Car problem

[99FirebirdGirl]

This is my problem...
In the morning, I turn my car on and maybe reverse 5 feet down the driveway until my car just shuts off. This only happens in the morning and only the first time I start it up. After it shuts off, I can turn the key and fire it right back up and it's fine for the rest of the day. What exactly can this be? I thought it might not be getting enough fuel but I checked all that out and it seems to be fine. Any suggestions?

[M3EATER - GG '00 WS6 T/A]

First thing to do is have any codes read. Most auto parts stores do this for free. Auto Zone is one that does.

Otherwise, it's diagnostic time!

Good luck,
Gordon

[Craig 2000 TA]

I had a 99 Bird before I traded it in on a 2000 TA. Loved that car and still have pics on my website of it. The black looked great in zaino!

As for the symptoms...Gordon is right first check the codes. Your engine is a 3.8 aka 3800 series. Not knowing the mileage on it I would hazard a guess that you have a problem with one of three things... Fuel, spark, or a sensor. Codes being read should tell you which of the three is a problem.

[99FirebirdGirl]

I should have specified, the problem is with my 1992 Caviler Z24. It has aroung 70,000 miles on it. I'm going to have the codes pulled on it tonight. Thanks for the help.

[Craig 2000 TA]

woops! The same thing still applies though... get the codes read. If nothing shows up think about the last time it had a tune up. Cap... rotor... wires...plugs... fuel filter. air filter... my buddy has a 2002 Dodge Dakota he drives daily! he stopped by the other day and I was in the middle of being a grease monkey so I pulled his air filter to discover a mouse nest! He drives it every day and a mouse had crawled into his cold air intake and built a nice little home under his air filter.

Has your gas mileage plunged lately? any other symptoms showed up around the same time as the stalling?

[67'maro]

If of the stuff works that those guys said above...just let the car warm up for a few minutes see if it still does it.

[99FirebirdGirl]

Ok, I went to Autozone and had the codes read. They said nothing comes up. Now I just tried letting the car warm up a few minutes first, but it still stalls just sitting in the driveway in park. Any other suggestions? THANKS for the help.

[N20LT4Bird]

This could be many different things, which wuould require some diagnosis - fuel pressure test, scan, etc... I could throw out a guess though. If you have no access to a scanner, it makes this difficult, but the ECT could be bad giving the computer erroneus temp readings when it is cold, causing it to stall.

Usually, if I have a temp related driveabilty problem, the ECT is one of the first things I look at on the scanner. Im not saying that this is definately the problem, but its a good place to start.

[Joe 1320]

Originally posted by N20LT4Bird
This could be many different things, which wuould require some diagnosis - fuel pressure test, scan, etc... I could throw out a guess though. If you have no access to a scanner, it makes this difficult, but the ECT could be bad giving the computer erroneus temp readings when it is cold, causing it to stall.

Usually, if I have a temp related driveabilty problem, the ECT is one of the first things I look at on the scanner. Im not saying that this is definately the problem, but its a good place to start.

I second that.