VX Stalls and Dies While Driving

[Clyde]

Has anyone else had their VX to stall and die while driving it? This morning when I arrived to work I pulled into the parking lot and was getting ready to park when I noticed it was hard to turn the steering wheel. I then looked down at the dash to see the indicator lights light up to tell me that the engine had died. I was still able to park the VX. After parking, I turned the ignition switch off and then tried to crank the engine over again to see what happened. The engine cranked right over and ran for a couple minutes before I shut it off. I even tapped the gas a couple times to make sure it wouldn't die out again, but this wasn't necessary. It ran with no problems.

I had driven my VX about an hour to work with no other problems. It is about 80 degrees out this morning and I have between three fourth and a half a tank of gas. Obviously after driving about an hour the engine is fully warmed up. Occasionally I notice a sputter while driving (after it is fully warm), like it is cutting out but it doesn't actually die like that. Also, my whole drive is highway and not stop and go traffic like city driving. And lastly I changed the oil around 1000 miles back (every 3000-4000 miles) and changed the oil and air filter (regular stock) about 10000 miles ago.

Has anyone ever had this to happen them and if so do you know what I can do to fix it? Any information on this would be greatly appreciated.

[autox-racer]

I had a problem with stalling at idle. It was intake gasket leaks. The gaskets become brittle and crack after about 50,000 miles and cause a big vacuum leak.

Does your stalling happen mostly at idle type rpm's?

[yal^]

how about cleaning your fuel injectors?
mine was "coughing" on a very hot days. I took it to the shop, and had them done some cleaning. That fixed it...

[webdog]

Change the fuel filter if not done recently. That just happened to my wifes VX.:D

[Clyde]

Well, on the way home this evening I had no problems whatsoever. It rained like you wouldn't believe here and I thought that if I was going to have any problems it would sure happen this evening with the kind of luck I have. I did speak with a mechanic with UAW today and he said I should also check the throttle body to see if it isn't clogged around the plate with carbon build up. He told me that he has seen cars die when stopping or slowing down like I was to park because of them not getting enough air into the engine due to this being gunked up. He also said I might look into the spark plugs to see if the gap has increased on any of them as well.

Another think I noticed when putting the VX in park when I arrived home was a weird "clunk" sound. Then when I shifted back and forth from drive and park it continued. Does anyone elses VX do this? Could that be the cause of problems somehow? It sounds like two separate problems to me, but with the way everything is tied into each other on vehicles today I'm not too sure.

I haven't looked into the intake gasket, but I will look into that. I will probably run some fuel injector cleaner through the injectors as well. That never hurts anything. I have changed the fuel filter not too long ago.

If anyone has any other ideas of what I might look into I would appreciate it. That way I can cover all the bases. :)

[BBVX]

We have the same problems you describe, the random stalling and the clunk. Our driveway is pretty steep so I never gave much thought to the clunk. It is much quieter when parking elsewhere, I always just thought is was the relieving of driveline stress. I don't think ours is repetitive like yours though, are you by chance parking on an incline??
Our VX has stalled on my wife 2 or 3 times in as many months, same thing. Running at temp, she comes to a stoplight and it stalls, but it will start right up and run fine. It seems very random, also on occasion at highway speeds it will give a little hiccup. I thought it was a tankful of bad gasoline.

Brian

[Clyde]

As far as the clunk when going into gear I guess I should have put more info in about it. The clunk I noticed was in my very level floored garage. It doesn't happen when I go slowly through the gears (like from drive to park and back again). But if I quickly shift into gear I will notice a clunk. It sounds almost like something is engaging a little slower than everything else. When shifting quickly between drive and park, I've noticed the engine idle change rapidly. At times it looks like the engine rpm will die out. This all happened after my drive home from work (about an hour drive).

As for the "hiccup" while going down the road I know that all too well. Mine does it about once a week. It happens especially when I'm being very accurate and keep it pegged right at 60 MPH. It just feels like it cuts out in a split second and then resumes without any problems like it was before the "hiccup". It's very strange. It's almost like pushing in the clutch in a manual vehicle and then dropping the clutch back out quickly.

As for my engine dying. It hasn't done that anymore and I hope it never does it again. I bought some really good fuel injector cleaner and that has seemed to make it run a little smoother. I also checked my throttle body and to my surprise it was very clean. I'm just now waiting to see if it does it again.

[valenki]

I have been having the same problem , also the RPMs jumped up and down sometimes. I took it to Phoenix auto repair which I highly reccomend, they told me that my jumping RPM and truck stalling problem is from a leaking intake manefold gasket. I was wondering if anyone had ever came across this issue and if that was the problem. Thanks

[Reg Hinnant]

One last item it could be is the fuel pump.
Mine would hiccup like Clide describes and it took a rep with his diag tool hooked with me driving to finally show them what was happening. Fuel pump fixed that.
The leaking intake gaskets were a very common problem.
Do the simple stuff first!
Good luck!

