It seems to be an ignition power problem. It is the 8-valve non-turbo engine.
Our mechanic just worked on it, to replace the rear main seal (only). He had problems starting it...and we have had problems starting it, but only rarely. Most of the time it was starting/running fine....but was using a quart a day due to bad rear seal. Now the oil leak is fixed. But the day after we get it back, the intmt. start/run problem has gone from intmt to ALLTHE TIME. First 20 miles after we got it back were fine. Son drove to a nearby town, got stranded---- car would start, but with difficulty. As soon as you put it into drive, the engine would stall. That is the way I found it. You have to give it a LOT of gas to get it to start, much more than normal. Then rev engine until warmed up.... because at idle, especially when cold, it just won't idle any more. As I held RPMs at about 2000, intermittently the RPM gauge would drop like instantly to near-zero, and then back to 2000 all within a second or so. During the time it showed near-zero RPM, the check engine light came on. And of course the engine was actually near-stalling/choking each time. I know how to check the codes, but didn't have the code chart info with me at the time. I had someone else hold the accelerator at 2000 RPM, and put a volt meter on the B+ terminal of the coil. The voltage at the battery
- term. is a constant 14 volts, but at the coil it averages about
Ideas?