For the past month my car has died 4 times while driving. I'm not seeing any pattern to help pinpoint the cause. It doesn't shake, I just start slowing down. I do not lose power when this happens. I've been lucky enough to be able to coast out of traffic. It takes about 30 seconds for the car to show the typical "you've just stalled your car" dash lights - battery, oil, etc. The car has started right back up twice and taken 10+ minutes to start the other two times. This has happened after 3o minutes of driving once, but the other three times the car has been cold. The check engine light doesn't come on. I've taken it to two mechanics who have been unsuccessful at finding the cause. I have replaced the battery, spark plugs, air filter, and had a valve adjustment. My car is an 01 with 96,000 miles. I have had zero problems with the car up to this point.

I'm getting married in a week(!!) and need to get this figured out before I break the bank! Anyone have experience with this issue? I did a search and found a few threads but no one had a clear answer.

Sara

 

What was the last service you did on your car before all this started?

 

Well, I'm embarrassed to say but... 65K. I've been a bad owner and stalling on the 90k maintenance.

 

well we can't help you unless you tell us. are your battery terminals corrosion free? are you using the correct gasoline octane?

 

Have them to check the coils.

 

The terminals were a mess but are clean now after replacing the battery which was the first attempted fix. I then took it to AH Connections in San Jose and they couldn't find a clear issue so they did a valve adjustment and replaced the plugs and air filter. It was running much better after that and I probably went 150 miles on it before it died again. Yes, I always use 91 octane. Randomly the gas tank is at the same level as the last time it died, 1/4 tank.

 

I did, they were fine.

 

Sounds like fuel pump

Does it always restart?

 

So far, yes. It has started right away half of the time. Once I decided to leave it after 10 minutes. I came back an hour later and it started.

I suspected the fuel pump from the beginning due to similar threads here but couldn't get anyone to investigate. I'm dropping it off Monday and will insist on it being looked at.

Thank you!

 

UPDATE: I just had the relay replaced, they found a small brown spot on it which may indicate it was getting too hot and shutting off the power. They drove the car a dozen times but couldn't get it to die on them so it's hard to pinpoint the cause. Now I play the waiting game to see if it happens again.