Why Does My Car Stall When I Come to a Stop?

Yoga41

Editor

posted on 18 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

41
views

There may be lots of reasons a car stalls at intersections, including low automatic transmission fluid levels, moisture in your gas, broken sensors, or issues with the EGR valve.

Things You Should Know

Park and turn off your car, then pull out the automatic transmission dipstick under your car’s hood. If the fluid is low, add more.
Look under your car at the catalytic converter after driving around for a while. If it looks like it's glowing, it might be clogged and needs to be replaced.
Take your car to a mechanic if your check engine light comes on.

Clogged Catalytic Converter

Look for stalling, no power when accelerating. The check engine light will likely be on.

Look under the car at night after the vehicle has been running for a while. If the catalytic converter is glowing, it's probably clogged. You will have to replace the converter if you find this to be the problem.

Broken O2 Sensors

Look for initial idle OK after a cold engine start-up, but a warm engine idle will surge and stall.

Take your car in to get a reading. After a few thousand miles of this, most cars will turn on the "check engine" light. You can take it to any AutoZone, Advance auto parts, Napa, or O'Reilly's (but some places may only check cars made after 1996, so call and check first) and they will read the codes for free. There can be any number of reasons for the "check engine" light to come on, so it is good to check. Codes complaining of unexpected lean mixture is a good indication of O2 sensor failure. O2 sensors will typically last 60–75K miles. The good news is that you can buy an O2 sensor online for around $50 and they are generally pretty easy to replace. Another possible reason is that the engine is idling too low (the idle is adjustable) or the control module is going out, which is relatively inexpensive and easy to access and fix.

Clogged/Stuck EGR Valve

Look for the Engine Code Error (EGE) P1406. If the EGR valve is stuck open, the car will run sluggish at lower RPMs. If the valve is stuck closed, the car won't run well at higher RPMs (on the highway).

Try cleaning the excess carbon out of the EGR valve first. It may just need to be cleaned and not need replacing. If cleaning the EGR valve does not work and you are still getting code P1406, the EGR valve needs to be replaced.