So this weekend, I decided to wring out the little beast (which I haven't done for a couple of months). As I was on the highway and obeying the legal speed limit, I decided to drop a gear (or two) and rev the engine to let it stretch her legs.

This went seamlessly....I hit the red without hitting the rev limiter, and I exited. I coasted uphill on the exit ramp, and as I got halfway up the ramp, I realized the engine had died. Since the car was still in gear, I popped the clutch to fire up the engine, and again no problem. But as I got to the stop light, the engine died out on me again while in neutral.

I start the engine up again, it revs up and the revs start slowing until the engine dies....the last time I tried, the oil light flashed on. The light turns green, and thankfully there's a gas station at the corner....I turned in, checked the oil. It was topped off. I get the fiance to get in the driver's seat, turn the car on and stay on the gas to keep the revs at about 1000 to 1500. I check for vacuum line leaks; I can't find anything. I check for intake pressure with two wet fingers in front of the inlet.....it feels good.

Now I'm wondering if I have to worry about an oil line, oil pump, oil filter, etc. The oil in the engine was still a golden brown.

Some background info on the weather...it was a very nice 75 degrees with very low humidity (if any).

I got the car home (less than one mile away), let the car sit while I sat and thought. I drove the car a little about two hours later (enough time for the engine to cool), and I no longer had the problem.

Can anyone help or give any insight to this?

 

I want to apologize in advance for the length of my explanation, and had forgotten to thank for any advice in advance....

Thank you.

 

I have no idea why that would happen, but I have had similar periods of very low idle and stalls after a track session, and again in very hot conditions. After the car cooled they did not reoccur, and have not happened in months since. Can only guess that there are conditions that temporarily the ECU cannot deal with.

..and I don't think you have an oil problem, the idle just drops too low to keep the pressure up to spec.

 

I agree sounds like a ECU glitch.

If it happens again...try reseting the ECU (at the fuse). If it continues after the reset I would look at possible a buggy sensor.

 

Possibility for a MAP sensor issue?

 

I ld start there, but really any of the fuel/air/temp sensors could cause it under the right circumstances.

May never happen again and just be a fluke .....lets hope anyway

 

Not the symptom I have seen with a faulty MAP sensor, but I do not know when those values are important input.. I would guess the pressure varies so little at idle that it is not critical at that point. Seems to be temperature related.

 

Say what? Pressure difference is at its greatest with the engine running and the throttle closed. Idle is less than decelerating but the vacuum at idle is no where near atmosphere. Prolly 25in/merc or more.

The oil light is probably a confused ECU from the stalling anything below a few hundred rpm and pressure is too low and thats what the idiot light tells you, if the light goes on while driving hard you had better shut down immediately and see whats going on.
But a confused ECU is what happens right after an oil change when it takes a sec to build pressure, the stumbling causes erratic flow and the ECU throws in a flag.

This is one reason I adjusted my Idle speed so the engine would not get down to low RPM's

 

I really think that the reset on the ECU would have fixed the problem.......sensors (most of the time) go and stay gone. Normally symptoms stay persistent because of that, not to say that it could not happen, just not as likely.

 

ok, I adjusted the throttle cable last night by about 1-2 mm. I took a drive last night....and the car feels much more stronger...at idle AND at WOT. <---any thoughts or rationale behind the second observation?

I drove for about half an hour with the last stretch being mainly at the red line. I even tried to recreate the situation from Sunday and went up the same off ramp...even the weather was pretty consistent with the weather from last Sunday. I had NO problems.