car shuts off at stop lights?

Question

I have a 2000 Ford Taurus and just lately my car has been shutting off at stop lights. When I let my car idle my RPM's will fluctuate from between 1 and 0 and when it hits zero my car shuts off and my battery light will come on for 2 seconds and disapear.. other than that my car runs fine.. When my engine light first came on i checked it out and it was only the o2 sensor and then my car started acting all funny so idk

Answer 1

Did you replace the O2 sensor? If not, you will need to do this if you want your car to keep running.
If you already did this, and you still have these problems, then try the EGR valve. This happened to my truck. You can take the EGR Valve off and take it to an Auto Zone to have it tested for free.
You can also pull the codes on your car and it should tell you what the problem is.

Answer 2

I have a 2001 Nissan altima with the same exact problem. Engine light came on and when I took it to get a diagnostic, they said 02 censor or catalyk converter or something like that. I did notice that all of a sudden my car would shake while idling. They said it wasn't serious when I had the 02 censor code. The code changed when I went to get an oil change. The code said I needed to change spark plug 4 because of some misfire. I changed all spark plugs and then suddenly, when I stop at lights or the car is idle, it shakes then shuts off. (sorry for the long story) any way, I took my car to the shop yesterday and they said it's either the distributor cap, distributor or the gasket. You have to take your car to the shop. There could be at least 10 things causing your problem. My car is still in the shop, i'm waiting for the mechanic to call me to give me the bad news :(

Answer 3

When your O2 sensor was replaced someone could have disconnected a vacuum line which will cause the computer to try to correct the idle and can't. Look around under the hood (especially the engine) and check to see that all those little black vacuum hoses are connected!

Answer 4

My 2001 Maxima does the same shut down sequence in the past 3 mo (2 episodes) No computer code generated by AutoZone monitor check. No cause found, & recurred in traffic again -when moter warm 20-30 mi drive in one day. Starts right up; then dies again if RPM drops below 500=rapidly to 0. Can drive it only with foot on accel & other on brake if going slow; with rapid move to Neutral if death lights come on again repidly, & traffic doesn;t allow to increase speed.== dangerous combo in traffic. Ayone know of Nissan Bulliton or recall on this type problem, as I read of many others with same problem. Heads Up, GWM

Answer 5

1. Well clean the air intake, throttle body, add some fuel cleaner cause it seems like the car isnt getting enough air and just shuts off. 2. GET A NEW CAR..its a 96

Answer 6

could be you have an Idle air control valve gone bad.. more details would help ... but basically the IAC controls the amount of air going into the intake with the throttle closed. if the valve is stuck or inop then it might be choking the motor of air.. does turning the air off help?

Answer 7

transmission or electrical, lol...

Run a can of fuel injector cleaner through your tank and see if that helps. If not, take it to the garage and have the idle turned up a bit... it sounds low and may be struggling to stay running.

Answer 8

my car did the same thing as your car does and it was the throttle position sensor.i put a new 1 on and had a volt meter put on it to adjust it in and now it dont stall anymore.

Answer 9

Sounds like a transmision problem to me.

Answer 10

i had a similar problem and it was a small short in the distributor cables......if not that have your alternator checked