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changed oil. car dies now.

What is the condition of your ground connection back there by the disptick?

It isn't too far from possible that you could have affected one of the wires running to that stud while dealing with the oil filter. I usually get into more trouble with the wiring for the oil pressure sending unit, but that ground isn't far off. If those wires are like mine they are probably pretty brittle. It wouldn't take much to break one, or to break most of the strands, leaving just enough to start, but not enough to sustain things for long.

Just another thought.
 
What is the condition of your ground connection back there by the disptick?

It isn't too far from possible that you could have affected one of the wires running to that stud while dealing with the oil filter. I usually get into more trouble with the wiring for the oil pressure sending unit, but that ground isn't far off. If those wires are like mine they are probably pretty brittle. It wouldn't take much to break one, or to break most of the strands, leaving just enough to start, but not enough to sustain things for long.

Just another thought.

I checked the ground on the intake side. not the one on the passenger side.
ill check it when I swap the distributor.
I have also added additional grounds. Im gonna pull them, check for corrosion and put di-electric grease on the connections.

I feel like its something odd. ill figure it out..
 
I'm throwing this out there. Check the fuel injector wire harness.

Sometimes, the old factory harness zip ties that secure it against the firewall are broken
or missing, and then the harness will slump down and rub against rear tip of the fuel injector rail tube.

After a while, the tube will wear through the wire harness and then irregularly short-out an injector or two or more.

This one drove me nuts for weeks.
 
Eta on distributor is friday/saturday

Im glad somone said back end grounds by the valve cover.
Honestly this engine has been out 2x since ive owned the car. and I don't remember if I even hooked those up. so Im gonna double check those and make sure they have a good ground.... it would kinda make sense due to the intermittent dying before this over the last few months.
gonna check those tomorrow when I have a second.
 
thinking more about this.
I should say I have had an abnormal amount of battery crud growing out of the negative terminal over the last 4-6 months.
Perhaps this is a main engine ground failure...
 
so.
Grounds were attached and pretty horrible.
I cleaned them all up.
Went to start her.
Battery was dead.
This 4 year old yellowtop thats really been on its way out .. was hissing after a charge and fluid is appearing at the top.
Great.
New battery purchased. arrives sunday.
 
There is no negligible electrolyte in a Optima, sounds like your using the wrong charger. Optimas do like a "good" re-fresh every now and then but I've never got less than 7yrs (in Az) out of one.
 
I was charging it from 12.02 where it was at to 12.7 charging at 12v2a
after about 30mins I could hear it.
This battery has also been sketch since buying it. it was an ebay cheapo and its not been a great experience.
Always charged my prior optima that lasted 9 years with this same little crap float charger.
I dont think this -- and my issue are related.
 
Probably not but I own seven Optima's and three Battery Tenders for a reason. All of my vehicles are equipped the a permanent charging connector.
 
so.
new optima and cleaned the 3 grounds by the dipstick.
she runs.
Shes still giving this random stall/misfire 1 second every 60 seconds. gonna put a few miles on her and see if the stutter goes away.
she seems down on power.
ALL CEL'S ARE GONE !
 
putting around the complex. she runs. does not stall.
Any throttle over 30-40% and she sputters and stumbles.
Since The only change has been cleaning the grounds on the distributor side I am hoping replacing the distributor then the coil is next on the agenda.
distributor doesn't arrive til monday.
meh....
 
That is at least progress.


I am going to suggest you consider going beyond just cleaning those connections.


See this thread: https://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1148570


Examine your wires carefully. If they are like mine were they may be hard and brittle. That is a symptom which tells me those wires are not up to their job anymore. Higher resistance changes how sensors and the computer are able to do their job.
 
Anak my grounds looked like yours.. I was a tad worried about this too... good writeup. thats probly next for me.
I took a dremmel wire wheel to the 3 dipstick grounds all are shiny and di-electric greased now.
since I have already purchased the distributor. I am gonna throw it in.

The more that I think about this also.
I replaced the coil with a cheap one.
I just bought an MSD coil just for peace of mind.
 
After a ton more research. Narrowed down to.
Bad cps. Replaced once. Still can't rule it out.
Bad distributor. New one arrives today.
Bad coil. New one arrives Friday
Bad ground. Cleaned up the grounds but may need additional work
This could also be a pcm/ecu failure or harness failure
 
New distributor tests good.
Since it came with the car side of the wiring harness gonna solder it in tomorrow.
Updates to come.
 
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