[BlackVX]

Mine was kicking during acceleration. After reading a post here with similar problem, I replaced the MAF sensor, removed the Injen air intake kit and put back the original factory air filter system. That did the trick.

Good luck,
Michael

[kelvin]

I didnt want to clog up the forum with a new post, but i have a similar problem that i'll piggyback onto this thread....

so, the short version is that my mechanic failed to fix an oil leak and after 4 attempts and lots of money i had my engine burn out from lack of oil. i fronted the $$ and had a used motor put in by a new mechanic. the good news is that i won the small claims case against the inept mechanic and got $6k to pay for the repairs. the bad news is that my new motor is having issues...

The new motor is doing a similar hicup as described in previous posts....kinda....

this will happen semi often durring normal driving (25% of the time or less) and all the time when the headlights are on (95%).

when i get up to speed my motor will cut out after and at 2500rpm. once the engine falls below 2500rpm the engine will kick back in, and back off again over 2500rpm. i have to maintain below 2500 rpm to keep the problem at bay. durring initial acceleration at lower speeds it seems to be less of an issue. when the headlights are off and it occurs, it seems to be a quicker hicup that cuts out and then back in, while at night is gives me a solid 2500rpm limit. My idle seems to bounce at idle on the rare occasion also.


I have allready had the idle control motor replaced and the problem persists.
other ideas include:
-fuel pump (doesnt seem too likely, but possible)
-an elecrtical problem like low amps (explains the headlight issue but it happens sometimes when they're off too.)
-a bad ground
-a vacume issue
-other

this is becoming a real hastle and i've never had a problem AT ALL with my vx untill now. any suggestions would help.

[etlsport]

the headlight thing is throwing me a little.. but i experienced a similar hiccup on the highway where i couldnt rev over about 2500 rpm, pulled over, started back up and the vx did ok after that.. when i got home i replaced the fuel filter and havent had any trouble since then... its a very quick and inexpensive thing to try, so id say its worth trying

[kelvin]

i'll deffinately try, but i dont have alot of hope for a quick fix like that. the issue is too specific. 2500rpm. no more, no less. a clogged filter would cause problems all over the spectrum, more at higher speeds. but i'll throw it on my shopping list for this weekend.

[kpaske]

Yeah, I get the occassional hiccup during normal driving and it will sometimes stall at low RPMs or idle. My fuel filter hasn't been changed in a while - I'll have to check my records to see if it's due again. I had the leaky intake manifold gasket, but I fixed that a few months ago. I'll have to go back and make sure it's still holding a nice seal. My spark plugs are new, and I run the occassional bottle of fuel injector cleaner through my tank for good measure. I've never had a "professional" injector cleaning, but I may do this some time in the near future.

Hey Reg, how difficult/expensive is it to replace the fuel pump? Is it located in the tank or outside? With 105k miles on mine I think this is a likely suspect.

[kelvin]

Maybe a hiccup in the rev limiter ? yeah, i've also pondered that... perhaps the computer is shot....

there are so many possibilities, none sound perfect and most sound expensive....

ok, so i'll add that to the list of maybe's. any thing else?

[Clyde]

Well, my VX still does crazy stuff when it comes to reving up. Sometimes it will rev up really high (around 2000-2500 rpm) when put into park and your foot is off the accelerator. Other times, especially in the morning while driving to work, you can be driving down the road with the tach reading 2500 rpm and then they will drop to 2000-2250 rpms for no apparent reason. You can actually feel everything ease up and run smoother after that. As far as the idling high mentioned earlier, it will happen at any time. Doesn't matter if the engine is cold or warm.

One thing that really irks me about it is when I'm stopping or in behind slow moving traffic. It wants to launch you from a stop on it's own (without hitting the accelerator) or you have to ride the brakes in behind someone driving slow (as in bumper to bumper traffic) because it wants to keep pulling you down the road. Thankfully the brakes are super strong to overpower this.

I've also checked the "duh" factors to see if my floor mats are causing the accelerator to stick down a little bit (or anything else for that matter) and checked the throttle position. Both of these things have been fine when it's having one of it's fits.

[Cyrk]

Clyde my VX has been doing the same exact things as you are describing...

It is at the dealership and it turns out it is related to the sensor on the power steering pump (Switch Kit Pressure - Part# 8971883700) that is frayed and dirty.

Called St Charles and ordered a new one to be next day to the dealership for 154.45. Should be fixed today.

Check that out, I'll let you know when I get it back if that fixes the problem.

[kpaske]

Hmmm.... I would have never associated those symptoms with a power steering sensor. Please be sure to tell us if that fixes your problem!!

