Hello....My 87 Delta is running fine then without warning, the engine dies out. It could go days without this happening then it happens again. Can anyone help? Thanks

 

Does it die upon acceleration? Does it die suddenly or does it sputter? Could be any number of things ,but it sounds electrical to me. You may have a bad coil pack or ignition module. I don't know if you have 3 coils on the module (2 cyl per coil) or the single coil for all 6 cyl.

Coil:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=938962 (1x6)

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=97761 (3x2)

Module:
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=97575

 

No sputtering, the engine just dies.....I have the coil pack....Thanks for your reply......Many thanks for the info

 

What are you doing when it dies. I had a 88 grand am that had a bad crank sensor that would get hot and quit working, after 15 min it would go like nothing was wrong.

 

Have you noticed that the engine will seem to stumble or run really slow, almost quitting when you come to a stop? Other times it might 'surge' by running a little fast, then a little slow?
When it restarts, does it run normal or 'different'? Or does it not want to start at all?

I'm fishing here. But we need more info on the way the engine was running before it quits.

 

Yes.....This is what's happening

 

Sounds like you could have 2 things working against you. First this is an 87 car so most of the vacuum lines are probably way past due for replacement. Check first to see if you have cracked, brittle or lines that aren't holding vacuum at their connectors. On general principle, I'd just replace all the vacuum lines anyway. Then test for idle. If it's still bad?

How many miles on this car? Does it do a lot of city stop/go driving? It may also have a faulty idle air control unit (IAC). The problems I described are quite common with this part malfunction. The part is easy to replace. You can also take it out and bench test it for resistance to see if you need to replace it. Instead of going into a lot of descriptive text, have a look at this DIY video that shows how to test or replace the IAC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=406BTo4JE3A

One other thing you should change while you're doing this is the PCV valve. Most people forget to do that and it can create gasket failure by not venting crankcase pressures as designed.

Let us know what happens ok?

 

Crank sensor or ignition module is the most likely cause of the problem. Either one can over heat causing a stalling problem. Replaced quit a few of them for the same problem.