another car problem thread

Sounds like you’ve got your problem figured out, but I’ve got an interesting story that’s relevant.

I was having a problem very similar to this in my 88 Chevy Astro. I would drive it for awhile, and every now and then it would just die (as though it were out of gas). After I pulled over and sat for a minute, it would start again. After about a week of me trying crap (mostly tune-up type things) I took it to a shop because I was sick of it.

It was the steering column. I had noticed it was loose because I had to lift it up to do things like switch my high-beams, but it never occured to me that it would cause my car to die.

Apparently the previous owner used to grab the steering wheel a lot to pull him/herself into the car. This loosened the bolts holding the steering column on, which eventually got bad enough to cause shorts in the wiring. They took it apart, tightened it up (some bolts had actually fallen out and were sitting in the steering column doing nothing), and it was fine.

Moral? Sometimes it’s weird stuff you’d never think of.