When coming to a stop the engine shuts off

2013 CHEVROLET MALIBU
120,000 MILES • 3 CYL • AUTOMATIC
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TCARMONA20
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My car drives perfectly fine, but when I come to a stop while in gear it shuts off. When I’m in Park nothing happens, only in Drive or Reverse at a stop. No check engine light or anything is on the dash.
Jul 6, 2021 at 6:46 PM
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KASEKENNY
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This is most likely a torque converter issue. What happens is the clutch in the torque converter engages once you get to the proper speed and then it is not releasing and when you come to a stop, the engine stalls just like a manual transmission does if you don't put the clutch in.

Let's put the vehicle in neutral before you get to a stop when the engine has not stalled and see if the engine still stalls when you get to a stop.

If not then I would expect the converter is the issue.

If it does then we most likely have an engine issue so we are going to need to start running through this guide to get started:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-stalls

Below you will find additional testing for the torque converter but shifting to neutral and then coming to a stop should get us the info we need.

Let me know what you find and we can go from there. Thanks
Jul 7, 2021 at 5:17 PM
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TCARMONA20
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When I put it in neutral before coming to a stop it doesn't shut off. I will try and replace the torque converter. thank you
Jul 8, 2021 at 12:52 PM
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KASEKENNY
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You are welcome. Clearly it is not desirable but that is a work around for a short time as long as when you come to a stop and put it back in gear it doesn't stall. Normally putting it in neutral allows the clutch to release as the load as been removed so this will prevent it from stalling on you.

Thanks for using 2CarPros. Let us know if we can help in the future.
Jul 9, 2021 at 8:52 AM