Intermittent Stalling

I have 96 SC2 that will at times stall. If it happens it usually only does
it one time during the day then it runs fine.

I can usually tell the car is going to stall at the next stop light or stop
sign because I can feel the engine missing. If I put the car in neutral and
keep reving the engine it will stay running or I can sometimes punch the
accelerator a few times and that usually clears it up.

The check engine light is on but autozone could not extract any codes.

Plugs and wires are new. I have had the throttle body off and cleaned it.

I am wondering if it could be a faulty coil pack? I had one go a long time
ago but it was pretty obvious then. Can coil packs act up intermittently?

Any thoughts? Thanks

How old is the fuel filter?

whoareyou4 wrote:
> I have 96 SC2 that will at times stall. If it happens it usually only does
> it one time during the day then it runs fine.
>
> I can usually tell the car is going to stall at the next stop light or stop
> sign because I can feel the engine missing. If I put the car in neutral and
> keep reving the engine it will stay running or I can sometimes punch the
> accelerator a few times and that usually clears it up.
>
> The check engine light is on but autozone could not extract any codes.
>
> Plugs and wires are new. I have had the throttle body off and cleaned it.
>
> I am wondering if it could be a faulty coil pack? I had one go a long time
> ago but it was pretty obvious then. Can coil packs act up intermittently?
>
> Any thoughts? Thanks
>
>

"whoareyou4" > wrote in message
...
>I have 96 SC2 that will at times stall. If it happens it usually only does
>it one time during the day then it runs fine.
>
> I can usually tell the car is going to stall at the next stop light or
> stop sign because I can feel the engine missing. If I put the car in
> neutral and keep reving the engine it will stay running or I can sometimes
> punch the accelerator a few times and that usually clears it up.
>
> The check engine light is on but autozone could not extract any codes.
>
> Plugs and wires are new. I have had the throttle body off and cleaned it.
>
> I am wondering if it could be a faulty coil pack? I had one go a long time
> ago but it was pretty obvious then. Can coil packs act up intermittently?
>
> Any thoughts? Thanks
>

My 98 SL has been showing a P0341 (camshaft sensor, doesn't exist), wouldn't
start a couple of weeks ago, and sometimes misses when I come to a stop at a
light. The diagnosis I got from the shop is an intermittent problem with the
ignition control module.

They wanted $400 for the part. I can get it at Autozone for $145. Until it
fails consistently, I'm not going to worry about it. At least until winter,
but I have a motorcycle for backup.

If your coil pack checks out, you might consider the ICM. Maybe you can find
a used one and swap it out?
--
Richard

On Fri, 5 May 2006 07:05:22 -0500, "whoareyou4" >
wrote:

>I have 96 SC2 that will at times stall. If it happens it usually only does
>it one time during the day then it runs fine.
>
>I can usually tell the car is going to stall at the next stop light or stop
>sign because I can feel the engine missing. If I put the car in neutral and
>keep reving the engine it will stay running or I can sometimes punch the
>accelerator a few times and that usually clears it up.
>
>The check engine light is on but autozone could not extract any codes.
>
>Plugs and wires are new. I have had the throttle body off and cleaned it.
>
>I am wondering if it could be a faulty coil pack? I had one go a long time
>ago but it was pretty obvious then. Can coil packs act up intermittently?
>
>Any thoughts? Thanks
>


IMHO,

I would have my throttle body cleaned, and CTS replaced.

hth,

tom @ www.FreeCreditCheckGuide.com

"whoareyou4" > wrote in message
...
>I have 96 SC2 that will at times stall. If it happens it usually only does
>it one time during the day then it runs fine.
>
> I can usually tell the car is going to stall at the next stop light or
> stop sign because I can feel the engine missing. If I put the car in
> neutral and keep reving the engine it will stay running or I can sometimes
> punch the accelerator a few times and that usually clears it up.
>
> The check engine light is on but autozone could not extract any codes.
>
> Plugs and wires are new. I have had the throttle body off and cleaned it.
>
> I am wondering if it could be a faulty coil pack? I had one go a long time
> ago but it was pretty obvious then. Can coil packs act up intermittently?
>
> Any thoughts? Thanks

The coil packs are prone to intermittent failure caused by corrosion on the
mounting surfaces and grounding. At ~70 k km I had a miss and a ses light,
IIRC I also had a cam position sensor error code. I found one high
resistance plug wire which I replaced but the problem continued if somewhat
reduced and the code reappeared after clearing. Saturn wanted to replace
the coil packs for big $$$ with no guaranties but since I had another
similar car, I exchanged with the known good coil packs of my second car. A
Saturn mechanic suggested I should clean all the mounting surfaces and bolts
and to install using dielectric grease on all the mounting surfaces and
electrical connectors. The way he said it I suspected that this was what
really cured the problems when new coil packs $$$ are sold to owners. I
have not had another similar problem with either car in >300k subsequent km.
Grease the mounting bolts to prevent corrosion and seizure.

Real dielectric grease is expensive and is not applied at the factory. It
is however a LOT cheaper than new coilpacks.

Good luck, YMMV