Beretta.net

I am having problems with my daily driver. I have an 89 Beretta GT (2.6L V6). The car is in great shape and has just over 80,000 miles on it. It runs really well most of the time, but sometimes during city driving, it will randomly either shut off or start running really rough.

This usually happens when I am coasting up to a light. The car will just die and the check engine light will come on. Then it won't start for a few minutes. When it does start, it will be running really rough, almost like it is missing and sometimes it will surge up to about 2k and then back down repeatedly. I have to keep on the gas to keep it alive. I will run it at about 2k in park for about 30 seconds with dark smoke coming from the tailpipes. After about 30 seconds it just snaps back into running really smooth and nice. Then I just continue driving on my way with no problems.

After talking to my uncle (who is a mechanic and has worked on all my cars), he says, "Sounds like something is getting ready to take a sh!t". He suspects the fuel pump may be going bad or something else. I believe it to be something fuel related as it feels that way when it is missing. Does anyone have any possible insight to this???

BTW, I have replaced the Idle Air Control twice, and disabled all of the EGR stuff (I did this after the first couple of instances).

I believe it is either the ignition module or the fuel pump.  What do you guys think???

Unplug the TCC solenoid.
It's a square plug about a foot below the air intake on the trans.
Usually gray or purple and has 3 or 4 wire coming out of it.
Easy to find. It points toward the front of the car.
If you do a search you will find more info on it, but I guarantee 100% that will solve the problem, and NO, it won't hurt your car.

I am going to check into that tomorrow.  What exactly is it that the TCC solenoid does?  

-Steve

Nevermind, I just looked it up.  It definitely sounds like it could be part of the problem.  I am going to disconnect it tomorrow and see what it does.

-Steve

A few other ideas...

- Fuel pressure (fuel pump, fuel pressure regulator...check for fuel in hose to regulator)
- Plugged EGR filter (you said you disabled it, but...)
- ECM could be going bad (tap on case with handle of screwdriver while engine is running to see if it stumbles)
- MAP sensor

I'd also say MAF sensor, but since it's an '89 it wouldn't have it unless the engine isn't original.

Ok, so I disconnected the TCC solenoid and it seemed to make a little bit of a difference.  I drove around town trying to get it to stall and it wouldn't.  

I turned the car off, waited a minute and started it back up.  It fired right away and drove away fine.  I drove around some more to try to get it to stall on the side roads and it wouldn't.  Finally I came out onto the main road and stopped at a light in traffic.  After about 20 seconds of idling, the car just shut off.  I would not start back up until the 3rd or 4th try.  After that it ran a little rough for a couple seconds then ran great the rest of the way home.

I'm thinking the TCC was part of the problem.  When the car stalled this time, it was kind of a "clean" stall.  No surging, no bucking, just died.  It also seems like it has something to do with the car being warm.  It usually only stalls after I shut it off and restart it a few minutes later after it gets a little heat sink.  Would that suggest something electronic?  My uncle is shipping me an ignition module and I am going to have that put in.

-Steve

It's very possible that will fix it...heat has a tendency to kill electronics