1998 GAGT 2.4L 5sp sputters when braking

[MagusXIII]

I have a coworker with a 1998 GAGT 2.4L 5sp and she had asked me today if I knew what would cause the following to occur. When she goes to brake without disengaging the clutch, the engine sputters and tries to stall. She will often have to disengage the clutch and rev the engine to prevent it from stalling. This happens also if she brakes while the clutch is disengaged. In short, when the brake pedal is applied, clutch in or out, she has to rev the engine to prevent stalling.

Now when she does full throttle acceleration, the car accelerates normally without any hesitation nor loss of power. Her check engine light is NOT lit.

So are there any suggestions I can give her as to where she should look first to solve this issue? Thanks!


Don

[jayhawk]

I think all of us here have had that problem. I replaced the IAC motor and it helped, but it does it every once and a while. I went online to a GM calibration site, and on of the OBDII flash codes was pertinent to the stumbling...may ne best to have a scanner on to see.

Jay

[CivicKiller]

Sometimes are the weirdest problems have the easiest solutions. Sometimes when you're car shuts off like that the battery may not be good. If there is corrosion on the terminals the wire may not be receiving proper power due to high resistance. As a starting point try and clean your battery terminals, use really hot water or use a terminal brush. Another thing to do is clean as many ground connections as possible. If you don't get a good ground then you don't get any power. Hope this is a starting point for your friend.

[4kQuad]

So the clutch really has nothing to do with the problem. I sounds like it's related to the fuel supply to me. I would start with the fuel filter. Not to hard to change and only 8 to 15 bucks for the part. Air filter could also be causing the problem.

If you know where the air filter is.....pull it out and look through it.
it should be white and you should be able to see through it.

[CivicKiller]

That's true also. Little things like that may be the problem. Good things to check when your car is acting up.

[MagusXIII]

The fuel issues were my first guess indeed. However, if the injectors, fuel filter, or air filter were dirty, wouldnt that affect full throttle power as well? I know when my 1982 Malibu had a clogged fuel filter, the car would wanna cut out under WOT conditions.

Jayhawk, if indeed it may be an IAC motor, how much do they run? Also, any possible vacuum leaks that may cause this condition?

I did however suggest to her to run a good strong fuel system cleaner like Techron first. If after doing that and after replacing the air filter, the problem still remains, I will probably suggest a full engine diagnostic test. Any other ideas?


Don