please help a gal who loves her cadillac!
 

i am the proud proud owner of a 1998 cadillac catera. after driving on the highway with my cousin and pushing the sport button (i believe that is what it is called) on the shifter, my car stalled at the first light after we got off the highway.The car would turn on, but as soon as you put it in gear (except neutral) the car would stall. My cousin is pretty good with cars, so he checked all the general things, but we ended up having to go get his truck and push it the quater mile to my home. My uncle is a mechanic. This weekend he worked for hours on end to figure out the problem. He has narrowed it down to being a locked tourque converter, after lifting the car up and the car finally staying in gear without stalling. Before i take it to the dealership, which is about an hour from my house, can anyone suggest how to fix this problem, or lead me in the right direction?
Thank you so much!!

RE: please help a gal who loves her cadillac!
 

how fast were you going when you pushed the button ?

is the "Sports Mode" light flashing?

start it, run it for a few seconds, then shut it off and restart it really quickly
that should return to normal operation. if it does that, you are most probably
looking at the crankshaft positioning sensor. around $100.

if that is not it, you may have a tcm not talking to the ecm due to shorts or electrical issues.


boy, i wish someone made the Phily cheese steak sandwiches here ..
like the ones they make there ..

RE: please help a gal who loves her cadillac!
 

i am guessing between 60-70 mph

RE: please help a gal who loves her cadillac!
 

i will try what you suggested in the morning, and will report back to you what i find out. thanks!!

RE: please help a gal who loves her cadillac!
 

if that works, i will send you a geno's steak personally!!

RE: please help a gal who loves her cadillac!
 

i'll remember that !!!!

yummmm yummmm !!

RE: please help a gal who loves her cadillac!
 

started it, let it run for a minute, shut it off and then quickly turned back on. still not staying on when in gear :(:(

RE: please help a gal who loves her cadillac!
 

take your cadillac to a deserted but smooth road. start the car and maintain a speed of no more than 20 mph. if you feel the car swaying back and forth then you have a defective tire. your tire shop should have found this. sometimes when people bring a car in they dont describe the problem and just ask for the tires to be balanced. most of the guys in the shop dont look for problems just do as they were told. good luck. ask for management help in the tire shop. i have found independent tire shops more knowledgeable than mass merchants .

RE: please help a gal who loves her cadillac!
 

cateras are wierd cars. did not see many transmmission issues in general. possibly a bad shifter unit or a crankshaft position sensor. best to check codes to see if there is one that could lead in a more definate direction