Sierra stalling

[richies2.0gl]

My 1993 K reg Sierra 2.0 GT (2.0 8v DOHC I4 engine) has a problem with stalling. It happens when decelerating from above 30 mph. It occurs when coming to a stop when the engine is at operating temperature. It does not do it every time but when it does the same fault will re-occur several times afterwards. It will restart immediatley and when started there is sometimes a smell of oil inside the car. I have changed the idle control valve 3 times (using used items) and with each valve the fault occured either more or less often. Other than that the car runs extremely well, uses no oil and sounds very healthy considering the mileage (107k). Any help would be most greatfully appreciated. Richie

[Zad]

I have an XR4x4 with the same engine.

As well as stalling, are the revs hanging high sometimes, or perhaps hunting (alternately high and low revs) at idle? Mine has a sticking idle valve (needs another clean I think) and it does all those. If yours isn't then it may well be another fault (or perhaps the wiring to the ICV is a bit intermittent).

Possibilities are:- HT coil or 'king' HT lead on the way out (the one from the coil to the distributor). Distributor worn / dirty. Even though it is a (fairly) recent engine, it has a distributor which eventually wears and may cause a bad spark when warm. Another possibility is that the crank angle sensor is on the way out (it is hiding behind the oil filter) which causes the engine management to panic and not send a spark out.