My 96 SL1 dies after running for 5 minutes & won't restart. 20 mins. later it will start & run for a few minutes then die again. I changed fuel filter but no change. It will run a little longer while driving it but just turns off with no warning. Same idling in yard. Where do i go from here?

 

The next time the car dies, immediately remove the coil wires, have someone crank the engine while you observe for any sparking across the coils. The lack of ignition sparks when the engine is warm may be due to the crank position sensor failing when heated by the engine block. When cold you can perform the same test as you already know that the engine runs as the cps has to be working at this time but after a little engine run the cps may open electrically and stop working; the reason to test again for sparks after the engine dies.


The cps allows the PCM to turn on the fuel pump, ignition system to create sparks, and injectors to pulse. In other words no cps output = no ignition, no fuel pump running, and no injector pulses. The PCM depends on the constant output of the cps as long as the engine rotates. Its located above and behind the starter, mounted with one 10mm bolt.

 

Though the crank Position Sensor [CPS] could be the problem,
Being the old fart that I am I have had plenty of scenes sitting on the side of the road for various reasons, one that has re-occurred several times is a faulty Ignition Coil, when cold it works, when warm , motor quits for as much as an hour before it will start again.
At least three times in my life this happened and turned out to be an ignition coil.

There is a hairline fracture in the secondary coil of the ignition coil,
Unfortunately the insulation of the coil wire expands faster and farther then the conductor, when a fracture of the conductor forms the expanding insulation separates them at the fracture point creating an open circuit. Rare cases can be the conductor shorting out to ground when warmed up but that tends to trigger fuses and Check engine codes.
[img]smileys/smiley11.gif[/img] Edited by: cowboy6591