OK, first off let me just say those who said my slave cylinder was leaking were right, but just barely. In any case I admit to being wrong.

Anyway, I went ahead and replaced the master and slave on Sunday just to play it safe, since after all I was having some funky clutch pedal problems. Pulled the slave off and it was a little weepy but not really spewing. Got the system bled quite easily with the help of Mike1982 (thanks for stopping by Mike) and a Motive power bleeder. And without too much cursing to boot!

So I get the car all back together and take it out for a drive and I have to say it ran great. Well it did at first. I go for about a 10 mile drive and get most of the way home and while sitting at a light the engine hiccups. Not a backfire or misfire, but like it suddenly cut off and right back on. Hmm, I think, I hope that doesn't happen again. I drive a bit further and I am about 5 blocks from my house, sitting at a traffic light. The light turns green and I get on the gas and it hiccups again and stalls. So I coast into the Swensons parking lot and try cranking again, to no avail. I pop the hood for a peak. Everything looks fine so I look under the dash to see what may have popped loose or fried and see noting amiss. Turn the key and it starts right up and ran like nothing was wrong. Fortunately I am not too far from home so I head back (it ran great the whole way back home) and pull in the driveway, leaving the engine running to see if maybe it stalled when it hit a certain temperature, but wouldn't you know it the car stalls not 30 seconds after I park and refired after less than 30 seconds without a hitch.

Obviously I am confused. The volt meter read 14V, oil pressure was fine, temp was fine, no smoke or smell of an electrical short or leaking fuel. Tomorrow I start to diagnose. I will first disconnect the MSD ignition to see if maybe it is flaking out. If I rule that out I swap in a new DME relay and if that isn't the cause I take the computer out to check solder joints.

Any other ideas?

 

I wonder if Your ptoblems are related to cluch master/slave cylinder job......
Check speed sensor / crank position sensors plugs for tight fit. They are near clutch master Your replaced (did You disconnect/reconnect them?). Check the brake servo check valve and hoses for air leaks.

 

Sounds like speed/position sensor connections to me.

 

I replaced the speed/position sensors a year or so ago. I'll double check the connectors though.

The servo check valve was replaced late last summer when I replaced all of the vacuum hoses and the ISV.

The stalling was almost like somebody flicked a switch and shut off the engine. That is what was making me thing either the MSD is overheat faulting and shutting down, or the relay is failing, or the maybe the computer solder joints.

Frustrating for sure.

 

When my MSD ignition failed (due to shorting the battery) it had similar symptoms, which could often be fixed (or induced ) by jiggling the 9 pin wiring harness connector. The failures became more frequent until car wouldn't run more than a few minutes w/o shutting down and was hard to get started in first place.

 

Sounds like symptoms of DME relay on the way out.

 

Fortunately both of those things are pretty easy to get at and bypass (MSD) or replace (relay). I was going to work on this tonight, but I think I have to wait until Saturday.

Schumi, when this happened with your MSD it was like I described? Like somebody flicked off a light switch? Interesting. Did MSD do anything as far as warrantying the unit? I don't recall it is warrantied for any length of time, but mine has been on the car less than a year and driven less than 2 or 3 hundred miles, so maybe worth a shot.

 

When my MSD went bad it was an instantaneous shut off like you describe. Sometimes it would restart right away and other times it would take several minutes of trying. At first it wouldn't happen again for several starts or a day, but after a while it became like every other time and started shutting down on me while driving. I thought it had something to do with ignition switch at first because it was exactly like if you nudged the key to the shut off position.I did not try to make a warranty claim because PO had put it in and I didn't have documentation of when it was purchased, plus it was my own fault because I installed a battery that was too tall that could short out on the hood over bumps and that is what caused MSD to fail.

 

Thanks. We'll see this Saturday if bypassing it solves the problem.

 

Well, Saturday is here and I decided to replace the DME relay and check the solder joints on the DME first since they seem to be the logical items to blame for issues like this. While I had the DME open I touched up some of the solder joints just for ****s and grins. Took the car out and it ran like a top at first, then after a mile or two it stalled at a stop light but fired right back up. Hmm, maybe it won't do that again I think to myself. So I drive another 10 miles or so and everything is fine, runs great and pretty strong. As before though, I was heading back home and the stupid thing stalls and puffed out a big gassy cloud of smoke. Ah-ha! No spark. So I disconnect the MSD module and plug the stock wires back into the coil directly and it fired right up and ran fine, if not better than before.

BUT, I got home and pulled all the MSD hardware out of the car and made sure everything was back to stock and low and behold the car took FOREVER to fire up. Once it did finally fire though it has been fine since. Keeping fingers crossed.