Did you disconnect the battery recently? Sometimes the car will idle erratically or stall until you log enough drive cycles: http://www.obdii.com/drivecycle.html

Ahh, I have yet to do that. I'll go unhook it now and see if that resolves my issues.

Alright its been a while since its acted up on me but this week its been stalling upon first starting it up. It mainly does it when its cold/rainy. Everyday for the past 5 days or so when I start the first time it'll try and stay on for a minute or so then stall out. If I wait 5-10 minutes and try it again it'll come right on without any issues. Checked for vacuum leaks again and I came up empty. Could I possibly just need a tune-up? With winter weather on the way I'd like to be able to remote start my car without it stalling and remote starting itself repeatedly.

i'd do the tune up either way, always nice to have a refreshed engine in the winter, as far as the car not starting during the cold rainy days that's very odd, i'd def check the spark plugs and maybe the fuel injectors? and while your at it change your nasty dex cool pretty sure that wont help anything but dexcol blows so i would change if out if you have the time and money

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BRAP BRAP BRAP nuff said

Tune ups done but still has the issue. My coolant was recently changed when I got a new thermostat and upper and lower radiator hoses. What I did notice today was that its got a bit of nasty oil buildup in the area under the map sensor. Now Im starting to think an intake manifold leak is the culprit. Ive recently started noticing the smell of burning oil when I get out of my car on the days it decides to work. Itd be great if someone can chime in and gimme some feedback. Thanks

When you did the tune up, did you replace the PCV Valve under the map sensor? A faulty PCV Valve can cause idle/stalling issues.

How-to link: http://macgp.clubgp.com/howto/engine/pcv/gt/pcv.html

I let my bro-in-law handle the tune up while I was at work, but I asked and he said he didnt. Since its a quick cheap fix I'll grab one and slap one of those on there to see if that remedies it.

-- Tue Nov 15, 2011 10:03 am --

Just checked the pcv valve and it seemed to check out fine. I shook it and it had the rattling sound and also air was only able to pass through one side which was the side the map sensor rests on. Checked again while I was under the hood and Im noticing more and more residue and milk shakish gunk around the manifold. Also, would it hurt to change the EGR valve gasket?

I see two issues from reading a couple of your last posts
1. oil residue and smell of oil burning means you probably could use a set of valve cover
gaskets, common problem on these cars
2. Milkshakish gunk residue around the manifold is oil leaking from valve cover gaskets
mixing with coolant leaking from your intake manifold, common problem again

You need some help from a good mechanic or someone who knows GP's(3800's) there are known issues with the l36 plastic upper intake manifold and the EGR passage that runs through it and your problems could lie there. Most of these 3800 cars all need valve cover gaskets and upper intake manifold or lower intake manifold gaskets when they get up there in miles.
This may not be your issue but both are problems that will need to be adressed,you should do some reading/research in this area and get some help from someone who knows these cars.

Yea I wouldnt be surprised if I did. My bro-in-law and I were the only ones to ever own this car. He knows quite a bit and I can pick up on things fairly easy with the right reading material. I'll get a hold of him or the mechanic Im good buddies with and tackle it. Even if it isnt the problem, Im not too keen on it becoming a bigger problem so might as well get it now. thanks

If you're going to tear down and replace the lower intake manifold gaskets, get the updated aluminum ones from GM:
Pinned - 89017816
Unpinned - 89017817
(Pinned or Unpinned refers to the end seals)

You'll need to replace the coolant elbows as well: Dorman Part Number: 47065
Here's the upper plenum you'll want to get: GM Intake "Sure Fix" Manifold Kit

I went through this a few times with my car, since buying it back in '04..

They slapped me with overtime at work so I just broke down and took it to my buddies shop. I need a valve cover gasket, ive got an oil pan leak, and a power steering return hose leak. He said $200 for everything so Im just gonna let him do it cus outta all of it the only thing I couldve done on my own anyway was the valve cover gasket. Hopefully when I go pick it up tomorrow morning its back to normal.

try the cold start vac line. it's what is causing my car to try and kill itself at idle but only in closed loop

it should be a vac line that is attached to a metal line taht goes to the rear of the car from the drivers side strut tower. then it comes up goes over behind the motor and attaches just over the rear valve cover, it's a small black cylinder basically.


the problem is is that this vacuum line is about 3 feet long and they get old quick

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Cool, I'll check it out myself Wed when Im off . I dont wanna ask him to look at it cus I dont wanna have to spend more money than I already have to. Hopefully the valve cover gasket will solve my problem though.

OK, soooo what I thought was solving my idle and stalling problem just turned in a whole new direction. First I get a call yesterday saying my motor mount was broken, not mad about that because I knew when they went to take it off it was gonna finally give in. Next, I needed another body cus one of the screws was broken off where the IAC mounts to the TB...not too upset about that either because I had noticed that the IAC was just barely up there and that the screw was broken off. When I go to pick my car up today, he tells me that Ive got oil leaking int one of the cylinders from somewhere and as a result Ive got smoke coming out of my exhaust. He said he put some treatment in it and it cleared most of it up, which when I first left I didnt notice any smoke. When I pulled in my driveway though, it was smokin like a damn freight train! Also, Im getting little to no pressure when Im under 40mph. Its fighting to accellerate and and its putting out a ridiculous amount of smoke until it hits 40 then it smooths out. Im beyond lost as to what can be the problem now. I dont wanna think he was trying to pull a fast one cus Ive been going to that shop for almost 10yrs and hes always straight forward and I usually get more than reasonable deals on the work I get done. But after all the work I ended up having done, spending $700, and now my car doesnt wanna accelerate and its smoking like crazy Im a little bit fed up. Hes telling me I should consider getting another motor which I think is absurd. My bro in law had it along with the trans rebuilt about 4yrs ago before I bought it from him. Can anyone chime in and help me out cus If Ive gotta keep pourin money into this car with no real direction Im gonna go nuts.

any insight guys? i need to figure out whether to give up on this car now before I put money into it or just go get something else

You will have to weigh the costs of something new with fixing what you have and go from there. You seem like you may not have time to fix your issue yourself, so a shop will get spendy, and may not fix the issue. To get something in replace may be spendy too and may have issues that come along with it. Either way best of luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do.

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Well thats the thing, right now I dont have the time and I cant really weigh my options unless I have an idea of what the problem is Im looking for. I hate taking my car to the shop without an idea of what may be wrong cus they can try and tell me anything, and being the impatient guy I am I'll just toss them the money and say fix it. But with me just shelling out $700 and my car being worse than before I dont wanna go that route again. Thats why I asked if anyone knew what could be causing the smoking and accelerating problem. Blue smoke is usually indicative of coolant, but where might it be coming from?

Blue smoke means it's burning oil..it could have worn valve seals and/or valve guides and possibly worn/bad piston rings. The cylinder heads get cracks in them as well.

You're right sorry, burning coolant is white. I had the valve cover gaskets along with I believe the upper and lower manifold gaskets. I'll ask about the piston rings, and try and get my cylinder heads checked.

No worries man, I know all too well how frustrating engine problems can be. Hope everything works out for you!

Thanks, Im looking online now for who might have the cheapest cylinder heads. I was looking at the ones on ZZP...the mechanic did say that only one of the cylinders was getting oil into it but if Im gonna have it opened up might as well be safe and replace em all if the price is right.