98 SE, 3.1l. (OD is gone, heard a spring snapping noise before this mess, and since then my 4th gear doesn't work right. It shifts into 4th, but as soon as I take my foot off the gas my RPMs drop to ~800 and if I want to accelerate again, I need to rev it back up to the 3k it was at for the tranny to grab and push me)
A few months back, it stalled on me. I let it sit for a few minutes, and tried it, and it started right back up and drove fine.
Fast forward a few days, it dies again. This time it won't start back up, so I lunk it to a friends shop. They all chit-chat about my car for a while, and decide it might be the crank sensor. So I buy a new crank sensor and, before I installed it, I tried my car, and it fired right up. I installed it anyway, just to be safe. Car ran great for a few days, and died again on the side of the road.
This time, I was told it might be my ICM, so I went out, bought one and changed it. Few days later, car stalled again. This time, the fuel pump might junk. Replaced that. Still stalled. Maybe the new ICM I got was junk. Return that for a new one, and replace it again. Still stalled. Maybe the plugs and wires are junk. Did a tune up, still stalled.
Several of the times it stalled, my car was getting hot. Before this all happened I barely hit 185. Now, I hover between 185-210, and if it gets to 210, 9/10 times it stalls.
Anyway, this last week I've been having serious issues. Car wouldn't start unless I pumped the gas, and even then, once I pumped the gas, I had to hold the RPMs steady at 2k for about a minute before I could take my foot off the gas without it stalling.
Yesterday I was driving along, and I got to the top of a tiny hill, and it cut out on me. I waited a few seconds, turned it over, pumped the gas, and it fired right back up. I held the RPMs at 2k, and they held steady for a few seconds then the engine started coughing. It dropped to 0, jumped to 500, dropped to 0, jumped to 500, etc. Finally it cut out, and wouldn't start back up, regardless of time waited.
I got a battery from my uncle, and swapped it, naturally the new one was completely dead, so I had someone jump it, and the car would fire, run for a few seconds, then die, completely. Battery died 100%. So we reconnected the cables, started the car, and the car started up, and died, doing the same coughing thing it was doing before. After that time, the car wouldn't start again, no matter how long we jumped it. It would just stay turning over, but never start. It's not throwing any codes, either.
I'm probably going to the bank today, to get some money for a new car, but before I did, I just wonder if there's something we missed.
I have 30 people telling me 30 different things it could be. I'm tired of throwing money at it, and nothing changing.
I'll try to answer any questions.