My car is sputtering when it is idling, and today it died at a stoplight. The battery and oil light came on..

but the battery is brand new. It's a 99 Pontiac Sunfire. Is it bad gas, or dirty sparkplugs, or something else??My car is sputtering when it is idling, and today it died at a stoplight. The battery and oil light came on..
It probably just needs a tuneup (changing the spark plugs and spark plug wires.) The spark plugs are always in fire and literally burn up, then they can't explode the gas in the engine with as much power. Idling doesn't generate much power to start with, bad plugs reduce even that and Presto--not enough power to even keep the engine going by itself.





This needs to be done every 25,000-30,000 miles, or you will lose power, burn more gas, fail emissions tests, and have it die on you unexpectedly. If you can't remember when it was last done, I'd start there. And write it down and put it in the glove compartment, and write it on your calendar twice a year to check to make sure you don't forget it. but of course, you should be getting a 30,000-mile service at 30k-60k-90k miles that includes it...





My 87 Civic went 240,000 miles, dying only because I failed to change the timing belt, and whenever I thought it was dying it just needed a tuneup.





Best regards,


MikeMy car is sputtering when it is idling, and today it died at a stoplight. The battery and oil light came on..
When was the last time that you had a tune up? Rough running engines usually have to do with the ignition system. Possibly old plug wires and or tired old plugs. This is a good place to start. When the engine dies or is turned off with the ignition switch in the run position the oil and battery light are suppose to come on. This tells you the driver that your battery is not charging and you have no oil pressure, and since the engine just died this is correct.
It could be an in-line fuel filter. Theres alot of that happening. My brother has a wrecker service and pulls these cars all day. You can go to Napa or Auto Zone and they will run a computer diagnostics for free. Don't let them scare you, just ask them where your in-line fuel filter is. First I would check the plugs, which sounds like your getting plenty of fire from them. Then I would check filters. These in-line filters only cost 7.50 at any parts house, but you have to buy a little kit to remove the old ones and install the new one. The kit cost 10.00 and looks like little pac men, you slide one of these little pac men over the fuel line, like a clamp, to release the in-line fuel filter.





First you have to disconnect the battery for about ten minutes. Then take out the old fuel filter and replace it with a new fuel filter. The guys at auto zone will be very helpful if you just ask. You can save a ton of money. I even had one man I told him I would give him 20.00 if he would help me and he did. I was out of state and didn't want to call a wrecker.





The next time you go to get gas, if the fuel truck is there pumping fuel into the tanks, go somewhere else. What happens is the fuel truck pumps the fuel in the tanks and stirs up all of the sediment in the bottom of the tank and it goes straight into your tank, clogging your fuel filter.
need more details did it restart? if not could be alternator if I did could be tons of things