What causes a car to intermittently stall?
There are a large number of reasons why your car might stall while driving. It could be a dead alternator, a bad coolant sensor or lack of fuel, just to name a few. If so, then it could be a major vacuum leak, clogged fuel filter or a bad fuel pump.
Why is my car stalling at idle?
Stalling problems trace back to three primary causes: a lack of fuel, not receiving enough air, or insufficient power. Common reasons include an empty gas tank, a faulty fuel pump, a bad ignition coil, fouled spark plugs, water in the fuel, or a failing sensor.
How to diagnose an intermittent engine misfire?
When diagnosing intermittent misfires, don’t forget to look at pending codes for indications of an individual cylinder misfire. If your scan tool’s misfire history indicates multiple cylinder misfires, focus on the cylinder with the most misfire counts.
Is there check engine light for intermittent stalling?
Many times, there will be no check engine light and no fault codes to give you a clue as to what might be causing the engine to stall. So the trick to diagnosing an intermittent stalling problem is to catch the vehicle when it’s acting up — and that rarely happens when you have the vehicle in your shop.
Can a coolant leak cause an intermittent misfire?
Since misfires caused by coolant leaking from cylinder head gaskets often depend upon engine temperature, they can become very intermittent. In most cases, the diagnostic tech must pursue intermittent ignition faults by visually inspecting parts for spark perforation or carbon tracking, or by using a labscope to monitor ignition activity.
What causes a spark plug to misfire intermittently?
Intermittent ignition misfires can be caused by faulty spark plugs, spark plug wires, ignition coils and ignition coil drivers located in the ECM. Some intermittent misfires can be more easily detected if a scan tool displays an individual cylinder misfire count in its datastream, or monitors coil activity…