My sons 2002 V6 camaro runs great but has started dying for no apparent reason. When it shuts off he can just immediately start it right back up. Have had the battery changed had the alternator tested both are in perfect working order. It seems that it is an electrical interruption but have No IDEA what could be causing it. Had the battery cables checked and they are tight. HELP its driving us crazy. My fear is he will be out driving and it will die and he will get stuck somewhere..

A concerned Mother

 

could be a bad coil or coil wire. other than that might need to start looking into the fuel system.

 

How much fuel is in the tank? If 1/4 and below when this happens you prolly have a dying fuel pump.

Massey

 

Be sure to check all your ground screws, they can cause issues & CEL if loose or disconnected.

What if any aftermarket electrical additions are on the car? Start there if there are any -- check wiring.

Yea it could be a fuel pump or regulator issue as well -- have fuel pressure tested.

 

I would think the first thing to do is check for trouble codes. Most auto parts stores can do that for you. Make sure to get the code numbers, if any. Some codes do not turn on the SES lamp. Nevertheless, watch for the SES lamp to come on, as it may reset if the fault goes away quickly.

If there are no trouble codes, the fuel system is suspect. Does the car hesitate greatly when trying to accelerate or drive at higher speeds?

 

from experience check the spark plug wires. I've had the car stall then restart itself from aged, worn spark plug wires. If the problem continues check the coil packs and the fuel pump.

 

Just for clarification

When it shuts off he can restart it right away with no wait or jump?

When it dies does it fight it? Loose power? Sputter? Shake? Or is it just feel like someone turned the key off?

How often does it do this? Hourly? Daily?

The worst case is the car turns off like it was a turned off, but only rarely. I have fought with these issues before and they can be the worst to track down. You need to see the issue on the scanner or on a data logging system. It’s the chicken or egg. Did the sensors switch off because PCM told them to turn off or did the sensor tell the PCM the motor was off so it shut down everything?

I had the issue on a new car with under 2,000 miles on it. The customer was scared to drive the car. I put 400 miles with a data logger hooked to the computer and a push button. The car never died. The customer was not happy and he picked up the car. He did not even make it 100 yards and it died. Luckily it did not restart. It took me 5 minutes to see issue once the car would not restart along the side of the road. By the time the tow truck showed up to drag it back to the building it was running fine . Crank sensor had a very small crack.