Olds Regency/98 Stalls
1997 Regency. I parked the vehicle for about 5 weeks. I would go out every 10 days or
so and fire it up and let it run to hot for about 15 minutes and then shut it down, hoping
to keep battery alive amongst other preventative issues.
Finally got around to driving it again a few days back. I am having a hard time isolating
this stalling issue. When I am driving up and down main roads, come to a light...its
fine. If I get stuck in stop and go light throttle traffic or if I am doing parking lot
maneuvering with light throttle, when the idle drops down from releasing the accelerator
pedal, it almost seems like the idle just drops out and stall or if it doesnt stall, it barely
hangs on and the engine sputters. If I do this type of driving and shift into neutral, this
prevents the stalling. When it does stall, it fires back up instantly with a healthy
crank/fire.
I have removed a vacuum line, trying to drive the idle up and drove the vehicle and
experienced the same issue. Checked my intake and filter and found no restrictions.
Added some STP fuel treatment to no avail. I am not sure where I should go next as
there are so many possible reasons why this could be happening. Guess I am looking
for some more diagnostic tips from the community on where they would go next on
something like this.
Thank you.
Get some throttle body spray and clean your throttle body. Remove your Idle Air Control valve and replace. Remove your MAF and spray it down with Mass Air Flow cleaner by CRC. Post back with results.
Thank you!
Well, I have the cleaners. I am unable to remove the throttle body without removing the exhaust to remove throttle body support bracket that is entirely blocking the bottom left fastener of the throttle body. So I look on the air induction side the MAF screen is in place. I am curious if I should just remove the screen. I am a little leery because I dont want to damage it but I see no other way.
In that case just spray some throttle body cleaner directly into the throttle body. The MAF looks like it's just held on by a couple of screws. Is this what it looks like on your car?
Yeah that looks like MAF sensor itself. The screen is what was impeding my way into the throttle body itself. HOWEVER, you know, I am diagnostic author for FIAT Chrysler. I did technical support for Chrysler and for Ford over the prior 15 years before I became an author. I bring this up because its amazing how I could have forgot some very basic level 101 type diagnostics. I went out and disconnected my negative battery cable for ten minutes. Allowing the PCM to relearn itself fixed all of my performance issues, which of course were inducing transmission shift quality issues. For years, this was one of the first things I would advise technicians when they would call in with variable issues related to performance...and I am amazed that I simply forgot this simple step. I am sorry for wasting your time on here and I appreciate the help you have given me. Thank you!
I thought that only worked after replacing a faulty part like a bad IAC for example. Once the new part was introduced, the PCM would have to recalibrate itself because it was compensating for the faulty part. You parked your car for a few weeks, but never put in a new part. I'm wondering if this will only last a couple of days before you're right back where you started. Hopefully not.....
