Ok, I need some help. I've got a 98 GTP with about 74,000 miles on it. While driving the other day the car seemed to be intermittently missing (I'd be driving along and it'd feel like a little hiccup). Over the next mile this got progressively worse so I pulled over. Checked the oil, car idled OK, no check engine light. The only thing odd was a sort of strange sour burning smell, but it seemed to go away quickly.

Got back out on the road again and made it about a mile and the missing came back much more frequently and the car finally stalled. The "check gages" light came up on the HUD. I was able to restart the car but it ran really roughly and would stall out occassionally. Had it towed to a local shop, they said they ran it for 6 hours and it only stalled once. They hooked up a fuel pressure gauge and it was normal, plus there were no codes from the computer.

That was about a week ago and I've been driving it since. It hasn't stalled out yet but it's still doing the "hiccup" thing. Anyone have an idea of what's going on? I basically can't trust my car anymore which really sucks.

Other info: 98GTP, 74K. Had the fuel filter changed @ 60K along with a flush of the radiator, plus new tranny fluid. At 60K the shop said the plugs and wires still looked good, so I didn't change them. Only other problem I've had was a bad torque clutch converter that was replaced at about 65K.

Do you have access to an Autotap? It would be a benefit to know if your car is seeing mass misfires... which have been know to not set a DTC.

Marc

Unfortunately I don't. Is that something that most shops would have?

Any decent repair shop is going to have some type diagnostic tool. Dealerships have large rolling types, but primarily use what's referred to as a TechII. It costs about $2,500 and can preform a little reprogramming.

An Autotap costs much less (@ $250) and there are a number of people on this forum and on ClubGP's forum that have them... including myself. It's a tool that pretty much allows you to read anything the PCM is seeing and to also read and reset DTCs(Diagnostic Trouble Codes).

With that kind of a tool, you'd be able to tell what your car is doing (or not doing) that might be causing or contributing to your problem.

BTW, most shops are going to charge you anywhere from $65 to $85 just to hook a TechII to your car. A detailed analysis could cost even more.

Your shop already hooked some type of tool to you car seeing as they've told you there are no trouble codes. Sometimes they'll just check for DTC and not do any type of in depth analysis of how your car is actually running. Some shops are better than others and will go the extra mile to help out a customer... some won't.

Good luck,
Marc

Yep, I agree with Marc - autotap is hella handy. Both Palm and laptop versions.

At my cousin's shop, we use a SnapOn Scantool that works the same way - if your mechanic is a small shop they prolly use the same or something similar, since TECH 2s are so much more expensive.

Are there any GP clubs near you? Might be the easiest way to bum an autotap. Good luck!

UPDATE: The car kept having the problem I described above, so before I went on vacation I took it to a shop and let them look at it for about two weeks. The problem turned out to be that a couple of wires in one of the harnesses going to the crank sensor had been rubbing on something and lost their insulation. They would occassionally get grounded and then the crank sensor would get no signal causing all hell to break loose.

Just in case someone else ever runs into the same symptoms.

Glad you were able to run that down. Nothing sucks like having an ill running car and not being able to figure out what's wrong.

Marc

I can't imagine how long it would take to find that problem. I'd drive it into a river...