1990 Chevy Lumina !990 Chevy Lumina stalls out when it gets

Tiny
GREGSANGEL
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  • 1990 CHEVROLET LUMINA
Engine Performance problem
1990 Chevy Lumina 6 cyl

I have a 1990 Chevy Lumina 3.1. My car will run for 10-15 minutes and as soon as the car gets warm enough for the fan to kick on, it stalls out. I have to wait for it to completely cool before I can start it again. I have replaced the coil packs, control module, spark plugs and wires, fuel pump and filter, throttle position sensor, oxygen sensor, IAC sensor, EGR valve, engine coolant sensor (trouble codes 14 & 15 still come up) and the computer. All with no luck. I need help PLEASE!
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 AT 8:16 PM

8 Replies

Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
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How about crank sensor? Are you losing spark when its a no start?
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Monday, November 24th, 2008 AT 6:43 AM
Tiny
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The crank sensor has already been changed. Yes I have spark when its a no start. Do you have any other ideas. I really want to get this car running right.
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Monday, November 24th, 2008 AT 7:13 AM
Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
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You will need to check injector pulse and fuel pressure and find out what is missing. You can buy a fuel injector noid light at any parts store, they are inexpensive. You will either have no fuel pressure or no injector pulse.
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Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 AT 5:41 AM
Tiny
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The fuel pressure has already been checked. It is good. The injectors have been cleaned. The thing is that as soon as the fan starts to kick on, the car dies out. Then I have to wait for the car to completely cool downand then I am able to start it back up. I am still getting the coolant sensor troublecodes. I really need some help!
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Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 AT 12:48 PM
Tiny
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Okay, It's me again. Here is what I did. I have the battery hooked up. I have the ECM hooked up. I left the coolant temp sensor unhooked. I am still getting a reading of #15 on the troublecodes but I am sure that is due to the sensor being unplugged. The car started right up and continued to idle for about 30 minutes. I turned it off and it started right back up. I am afraid to try to drive it anywhere because I don't know if I will damage it because the sensor is unhooked, although both fans are constantly running. I did however, drive back and forth in my yard with no problems. Please get back to me ASAP and let me know what you think. I sure hope that this helps!
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Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 AT 3:02 PM
Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
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Yu can drive it with no harm being done with the coolant tempo sensor unplugged. If the coolant temp sensor is ok and car shuts down as soon as the fan comes on then I would assume your ecm is shutting down injector pulse. When it wont start look for the check engine light to come on the dash when you turn key to run. If it doesnt come on when it wont start then replace the ecm.
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Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 AT 4:58 AM
Tiny
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Happy Thanksgiving! Just wanted to run this past you. The car quit running so well with just the CTS unplugged. I had read something about putting a paperclip into the connector sockets. And that doing this would fool the ECU into thinking the engine was hot (instead of stone cold) since there is now no (or minimal) resistance measured. And no additional fueling is being supplied, which was a good thing because I used alot of gas. I took the car to a shop and had them put it on their comp. He told me that it was a bad CTS and that although I had changed it that sometimes you may get a bad/new one. I already knew this to be true. So I stopped back by the parts store and picked up another CTS. After putting the new one in and changing the oil and filter because the mech said that there was fuel in it. The car still ran the same. Also during all of my reading I ran across something interesting, so I tried it. They said that a guy had simular problems and unhooked his Fuel Pump Relay and started his car. The car ran for 15-20 minutes I also tried this and it worked. Tomorrow I am going to test the wiring from the CTS to the ECM. Any other suggestions would be appriciated! Thanks, Linda By the way, yes my check engine light does come on.
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Friday, November 28th, 2008 AT 12:10 AM
Tiny
MASTERTECHTIM
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The car will run with the fuel pump relay disconnected because the fuel pump also gets a feed from the oil pressure switch so when you crank engine and build up pressure this sends power to the fuel pump. It sounds like its a simple problem in the cts circuit, either the wire is broken or the computer is bad. I find on this connector alot of times that the wire breaks inside the insulation and when you lightly pull on wires at the cts switch one will stretch and break. Make sure your connector wires are not broken. Jumping the cts in your case will do nothing because your ecm is not receiving a signal from the connector(we know this because you installed 2 cts) so we need top focus on the cts circuit. ****Broken wire or bad ecm*** thats it.
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Saturday, November 29th, 2008 AT 5:13 AM

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