[VXtreme]

Pull the throttle body as the mechanic suggested clean it throughly and ALSO clean and/or replace the idle control valve in the throttle body. I had been experiencing similiar problems for nearly a year. I replaced all the O2 sensors, purge valve, MAF, MAP, throttle position sensor and analyzed all systems and still the problem persisted. I cleaned the throttle body and idle control valve and the VX runs better then it has in over a year. No stalling, no erratic idle. I later replaced the idle control valve with a new one, about $45. From what you are saying, I would put my money on the throttle body and idle control valve. If you are concerned about the intake manifold gaskets, have a mechanic smoke the engine and it will tell you if you have a vacuum leak.

[Clyde]

Thanks for the info Cyrk and VXtreme. I'd like to know if that helped out with yours too Cyrk. In the past, I have cleaned around the throttle body plates and the lever of the throttle body, but haven't taken it off to do a really thorough cleaning of it. I have also replaced the TPS, but not the idle air control valve. I really don't believe my intake is leaking though. But I can always check that out also. What is up with that leaking anyway? I've heard a lot of users on here say they have had that problem. Was it a bad casting run of the parts or just a gasket that doesn't seal well? Has anyone went to extremes and had the surfaces redone so it will get a better seal? Are there better gaskets to use instead of the stocker? Just curious.

I've even wondered if the rpm problem I'm having has something to do with the torque converter. Since I have heard it "clunk" when going into gear that is why I wondered. I had a car in the past that wouldn't shift right and it was because of the torque converter. It made a clunk like sound when going into gear at times also.

[kpaske]

The intake manifold gasket leak is a very common problem. Isuzu put out a tech bulletin at some point changing the torque specs for the intake manifold bolts because apparently torquing them down to the original specs was causing many of them to leak. :confused:

If you want to test for the leaking gasket, it's very easy. Buy a 99 cent can of "starting fluid" from Wal-Mart or wherever. With the VX running, spray liberally around the gasket. If the RPM's go up while you are spraying in a certain area, then drop back down when you stop, there is a leak in that spot.

[VXtreme]

Clyde,
I was under the impression that you had removed the throttle body. I would highly recommend that you do that and clean it very throughly. Take the idle air control valve off and use the same throttle body cleaner to clean it throughly and reinstall. What was happening to me was the valve was sticking open and allowing excess air to enter the engine. I was getting a P0101 code which is a problem with the MAF system performance. This code does not however indicate that it is the MAF, it could be a number of things, TPS, MAF, vacuum leak, MAP, or any unmetered entering the engine.

I had been dealing with a problem you described for over a year. Three different mechanics and I tried everything, but the problem was the idle control valve, which I found on my own. Try cleaning it and see if the problem does not improve. If it does, order a new replacement.

As far as the problem with intake gaskets. It was a problem with the material they were made of, nothing to do with the casting of the manifold. The later gaskets were made of different materials and that seems to resolved the problem The older would become brittle after time and temperature and crack.

The clunk is pretty common in all the VX's and I don't believe that it has anything to do with your idle and stalling problems. I did change my fluid in my trans, tod and differentials to Royal Purple and it has made them much quieter and run cooler.

[Cyrk]

Picked up the VX today. So far so good no weird holding on the rpms. I did not get to drive it but from the dealership home, bout 10 minutes everything was smooth. I'll give a report after I get some more drive time.

They replaced the sensor and I had them clean the throttle body and idle control valve also.

But it was the the sensor on the power steering pump (Switch Kit Pressure - Part# 8971883700) that was the culprit in my case. Fingers crossed that the wacky idle does not come back.

It's worth a shot to look into that sensor if your rpms are holding around 2K rpms.

Good Luck.

-Dave

[Ruflyf]

They replaced the sensor and I had them clean the throttle body and idle control valve also.


Can anyone take a pic of the location for the idle control valve and post it today? Mine is acting up (high idle, etc) and since I am at work today I cant look it up on the disc. If someone can post a pic or describe where it is located I can take a look at it and probably clean it while at the fire station today.

Thanks

[VXtreme]

Since I have a S/C on my engine and the throttle body is mounted upside down on the S/C'd engines, the idle control valve should be on the upper left hand side of the throttle body on a stock engine. This would be when you are looking at the engine with the hood open looking toward the windshield. It is a dark gray/black domed sensor that has an electrical plug going into it. It has 2 screws (I believe they were torx screws) holding it into the throttle body. I would recommend that you remove the throttle body and clean it and not just the idle control valve. The port that the idle control valve closes against was pretty dirt with oil buildup on mine as was the idle control valve itself. I don't think that you can clean that port well without removing the throttle body. You want to also clean around the ports where the butterfly valve in the throttle body closes. I would recommend removing the throttle body. It only take about 30 - 45 minutes to remove, clean and reinstall.

