1991 GMC Jimmy, Car Stalls While Driving
by Chad Nelson
Steve Says, Hi Chad, thanks for asking me your auto repair question! There is no easy answer to this question, but I can give you some ideas and I can help you troubleshoot your car problem. If your car stalls while driving then you are either losing your spark or your fuel pressure. Since your car dies while driving you probably have a part of your ignition system that is faulty or a part of your fuel delivery system that is not working correctly. Sometimes a bad ignition coil can do this or even a fuel pump. These are some of the most likely causes. As far as troubleshooting this car problem, you will need a couple of tools. If you don't have them you can get them from my store. The first tool you will need is called an "in line spark tester" This tool hooks to your spark plug and then you hook the spark plug wire to the tool. There is a style of in line spark checker that even has a suction cup that goes on the windshield so you can easily use it while driving (which is what you want to do since this problem happens after you have been driving for a while.). The second tool you will need is a fuel pressure tester. You need to hook the fuel pressure gauge to your pressurized fuel line and then tape it to your windshield so you can watch the fuel pressure while you are driving. After you get those two diagnostic tools and get them hooked up (be sure you can see them safely while you are driving) you need to take your car out for a drive. Drive the same way you drive when your car dies while driving. Watch the gauges and when your car stalls while driving see what drops out. You will either notice that you suddenly have no spark or you have no fuel pressure. Most likely it will stay in this condition for a few minutes so if you don't see it right when your car stalls that's ok. After you know whether it is the fuel system or ignition system you can start doing some component specific troubleshooting. If you have low fuel pressure when your car dies then you probably just have a bad fuel pump, but you should check your fuel filter first. You might as well just replace it because you will want to replace it anyway if you are replacing your fuel pump. If you don't have any spark when your car dies then you probably have a bad coil, but it could also be the distributor cap or rotor, or another ignition part. I think this is as far as I can take you withe the diagnostic process for this car problem, but if you do these tests and need more help you can come back and comment with the testing results. These troubleshooting tests should get you close or possibly will even solve your car problem. If you need more information about your car or repairing it you can check out an online repair manual If this has helped please "like" my site on Facebook...you can also leave a comment on my facebook page: Leave a comment here! |
