Oppie wrote:
> Stopped at a light the other day on the way to work and the engine
> sputtered and died. Wouldn't restart even with the MAF unplugged (causes
> a limp-home mode).
>
> Towed to a shop (I'm on a deadline at work so couldn't futz with it
> myself) where they finally got it to start. It sounded like the ignition
> would cut out intermittently at idle when hot. Wound up throwing a new
> crank angle sensor in it and so far, seems to be running well. As a
> test, when it died initially, I had put a bit of sheet metal under the
> EGR valve to block it off since I was thinking that it hadn't been
> closing properly and giving me other issues. Block-off is still in place
> and check engine light is on though displaying only EGR related issues.
> Without EGR, the knock sensor will just cut back the timing so no
> destructive pinging that I have to worry about for the moment.
>
> Figure if all is well, in a few days will pull out the EGR valve to
> inspect and replace if necessary.

Sounds like my old 89 Mustang. The electronic ignition module was the
cause there.
I had a 79 Datsun once. The first thing I did was the sheet metal thing
for the EGR after the guys at my old job said EGR was like throwing
water on a fire. That car ran perfectly for over 200k miles until rust
did it in! Even passed emissions every time with flying colors. Of
course the engine was only 1.2 litre.