MikeinBloomfield

Haven't driven the car in a week, since my wife and I took it to a wedding about 40 miles away. Car ran flawlessly. Just got the car back two weeks ago from the body shop, where they painted the passenger side door I had scraped. I also two weeks ago replaced the rotor and dist. cap with new from one of our vendors.

So, I took it out to run an errand tonight. Started fine, a little exhaust smoke on startup, which is normal for cooler weather. I got about a mile down the road, made a left turn and as soon as I finished the turn the car stalled. Lights were still on, but the engine went out. No noises, or anything like that. Lights, fog lights and radio were on when it stalled. Warning light and oxygen sensor light go on and stay on. Once I turned off the key, these went off and stayed off.

Pulled over, turned on the flashers. Checked the timing belt through the hole, seemed fine. No smoke or smells from the engine. Tried to start it, car cranked but wouldn't turn over. Waited another couple of minutes, car starts. Runs flawlessly all the way home. I just tried again, and car starts right up and idles.

One other thing: its been raining all day here, but the car is always garaged.

Any ideas where I should start?

the flyin' scotsman

how old are the fuel filter and pump?

MikeinBloomfield

I have had the car two years, never changed either.

Fixer

I would check you major grounds definitely but i wouldn't sweat it for now if it is running fine.
Get premium level AAA it's cheap and drive.

toofast928

Mike has ALL the vacuum hoses been replaced? One could be aged and becomes a vacuum leak when the engine gets some heat. Start squeezing looking for cracks in the hoses.

SteveG

Ground strap and clean other grounds esp coils and the braided one on pass side in Wally's list. Then batt voltage and at jump post.

MikeinBloomfield

Hey guys, thanks for all the replies. I had previously checked the grounds, especially the braided one on the pass side. This car was from a very dry climate, and although I cleaned the grounds, there wasn't any corrosion there.

Car drove flawlessly again to the Giants big win against Washington yesterday. I'm hoping it was just the fact that I hadn't driven it, or the wet weather we've had got in somewhere.

I also like the scotsman's suggestions about the fuel delivery system, since they are unknown entities right now. Is there a way to test for a failing fuel pump? Relays are like the rest of the electrical system in this car, not a hint of corrosion.

MikeinBloomfield

I should add, battery and ground strap replaced last year. I'll check the voltage at the battery though.

the flyin' scotsman

The fuel delivery volume should be checked per WSM:

MFranke

I had this happen to me once, about 80k miles ago, while on the highway about 30 miles into a trip. The car started after a couple tries and ran fine afterward. That was maybe 15 years ago. It never happened again and I never did figure it out.

NickT

If you think about what would cause a sudden stall vs running rough it should narrow this down..
I would tend to think vacuum would result in rough running before failure. Loss of ignition or fuel would cause sudden stall, or electrical (Had a friend with a Volvo that turning on the left indicator would cause sudden stall).
To echo Wally.. Relay relay relay...

Interesting one, nothing worse than not knowing...

MikeinBloomfield

Hey guys-- Just closing the loop on this in case anyone searches.

The stall happened again to me last night, although this time the car wouldn't start back up. At first, it seemed like it wanted to catch, but it would never fully fire up. It felt like a flood condition. Subsequent tries though, were less successful.

Anyway, got it towed home. This morning, tried again but all it did is crank. I swapped the horn relay for the Fuel Pump relay, and it fired right up.

SO, relay, relay, relay as they say. It appears that a failing relay can fail intermittently. As others have suggested, a spare in the glove box is a good idea.

the flyin' scotsman

Mike............good you found the relay problem and it was a fuel issue. May as well check the entire system while at it; for piece of mind if nothing else.