My car is "falling apart" need help.
 

Ok back in April(link here) I mentioned that my 1999 Alero 2.4 was stalling on occasion at stops. This has now developed into driving with both feet most of the time. One on the brake and one on the gas to keep it from stalling at stops. Even dropping to neutral is useless with the AC on. I only drive it to work and back 10 times a month, but I'm the only driver. There is no way I'm putting my wife and children in it without me behind the wheel. If you're not on your toes when driving it there is lots of bad potential risk. We are in the market to replace her van for a truck as my primary and the Alero to her, or sell it and keep the van.

I've tracked and repaired one vacuum leak, replaced the fuel filter, and tomorrow I'm checking all the plugs. Here is a list of current issues.

1) the stalling, it also started bogging under load up a freeway hill or out of a rolling turn....occasionally giving a misfire code.

2)Ac fan only works on high after a winter storm got ice into the system somehow. You could hear the fan hitting something and I had shaved ice coming out of the defroster.

3)Obvious fixes/issues.....it has more rust than the Titanic, needs a windshield, fuel gauge dances, fog lights= wiring, and need to do ball joints.

I do love this car. As long as it's in motion it is great, but the minute you have to "city drive" it becomes a chore. Because of it's list of issues we are going to probable sell it. The cosmetic things are just that, but I am not the kind of person that will sell someone else my problems so I will fix every bit I can. Shoot, if I get it running right we will keep the Alero and get rid of the van instead. If it's not safe for my family then it's not safe for yours. I would just as soon scrap it. Sorry for the rant, but as a 20yr veteran firefighter safety is an issue to me.

Wow....sorry I won't be much help to you on the 2.4 engine, I run away from those engines as fast as I can. :lol: On the AC fan issue, you may have a leak in the cowling that allows moisture to run down into the fan motor area which would explain the ice shavings coming out of the defroster. There is a blower motor resistor mounted beside the fan motor..and it is this resistor that controls the different fan speeds. It might have gotten wet at some point, but is a very common failure on N body cars. Check the passenger side floorboard under the carpet after the next hard rain to see if it's wet under there...if so then you have a leak, again most likely the outside cowling.

You mentioned plugs, and that is what I would say you should try next. You may want to check the coil or coils and the catalytic converter. Also, are you getting any check engine lights?

Bogging how? Rpms flucuate and engine goes vroom vroom vroom vroom?

If you have a catalytic converter, remove it! Have a place weld a pipe instead, or do it yourself with clamps.

Bogging= spits and sputters, rpms drop, and it dies. It's an automatic so comparatively it is like pulling up to a light in a manual and forgetting to push in the clutch. Almost like it is not seeing the signal to disengage torque converter.

Back at work today so it won't get touched until Monday.

I have the SAME issue....had it for a couple months now. I tried posting on here to see if anybody could help but didn't get much. My one mechanic told me the o rings were bad on the injectors....popped the intake mani off and one of the injectors was missing the o ring. I replaced them all and it still does it. My next step will be replacing the coils (about 180k on them). I'm getting fed up with this car....yet i still have it. It's a strong love/hate relationship ;)

If you were closer to Michigan or on the way to somewhere I'm going I would scan your car and look and see and figure out what was wrong.

Could be a bad MAP sensor too. But definitely get rid of the catalytic converter ASAP to rule that out. It could be clogged. I will never trust cats again after mine clogged.