Thread: Gtp has died twice

Hey guys, new here so sorry if i posted in the wrong section. I was hoping someone could help me out. I have an 03 GTP. I was going to work one morning and I went through a slow left hand turn (15mph or so.) The car just died. I coasted off the side of the road and hit the starter and it cranked and cranked and nothing. Finally I held my foot to the floor and it started but idled real rough for probablly 2 minutes. Rpms went up and down from probablly 500-1200. The idle finally cleaned up and it ran fine but the factory digital boost gauge would max out even though i was just cruising. It would drop down to half then clear max again. It was running normal, the gauge was just going crazy.

Everything eventually went back to normal. A few weeks later, I was driving and the gauge starts going crazy again. I slow down to make a 15mph right hand turn and it died again. I coasted off the road but this time it started 2nd try and idled fine. After this, the gauge was going crazy even stopped for 15 minutes in road construction.

Does anyone have any idea what this could be? I have no check engine light.

It's getting close to 150,000. I'll check for vacuum leaks tomorrow. If it was a vacuum leak would I not have a check engine light saying lean? I've had a lot of experience with vacuum leaks on carbureted vehicles and I know it's apples and oranges but it usually makes them pop and crack and shows symptoms of a lean mixture, which is what it is.

I know you said shotgun but do you have any reason to believe that? I'm not good at computer controlled stuff and will try anything, just wondering what would make you think that. Like I said, I'm a big block, carb and hei guy so your help is appreciated.

Sounds good to me. I'll try it. The worst part is just doing it at complete random, that makes it a lot harder. The only problem I've had with the engine/transmission is this and a starter. I have to say the starter was easier to change than an old fashion small block.

I have to work the next few nights on night shift so I hope it doesn't leave me sitting. Could you tell me a rough idea of where the crank sensor is?

Thanks man, helps a lot. I'll change it and let you know how it went and if I have any more problems before hand. By the way, my gtp looks exactlly like the one in you sig.

Well its been a while so i figured i'd update you. It died on me 2 more times. I put a crank sensor in it today. Hopefully that fixed it but the problem was so random I won't know for a while. The fuel pressure was good but I never checked the MAF but with no ses light i don't imagine it being the MAF. Hope the crank sensor fixed it, if not I'll be picking your brains again.

The sensor looked a little distorted on the surface so I'm hoping that was it.

Ok guys, I need some more help. After I put the crank sensor in it was ok for a few days then it started acting up again. The boost gauge would go clear max to clear nothing even while idling or coasting. It obviously wasn't boosting, the engine never changed speed a bit. Sometimes it would peg then go to nothing 2 or 3 times a second. It never died on my this time. I took the throttle body off and it was dirty on the engine side of the throttle plate. I cleaned it up pretty good with carb and choke cleaner. I tried to clean the maf as well as i could but I guess i'll have to get some of those safety torx bits to get it out. No clue why they'd use those. Anyone have ANY clue to what's going on?

Clean the MAF. While you are out getting the safety torx bits, get a can of CRC MAF Cleaner. Do NOT use anything but this or electronics cleaner on the MAF, and I don't recommend you using a Q-Tip on the MAF. Those wires are quite thin and if you break on, well you just bought a new MAF. Just spray the crap out of it until both wires are clean and let it air dry before reinstalling it.

It got to where it was dieing all the time, I'd have to stop atleast once on the way to work and let the car "rest" then it would be fine for a little bit. The crank sensor wasn't hard to change, getting the metric bolts for my puller was the only problem there. I do everything myself but I had to take this one to a guy who used to work for Pontiac. He found 2 loose ground wires on the computer, problem fixed.