NHTSA Complaint #10428022 — 2001 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX

OUR 2001 PONTIAC GRAND PRIX, WHICH HAS ROUGHLY 125,000 MILES ON IT, STALLS AND DIES AT VARIOUS SPEEDS. IT IS NOT SUPERCHARGED, BUT IT DOES HAVE THE 3.8 LITER SERIES II ENGINE. THE VEHICLE WILL SHUDDER MOMENTARILY AND, IF THE CAR'S GOING FAST ENOUGH, THE MOMENTUM OF THE TORQUE CONVERT SPINNING MANAGES TO RESTART THE ENGINE IN DEFAULT, ALLOWING IT TO KEEP RUNNING. HOWEVER, THE TCS "TRAC OFF" LIGHT COMES ON AND THE TACHOMETER DROPS TO 0 UNTIL THE CAR IS SHUT OFF AND RESTARTED. SOMETIMES, THE CAR WILL STALL AT LOW SPEED AND, MINUS THE SHUDDER, EVERYTHING ELSE OCCURS AS DESCRIBED ABOVE, EXCEPT THAT THE CAR SIMPLY DIES. THE SES LIGHT HAS LIT UP A FEW TIMES, BUT THERE IS NO CLEAR REASON FOR IT TO DO SO, SINCE, ONCE RESTARTED, THE ENGINE RUNS JUST FINE. OCCASIONALLY, HOWEVER, IDLE IS A LITTLE ROUGH; THE ENGINE SOMETIMES DROPS TO ALMOST 400 RPM WHEN SITTING WITH THE ENGINE RUNNING, THEN SLOWLY CLIMBS BACK UP TO ABOUT 600-750 RPM. MORE ALARMING PERSONALLY, HOWEVER, IS THE FACT THAT ROUGHLY 11 DAYS AGO, THE CAR COMPLETELY DIED TWICE ON THE SAME DAY, IN A 15-SECOND PERIOD. WHILE COMING HOME FROM WORK ON THE FREEWAY, THE CAR COMPLETELY DIED (THE OIL PRESSURE LIGHT CAME ON AND EVERYTHING). HAVING PULLED ONTO THE SHOULDER AND RESTARTED, I DID NOT TRAVEL MORE THAN 100 FEET BEFORE IT HAPPENED AGAIN, THIS TIME ON THE FREEWAY OFF-RAMP. I RESTARTED AGAIN, AND IT DROVE HOME NORMALLY. LATELY, THE CAR IS SOMETIMES NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE TO START. DEPENDING ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES, ONE OF TWO THINGS WILL HAPPEN; EITHER THE ENGINE WILL TURN OVER BUT NOT RUN; OR THE ENGINE WILL NOT TURN OVER, AND THE STARTER SOLENOID WILL SIMPLY "CLICK" BEHIND THE FIREWALL. THE BATTERY WAS REPLACED LESS THAN A MONTH AGO, AND NO SERIOUS ELECTRICAL FAULTS HAVE OCCURRED SINCE IT WAS REPLACED, ASIDE FROM THE ABOVE PROBLEMS. *TR