2000 SSEI - RPM drops to zero & stall today
 

Hey everyone,

I've run into a bit of a problem here with my 2000 SSEI Bonneville. I guess I will start from about 3 months back. About 3 months ago while driving I would notice the RPM gauge would drop to zero. Car was still running but the needle would be on zero and stay there. When I had a chance to stop the car and do a restart, it gauge would spring back to life as if nothing had happened. This problem is intermittent and happens at random times.

About 2 weeks ago while driving, the service engine soon light turned on. It stayed on for about 3 days or so then turned off on its own.

Also this time whenever the RPM dropped to zero, the car would jerk slightly even while in drive. But this would last for a split second and the needle drops to zero and the car is still running. ....till this morning.

This morning on my way to work, luckily before I hit the freeway, my car died on me as I was traveling at 75 km/h I was able to pull over safely and put the car in park. Turn the key back to the off position and was able to restart it right away. I noticed that when the car turned off, the battery light in the dashboard came on and the power steering was gone because the steering wheel had become heavy as I pulled over to the side of the road. I was able to drive to work with no more problems.

My car is a 2000 Bonneville SSEI supercharged with 96,000 km on it. I just replaced the battery about 18 months ago so I know that the battery is ok. Do you guys have any idea on what the problem might be? I'm planning to have a friend come over with his code reader to see what codes the car might have stored on the computer. Nevertheless I wanted to get some feedback from the knowledgeable folks here on this site. Thank you kindly for you help guys :)

Sounds like a crank sensor. Odd thing is if you look around..there's 2-3 crank sensor sounding cars lately.

If the code is P0336 that'll be your verification.

Hi Bill

Thank you for the reply. And yes you are correct. I've been going through the threads here on the forum and there seems to be a few crank sensor postings in the last couple of days. Hopefully we'll all be able to resolve the issues.

With the right tools and a little experience..

The job takes 20 minutes start to finish and about $24

Hey Bill,

Will I still be able to use a code reader to retrieve the error codes from the cars computer eventhough the Service Engine Soon light isn't on now?

Yes, there are some codes that do not set a light. It is possible there might be a code. It wouldn't be a surprise if there is and it wouldn't be surprising if there isn't.

thank you for all your help Bill :)

i was able to go home last nyt and come back to work without any incident. so fingers crossed that nothing happens on the drive home tonite. we'll hook up a code reader to the car on sunday and see what ailments my poor little bonnie is having.

...on another note bill, i just wanted to ask you about the transmission oil. how easy is this to change at home? is there a drain plug or nut that i can use to drain the tranny fluid out of? what kind of work is involved?

Trans fluid is fairly easy. Here's a great writeup by DanThurs

https://www.gmforum.com/t278423/

A buddy showed me that the steralite/rubbermaid storage containers about 2'x3' worked great for draining trans fluid w/o any spills. It's the best $6 you can spend to keep from possibly leaking on the driveway.

this definitely looks doable. i better lay down some cardboard just in case. is there any way to get a conversion figure for the torque specifications? i have a foot/lb torque wrench but not a inch/lb one... any idea on what the foot/lb number might be? or should i just go out and get a inch pound wrench?

10 Foot Pounds = 120 Inch Pounds.