Car dies after a short period of time

[92Camry5sp]

my coupe, which is a 4cylinder, happens to stall or dies off everytime i take her for a 30 minute drive. After it shuts off, i can start it up again and drive off with it but it'll die off when i come to a stop where i put the car back in neutral and when i give it a little gas, it goes back to normal rpm which is at 900rpm. i just recently have this problem. i did a full tune up on her and it didn't do anything. This is a 94 coupe 4 cylinder 5 speed.

[BamZipPow]

Is the check engine light on? Is the check engine light working?

Is yer engine stock or do you have any mods to it?

How good is that fuel filter? What is a full tuneup?

[RichieRichJP]

So it just dies and you can crank it right back or do you have to wait a while?

[92Camry5sp]

BamZipPow, Check engine light works, but i have no cel, only mods i have are intake and headers, Dont know about the fuel filter, i replace spark plugs, spark plug wires, cap and rotor, igniter, external coil and coolant temp tensor.

richie, i can crank it right back up with no problem, but after driving it for another couple minutes, it dies off again, and i can crank it right back again.

[BMR]

So it has trouble idling? Does it ever "hunt"?... idle RPM surges up & down?

I'm guessing it's the IAC (Idle Air Control) valve; it's carboned up and needs to be cleaned. It's a really common problem. Here are a couple threads showing how to remove/clean it:

Thread 1

Thread 2

I was thinking it might have a bad ignition coil, which often will cause the engine to die when it's warmed up. But the fact it'll restart immediately points more strongly to the IAC valve as the culprit.

[92Camry5sp]

idling dont go up or down, but sometimes when i start the engine up, it idles around 500 then goes up to 1200rpm.

[92Camry5sp]

BMR, i think that might be it. i'll have to do that on my day off of work.

[Stillrunning]

It only dies at idle? Can you keep it running by giving it gas? 900rpm is too high an idle.

[BMR]

Yeah, 900 RPM is a little high. Spec is what?... 800?... Another indicator the IAC needs some cleaning.

[92Camry5sp]

stillrunning, it'll run if i give it a little gas, but if i rev it up to 5k rpm, the engine goes back to normal idling.

i did the iac cleaning and still nothing. car still dies. my dad is telling me that my distributor might be bad, but i doubt it. Any other suggestions?

[Stillrunning]

Originally Posted by 92Camry5sp

it'll run if i give it a little gas...i did the iac cleaning and still nothing. car still dies.

You may have a defective IAC, or a dropped signal to IAC from a bad connection (inspect and clean with electronic cleaner). If giving it a little gas from the gas pedal keeps it running then it's not bad distributor.

You should also inspect the operation of and clean the EGR. If it is not closing fully then it's a vacuum leak and that will stall the engine at idle as well as give erratic idle. Other vac leaks that may develop when hot will also cause stalling. Check and clean the PCV as well as if it sticks open then engine will stall.