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Old Aug 13, 2008 | 11:35 PM
  #1  
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beanieson
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From: New Orleans La
Default Help please

sorry for the long post, but it's an ongoing problem and i think it helps to start from the beginning.

we got our vette (1990 coupe) in the spring of 07. tons of fun, drove it on weekends, but it's mostly garaged. I was away for work for some months, and when i tried to take it out upon my return, it wouldn't start.

no problem, dead battery right? so i jump the battery, it starts up fine and i get about 4 miles before it stalls on me. still has some power, but not enough to start, so i jump it again, and get about another 2 miles before stalling again.

i do this once more on the way home, garage it, and eventually replace the battery figuring that the old delco wasn't accepting a charge from the alt.

on the new battery it does the same thing however. i no longer need to jump start after stalling, but it's still stalling every few miles. the engine just cuts out... when driving you don't even notice until you realize you're just coasting and have no power. it's pretty scary.

so in the fall of 07 it goes off to a supposed vette specialist in hammond, la. they keep it for about 3 weeks, change out a fuel pump, and return it to me. it makes the trip (about 1 hour) back to new orleans, and stalls in my driveway.

back off to the specialist. this time they keep it another few weeks, change out a mat sensor (which i understand to be related to the fuel pump, i'm no mechanic) and return it to me.

this time, all is well for several months. in fact, i drove the car regularly to work about once a week up until the spring when i was away on business again.

when i returned, about 1 month later i realize that it wasn't covered in the garage while i was out, so i crank it up to take it to the wash...... and it stalls on me after about 2 miles.

it's been garaged since as i haven't had the time (or money) to get any work done on it, but now that i have some cash on hand, i'm anxious to get her running again..... so any ideas what could be causing this problem? i'm unsure weather to bring it back to the same shop since they're familiar with the vehicle and issues, but at the same time, they didn't fix it in the long run..

i don't know. any suggestions would be appreciated. again, sorry for the novel.
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Old Aug 13, 2008 | 11:52 PM
  #2  
deerra's Avatar
deerra
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From: Chico California
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I would suggest you pull the codes to see what the problem might be. You can do a search on this forum on how to pull codes.
Good luck.
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Old Aug 13, 2008 | 11:54 PM
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proj84vette
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i know this may be to simple of an answer, but it seems like your
driving until the ignition drains the battery, and then the car stalls.
do you know for sure that the alternator is charging? i'm sure the
shops would have checked this. if you start the car and remove the
positive terminal from the battery, does the car keep running?

no idea why they would have replaced the fuel pump if the symptom
was the battery dieing. but from my own experience, leaving a vehicle
for weeks without starting it, has killed my batteries over time.
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Old Aug 14, 2008 | 12:10 AM
  #4  
beanieson's Avatar
beanieson
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From: New Orleans La
Default

Originally Posted by proj84vette
i know this may be to simple of an answer, but it seems like your
driving until the ignition drains the battery, and then the car stalls.
do you know for sure that the alternator is charging? i'm sure the
shops would have checked this. if you start the car and remove the
positive terminal from the battery, does the car keep running?

no idea why they would have replaced the fuel pump if the symptom
was the battery dieing. but from my own experience, leaving a vehicle
for weeks without starting it, has killed my batteries over time.
yea, i tried that... currently, it isn't the battery. when the issue first came up, it was stalling, and also had an old battery that wasn't charging properly. but currently the battery is fine. it cranks up fine every time.
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Old Aug 14, 2008 | 12:23 AM
  #5  
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Inlove
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Default

Originally Posted by deerra
I would suggest you pull the codes to see what the problem might be. You can do a search on this forum on how to pull codes.
Good luck.


Check for codes even if they did that at the shop. It's a quick and easy first step that can return good information.
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