I know we are supposed to post about other cars in the non olds section but some people dont read them...

Here goes...

So my car all of a sudden wouldnt start the other day and so i jumped it and it ran fine for the rest of the day. The next day i went to go get food (after running it this morning) and it ran fine until we got into the drive thru, put it in neutral and the car al of a sudden just died and wouldnt start. after jumping it again it ran just fine. WTF is wrong here?

Any ideas? Got the alt checked but it tested fine. And i dont think it is the battery due to the electronics are fine on it when i have the car engine off...

TIA
Tom "Sicky"

Oh and btw its a 95 Caprice

 

I think your battery has a bad cell or a bad connection. I would clean all connections and maybe a load test on battery.
Larry

 

would that cause to have the car die while its running though?

 

I second the load test on the battery. I am pretty sure autozone will load test it for free.

 

yeah so does advanced, i will have to take it there... mine as well its free

 

... and it was the battery. good call guys and thanks a lot

 

...glad to hear your problem as been turned into a non-problem

 

x2

Over the years at work I have had some strange things go wrong with batteries. Also have seen them create some strange things. It is now one of the first things I check.
Larry

 

and it turned back into a problem.... on the way home from pt the car died AGAIN!!!! and let me tell you pushing that car by yourself not fun. then after sitting for about 10 minutes it started right back up

rommate says maybe fuel filter or pump? any other ideas guys?

Besides trading it in for a new car... (still paying off the 69)

 

All connections good and tight on the starter? Are your spark plug wires good/not frayed or touching any other wires?

 

x2 on the roommate sounds like filter or pump. Does the motor crank but not start? does it die while moving or parked? Next time it dies listen for the fuel pump without starting the engine. You can usually hear it in the gas door with the key on. The sound will only last a short time so listen while someone turns the key on but does not crank.

 

Could be a overheating crank sensor had this happen with a grand am. After crank sensor cooled off car would start and drive until it cut out again.

 

I'm no expert on this, but I owned an ex-LAPD Caprice of this vintage and had somewhat of the same problem. The department's mechanic quickly diagnosed it as a "sick" ECU or sensor (can't remember nor find the invoice) that was shutting off fuel/spark when the engine hit anything over fully-warmed-up (like stop-and-go driving followed by a drive-thru; with no moving air cooling the engine it quit). It was apparently very common as that's about how all cop cars are driven. He walked over to a pile and twenty minutes later it was good as, well, an ex-cruiser with 150k+ miles can be.

[It was a good thing, too, as they were selling (or tossing) all their Caprice stuff, so that "pile" wouldn't have been there a week or two later...]

Probably not that helpful, I know, but what the heck. You (OK, I) never know...

 

I've found on high-mileage cars w/electric pumps, keeping a 1/4 tank of fuel helps a lot!
After all, the fuel 'cools' the pump?!?!?!?!?!

 

At least your getting closer to figuring this out.
It is a problem with heat.
I would suspect a sensor or something with your ignition system.
I had a truck that had a similar problem,it would get hot and shut down,let it cool would fire right up and run until it got hot again. It turned out to be a bad hall effect switch.There was a small area on the switch that was epoxy sealed,got to looking at it very close and noticed the epoxy had a hairline crack in it.Replaced the hall effect switch and never had another problem.That hairline crack was just enough to let the heat soak thru.

 

yeah i was afraid of this... my check engine light is on and it is a code 42 which is for ECU connection/ECU itself... I think i am just going to pull the engine and tranny and junk the EFFIN thing. dumped WAY too much money into her and it is not worth it IMO

 

Have you checked the connections for the computer? any green corrosion? My 89 caprice for some reason would build up with green corrosion(guessing moisture)inside the terminal connectors,a can of electronics cleaner would clean it up real nice.

 

just checked those and they look brand new!!! stoopid chebby... last time i by a car from a "friend" also ><

 

AND tried to drive it today and MAYBE got a mile.... and then when i tried to start her up again no whining from the fuel pump... So i am guessing it is that.

 

And how much fuel was in the tank??
I got aout 100 more miles from my '89 suburban pump by whacking the tank w/ a rubber mallet!

 

i get about 200 miles to the tank and there is about 50ish miles on it for this tank so 15 gallons in the tank i would say about

 

Put a rubber mallet in the trunk, and try giving the tank a couple - 3 whacks as soon as it dies - beats pushing!!

 

only have to drive it like a mile back at least if that works. read another forum whee guy had the same problem and it ended up being the Relay. so i will start with that lol

http://chevroletforum.com/forum/capr...t-start-36551/

 

check coil, and distributor.

i fried mine on a landrover do to a faulty mass negative kabel.

fried the magnetic pickup? it knisperd and died.

could also be a loose wire, had that also.
the car died suddenly and after that it runs again, faulty loose coil conection.

 

UPDATE:

So i replaced the battery the fuel sender and the fuel pump, and still no whirring. then i looked one last time after i got it all put together and i found my problem. it was the EFFING fuse for my PCM/IGN. Boy was my face red when i saw that. simple red 10 fuse makes my car stop. but on the other side i def needed the parts i bought so no big loss there


still wanna scrap it after pulling the motor and tranny though LOL