GN dies on freeway at 70mph

S

SS_Sean

Pro Bracket
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Hey, guys. Was driving the new combination down the freeway and all the sudden it went *POP* *POP* *POP* and chugged a couple times, and then shut off. I dropped it in nuetral and coasted to the shoulder. I got out popped the hood and saw nothing out of place. I got off the freeway and onto a local highway and it did it to me one more time on the way home.

Any thoughts on cause? The tune looked okay. I'll get scanmaster readings up asap. I was wondering if the car could be running in a lean condition with that happening. Or possibly this new mix of E10 gas we're getting now.
 
Both good suggestions. Pulled a plug and it looks lean. I'm going to fatten it up a little. Thanks. :biggrin:
 
Same thing happened to me last summer, it was the ignition module. It seemed to be heat related - The car would die and after waiting for 15-30 minutes it would start up again.
 
i agree had grand am gt that did samething got hot car died,cools down starts,drives,dies replaced coil pk w/mod integraded in, prob, gone.
 
Sounds like a module...same thing happened on our way back from Turbo Thunder in Woodburn a few years ago to one of our GNRA members, I had a spare and we changed it out on the side of the road, they then drove all the way to Canada and back home to Sacramento without any more problems.
 
Interesting stuff. Thanks. The ignition module is brand new. The coil pack appears to be pretty old. Speaking of heat, I have the low speed fan disconnected, and the high speed runs all the time. Even at high speed, with the stock fan, the temps range from 190-200* when it's in the 90's here, which it frequently is. I'm not woundering if they 'new heat' from the new combo is now killing my car. Used to be, with the old combo, the worst it ever got was 180 on a really hot day. I'll check these out one at a time.

As for the popping it sounded like an explosion in the exhaust right down by the test pipe. If it was a hanging exhaust valve it would do it all the time, but this has happened only twice on an extended cruise, 40+ miles, on a really hot day. Timing problem? Never happened before, hasn't happened since. Like I said, it felt like it was running out of fuel. Fuel pressure appeared to be fine. I don't know. This E10 fuel is junk and I've heard of lots of similar problems. Fuel filter is brand new.

Thanks again....
 
Hope it's something simple and easy to fix. Do you have your fan running even while you're on the freeway?
 
even new parts have atendency to fail,especialy these days with the shoddy workmanship going into products these days.could be coils but my guess is the mod,if you know someone w/a spare or even on thier car easy swap to see if prob, is either one of them imo
 
Happened to me in rush hour on the I-5:eek: I had the car towed home and when it got off the flatbed, she started up and pulled into the garage with no issues. (She was probably tired and wanted to ride for a change;) )

I was told to pull the ecu and check and clean the connections as well as the chip. I did so, and changed nothing else and never had that issue again.

Just a thought...
 
How about the fuel pump? It happened to me, before I realized the car was starving for fuel and got too hot and just down. Replaced the pump with a 340, and it fixed the problem.
 
Pull your serpentine belt and check your harmonic balancer. If the balancer bolt is loose, the balancer will walk, the crank sensor will loose its signal and cause all kinds of misfiring. I had this problem with my old T type. Took me like 2 weeks to figure it out. The balancer bolt needs to be torqued to like 220 ft lbs.
 
Check.

Check Maf, sounds like it took a dump, Or just pull the code and find out exactly what the problem is. ;)
 
Did it again to me. This time I was watching the fuel pressure as the car was cutting out. I'm tending to believe this is some sort of electrical issue. The fuel pressure was rock solid on 40 psi, and the car died on me. I pulled off the side of the road and tried to start the car. It fired, but wouldn't stay running. This happened twice. Then the starter would just go click, click, click.

I called for a tow and had it towed to a shop here in town. This morning it fired up no problem and ran like a champ.

I'm going to order up a coil pack and module today and try and reseat the chip in the ECM.
 
was the 'new' module aftermarket?? Is the new 'new' module you're ordering aftermarket? :rolleyes: Suggest it not be..... :)
 
It was a NAPA unit. I don't remember who they use. Do you suggest AC Delco for the module/coil?

There are several consistant things here. This has happened at cruise...55-70mph, the car was being driven for an extended period of time, as in 15+ miles, the car started and ran fine after it cooled down. I'm not wondering if I have some sort of heat-soak issue with the starter solinoid, starter wiring, etc.

I just installed a 3.5" downpipe, and the new combo is obviously putting out a LOT more HP/TQ then it was before. There is a lot of heat down there next to that starter.
 
Check the ESC module. Same thing happened to one of my cars, would run fine for a while, then sputter pop and die. Would restart a few times, then it got to the point where it would just turn over.

Thankfully I was on my way to BPG @ Salem and Jack Cotton let me borrow some things to try and fix it. Figured it out and made it home alright.
 
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