Hey guys, the B#?tch as my wife calls her, has performed flawlessly since I bought her almost two years ago now. Within the past month, the engine has quit while being at a full stop. I just checked for codes with my OBDII tester and there are none stored, I get a PASS reading. I don,t generally care for the "shotgun" approach to troubleshooting, throwing parts at a problem is not my method of fixing them. However with that said, I really don't want to experience a shutdown on the highway or while making a turn in front of a Semi-truck, if you know what I mean. I am thinking of replacing both Camshaft position sensors and the Crankshaft position sensor. They are relatively cheap and make sense to me. You guys have any thoughts?

BTW, she just turned over 121K and purrs like a kitten. She has started right up with no hesitation both times this has happened, which would lead me to believe it is not a fuel starvation problem and more an electronic one. There were no erratic RPM signs before the shutdown, just a straight out engine quit with all normal annunciation lighting in view. Let me know what your thoughts are.

 

You just need to clean your throttle body and MAF. Change the pcv valve while yer at it.

 

Fair enough, sounds like good advice. I did however thoroughly clean the T/B about 4 month ago when I replaced the valve cover gaskets and spark plugs. I'll check the MAF, it won't hurt and at zero cost. Thanks

 

Well, you gotta get some CRC MAF cleaner, so it'll cost you about $4.29 or so. Haha had mine stall going 80mph downhill in neutral. Cleaned the MAF and haven't had any issues since.

 

Nope, no cost, already have the cleaner in my garage, Haha. Thanks again Scraggle.

 

Just remember, if you unplug the MAF sensor, DO NOT TURN THE IGNITION ON UNTIL IT IS RECONNECTED! Much trouble.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Cleaned and inspected the MAF, it was relatively clean to begin with. No obvious defects noted, reinstalled. Cleaned, inspected and functionally checked the PCV valve, no defects noted. No reason to replace it, reinstalled. During the MAF work I noticed the air intake filter was extremely dirty, replaced it. Now I will monitor, hopefully the problem will be fixed. I will post with an update in the near future.

 

Well it has been 10 days since I cleaned the MAF sensor and replaced the air filter. I had my fingers crossed but I had a feeling neither would fix my problem. Today while driving on the highway at 70 MPH, my RPM's dropped from 2500 to 800 several times as if the engine had quit/stalled momentarily. While this was happening, I observed the instrument cluster, all gauge indications where normal so it was not an electrical power loss. After the symptom occurred a couple of times, the car continued to run fine. As soon as I got home I scanned for codes and this time a P0335 Crankshaft sensor reading was stored twice. It is one of the sensors I suspected at the beginning of this thread. I will replace the sensor this weekend and monitor the results, I'll post a report in the near future.

 

Update,

Replaced the Crankshaft Position Sensor today. Installed an AIRTEX / WELLS 3R5 AVANTECH, purchased from rockauto.com. The test drive was a big thumbs up, I also changed the oil and filter while I had it jacked up. I'm glad to have her back on the road, I will monitor for a while and post the long term results.