92 Olds 88 - Stall under sudden acceleration
 

Hello everyone!

Weird electrical problem to pin down here! Recently I was unable to start my car at all: cranking but not catching, fuel pump not running. Unfortunately I don't know the cause because upon fiddling around with the wires going to the fuel pump assembly (checking voltages and jumping it and whatnot), the fuel pump magically started working again and I can start and drive the car normally now. :confused: (More about that)

However, I have noticed a new symptom, which I think is related. Occasionally, the car will stall out. This has only happened twice so far and the similarities between the two events included:

1. Was stopped and it stalled under hard acceleration
2. Was stopped on a downhill incline
3. Was stopped for at least 10 seconds
4. It's summer so temps were up both times (at least 75F)
5. Started up immediately without running rough or anything

Any ideas? I've tried a couple of times to recreate the problem, but have not succeeded. There was a guy with a similar problem whose car stalled out upon acceleration from a stop like I do, but it also happened to him while he was moving, i.e. trying to merge onto the highway. I haven't been able to stall the car this way either. I think it was Justin who suggested the crankshaft position sensor, but the thread dead ended there.

Anyone? :(

Have you been able to verify fuel pressure yet with a gauge?

Great idea. No, I had forgotten about that!

if you put a pressure gauge on it and find the pump cutting off i would look at the pump connector, i was messing around with my inlaws bonnie and the pump would stop working once in a while. ended up soldering and heat shrinking the wires together because the connector was flakey

I finally got around to checking the fuel pressure the other weekend -- don't have a gauge myself so I had to borrow one! -- and it was perfect, at 40-43 psi, which is the specs in the Haynes manual for the 92 (yeah Haynes manuals are good for something). This problem hasn't happened since June or July so I'm not worried about it ... abandon thread!

Alot of our problems are similar, i just havent narrowed my search down to the fuel pump.. What made u think it was the fuel pump and not icm pcm or crank sensor??

Didn't do crazy diagnostics, but since the engine was cranking but not starting, I went and sprayed starting fluid into the intake manifold while my friend tried to start it. And it started momentarily. I suppose it still could have been something else causing the problem, but we just took a guess and we were right.

lucky... Ive been researching for over a week and still havent found the issue. If it was my icm are these things normally $100?? or am i looking at the wrong general part?

Wait well what are your symptoms? No start? Does it crank?