3.2 dies intermittently

[josephvman]

Ì haven’t driven my 3.2 in a few weeks and yesterday the battery was dead. Put it on the charger overnight and it started fine today, but idle was a little jumpy at first but settled in after a couple of minutes. When driving to work it died a couple of times when I pushed in the clutch when approaching a stop. It revs fine, all the way to redline, but it just did the same thing a few times in a fairly short drive. Any thoughts?

[GH85Carrera]

Classic sign of the ol' DME relay. Or it was for my 85.

It would feel like the ignition was turned off. Sometimes just for a second. The other culprit is often the flywheel sensors.

How old is the DME relay? And how long have the flywheel sensors been in place. Don't just throw parts at it, but those are likely culprits, unless they have been replaced recently.

[917_Langheck]

What's the status of the alternator output?

Are all your ground points clean and tight?

[Classic11]

Check the 3 connectors on the drivers side engine bay in the back (flywheel sensors and cylinder head tem) the plastic brakes apart and can cause issues similar to what you are describing, easy fix.

[josephvman]

Alternator and battery check fine, will check grounds. A couple of months ago I had some up/down jumping at idle after startup, and checked/cleaned the idle control valve. It seemed to have marginally improved but that could have placebo effect. Last night I hit the throttle linkage with brake clean and some WD40, and in my short drive this morning the idle wasn’t dropping enough to stall when I clutched. I keep a spare DME relay in my glovebox and I’ll swap them tonight. After searching threads I’m also suspicious of the idle microswitch.

Originally Posted by 917_Langheck

What's the status of the alternator output?

Are all your ground points clean and tight?

[r_towle]

I have been having a heck of a time with the fuel this year.
Four cars....

What is the age of the fuel in the car?
Last time you changed the fuel filter?

Im starting to think that a new fuel filter is now an annual thing.
There is some serious crud in the system after it sits for a while.

Also, 02 sensors get out of whack due to the bad fuel.

when mine would die while driving...then start up again (so it died for a second) it was not the DME, it was the Crank/reference sensors.
replaced those...problem went away.

Rich

[r lane]

All that they said, but a head temp sensor as well. They generally fail as in a poor running condition, but have seen them cause an immediate cutoff. Fuel control.