I have a 98 SSE.

The car has been fantastic until about 2 weeks ago. It has started to randomly stall while driving, (meaning complete engine and electrical shutdown, without warning). It has done this about 8 times now at varying speeds and driving situations. Every time I pull it to the side, stop it, put it in park and it restarts as if nothing happened.

I took it to a nearby mechanic who told me the connectors weren't quite tight on the battery terminals. They tightened them and said it should be fine. It has stalled twice since, so it was definitely not that.

The last time (today) I was in the middle of an intersection and would have been creamed if the oncoming drivers hadn't been pretty heads up about my situation.

I have read on other boards that this is a common promblem and many people have spent big bucks trying to diagnose it. I am trying to save my wallet and my hide by pinpointing the likely reasons here. Can anyone lend a hand??

[quote="Satchmo"I took it to a nearby mechanic who told me the connectors weren't quite tight on the battery terminals. They tightened them and said it should be fine. It has stalled twice since, so it was definitely not that.[/quote]

I think I'd want to check the _other_ end of each of the cables, where they terminate down at the engine. The one going to the starter solenoid especially...

Also check the bulkhead connector where the wiring harness goes through the firewall, make sure that'* clean and tight.

Thanks for the reply. I will make sure to check that end out as well.

I have heard people talk about it possibly being a problem with the crank sensor or the fuel pump relay or the throttle position sensor. Ever heard of these causing intermittent stalls?

Intermittent stalls, maybe, but you said you had a complete electrical failure. A crankshaft sensor problem might stall the engine, but it wouldn't knock out power to the rest of the car as well.

Scrub and clean the battery terminals and battery cables with a wire brush. Also scrub in-between the cables on all of the metal surfaces for good contact.

now you are not talking about a complete electrical outage are you? if just stalling while driving, my 98se was doing the exact same thing back in 2001; called philly pontiac service manager, he seemed certain it was the crank sensor and thus he gained my trust and I let him replace that for I think it was just over $200 if I recall correctly... the car has not stalled since

if its an electrical outage check all the major grounds to the block and seek a pontiac mechanic, its likely they seen it before and can quickly tell you like they did for me

My car did that a while back every now and then, until i got a new battery. I could be a broken post in the battery where you lose power if it moves just right. kind of scary while on the road.