My 2001 auto magna I recently bought for my kids to learn to drive has started to die after running for 10-20 mins. Dies completely regardless of rev range. Will start again no worries but will die again intermittently. seems to be better after has cooled down a bit. otherwise runs fine.

Heat related obviously.
If it splutters and looses power before it dies it is fuel related.
If it dies without any warning signs, it is likely to be electrical.

. . . . in a word (or two), ignition coil. Other possibilities(*), but I would start there.

(*) Coolant on ECU, cracked distributor cap or bad rotor, failing crank or cam angle sensor, etc. (Others feel free to add to the list.)

If cooling is getting it running look at the coil inside the dist

thanks guys, yes it dies without any warning. will try swapping some bits with the parts car I have and let you know.

thanks guys, yes it dies without any warning. will try swapping some bits with the parts car I have and let you know.

Great idea, as long by "some bits" you mean the distributor. lol

My car was doing that when I had the faulty O2 sensor (even though I think my case might have been a worse-case in regards to it). Can't hurt unplugging it just to test, as I said in another thread even if it isn't the issue, it's one less thing you can cross off the list of possibilities

Has the fuel filter been changed? If the car sat for a long time before you bought it, dirt and rust etc can be so great it blocks the filter and therefore fuel - after sitting for awhile the dirt etc dissolves as a "plug" in the filter and it will go again, until the "plug" builds up again

fuel pump relay

Yes thelion - an excellent cheap and obvious fix - and not uncommon on V(x) commodores - many owners pay dodgy mechanics for a new fuel pump when it is only a burn't out relay.

Update; think I have finally got this sorted. Swapped the dizzy and by the time I had finished, the battery had gone flat. Put it on the charger but would only seem to take 80% charge, but cranked no worries. Car worked fine for a while but then stalling problem re-occurred. Being suspicious of the battery, I swapped it for a new one, and noticed the main positive connection was fine but there is a secondary connection which was faulty. Car has been fine since, so am putting the problem down to a bad connection or battery causing the ignition system to intermittently fail.