have a 97 SSE with about 131,xxx miles on it. last night I started it up and it was idling rough. i let it warm up a little and headed off. The car at times seemed to have no power and then would "surge" and run fine until I would go to stop or slow down and it would just die on me, forcing me to put the car into neutral and restart it ( a couple of the restarts took longer than normal too). got it home and decided to see what was up in the morning. Went out and started her up and she kicked on only to die within 10secs...no rough idle, just running then dead ...then it wouldnt start at all. I replaced the plugs & wires at 100k miles and about a month ago had a new starter & battery put in. Any ideas on where to start looking. Ive been searching the site and found some issues similar to mine but nothing exactly. Thanks in advance!

1. Look at the coolant bottle, is it empty (UIM fallure)
2. Unplug the maf and try to start and run the car. Might require a light throttle to keep it running at first, but it should start and run. After a minute it should run on it'* own as it learns to run off the table. (maf sensor)
3. Check your battery cables for corrosion and tightness

Those are probably the top 3 items.

I did have the UIM fail about 40,xxx miles ago and replaced it so I would hope thats not it. I havent noticed any coolent loss. Ill go out and try the mass air flow sensor and see what happens as well as check the battery cables. Ill let u know. Thanks

Just went out and unhooked the MAF and couldnt get it to start even with a little throttle. The battery cables look fine. I also checked in my maintence reconds and I actually replaced the UIM less then 30K miles ago. fuel filter was replaced at 70K. The car has been running just fine and has had no issues for a very long time up until last night and now Im stumpped

Pull the plugs and inspect them. Are they wet or dry? If dry, test the fuel pressure. If wet, then the problem is in the ignition side. Possible dead ICM, cam sensor, or crank sensor, or could even be a damaged ignition system wiring harness. Follow those wires around and make sure nothing is touching the harmonic balancer.

I'm going to check those and I'll let you guys know what I find. I may just end up towing to my mechanic friend who will be able to tell me whats wrong so I can fix it if it'* within my skill level. Thanks again for all the help!