Ok - this is the story" talking about 2.6L auto

my car usually starts most of the time and drives fine, but sometimes i can be driving along and it just cuts out like its starved of fuel or something but will then pick up and take off as normal ( to help narrow down the issue, i replaced the fuel filter and check fuel pressure etc - all good) so fuel or fuel delivery isnt the problem.

fine for a day or so on short trips then again this intermitent stop start, then totally stop and after i fiddle with the battery, spark plugs leads and coil it starts and goes fine again, until again it stops. ( to eliminate this further, i replaced plugs, checked continuity in all leads, distributor) all fine except one thing - the current in the coil ignition lead was twice as high as the remaining 4 spark plug leads so i replaced this- now the car seems to run a lot smoother as all leads run through the distrubutor at the same current/voltage. But again - this same bloody stop start carry on in the middle of anywhere.. I called the RACQ guy to come check it out -after doing his little testy thingie that he did he managed to isolate it to the ignition coil - but upon testing its low coil voltage it was fine???? He did mention something about a transistor wich is attached to the coil as a possible culprit - as it controls voltage and spark to whatever, He seems to think when the car gets to a certain temp - it cuts out then sort of resets itslef so it continues on its way... now im totally f*gging confused and am almost at my wits end - i have purchased another transistor but because it cost 130 dollars - i want to be sure this is the prob before i replace it. I cant open it and try it as it has a thermal like paste that has to attach to the coil frame in order for it to work properly.. so there you have it - sorry for long post - but can anyone make any sense of what i have tried my best to explain???????? thanks guys :)

you can test the power transistor with an ohmmeter. this is kinda tricky to explain but ill try. the transistor has 3 terminals and when connecting them with the ohmmeter they should all result in continuity except when connecting the positive lead to the 2nd terminal and the negative to the 3rd terminal. The other which should result in no continuity is where the positive is connected to the first terminal and the negative connected to the 3rd terminal. Any other combinations of terminals should result in continuity. dont know if thats any help but good luck in finding problem.

ok - ive now changed the transistor because it seems the old one was dud, interesting to see now if the problem persists.. thanks for your help dude - it was helpful indeed, :)

let us know how it turns out.

I have recently started having this problem with my 2.6L TR Auto.

The battery was stuffed and the fuel filter clogged so I changed those. But I know that it is not the source of the problem.

Let me guess. The car starts when warm then the idle drops so low it stalls. After two or three starts it runs fine but idle is weird until to operating temperture.

Aircon also stuffs it up ?

The reason I figure is the idle control circuit servo (picks up the idle when cold or air con on) or a inlet leak after the AFM.

I am also sup. of the cat converter having collasped due to old age.

That car is in the panel shop ATM but I'll put together what I do to fix the problem and post it here.

actually when it was stuffed the ISC stopped the car from stalling with the aircon working, so at least that worked.

since replacing the coil transistor things seem to be working fine again, drove it for about an hour tonight with no problems at all, allthough i did an ohmmeter thing when the check engine light came on and it revealed the crank angle sensor as being fingered so that got fixed too, hopefully now everything is fine for the time being

Good to know that it's all good now. Just have done a service on my 92 TR manual and it drives like a dream. Only problem which is basically insignificant is when you start the car up it sounds like it's choking for about 2 seconds. Doens't affect the car at all. The guy reckons that there's just a problem with the startup motor. He said my car is fine and not to worry about paying for one since the part itself costs around $170, plus labour time. Doesn't bother me at all though and it apparently doesn't affect the performance of the car at all and I can't say it feels like it does either. Something about the startup motor or some device engaging for too long when it should really disengage to allow the car to startup or something.

you dont need to get the entire starter motor replaced. IF its having trouble starting then you can get the points replaced within the starter motor and that only costs about $100 and the it acts like new no worries.