From a qiuck search, likely seems a crank sensor or coil pack and I'm leaning towards CrAS. (CmAS replaced six months/yr ago, that failure felt different)
Car has been running fine, problem just cropped up in the last day or so. So far I've "driven through" it and it'll run fine afterwards, but at some point that'll stop as the sputter has lasted longer each time.
It doesn't throw a cel ( it's happened 2-3 times now), and I'm trying to locate my reader, no idea if there's something there.
Any quick and dirty checks to test either one?
Not that I know of. I forget what year this car is, the 1999 cars specifically seem to be prone to coil pack failure. If it's a later car, I'd be looking at the cam sensor. Crank sensors are pretty solid unless they're out of adjustment.
asoduk
HalfDork
2/11/17 6:40 p.m.
While probably not the answer... try new plugs first. This happens on my Saab every other year about this time of year (it was actually 2 weeks ago). Strange misfires, poor fuel economy, no CEL. Since the plugs fix it, and they are cheap I haven't looked much into it but suspect it is the increased levels of ethanol in our fuel for the colder months.
Oil in spark plug valley/valve cover gasket...?
Ok, so got a code reader (the other one I had is missing... hmmm), no codes at all. The other "common" causes I guess are plugs/wires, but the car has been running pretty well.
The #4 plug wire was resting against the valve cover, so I guess if the wires were suspect, possible cause?
The options are replace stuff as I go (never wise, it seems...), or, keep the new reader plugged in and see if I notice anything in the readings when it starts running bad.
We'll see what pops up.
Well, this issue popped up again, and this after replacing the coil pack, plugs, and wires (it does run better, probably needed it anyway...).
That said, it's like it's got no spark, it'll sputter pretty badly and want to die - then I'll gas it and try to feather it like it was a carbureted car (must be stuck in the deep recesses of my mind...), and it'll catch and rev pretty good and run fine for a while.
It's not near as pronounced as prior to ignition parts refresh, but same issue as before, and still NO codes.
Maybe I need to chase down some wiring somewhere...
Thoughts?
codrus
SuperDork
3/17/17 6:10 p.m.
Inspect the grounds on the throttle body? That's where all the electronics are grounded, and if it's got a spotty connection the car will do some very strange things.
Anybody else have an issue with the car dying, no CEL?
Grounds on the TB are tight, no loose connectors, at a loss.
Pulled the tps while the car was running at idle, rpm dropped, car kept running, though, any other easy connectors to pull while running to help diagnose?
Does not happen all the time, car fires up after.
Help.
Similar thing started on my 94 today. Not sure if issues would carry across the,models but ours is coilpack related. When it gets up to operating temp itll sputter until 4000rpm.
Ok, so the car threw a code, P1504, Idle Air Control - would this cause the car to just sputter and die? As it died this afternoon, the usual keeping the revs up did not help, which, if it was an idle air control shouldn't matter?
The funny thing is, the car runs fine intermittently.
Ugh.
Different IAC installed (Thanks Scott!), car running fine - we'll see if that was it or it's foolin' me again...
