About to get rid of my 1997 Grand Prix SE..3.8 V6. Reason..a problem that NONE of the local GM dealers or several independent shops can solve. The problem: the car will ride very smoothly..no hesitations...idles smoothly and quietly. Then several times a month it just STOPS/CUTS OUT. It will crank and try to turn over...after about 3 minutes the car starts. The GM dealer has had the car in shop for 8 days, hooked up the their diagonistic machines and no codes ever appear. Of course when they drove it, it didn't stop. Any ideas of how I can HELP THE MECHANICS help ME solve the problem. I simply CANNOT keep a car that can stop at anytime in anyplace, need a more reliable car. I have invested several thousand dollars in this good looking black car of only 88 K. Any ideas?

Has the crank position sensor been changed?

coil packs & ignition module (under the coil packs) ??

They did change an ignition switch. This was done to repair the fan on heater/ac blower. I was told, "believe it or not the ignition swtich is the power source for the heater fan." It did correct the problem with the fan.

Crank position sensor has not been changed, nor has the coil packs and ignition module. I will mention to the GM dealer on Tuesday. Have an appointment for a different car that day.

I greatly appreciate your suggestions...THANK YOU!!! I will let you know what they say.

This sounds a lot like what happened on my mom's old 89 Z-24 and it was the computer in the car. It would never throw a code and it wasn't caught until we got lucky and it did it while at the shop.

I work with a woman who had to get rid of her SE for the same thing. The infamous heater box/windshield water leak had gotten so bad it corroded some of the wires under the passenger side carpeting and would kill her car every so often. they found the corrosion, and sent it down the road.

The computer and wires sound like a good idea.
With the coil packs and ign module, just take everything apart and clean the contacts really good. That happened on my family's 94 olds with a series I L36.

Have you disconnected the battery to reset the PCM?
I would try that before taking it back to the dealer.