Intermittent Starting / Stall Problem
Thread Starter
8th Gear
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 8
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Intermittent Starting / Stall Problem
1989 L98 with 79K miles.
Intermittent problem starting after car is warmed up and turned off. The starter motor engages and turns the engine over, but no fire. After letting the car sit 5-10 minutes, she starts great.
The car will also periodically stall while I am at a stop light, and the same symptoms occurr. Let it sit for a few minutes, and it will start right up.
I have replaced:
- Distributor Cap
- Coil
- Rotor
- Plugs
- Wires
- Idle Control Valve (+ Cleaning the Throttle Body)
I am at a loss and need guidance. Any thoughts??
Intermittent problem starting after car is warmed up and turned off. The starter motor engages and turns the engine over, but no fire. After letting the car sit 5-10 minutes, she starts great.
The car will also periodically stall while I am at a stop light, and the same symptoms occurr. Let it sit for a few minutes, and it will start right up.
I have replaced:
- Distributor Cap
- Coil
- Rotor
- Plugs
- Wires
- Idle Control Valve (+ Cleaning the Throttle Body)
I am at a loss and need guidance. Any thoughts??
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 13,793
Likes: 0
From: St. Peters MO Sometimes you have to prove yourself by doing alot of killing or alot of dying...
GM's (especially the L98's and LB9's) had terrible problems with Starter heat soak. I can't explain it technically, but in a sense, the starter heats up from the exhaust and motor temps and will not engage until it cools. You may want to look into that a little further. As for the stalling problem, it could be a number of things, and your list of fixes would cover many of that. Also try cleaing the MAF with some carb cleaner or Trinity Nitro blast that can be found at any local hobby shop. I know it's apples to oranges, but my 94 Cougar had that problem and shooting the MAF and cleaning the K&N helped me out.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
Put a fuel pressure gauge on the shrader valve at the end of the fuel rail and turn on the ignition. The fuel pump comes on for 2 seconds and goes off. Turn the ignition off and observe how fast the fuel pressure drops. It should be very slow, 1 psi in 1/2 hr. If the pressure bleeds off rapidly, you have leaky injectors which cause flooding and stalling and difficulty in restarting. The solution is a set of new injectors.
