noticed after disconnect the connector was that I no
> longer had any indication of PRND321.

What you describe does not fit the symptoms of a failing TCC solenoid.
Everything you describe fits a vacuum leak or stuck EGR, however.
AND the TPS may be bad, also

wrote:
> I installed a new precat O2 sensor in March, problems started before
> that & didn't get any worse after that. The codes I wrote down were
> P0113 - Intake Air Temperature Sensor Circuit High Voltage (no longer
> shows up), P0172 - Fuel Trim System Rich (still shows up) and P0440 -
> EVAP System (no longer shows up). The last (P0440) is just a general
> about the EVAP canister.
>
> I did look around the groups some more (should have done that first,
> getting upset with this problem) and found something about
> disconnecting a 4-wire connector from the TCC. I did this and the car
> seemed to run better for a bit until i had to sit and idle for a couple
> of minutes at a gate, then it stumbled before accelerating. The only
> other thing I noticed after disconnect the connector was that I no
> longer had any indication of PRND321.


I forgot to ask on my last post but why did your disconnect the Torque
Converter Clutch connector?? AND the other codes that are not coming up
but showed up before, bother me, and I say this because they may still
be effecting the base symtom of the rich bank 1....The EVAP SYS. code
too. If your in the habit of TOPPING off your tank ,instead stopping on
the first click, this habit is a known killer the EVAP CAN. by
flooding the CAN with fuel

> What you describe does not fit the symptoms of a failing TCC solenoid.
> Everything you describe fits a vacuum leak or stuck EGR, however.
> AND the TPS may be bad, also

True, but based on what I've been reading, I was attempting to disable
the lockup torque converter solenoid, which seemed to be a common
problem with my year & model of transmission (4T60E I believe), use up
the cheap solutions first. I have thought about EGR (mine is the $200+
solenoid type), however, I've gotten no codes related to the EGR
(P0401, P0403, P0404, P0405, P1404). I've inspected for vacuum line
leaks and lines that have been damaged or removed and not replaced,
none found so far, though it still may be a vacuum leak someplace on
the engine.

> I forgot to ask on my last post but why did your disconnect the Torque
> Converter Clutch connector?? AND the other codes that are not coming up
> but showed up before, bother me, and I say this because they may still
> be effecting the base symtom of the rich bank 1....The EVAP SYS. code
> too. If your in the habit of TOPPING off your tank ,instead stopping on
> the first click, this habit is a known killer the EVAP CAN. by
> flooding the CAN with fuel

I do top off (I like even $0.50 increments) and now that I know about
this, I'll stop to see if this helps. I'll also pull the EVAP canister
off to see it's general condition, i.e. cracks, broken lines, etc.
Thank you. I've also decided to replace the fuel filter since it has
been over 75,000 miles since I last did this and because we've got
"dirty" fuel out here in Arizona (dust storms and the such), my last
filter was plugged solid with dirt and debris.

Jens wrote:
>
> > What you describe does not fit the symptoms of a failing TCC solenoid.
> > Everything you describe fits a vacuum leak or stuck EGR, however.
> > AND the TPS may be bad, also
>
> True, but based on what I've been reading, I was attempting to disable
> the lockup torque converter solenoid, which seemed to be a common
> problem with my year & model of transmission (4T60E I believe), use up
> the cheap solutions first. I have thought about EGR (mine is the $200+
> solenoid type), however, I've gotten no codes related to the EGR
> (P0401, P0403, P0404, P0405, P1404). I've inspected for vacuum line
> leaks and lines that have been damaged or removed and not replaced,
> none found so far, though it still may be a vacuum leak someplace on
> the engine.

Thanks for the info. It still sounds like egr is remaining open and letting air
into the system. That would also account for the rich mixture - ecu trying to
adapt.
Can you take the EGR off, take it completely apart, and clean it?
Almost forgot - you probably already did these:
clean all around the throttle plate - take it off would be best.
(Sometimes the throttle body gasket leaks and creates your type of problems
clean the maf/mat sensor - its fragile - be careful - inspect the outside for
cracks.

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> I have a 1997 Buick Skylark Custom, that I've owned since it was about
> a year old, with a 2.4L engine with about 179,000 miles on it and for
> about 2 years now it has been stalling when I accelerate from a stop or
> slow coast and intermittently when coming to a stop from freeway
> speeds.

I think your throttle body is gunked up. When the throttle plate closes
it is closing on a line of gunk which is killing the airflow. Take this
apart and clean it out.

Ted