I apologize if this question has been answered before but I hope you'll forgive this long time lurker, but newbie poster.

I have a stock '91 auto FC convertible. It has close to 160K miles and according to the dealer - needs a new engine because the compression test indicated that one of the seals is leaking. However, I can't help but believe that that's not the cause of my problem...

When I start my car in the morning, it revs up and idles fine in park. It backs up and drives fine. However, when I come to the first stop a couple blocks away, with the car in drive at full stop with my foot on the brake, the car stalls within a second. Having tried various combinations, the car will not stall while the car is moving, or stopped if the transmission is in park or neutral. This goes away when the car warms up (driving about 2 miles). It seems the stalling needs the car to be cold, a complete stop (it doesn't stall when I'm braking while in motion), the car in drive, and my foot on the brake.

Is this really because of a leaking seal? Thanks for any responses.

 

There's probably another reason. Have you measured the voltage of your TPS when the engine is fully warmed?

 

Thanks for your reply. I really don't work on cars. Are you saying that the TPS may need adjstment?

 

Tell them you want a copy of the compression test results. Post them here. There should be a bunch of numbers.

 

An easy check would be the BAC valve. What is the idle when the car is cold? When started, it should fly to 3K, then down to 1500 and gradually reduce to 750 as the car warms up. If you don't have this pattern (ie. the car idles straight at 750 when cold) then there will be issues. If the BAC valve is dirty or sticking, the ECU cannot compensate for loads on the engine at idle and the car may stall.

Checking the TPS as suggested above is also a good idea.

 

In the op's case his problem is limited to the first couple of miles of travel. Is it possible for the BAC to stick before a couple of miles are driven then unstick like clockwork after a couple of miles?

 

could be a fast idle problem. but if the engine really does have low compression, that's the least of his worries