[Ruflyf]

Thx for the tips, mine is s/c'd also. I'll take a look at it this evening when things slow down here a bit.

[Cyrk]

Well the weird high idle came back this morning on my way to work... :(
Going to bring it back to see what is up... crap.

I'll let you know what they find now. Pain in the azz VX.

Almost made it a week...

-Dave

[VXtreme]

I would replace the Idle control valve. They are only about $45 and since replacing mine no codes, no idle problems and the VX runs perfectly. Do you know that they pulled the valve out and not only cleaned it but the port it closes against? Also, did they pull the throttle body and clean it thoroughly or did they just shoot some cleaner down the throat?

[Cyrk]

I am not totally sure... I have a call into them.

[kelvin]

Maybe a hiccup in the rev limiter ?

does any one know where to find the rev limiter on the engine? or is it built into the computer?

[kelvin]

I would replace the Idle control valve. They are only about $45 and since replacing mine no codes, no idle problems and the VX runs perfectly. Do you know that they pulled the valve out and not only cleaned it but the port it closes against? Also, did they pull the throttle body and clean it thoroughly or did they just shoot some cleaner down the throat?

mine had the exact same problem with the idle shooting up. i had the idle control motor replaced and it's been behaving ever since. but i GOTTA get this 2500rpm thing fixed.... damn.... i dont want to shell out the cash for an FJ if i can get this thing running smooth again....

[Ruflyf]

Kelvin, taking the idle control valve off and cleaning it out real good fixed my problem with 2k+ idle. I also ran a bottle of injector cleaner through the fuel tank, but it was immediately fixed after cleaning the Idle Control valve.

[kelvin]

ok, so here's the update. the skyrocketing rpm issue was a defunct idle conrtol motor. it wasnt strong enough any more to adjust the idle control valve.

The big issue with the motor giving out at 2500rpm has also been fixed. after 3 months driving 62 on the freeway, i found a barely attached ground and tightened it down. fixed the 2500rpm issue, inaccurate temp and fuel gages, jumping/ticking tachometer, engine cutting out when headlights are on.

I can finally enjoy my new engine! (although i think its burning a bit of oil, but the motors waranteed, so i'm not woriried)

now i can install the skid plates that have been sitting in my closet for 12 months because i refused to work on a dead car... now if only i can find that tutorial i saw around here forever ago...

[mrtew]

My VX has stalled while driving twice this week!!! It started fine right afterwards both times though. Scary on the freeway tho. It began with an inability to start the VX on Monday morning without it dying when I took my foot off the pedal and there was a heavy cloud of unburned gasoline smell around the truck after. A couple minutes later it started up fine and I got halfway to work when it died. Then it was fine for a couple days and died again on the way home. I also feel a little stumbling or hiccuping occasionally but half of it is in my mind because I'm so afraid the engine is going to stop again. All the Isusu dealers are gone now here and my VX is so reliable that I don't even have a mechanic. I don't even know where to start. Help!

[etlsport]

do a search for these symptoms, its well documented... the common causes for these problems are fuel pressure issues or intake manifold leaks... based on the fuel smell you reported.. i would guess you are running rich... and dumping too much fuel into the chambers has caused your vx not to be able to combust it and stall... i would start with fuel pressure regulator and generally your fuel system.. sounds like an issue you want to take care of soon because running rich will clog up your catalytic converters (which are 1000+ and many weeks/months of waiting to get apparently) as well as the obvious danger of stalling on the highway.. good luck!

[mrtew]

Thanks. The thing is that it seems more like a computer glitch or something. I only smelled the gas smell that one time when it wouldn't start and the truck runs fine 99% of the time and when it dies it starts right back up and is fine afterwards. Could an actual mechanical problem like a clogged fuel filter or injectors or leaking intake manifold or something cause such a highly intermittent symptom? I'm in the same boat as the other people that don't want to just start replacing expensive parts in a car that's fine almost all the time but just dies out of the blue once or twice. But it is scary.

[IndianaVX]

just throwing this in therre for the high, low rpms..... have you been power washing the engine bay lately? i remember some members having problems with water being trapped in the plugs for sensors. (look for thread by climbcovey) his wiring harness was having issues, but he had hi revs, and engine dieing, and after drying out all the plugs with spray, then using di-electric grease on all plugs, all those troubles went away.

Point two.......etl is right. I wouldnt drive very much, if at all if you are pouring gas down the cats. stock cats ARE VERY EXPENSIVE.. and as i am litterally waiting for mine to be MADE, it is taking a long time to get them. no one....NO ONE has a vehicross cat. converter in the USA. they are being made on order apparently from what isuzu of america customer service is telling me.
hope this helps someone...

david