Engine stalls when very hot-cools and can be restarted

[murky]

My 93 stalls only when it is extremely hot. The temperature gauge does not read hot and I'm not loosing any antifreeze. The engine just appears to loose spark at the sparkplugs and dies off. If the car sits for a while it will restart and drive as normal.

This only happens when it is hot outside. I use the car all winter in Minnesota and never have a problem.

Any thoughts are appreciated. If more information is required please let me know.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Slo-Sho]

There is a safety feature built in to the PCM. It shuts down the motor when it detects severe overheat. There are three sending units for temperature measurements. One is for the PCM, dash gauge and climate control. You failed to mention if your cooling fans were functioning during these episodes. You could possibly have one or more faulty sending units. The one for the PCM is about $14, the dash gauge is about $2-3. The latter does not pertain to your situation.

<small>[ July 17, 2002, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: slosho ]</small>

 

[murky]

SLOSHO,

Thanks for your reply. The cooling fan works fine and my antifreeze level is stable. I'll look into changing the three temperature sensors.

Thanks again.

 

[BeatDaSHO]

well if your fan is working properly, then i'm thinking of a cps failure. The water pump tends to go around your mileage area which causes it to leak onto the cps which in turn makes your car stall out. It won't be able to restart until it cools down. This might be your problem.

Greg

 

[bradman]

If you don't think you're overheating, then I also would believe that it sounds like a classic intermittent CPS failure. Could it be coincidence that the problem has just cropped up during the summer heat? Or, do you think the heat is directly related and you only have the failure on very hot days, and perhaps even during the hottest part of the day?

 

[murky]

BRADMAN, the problem is definitely related to the heat as it only happens a couple of times a year on the hottest days of the year, like yesterday. Otherwise I'll go the rest of the year without a problem. After the car cools it will be OK. Yesterday I had the problem at 4:00 p.m. Was able to let my car sit until 8:00 p.m. and then drive 45 miles on the freeway home without a problem. The outside temperature at 8:00 was cooler and there was no stop and go traffic on the freeway to add stress to the engine.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[BenSwanson]

same thing just started happening to my '93. On hot days or if I have been running it for a while. After some inspection i found oil to be fouling out my spark plugs. I am about to replace plugs and gaskets. How this relates to heat i dont know, but it always starts unless temp is high.

 

[sdpatt]

Are you sure that you are not losing fuel pressure by a tired, heat sensitive old fuel pump? You are describing a common fuel pump failure scenario.

The CPS dies like the ignition key was turned off and the tach drops immediately to zero. It may or may not reset from anywhere from a split second to hours to never.