I was at a light and following someone out when he decided to change his plans and stopped. I was a bit behind and didn’t want to slam on the brakes as it was pretty wet and potentially slippery. I managed to not hit him, but my car just died and I had to restart it. Is this a pretty likely/common thing? I’m just wondering if it’s a sign of something else.
We can give more intelligent answers with year, make, model, engine size (e.g. 2.0 liter), and transmission type (auto or manual).
If this was a one-time occurrence and there are no other symptoms related to performance or idle, it was probably normal for that specific situation and it’s quite unlikely there’s anything else going on.
Probably just stalled it by going too slow in too high a gear.
My 2.0 HDi will do that where the 1.9 TD was almost impossible to stall.
Intelligence, hah!
It did happen once before in a similar situation. It also dies sometimes when I shift, but that’s if I don’t let it warm up a little. It’s a 1999 9-3 Saab SDN, manual. Engine size 2000.
There are definitely other factors at work there if it stalls when you shift gears, even if it is cold.
I’d hazard a guess at engine management/ECU mapping maladjustment. Or fuel restrictions, which may amount to the same thing.
Have a look on GM sites for similar problems with Vauxhall/Opel engines.
We had a Vauxhall Vectra fleet with nothing but problems, dumpen in favour of Audi’s.
I agree, the additional symptom suggests that something isn’t quite right. It doesn’t sound like it occurs often enough to clearly point to one specific thing, and it doesn’t obviously fit any patterns I can find. A Saab expert may have some insight.
That said, my first suspicions are a sluggish idle air control valve or a build-up of carbon in the throttle body.
When you are moving, not only does the engine turn the wheels, but the wheels turn the engine. So you are not going to “stall” while moving.
When you stop, the transmission and therefore the wheels are disengaged from the engine. So, the computer has to supply the right amount of throttle to keep the engine running by reading various sensors as far as air flow, engine temperature, etc. If something isn’t right like a bad sensor, then the computer doesn’t have good information to keep the engine running. The computer may be able to compensate if it’s fast enough and programmed well enough, but the engine may stall before then. Of course it could be a basic problem like lack of fuel or spark too.