Hi,

OK, some history. 130k miles, 2k on fuel filter, 30k on plugs, cap, rotor. In the year I've owned it, never a hint of a problem.

I just did the t-belt and valve adjust. After the job I drove it 40 miles and it ran great. I then started to change the coolant. Drain, flush, and drive around with just water in it.

And, all of a sudden at 40 mph the motor just stops. Tach crashes directly to zero. No sputtering; it was just like it turned off. Like every bit of spark or fuel just instantly stopped. Was going up a slight hill. I pull over, pop the hood, look around, and it started right up and ran great. In the 5 mile drive home it cut out again twice. Started right back up as soon as I was pulled over. Ran great between stall-out, Never any mis-firing or anything like that. Never any long-cranking-time to get started.

The last 50 yds to my house is up a steep hill. On the hill it stalled about four times.

CEL is not on. Starts right up and runs great. I wiggle the key, and the plug wires, rev it up, turn electrical stuff on...can't get it to stall.

Note: I lost my cruise control function (maybe during the t-belt job), the vac hose connected to the PVC is sucked flat, and the shield under the distrbutor rotor is broken in two.

Suggestions will be appreciated.

Roy

 

The only thing you mentioned that I can think of is that spark-shield under the distributor rotor. Shorting the spark would be a sudden shut-down.

The other stuff like the collapsed PCV hose might make it run badly, but won't stop the same way as turning a switch.

 

Thanks Jim,

Yes, the PVC hose couldn't be it...with the engine running I've pulled it off and let it suck air and I've plugged it up...and it certainly didn't cause a stall.

I guess all sorts of stuff happens when you are dealing with the voltage in the distributor. I have had a shield on mail order for a couple days. However, I have no idea when it got broken...I hate to admit it, but when I started the t-belt job was the first time I've had the cap off. I know the age of the cap and rotor and it always ran fine. I am worried that it has been broken for some time.

I won't drive it until the shield comes...I understand the function of the shield is to protect various distributor components.

Roy

 

I would also advise that you put a 50:50 mix of coolant back in the car asap.

There are rust inhibitors that you need to prevent corrosion throughout the engine cooling system. You don't want rust to clog up the radiator or mess up the propellers on the water pump.

 

Yeah, when I rinse the cooling system, I just remove the thermostat & run the engine for a minute or so. Try for the minimum time with plain water.

I'll keep thinking about the stalling, but even if a stray arc goes down & fries one of the timing sensors in the distributor, it wouldn't start back up. I'm kinda drawing a blank.

 

Thanks guys. I only run it with water for ~ 10 miles. I had antifreeze back in it before the day was over.

Thanks for thinking about my problem. This is just the classic broken-for-a-second-then-OK problem.

I read that the main relay is mostly a won't-start problem rather than a stalling problem. You think that is right?

One thing which impresses me is how fast the tach went to zero. One minute the car is running great...then boom, the tach reads zero.

Roy

 

Everyone says that about the main relay. I'm inclinded to believe it, but I don't actually understand WHY it's like that. If you're OK with electronics, remove the main relay & open it's plastic case. The common problem is cracks in the solder joints on the printed circuit board. Re-melt the solder.

The behavoir of the tach says this is an ignition problem. The tach signal comes from the ignitor, and if the spark were still good, the tach should still read something as the engine coasts down.

Check for loose/dirty/corroded connections in the wiring harness plug at the distributor. Don't know 92 real well, but I think the 12v power is probably a yellow/black wire?? Maybe the distributor loses 12v power because of a flaky connection when you hit a bump in the road?

 

I really liked Jim's suggestion of checking for voltage to the distributor (beacuse it is easy and I don't have to bend over and get under the dash, ha).

On the way to looking for that 12 vdc problem, I discovered I could make the stall happen in the driveway by getting the motor to 4.500 rpm. That was very good news.

Then, while messing around with/in the distributor I found rust inside the rotor and on the distributor shaft where it fits up into the rotor. Ha. I cleaned it all up and the motor would no longer stall at 4.500.

Then the UPS guy came with a new rotor and rotor shield. After I put those in, I did a 5 mile test drive up the nearby hill; I did part of it in second to get the rev's up.

The car runs perfect. I'll do a longer and more varied test drive tomorrow.

If the darn thing is actually fixed...talk about a low-tech problem!

Roy

 

But that's only half the problem...

Rust dust inside the distributor means your distributor bearing is shot. Make plans for a new distributor. I bet the problem will come back.

 

Thanks Jim,

What is the rust--bearing connection?

I have tried to wiggle the shaft and dind't find any play in it. Is there some way to further assess the distributor problem?

I was thinking I needed a new cap gasket.

Roy