1987 Stanza intermittently dies

External Since: Sep 08, 2005 Posts: 5

I've got a 1987 stanza (205,000 mi.) that decides to die just out of the
blue while driving down the street.... it may or may not restart immediately
although once restarted it most likely it will continue to repeatedly die
every mile or two trying to get it home......8 years ago it went thru
several months of this, in and out of a couple of shops without resolve
etc....the car then sat several years.....after its vacation I put in a new
battery and the car has ran fine until now (about 2000 miles a year as a
spare car) but now the gremlins are back....regrettably when needed the most
since the wife's daily driver needs a head gasket etc...... When acting up
the car may have no spark but due to intermittently nature of the problem
that's not quite definitive......It may also go 100 miles without a problem
or it may die and not restart for 10 minutes(or longer) or it may just die
every mile or so......it has had the usual routine maintenance with new
rotor, plugs, wires dist cap, fuel filter etc... any and all suggestions
would be most appreciated....Rod

External Since: Jun 02, 2006 Posts: 2

Rod & Betty Jo wrote:
> I've got a 1987 stanza (205,000 mi.) that decides to die just out of the
> blue while driving down the street.... it may or may not restart immediately
> although once restarted it most likely it will continue to repeatedly die
> every mile or two trying to get it home......8 years ago it went thru
> several months of this, in and out of a couple of shops without resolve
> etc....the car then sat several years.....after its vacation I put in a new
> battery and the car has ran fine until now (about 2000 miles a year as a
> spare car) but now the gremlins are back....regrettably when needed the most
> since the wife's daily driver needs a head gasket etc...... When acting up
> the car may have no spark but due to intermittently nature of the problem
> that's not quite definitive......It may also go 100 miles without a problem
> or it may die and not restart for 10 minutes(or longer) or it may just die
> every mile or so......it has had the usual routine maintenance with new
> rotor, plugs, wires dist cap, fuel filter etc... any and all suggestions
> would be most appreciated....Rod

My 88 stanza had a similar problem. Replaced distributor as oil got by
and interfered with camshaft sensor inside distributor. Have had no
problems since. Apparently a common problem with these cars.