This is something that only happens on occasion, and always at the most inconveinent times

For my 2001, When i am shifting from Reverse to Drive, the car will shut off. Most of the time its on a 3 point turn or when im backing up and dont have enough room, so i need to pull forward then back again. Right when i pop it back into drive, it will shut off. Sometimes if im just backing up once, then shift into drive it will shut off too.

It has a brand new radiator, and the levels of all my fluids are full, though i will check again. Any thoughts???

Is this a bit of a jerking action when you back up and go forward?
I'm thinking loose connections somewhere?

Are you comming to a complete stop before changing gears?

In order:
no jerking action, though sometimes it realllly shifts nice and hard when im driving down the road, if im going "off the line"

Yes, i come to a complete stop. FYI: the RPMs do drop from the normal 700 (guess) to around 300 rpms, when shifting from reverse to drive. Not all of the time, but it happens more frequent than the car shutting off. Im thinking somethings not getting enough power. buttt i dont know much on engines.

Notice any other sluggish feeling at other rpm'*?
Your rpm could be a little low but the pcm should catch it and not stall the engine?

does it have a poor idle? vacuum leak?

any other time the car runs fine. It was just tuned up about 5000 miles ago.
again, it only happens occasionally :? , which has me confused

i will add that i do get a whiff of gas once and a while when driving down the road, with no one else around me, windows are down. It doesnt feel like anything is running rough that a cylinder is not being fired. im afraid to take it to pontiac and get a 1 million dollar repair bill.

whats the normal idle for these cars, mine usually hangs between 600 to 800rpms

how can i tell where the vacuum leak might be.
thanks

I'm not thinking vacum leak as you have no other symptoms and it only happens when you do a reverse/forward change?
You might have to go to a tech and have the scanner hooked up and try to get it to stall again while scanning.
Check your trannys electrical connection and follow the loom looking for any hot spots or melted wire?

yeah my uncles gotta shop, thats where we found the car, ill take it over. I do notice that it hangs up when im driving down the road sometimes, like it gets confused if it wants to shift or not. weird i think.

thanks

I've been all over the manuals and service site and cant find any reference to stalling when selecting gears, nothing adds up?

90% rule: when its glitchy and not easy to nail down its electrical :P

You did check your vacum lines just in case? just follow the spagetti from point to point and make sure every tube is connected, look for cracks or rub thru marks along the way.