91 buick riviera

i can drive my 91 buick riviera for about 2 miles and the car will die wait 15 minutes and it will crank and drive another 2 miles and do the same thing again die i had the ignition module tested and it tested ok

 

Another problem area is the mass airflow sendor. You can try tapping on that by hand with a screwdriver handle and see if the engine quits.
The engine control module also can do this and you can thump on it with your hand and see if the motor quits.
Gilly

 

i put a new control module on the car and the mass air flow sensor is also new but it does the same but now i can leave it running for about 5 to 10 minutes and it will shut off i'll try tapping on he sensor with a screw driver handle to see what does

 

You'd have to catch this in the act right away to confirm, but you may be losing negative side to coil due to bad pickup coil, if you have one of those in a distributor. Next door neighbor had that. I did the elctrical testing and lucked out one day and caught it in the act when it lost negative volts to coil at cranking, when it woudn't start during that 5-15 minute time frame. He used to drive home from work and have the car shut off on him a few times. He'd then sit and wait and it would restart. Sometimes he got lucky and actually restarted the car before it ever stopped rolling.


Electric fuel pumps can act up and behave this way also. But if you are discerning, you should be able to tell the difference if you think the car acts more like someone turned off the key on you?, or if it acts more like it is running out of gas. I've heard of people in an emergency get their car restarted by hitting back by the pump with say a rubber mallet.

If the car has a crankshaft positioning sensor, I believe I have heard that those can also produce that type of symptom. But there again, it behave like someone quickly turning off the key, I believe.

 

my buick riviera has a coil pack also it has a crank sensor so would these have anything to do with it

 

my 91 buick riviera has a coil pack and also crank sensor would these have anything to do with it

 

Very likely ..yes...

Do you know where the crank sensor is located?.... A 2 litre soda bottle full of water....When the car shuts down and wont restart, pour the water on the crank sensor...if the car immediately starts after the sensor is wet, replace the sensor....

 

Is this sort of a 'hope and a prayer' thing?, or is this something more often than not that will work? And why does it work?

We need to get all tips like this posted somewhere. Seriously. Like the tip to whack at fuel tank by fuel pump if that goes out. Some of these good tips can at least maybe get someone home without having to call a wrecker and be stranded.

 

Think of an electric motor.....As it starts to wear, resistance in the windings increases, and excessive heat is produced.

On the other hand, expose a set of windings to excessive heat, and the resistance increases. Increased resistance results in less available voltage or Current( The ohms law thing...The math gives me a migraine).....The water simply cools the windings enough to lower the resistance in the windings to operable levels.
It's not a fix, or a temporary "Get me home" procedure....its only a test.....