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Stalling issue & hanging wire question

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ozm0tik

New member
So recently i've noticed the car is stalling a lot lately. usually at slow speeds. Power stays on (radio keeps playing and ect). If i turn key into off position and put it into park it'll usually start back up pretty quickly. I'm not getting any engine codes. I've read and found this might be the crank position sensor and if that's the case how long can it be driven this way? I won't have money to fix it too soon ;s

Another thing i noticed is there is a wire hanging from behind the oil pan area, looks like its plugged into a sensor of some kind, black in color with a long blue platic tab sort of thing coming out the backside, maybe about 2 or 3 inches long. haven't been able to find out what that is. i didn't see that there before when i did an oil change a few months ago

this is all on a 98 grand prix gtp
 


sounds like a crank sensor. if the tach drops to zero before it stalls thats a big clue to that sensor. it never set a code either.

you can drive it till it stops restarting, the re start time will get longer and longer. what used to be a 5 minute hick up cant turn into a 30 minute, or week long no start.

post a pic of this plug. if its a long plug and on the driver side it could be the magnasteer plug from the rack.
 
Yea it does look to be what you mentioned (magnasteer plug). Looked it up on google and seems to look the same. is that normal or matter much then?

I did also notice this issue happened once before but the car didint die. RPM dropped to 0 and some other lights went on (tcs i beleive?) a few months ago but hadnt had the same thing happen since. With the current stalling i havnt seen the rpm drop to 0 yet. Each time i've had to restart it; it was pretty quick to come back up thankfully so far
 
with that plug unplugged your steering will be super firm to turn the wheel id think. it gets plugged in up by the trans shiftier cable linkage on the trans.
 


So i went to a mechanic and they thought it might be somthing else and wanted to run by this bit of info with people here first that seemed to be what made the mechanic think it might not be the crankshaft position sensor

Before the car dies (happened 5 times since i posted yesterday) the tach doesnt drop to 0 and nothing changes in the dash. After it dies all power to the dash and the info display is gone but power to the radio and ac is still on.

I notice when i try to restart it there is still no power showing on the dash but after 3ish try the power comes back, you hear the fuel prime and itll start right up.

They seem to beleive that because the power is dropped on the dash it might not be the crankshaft position sensor. Does it still sound like that might be it?
 
kinda sounds like a bad ground when put like that.


its normal for the dash to black out when the key is turned to start.
 
Well it'll black out right when it dies and stays like that until i try to start it again a few times.

should i check ground connections and if so which ones?
 
front of the engine on the trans bell housing is a bolt with like 3 grounds to it. make sure they are all clean, tight, and the wires are not damaged leading to the eye loops there.

as always, check and clean the battery terminals. make them nice and snug when done.
 
Scott.. from his first post (imagine I skipped the rest), it's the rear knock sensor plug/connector. As long as it's one wire only.

As for the starting issue. Check your battery cables at the battery. REmove them.. look for corrosion, clean it.. hook them back up.
 


BillBoost37 said:
Scott.. from his first post (imagine I skipped the rest), it's the rear knock sensor plug/connector. As long as it's one wire only.

As for the starting issue. Check your battery cables at the battery. REmove them.. look for corrosion, clean it.. hook them back up.
Click to expand...

Alrighty i'll go ahead and try that next.

I followed the negative cables and checked each connection and cleaned them. Test drove it and it still died :(

This time though i wanted to test dash lights so i quickly turned it entirely in the off position and back on with no change to dash lights however i do see the light for the shift position is on and fuel gauge/temp gauges are working. But other lights that usually come up when you initially turn the ignition don't show until after a few turns then they show and car starts.

And again i DID see the RPM drop to 0 but that was probably over 6 months ago and the car has been driving without issues until now. When the car dies it doesn;t sputter and there is no loss in power or rpm jumps/drops

Thanks a ton for the help by the way, I really just am hoping i can narrow it down as much as possible since i don;t have much money to fix it right now :(
 
An ECM going bad can do funny things and cut out an engine and throw no codes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


so i went to check the battery and cleaned it. one thing i did notice is the ground was removable by hand and looks to be sort of stripped. when i tighten it, it just clicks back and becomes loose again

the positive post was the same, removable by hand and would click back to being loose when i tried to tighten it
 
at the parts store they sell a wire mesh, you put it over the threads and screw it in.

you can try the good old tin foil trick too. take some tin foild, fold it up a few layers thick cut to a inch wide strip, then wrap the treads and only snug the bolt, it wont take a full on ape-ing.

or if the bolt threads look worn out, you can try changing the bolts in the cables.



last ditch effort would be a new battery.
 
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