1997 850 turbo stalls upon starting,accelerating, going up h

JackieDawn · Post by **JackieDawn** » 28 Oct 2015, 10:34

I have been having this problem for 3 or 4 months now. When I start my car the RPM's drop and the car stalls. So, I have to hold my foot on the brake and the gas pedal to put it in gear.

Once the car is going it's fine. But, then when I apply the brakes to stop, it acts like it wants to stall, sometimes it does. There have been times that I have accelerated from a dead stop and it will stall in the middle of the road.

It also loses power (rpm's drop) when going up hills or accelerating. Sometimes it will actually miss (shut off then go again) while I am going up hills or accelerating.

I thought it was the fuel filter, so I replaced it. I thought I noticed a difference at first (same day) but, the next day it started acting up again.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Post by **erikv11** » 28 Oct 2015, 15:04

This could be a lot of different things. Like maybe a problem with basic ignition parts (spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor, plug wires) or possibly the MAF sensor or a vacuum leak.

Is the "Check Engine" light illuminated? If it is, then the first step is to retrieve the codes and report them here. If it has been on for a longtime, then you will want to first reset it all trouble codes, then when the light comes back on see which codes are there.

JackieDawn · Post by **JackieDawn** » 28 Oct 2015, 16:27

The check engine light is not on. I will take it to Auto Zone and have them do a diagnostics test. Thank you.

JackieDawn · Post by **JackieDawn** » 31 Oct 2015, 10:35

Okay, I took my car to AutoZone and this is the codes that they got:

P0141
P0136
P0108
P0243

Post by **erikv11** » 31 Oct 2015, 13:56

p0141, p0136, p0243
Those three codes are all related to fuel:air mixture. Either a sensor is broken (MAF or oxygen sensor) or more likely there is a vacuum leak. My next step would be to check the hoses for a vacuum leak, and test the MAF sensor. One quick test for the MAF sensor is to unplug it when the car is off, start the car, see if the idle gets better. What brand is the MAF sensor you have in there now? Let us know if you need more direction for locating the MAF sensor.

p0108 - barometric pressure sensor. This often shows up once then never again. I would just reset the codes and see if it comes back. If the sensor is truly broken, the code will come right back. It is super expensive to replace new, just get one from a junkyard. You can try cleaning the sensor with low pressure air (don't blast it!) if you want to.

Unplugging the MAF will set a code for the MAF sensor, you are going to want to be able to reset these codes to troubleshoot. If they can keep doing it for you at AZ that's great, but just giving an FYI.