Strange engine shutdown issue

[Can98sidekick]

Hello all, 

I’m having a strange issue with my sidekick. It’s a 1998 1.6l 16v. Let me start by saying this page is awesome, the information here is priceless. 

Now onto the issue. With the engine running regardless of cold or hot, when I rev into rpm’s 4000 and above while driving my engine will sometimes shut down, and then when I let off the pedal it will come back to life . (Tach straight to zero and then engine restarts and will carry on.) if I’m not driving it will just stay shut down and I can hear the fuel pump cycling on and off, roughly one second on one second off.

Per the info on this page I have checked throttle position, camshaft sensor, crank sensor, fuel pressure, injector noid test, mass air flow, and so on all working properly with no CEL.

I for the life of me can’t figure it out. So any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!

[jwunsch]

Did I understood correctly that your tach dives to zero while engine is still turning over?

That kind of sounds like electrical problem. When my engine has stalled due to fuel injector / sensor issues I still see tach going down with same rate as engine. Kind of sounds there's no power to the tach for a while if it just plummets to 0.

Even tho the ECU page says that from 96 CAPs are better and not usually going bad I would check that as you have checked a lot of thins already.

http://www.fixkick.com/ECU/ECU.html

Also that page mentions bad grounds / wiring. Could it be that enough vibration on higher RPM causes some wire to lose contact. (My engine temp gauge goes fucked because of this when going over 5000 RPM as the engine vibrates and shakes quite a lot).

As far as I know the fuel pump should run as long as ECU thinks engine is running.. so tach diving to 0 and pump cutting out sounds like electrics out or ECU thinks key off or something funny like that.

Sorry just guess work. Hope fixkick would re-activate. He would probably know where to look.

[fixkick]

Hello all, 

I’m having a strange issue with my sidekick. It’s a 1998 1.6l 16v. Let me start by saying this page is awesome, the information here is priceless. 

Now onto the issue. With the engine running regardless of cold or hot, when I rev into rpm’s 4000 and above while driving my engine will sometimes shut down, and then when I let off the pedal it will come back to life . (Tach straight to zero and then engine restarts and will carry on.) if I’m not driving it will just stay shut down and I can hear the fuel pump cycling on and off, roughly one second on one second off.

Per the info on this page I have checked throttle position, camshaft sensor, crank sensor, fuel pressure, injector noid test, mass air flow, and so on all working properly with no CEL.

I for the life of me can’t figure it out. So any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!

hello I am back the forum link top of  kickfix page is dead, so I thought owners killed dead the forum? idk. I am glad to help.
the 1998 with A/T TRANS IS  pcm(  TCM MOVED INTO ECU MAKING IT A PCM)  power tran control module. or is this 5speed stick shift?

SO forget the TACHO engine stall is engine stall you know engine  goes dead hear and loss engine power totally. and if in neutral engine fully stalls. if in gear moving even may start up due to moving in gear. Inertia of car wheels back to trans and engine crank shaft.( we can use the tranny to slow a car down hill ever do that? brakes not used.


The key facts to learn are this. tests lots.
do head lamps go dead.?
does RADIO go dead at stall. or any thing else on that goes dead, , like blower (ac or heat) even turn any things  on .  and may make it worse (bingo if yes)_
then the instrument cluster lamps  at a stall the lamps  must all go on, most of them. and CEL lamp.
if all are out  at stall then power 12vdc (batt) is major loss now. and is cause   of stall,  loose fuses ? 
The problem may get worse fast,  and makes it more easy to find.
dose it ever fail parked on driveway , idling, or gunning throttle in neutral or PARK?


guessing causes;
loss of DC power to ignition or fuel pump
lost of dc power to PCM even loss fuses.
or engine flooding> do you smell raw fuel"? sniff snip at or just after stall?
bad spark plugs.
the engine is probably ok it runs mostly ok,just this stall thing.
this 1998 G16 does it have 4 or 2 coil packs , but we check for COP boots bad, this old. most are bad,  I forget how may ignition coils it has,  1996 is 1 inside distrubutor the ground wire to it  most be tight. and plug on the side, good, and tight to distrib. side
spark wires new. these are too old.
at stall and at home use scan too and scan key on , no started to see if P03xx errors DTC are tripped.
??? all are spark errors. those sets.