I have a 90 grand am with 219,000 miles on it. 2.5L throttle body injected. I've done a lot to keep this junker of a car on the road but don't think you all need to read about that. Don't believe it has anything to do with this issue.

Recently the car started acting up. I would be driving it and it would jerk hard, kinda stall for a brief second and then go on like nothing happened. Now it is doing it more frequently. This time it would jerk hard then nothing, about a minute later it would start to stall, I could give it gas and it would rev up and smoke came out the tail pipe until it smoothed out, then it would act ok for sec and then it would act like it had no throttle and then stall. I could start it back up, drive for about 20' and then it would stall agian. Then it would just crank and crank. If I let it sit for about 10 min it would start up and go but only for about 1/2 a mile then start all over agian.
This morning it did this and I left it to sit for about 3 hours, fix'd the pcv valve and it started up. I drove it to work let it sit for another 4 hours did fine for about 4 miles and it started all over agian.

I've never changed the timing belt and will drive it to the salvage yard before doing that. I had the crank sensor replaced about 50,000 miles ago. at the same time another sensor was replaced that controled the idle, something about a cold weather sensor. It made the car rev really high for no reason. It has a newer fuel pump on it. I've put about 100,000 miles on the fuel filter.
Before all this the check engine light came on and it was for the EGR valve, this was over 80,000 miles ago. Never replaced it.

What do you think would be causing this?

I'd start by changing the fuel filter and EGR.
Cleaning the EGR tube.ports will help also.

this could be why its stalling, but 220k miles and it could be anything.

i noticed that it acts up when the motor gets warm. When it's cold it drives fine. What could cause this to happen?

that sounds like your crank position sensor.

heres a link (http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/09/71/8d/0900823d8009718d.jsp)to some test procedures you can perform to see if it is the CPS.

hope that helps!

do you know where the CPS is located?

the cps is down behind the fly wheel/harmonic balancer.
bolted to the oil pan I believe, heres a shaby pic of the connector.
http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/gif/medium/0900823d800e5702.gif

and heres a link (http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/0e/57/01/0900823d800e5701.jsp#hd1-1-2)that has generic test procedures.

I'd also check your engine grounds.

what exactly does the EGR do? Could I just clean it?

the EGR is an emissions system component which reburns exhaust gases. Its port that it sets on can be cleaned out if its filled with carbon. But the EGR its self can not realy be cleaned.

can it be tested?

About everything can be tested :grinyes:

Have you repalced the ingnition coils or module?
Those and good plugs & wires might help.

1990 Pontiac grand am 2.5
This has the power pack, which one would it have? module or ignition coil
If I remove the power pack what kind of problems will I run into? autozone says that the Crankshaft Position Sensor is located in front of the coil pack bolted to the engine. I see 4 bolts that hold the PP to the engine.

anyone?

Sorry bout that delay, the 4 bolts hold the coil packs on.
This should be module ignition also.

And that sounds about right on the CPS.
Didnt I post a link for all this ????

you did but it was showing the CPS near the front of the engine and that is not where this one is located. I do thank you for your help. I was just wondering if I would have any probs with removing the pack replacing the cps and putting it back on.

the coil pack will be no problem.

the CPS on the other hand can be a pita!
If the reluctor ring is mounted on the crankshaft(so that as the crankshaft rotates the magnetic sensor is triggered by notches in the reluctor ring) it wont be bad.
If they are attached to the crank pully then they may need adjusting... I dont know off hand what those would be either. :eek:

The cps looks plain and simple. Only two screws hold it in place. I don't see any adjustments you can make.

The CPS doesnt get adjusted, the rings within the crank pully, when removed, sometimes need aligned.
But if you can get the CPS off without removing the pulley,
then you dont have to worry about any of that adjustment.

The cps is no where near the pulley. It's on the back of the engine and under the CP. I hope this takes care of it. Oh, Now if I start it up it will only run for about 2 min and then die. It will then just crank and crank.

I took the Ignition module and the coil pack to Advanced auto and had them tested. Everything was with specs and working so all I did was clean everything really good and put it back together and it is working fine. I noticed that the plugs to the IM had alot of oil in them and the IM had oil all over it. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I didn't replace the CPS.

Yes bad connections will make it run bad.

Glad to hear you have it running better now.

We'll it's not fixed. I drove the car yesterday for about 15 mi and no problems. I got up this morning and barely went 4mi and it acted up agian. I got off work and it started up and I drove it almost 4mi and it stalled out. :banghead: I will need to change the fuel filter but this shouldn't stop the car from starting. It acts like either the fuel shuts off or it looses spark. If it sits for a while it will run but just for a little bit.

Yes a bad / clogged fuel filter will keep the car from running :grinyes:

So when it dies you need to test for spark, and check that the fuel is pumping at the correct psi and making it to the injectors. Probly should test the injectors too.
This link will help check your injectors.
http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/dec2000/mech.htm (http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/dec2000/mech.htm)
Hope that helps!

I let it run till it stalled and noticed that no fuel was be released from the injector. I do not have any testing tools except for the old stand by's. sight and "ouch that has spark" I'll check and see if it has spark.

I put a screw driver in the spark plug wire and tried to ground it and didn't see anything so I got brave and touched it while it was cranking and no spark. If I leave it for a couple of hours it will start but act up really quick.