Yeah, it's my 1988 Pontiac 6000 (2.5 - 3-speed auto - 125,000 miles) with stalling again that I bring up so much in this group - it's got a little change to it. The other day in the parking lot, I turned my car left (not touching the gas) to get ready to back into my parking spot. When I turned left (somewhat sharp - one complete rotation of the steering wheel to the left) the car stalled. I thought what's new, the car always stalls, but it normally doesn't stall just from turning the steering wheel and not pressing the gas. So, I straightened out the steering wheel a little bit and restarted the car. I put it in reverse, and the second I pressed the gas, it stalled again. I put it in park and restarted the car again. It was turning over real funny this time and I had to keep my foot at least lightly on the gas to keep it running. (It had no pattern whatsoever for the turning over, so it was kind of hard to discribe.) I put the car in reverse. (I took my foot off of the gas when I shifted it into reverse.) I then touched the gas lightly to back into my spot and it stalled once again. I thought, okay, I'll give it one more shot. I put it in park again and tried again. It turned over funny again. I still had to keep my foot on the gas. I put it in reverse, and tried again - it stalled again. I turned the burgandy, stalling piece of scrap metal off and waited a minute or two. I then started the car again. It still turned over funny. I kept my foot on the gas lightly to keep it running, and I put it into drive this time. I also kept my foot lightly on the gas the whole time even while shifting from park into drive. I then had to ride my brakes and keep my foot lightly on the gas and pulled my car straight into a parking spot as opposed to backing it up. I finally got the troublemaker parked. Then, during lunch (4 hours later) I went out to the car and started it up, and it turned over fine and ran "normal". (It missed and sputtered a little bit.) I then pulled the car out of the parking spot and backed it into the spot, and it did that fine. Now this doesn't make any sense to me with this cars stalling issue(s). When I turned tight and it stalled, it makes me think there might be a compression problem. If I have to keep my foot on the gas to keep the car running, it makes it sound like a fuel problem. When this car stalls a lot more in reverse than drive (although it has done it in drive before) it makes me think a transmission problem. This is what I've found out about the car's stalling habits. (Most of which you have probably seen before if you've read my posts.) If you goose the gas pedal or need to gun it suddenly, it sometimes stalls as opposed to letting it roll before pressing the gas. If you have the steering wheel turned all the way and press the gas, it's more likely to stall then when you are going straight. (Although it does do it going straight sometimes.) It stalls more when the heater (I use vent) is on high as opposed to low or off - this might just be statistical and may not actually affect it, I don't know. The car stalls more in reverse than in drive. The car stalls more in colder weather than in hot weather, although it has done it on hot days also. Also three or four times in the past two years, the car actually stalled when I put it into gear. The car has not stalled when going to stop, however, it does feel like it's going to die sometimes when you go to stop on cold days (Below 50 F) if you don't let it warm up for at least five minutes and once completely stopped, the motor starts missing and sputtering like mad. The smoke color that my car has coming out of the tailpipe is white - the normal color. I have a small valve cover gasket leak that I've had fixed several times and always seems to come back. The day with all the problems I had with my car, I drove it all over the place (after the issues that morning) and started it several times with no issues. That night, I also had the oil changed and had a new air filter and breather put it. (I needed those to be done before the cold weather hit.) I'm hoping that putting in 5W30 oil helps my cars starting problems on bitter cold days (turns over very slow on cold days even if left on a battery charger all night and won't start at all past 3 below (F)) as I used to use 10W40. So, I know I've mentioned some of this before (in fact a lot of this) but the steering and stalling is a new one. Also, the day I encountered this problem was a mild day for this time of year. It was in the 50's when this happened.
- posted
17 years ago