2000 Chevy Malibu car dying while driving

Tiny
ESAUFINCHEM
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  • 2000 CHEVROLET MALIBU
Engine Performance problem
2000 Chevy Malibu 6 cyl Two Wheel Drive 114000 miles

Car will just shut off sometimes while driving at normal highway speeds and sometimes when coming to a stop or slow down.
Diagnostic does not show a problem. Of course mechanic cannot duplicate problem.
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 AT 4:25 PM

7 Replies

Tiny
JAMES W.
  • MECHANIC
  • 2,394 POSTS
We need to try to narrow it down. When the stalled conditiion exists, are you losing spark, fuel or both. Any number of things can cause your problem. Does the car start right up again, or do you have to wait and how long?
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Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 AT 7:58 PM
Tiny
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Car starts up immediately.
Warning lites come on. Oil, abs, and low coolant. The oil level is good. The coolant level is good.
Sometimes the car will stall when slowing or stopping, when this occurs there is a studderig or rough running
No trouble starting and running again.
These lites come on just prior to the dying.
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Thursday, October 30th, 2008 AT 10:05 AM
Tiny
JAMES W.
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Sounds like your "idle speed control" is malfunctioning. Do you get a check engine light at any time while driving?
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Thursday, October 30th, 2008 AT 11:34 AM
Tiny
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No check engine light at any time. No codes show on the diagnostic either
would the idle control cause it to just quit at normal speeds say like 35 to 50
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+1
Thursday, October 30th, 2008 AT 2:36 PM
Tiny
JAMES W.
  • MECHANIC
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No. The idle ISC won't make it stall going down the road. Back to square one, spark or fuel. This is one of those situations where I wish I could drive the car for a while. My next suspect is the fuel pump. These fuel pumps usually work or they don't. All of the cases of a pump being intermitent over the years, I can count on one hand. The only to test my theory is to connect a remote pressure gauge long enough to be monitored from inside the car and watching for a pressure drop when the engine stalls. Most repair shops won't have this equipment. "OR" change the pump.
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Thursday, October 30th, 2008 AT 7:01 PM
Tiny
ESAUFINCHEM
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I am going to hook up a fuel pressure gage and remote it so that I can drive the car and look at the pump performance.
Does this sound like it could be the engine management module? Or would I get a check engine light if it were?
Does the ignition switch do anything other than put 12 volts to the ignition coil?
Thanks for your input. From the questions on the forum, I gather that the stalling problem is not so rare.
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Friday, October 31st, 2008 AT 9:08 AM
Tiny
JAMES W.
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The gauge is a good idea. If you want to carry it one step further you could hookup a timing light also, tie the trigger and extend that into the car and monitor spark at the same time. The ign. Switch just feeds 12 volts to the coil which is grounded by the ECM. Most computer systems ground the various components rather than feed power. It's backwards of what you would think but, that's how the work. And yes, we get a lot of stalling problems on GM vehicles.
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Friday, October 31st, 2008 AT 6:28 PM

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