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1999 Le Stalling In Drive And Reverse, I Am Clueless.

By Lexx, September 10, 2011



Hello, this is my first post on the forums. (If I should make an intro elsewhere I will definitively do that and sorry if I didn't.)

Anyway, onto the problem :

Today I finally got some money to buy new spark-plug wires. Everyone I asked, mechanic and not, said that I should replace them due to misfiring.

I replaced them with required instructions, everything correctly in place. The car starts up just fine, and when in park and neutral runs and is fine. But when I put it in reverse the engine shook hard and stalled after about 3 seconds. The same problem is when put into drive.

I triple checked the spark plug wires and they are installed correctly, restarted, stalls. I ended up putting the old wires back hoping it would fix the problem, but the problem remains.

In park it runs the best, and revs up fine. In neutral it idles good, revs up fine. In reverse it seems the worst, any attempt to rev the engine stalls it instantly. Both drive and reverse stall after 3-8 seconds.

I had my more mechanically inclined friends look and check on it but they have no idea. After researching for awhile I don't think the fuel filter is the issue since the car stars and revs up fine in park and neutral. The sensors may be the problem, or one of the other smaller components, etc.

I don't know much about engines. My knowledge goes to replacing disk brakes, changing the oil and the other simple things.

If anyone could help tips, suggestions, probable causes.... preferably very cost conscious I would greatly appreciate it. I am currently unemployed so buying parts until the culprit is found isn't really an option.

Thank you in advanced!

Did you replace the plus with the new plug wires? Did you notice if any oil was pulled around the old plug wires (shows signs of being "wet")? How did the plugs looks, did any look significantly different than the others - color, deposits, fouling, etc.?

Sounds like the engine is stalling under load - you can replicate that by revving the engine while in gear, with your foot firmly on the brake (if you have an automatic transaxle). See if you can get it to stall then.

Other than stalling in drive/reverse - can you get the car to run beyond the initial stumble, or does the car get up to speed OK?

Did you replace the plus with the new plug wires? Did you notice if any oil was pulled around the old plug wires (shows signs of being "wet")? How did the plugs looks, did any look significantly different than the others - color, deposits, fouling, etc.?

 

Sounds like the engine is stalling under load - you can replicate that by revving the engine while in gear, with your foot firmly on the brake (if you have an automatic transaxle). See if you can get it to stall then.

Other than stalling in drive/reverse - can you get the car to run beyond the initial stumble, or does the car get up to speed OK?

I didn't replace the spark-plugs with the new wires. The old wires didn't show any signs of being wet beyond some accidentally spilled oil around the oil intake. All of the old wires looked the same, nothing really noticeable.

Replicate it under load? If you could clarify or give a bit more details that would be great.

The car runs fine when in drive or neutral, but when I put it into drive or reverse it dies. I haven't gotten the car to actually drive or move anywhere because it keeps dying. Sorry if I don't understand the suggestion. Thank you for the help thus far though.

Already so... I looked up the firing order and found out that I am quite possibly the biggest moron ever. I fixed it and it runs great... I am sorry for the waste of time!



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