Car dies out of nowhere??? (lengthy)(SERIOUS)

[19Eclipse90]

Story: Okay so I was driving the GS around today and I made a few stops, one at the Mitsu. dealer, one to drop off the axles from the GST to get new boots, and a third and fourth at salvage yards. No problems there whatsoever. Then I go drive around a little bit more to see what I could see before I had to go back and pick up the axles. Well it was extremely hot driving around without an A/C and even with the window down, it was extremely warm, so I decide to go to a McDonald's. I get into the turn lane at a light, come to a stop and the next thing I know, my car is dead. I'm like WTF?? So I try to start it up. It turned over and wanted to start a couple times, but after that would just turn over. OK, so I'm sitting there getting honked at, I'm like well damn... so I finally get it started and get as far as I can without having to go through that again. Yeah, right. I catch another red light and it dies again. This time it only takes me a couple times to get her started back up. Luckily my McDonald's was right there so I pull in and get a drink, and no sooner do I sit down with my dollar menu cola, that my cell rings and I'm told that my axles are ready. So I sit a while, try to cool off, then I go out again. It starts right up when I leave the Micky D's, but just down the road I caught another red light and it dies again. I'm a bit fed up with it by now, and just want to get my axles, get back on the highway and get home. This time it takes a lot longer to get it started, and again I get honked at. I turn onto another road, which to my smart thinking, had a light on every other block. I'm guessing, but I do believe it died 12+ times on that road. I pick up my axles, drive like hell, run a few stop signs, and get back to the highway. On the highway, I had no problems of it dying but there were other things that were going wrong with the car. Finally I get to my town (30 minute drive from where I was), it dies as soon as I get to the light on the off ramp. This time it takes about 5 minutes to start back up. I got about a mile, hit another red, dies again, take a left turn, go about 2 miles, hit a stop sign, dies again, turn right and go another 3 miles hit another stop sign, ah but rolled this one so it stayed alive, and was fine all the way until I got to the top of my street where I had to stop for a truck coming from the opposing direction and it died there too. It took about 2 minutes to start back up there. On the way down the street, I threw it in neutral and let it roll. Halfway down the street it died. Then, lucky for me I had to go to work in 45 minutes, and I drove it to work and it died 3 times on me. After work though (5 hours later), I started it right up and drove it home without any problems... THE END

Car Specs:
1990 Eclipse GS
Manual Trans.
185.9K miles on original motor
Valve job and Timing belt done less than 5K ago.

Problems Noticed:
1-Car dies out of nowhere when coming to a stop, but only when engine has been running on and off, almost continuously for a couple hours, and engine will not immediately restart.
2-On the way home on the highway, could not let car go under 4K RPMs without it losing complete power to the wheels. Engine would rev a bit but speed would drop (yes car was in gear), only for a couple seconds and then the wheels would catch on and speed would increase.
3-One time when trying to restart car, a beeping noise was heard twice from behind the CD player, I'm gonna take a wild stab at it and say it was the ECU.
4-If car was rolling in neutral it would stay steady at 1K RPMs until it came to a complete stop and in the process would sink down to 700, 500, 200, and then die when stopped.

So I'm lost... I thought fuel, but how would that explain problem No. 2?? So then I thought air, but then how would that explain problem No. 4?? I don't know much about the computer, so I really couldn't guess if that had anything to do with it, nor can I guess why I heard that beeping. I figure if the computer was failing, it wouldn't have started up as much as it did. Anyone with any ideas as to what this could be, anyone with a similar experience?? I apologize for the length, but I am trying not to miss a single detail. TIA for the help.

EDIT: I never truly did get this figured out. Ended up swapping in a '91 turbo engine and transmission, harness, and ECU after a couple years. The ECU did not look to be in the best of shape so it would not surprise me if that was the issue.

 

[zippy]

Not too sure about 1Gs. On the 2G, a symptom of a failed air idle control motor is that the car will stall when at idle. It will run as long as you keep your foot on the accelerator. They cost about $200, so check it out as best as you can before deciding to replace it. Of course there are a variety of things that would cause your problem. Mine was this motor.

 

[crankbender]

Thats a tough one. If it was the IAC you would see no problems starting or cruising at all...(unless you start the car without your foot on the gas).

Tell me a little more about the engine revving while slowing down in gear. This really isn't possible unless you have something seriously broken. You have a direct link between the engine and tires when in gear.

First thing is first check the fluid levels and the fluid itself everywhere you may have a tranny that is trying to grab another gear...this can still happen even when you don't have it in gear if you are melting a bearing/slide.

 

[19Eclipse90]

It will run as long as you keep your foot on the accelerator.

