my car has recently been shutting off quite a lot while i am driving and sometimes when i start it, it just shuts right off. when it stalls, it takes me about 5-10 times to start it back up. earlier today it stalled and when i tried to start it back up everything in the car died and i couldnt even put my hazards on. i know that the tl had a recall on the ignition but today when it died i opened up the hood and noticed that my battery cables were all messed up. i played around with them and pushed them in more and i got power back. anybody know if the problem is the ignition and i just got lucky when i touched the battery cables or is it the battery cables that is causing the problem?

pics of the cables:

 

Im having the same problem right now and I dont think its your battery cables. I also thought that could be the problem and I had them tightened and cleaned up, but didnt fix it. Search the forum for this frequent problem.

 

From the looks of your pics, those terminal aren't attached to your cables very well and could be causing your problem. I'd take a trip to your local parts store and get a new set to replace the ones you have. I think the one in this pic would work better.

 

would i need to replace the terminals or the cables? i think its more the cables because the ends are all split

 

If you have enough slack in the cables, you can just replace the terminals. Just cut off the frayed ends of the cables, strip some of the cable and and attach the terminal to the cable. If the cables aren't long enough to properly attach to the battery, you'll have to replace them.

 

How many miles on the car now- what year?
Just get the right NEW cables at a parts store, if you already had a funky setup as shown- someone before you tried to fix it already
The 99s have a recall on the ignition switch
A weak cable setup will cause many strange problems- fix that- then pull a sparkplug for inspection of gas, oil or fouling
May want run Seafoam to clean out the intake and injectors- especially if there was weak spark from bad cables

 

i got new terminals put in and apparently that wasnt the problem because im still stalling. anybody got an idea on what it is?

 

How many miles on the spark plugs?- did you pull a few to inspect the condition?
Remove TB assembly and clean the IAC valve and TB butterfly plate
Have the electrical system tested for free at parts stores to make sure its charging right and the battery is good

 

i got kind of the same problem. i took off my terminals to clean them as well as the battery posts. the red clamp was barely on the post, it was so loose i could remove it without unscrewing anything. brushed off all the crud and clamped it on, screwed the terminals on tight.

started up the car, rpm shot up like normal, but then slowly drops and stalls about 5 seconds later. happened 3 times. all three times i had to pump gas to keep it alive. that was yesterday
today i started her up and the rpm went up and stayed a little high, but it's cause it was chilly overnight. idled kind of rough but didnt stall.
someone told me it might be a vacuum leak, any suggestions?

 

any chance you have been working on trhe engine and a vac line can be pulled loose-
like seafoam via the old method of the rear vac line-
sometimes that gets pulled off the rear manifold connection

 

kk, when it stops raining i'll check all my hoses.
by leak it's usually at the nipple right? not like a hole in the tube somewhere

 

That might be your IACV stuck shut. It's not letting enough air in to keep it running during idle but when you give it gas it keeps it alive. Take it off (it's attached to the bottom of the TB) and clean it out real good.

 

i'll check it out tomorrow morning

here's what i noticed, might just be me goin crazy. after my battery "tune-up" my lights were brighter, same with the interior, my CD player actually reads CDs. could it be that my plugs burned stronger, igniting more fuel and the ECU wasnt sure what to do with the air going in, so it was sending in the same amount of air as when i had limp plugs? cause now my baby runs fine, no more rough starts and idles.