04 Montana stalling

[Bic44]

My van seems to enjoy stalling. And when I say stalling, I mean simply cutting out, not sputtering to a stop. Here's the details - At the start of the week I was driving to work at 4:30AM. My fuel light came on, so I put gas in it. About 10 minutes down the road, it cut out at a set of lights. I restarted it and went on my way. About 2 minutes later, it cut out again. I restarted it again hoping it was just the cold affecting it (about -15 Celsius). This time I made it about 1 minute before cutting out, and I had to wait about 5-10 minutes before starting it. With work still being 20 minutes away(on a soon to be busy 4 lane highway), I had to turn around and head for home. About an hour later and many restarts I got home, a drive that usually takes me about 15 minutes.

My first thought was fuel line, since I let the tank go low, or bad fuel. But, after trying to drive it later in the day, it did the same thing. Put a jug of gas line antifreeze, same result after many times trying it. I can go out at any time, provided I haven't driven it in the last hour or so, have full confidence it will start, and give me about 10 minutes of driving. Once it stalls once, it will continue to do it more frequently. When I had some errands to run on Wednesday, it was fine for a bit, started stalling over and over, then took me an hour to get home from the store, a drive that should last for about 6 minutes. Basically I have put 60KMs on this tank and no improvement. Plus, I don't think it's the gas line since it only does it once it is warmed up a bit.

After doing some research, I came to the conclusion it is probably a sensor, most likely a crank sensor. Got it scanned, but the only thing that came up was an EVAP leak. So, back to the drawing board. One weird quirk about this whole thing is that it will not stall when idling, even when revving. I'm just about at my wit's end with this thing. If I can just get it running again, I'd be very happy. Then I could sell it so I can afford a down payment on a newer vehicle. Any ideas/things to try would be helpful.

 

[melsg5]

if you frequently let the gasoline level get close to empty you will overhead the fuel pump. You had only one code when you had it scanned?
How many miles since you did the basics, new fuel filter, new air filter, new spark plugs?
Have you cleaned the throttle body and IAC?
have you done a fuel pressure test?
have you checked the coils to see if they short out when hot?

 

[Bic44]

Well, I solved it. And no, I don't frequently let the fuel go that low. The weird thing was the way it was stalling. It was just shutting down, no warning, no sputtering, nothing. That's what led me to believe it wasn't fuel related. After talking to many people, I was talking to my brother who remembered an 01 Chevy with the same engine that was sitting in their yard with similar symptoms for 3 weeks. Finally one of the mechanics thought to try the temperature coolant sensor, since it only does it when warmed up. It solved the problem. Naturally, I tried the same thing and, to my surprise, it did not stall. Even though the gauge is showing normal temp, the sensor is reading that it is overheating, and shutting off the engine