I did this a couple times... and before I got the car started, it would turn over and over and i would pump the gas, but usually that wouldn't work.

Tell me a little more about the engine revving while slowing down in gear. This really isn't possible unless you have something seriously broken. You have a direct link between the engine and tires when in gear.

Basically all I know is what I previously stated. I know that there is the direct link, which is why I am so puzzled on why it would do that. Here's what was happening, as much more in depth as I can really go. I was on the highway, driving in 4th gear trying to keep the RPMs above 4K, and when necessary, dropping it to 3rd to keep it from going under. When the RPMs would reach 4K or less and the accelerator was applied, the car would act like it was in neutral for a couple seconds, and the engine would rev up to about 4.2K and I would feel this jerk forward and then the speed would increase. Also, once under 4K RPMs, there would be a rapid loss of power, the car slows down greatly and the RPMs drop quickly. I hope that helps... Thanks for the responses guys.

 

[ECLIPSEESPILCE]

When it dies check for spark. We had a similar problem at out shop and but it was a 2g if i remember correctly it was a transistor in the ignition system.
just an idea dont just start throwing parts at it that gets expensive.

 

[95GSXBLUR]

This might be kinda retarded.. similar expeierece happend to me.

how new is the battery? if there is a dead cell in the battery.. you'll have trouble starting and staying running. also check the battery ground.

always start at the cheapest part first. that way you don't blow a butt-load of money on something that could be cheap.

check that battery out dude. sorry to hear about your trouble.

 

[19Eclipse90]

This might be kinda retarded.. similar expeierece happend to me.

how new is the battery? if there is a dead cell in the battery.. you'll have trouble starting and staying running. also check the battery ground.

I'll check it, but how would that explain why it runs good when the engine is cool?? My brother drove the car 140 mile round-trip a couple of weeks ago, and he had the same problems as me. Ever since, my sister has been driving it to work and around town with no problems whatsoever. And then this happens to me...

When it dies check for spark. We had a similar problem at out shop and but it was a 2g if i remember correctly it was a transistor in the ignition system.

Okay, but out of curiosity, if it was the ignition system, why would it only fail when I was coming to a complete stop, and then seconds/minutes later start back up again?

Before I buy anything, I'll take it apart and check it out, don't worry about me wasting cash, I'm a little tight when it comes to the GS...

 

[ECLIPSEESPILCE]

SOMETIMES HEAT WILL CAUSE A PART TO FAIL THEN WHEN IT COOLS IT ALLOWS THE CAR TO START. NOT SURE WHY ONLY AT A STOP BUT IT WAS AN IDEA. Sorry about the CAPS but i did not want to re type.

 

[19Eclipse90]

SOMETIMES HEAT WILL CAUSE A PART TO FAIL THEN WHEN IT COOLS IT ALLOWS THE CAR TO START. NOT SURE WHY ONLY AT A STOP BUT IT WAS AN IDEA. Sorry about the CAPS but i did not want to re type.

I did think about this whenever I was driving to work, which is why i let it roll in neutral for about a quarter to half a mile until I came to the stop sign, to bring in air to cool the engine off before I came to the stop. All three times I tried that, it died after I finally stopped.

edit: Don't remember if I mentioned that earlier or not, and I don't want to scroll up and read.

 

[Damn 2nd Gear]

did you remove the factory air box? may sound retarted but there is a wire that is grounded to one of the bolts on the airbox. when i did my intake i had a problem with it stalling when i pushedin the clutch. then when i saw that wire i just connected it to a vbolt on the chassis. i

 

[19Eclipse90]

did you remove the factory air box?

No sir... car doesn't have one mod done to it.

 

[BISHILVR]

ecu....

 

[19Eclipse90]

ecu....

Yeah that's what I'm starting to lean toward, but what caused the ECU to start giving out like that? Does the fact that I drove it around for about an hour without giving it more than 5 minutes of a break (which I thought most cars were supposed to be able to handle) have anything to do with it? I don't understand why, if it is the ECU, the car continues to start and drives fine around town...
Could it be possible that the car is out of time, and that caused the ECU to fail?

 

[BISHILVR]

well, you have a 14 yr old ecu in your car to begin with.....and dsm ecu's have issues to begin with, i have a 90 gsx that runs every day and has for over a year that has an ecu that is crapping out on it, not all ecu failures will prevent the engine from operating, there are many many ways an ecu can fail, sometimes it's just a single function of the ecu that will not work properly, sometimes it's the entire unit that wont work at all.....it all depends on the exact components inside the case that are failing and in which way they are failing, and to what degree..................