Help..My GN is cutting out badly and is undriveable

[Hunter Dog]

Guys,
Need help. Took my car to local shop, been there a month, they had personnel change and used to get me fixed up. On way home took for a drive, almost had to push it off the road as it died on me. I took it in for cutting out, sputtering, like it was not getting gas. Today it died upon coming to a stop light, engine light came on. I got it to start, sputtered home, barely. I need to find a local place to take it. In Evansville, Indiana. Garage kept, been completely repainted a few years ago and is super clean inside and out, all stock parts. Just need to get it running right. Guys who had it did work on coil, spark plug wires, 02 sensor, but really clueless on what to do or look for. Any help would be appreciated. Car has never done this before. Car has original turbo, well taken care of, I am original owner. Thank you !

 

[rag231]

Sounds like the Mass Air Flow Sensor. If it doesnt register air flow it doesnt know when you opened the throttle to give it gas. How does the car idle? If it idles well take you middle finger knuckle and pop the MAF and see if the sputtering begins again. A slightly more realistic approach is to know the paper clip diagnostic tool to check your "check engine light". Check your "conversations" or envelope in the top right corner of your page and I will send you the link.

 

[fastblackracing]

Unplug the mass air sensor when it is acting up and see if it improves. make sure the coil pack is tightened down properly, found one loose once and it was loosing its ground sporadically, has the crank sensor ever been changed? ever make a funny ticking sound at the bottom front of the motor? could also be fuel pump, you will have to get a pressure gauge on it to verify pressure while driving, has the engine ever been out of the car? there are 2 sets of ground wires on the back of the passenger side cylinder head that are very important you should check these also.

 

[BMR]

Mine did this yesterday. Swapped MAF and its running again. Check the code that made the light come on first off. Then go from there. Check out all possibilities before spending any $$.

 

[gsgnnut]

Invest in a scan master. Its the only way to know what the hell is going on. Then you can post #s and the forum will do the rest. Can't just throw parts at these cars. If chip original its gotta go. It Makes the car run like dog crap even when everything else right. Get a turbo tweak chip you won't regret it. Very inexpensive.

 

[gsgnnut]

Most mechanics have no clue or even have the proper scan tools to diagnose them. Need to find a knowledgable mechanic. Again use this forum to find one.

 

[UNGN]

If you are the original owner, when did you change the fuel pump? The original was on borrowed time 20 years ago.

 

[dynoman]

If you are the original owner, when did you change the fuel pump? The original was on borrowed time 20 years ago.

X2... Post up any and all recent changes and repairs you have made , it might just need a little upgrading .

 

[UNGN]

Even if the pump was changed in 2000, the pump to tank rubber hose can be pinholed and leak pressure. Ethanol gas makes a mess of the fuel system so the replacement stuff may not last as long as the originals did.

A scan tool and a Fuel pressure gage and you are set to figure out what is wrong.

 

[V6sleeper]

Original fuel pump wasn't adequate right off the showroom floor... start with that.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Start w/ the tools to diagnose/tune.

 

[aminga]

Start w/ the tools to diagnose/tune.

Listen to chuck here.

Scan tool data is better that shooting in the dark. Since the SES came on pull the codes and see what it says.

 

[Hunter Dog]

Sounds like the Mass Air Flow Sensor. If it doesnt register air flow it doesnt know when you opened the throttle to give it gas. How does the car idle? If it idles well take you middle finger knuckle and pop the MAF and see if the sputtering begins again. A slightly more realistic approach is to know the paper clip diagnostic tool to check your "check engine light". Check your "conversations" or envelope in the top right corner of your page and I will send you the link.

Hello and thank you for your time. They confirmed they checked MAF and it was good. ECM and it was good. They put in new plugs, new plug wires, 02 sensor and coil. Car was worse than when I picked it up. They said it did not idle correctly, but it did when I picked it up. However on the dash gauge, the rpm does not even show up, it's low. If I give it some gas in park, it seems to want to cut out. I noticed some oil on the top of the big black hose going from MAF to turbo. I noticed darker oil, almost grease under this same black hose. I am beginning to think the turbo may be gone. It has never been raced or driver hard.

 

[TLIMITED]

Hello and thank you for your time. They confirmed they checked MAF and it was good. ECM and it was good. They put in new plugs, new plug wires, 02 sensor and coil. Car was worse than when I picked it up. They said it did not idle correctly, but it did when I picked it up. However on the dash gauge, the rpm does not even show up, it's low. If I give it some gas in park, it seems to want to cut out. I noticed some oil on the top of the big black hose going from MAF to turbo. I noticed darker oil, almost grease under this same black hose. I am beginning to think the turbo may be gone. It has never been raced or driver hard.

If they did plugs,wires,coilpack Check to see if a plug wire is crossed or if it is anything different than a A/C Delco coil pack it is probably garbage.

 

[rag231]

Gotta have those codes! Any oil on the top of your driver's side valve cover?

 

[rag231]

Even with a bad turbo you should still be getting decent idle. You might look like Puff the magic dragon going down the street tho. Just shooting in the dark with the oil on the MAF hose, the valve cover question was leading to blow by out of your oil fill tube.

 

[TurboBuRick]

First take a close look at the maf pipe connections. Make sure they are on good and clamps are tight. If it's allowed to suck any un metered air it wont run right. Check the up pipe connections as well.

 

[UNGN]

As someone said earlier, Use a paperclip in the ALDL to check the check engine light code.

Oil in theIntake pipes is pretty common and not a real problem since the valve cover is piped to the turbo inlet, its pretty hard NOT to have oil in the untake pipes.

A blown / broke turbo will smoke or be slow. idle should be fine.

Fuel pressure gage from Napa and a scan tool will cost less than $150 and will likely diagnose your problem in seconds, which I would guess is the fuel pump.

Lack of fuel pressure will act like this. A pinholed rubber line in the tank will bleed pressure and you will never know (until you put a fuel pressure gage on it).

As the pinhole gets larger, the car will run worse and worse, until it no longer runs.

My car cut out and was undriveable in 1995 when the original fuel pump gave up.

My TTA cut out and was undriveable just this year when the original fuel pump gave up and again it cut out an was undriveable with the new fuel pump (and I replaced nearly every sensor on the motor until I determined the racetronix hot wire had a bad plug from their factory.

Ethanol is horrible on the factory fuel system. When you drop the tank to change the fuel pump, you will see.