I'm having a problem with my 85 suburban. Every once in a while it stalls out and I'm having trouble figuring out what's causing it...it starts right up with no problems.

At first I thought I had a bad electrical connection, but I've checked the main connections and all seems to be ok.

I started driving it (my girlfriend was driving it before) so I can actually see whats going on, but I do have a few questions. I'm not sure the high idle solenoid and cold advance solenoid are working properly...should they get a full 12 volts when the engine is cold? Is there a fuse for those 2 solenoids? Can those solenoids be "serviced" without having to remove the injector pump. I recently installed this engine is my Burb and the engine has been sitting for a while. I'm thinking they might be gummed up a bit and I'm hoping to be able to clean up the solenoids to get them to work better.

Which switch controls these...is it the one by the passenger exhaust manifold or the one on the passenger cylinder head.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

When does the truck stall? at idle when cold? If it stalls with deceleartion it could be a sticking metering valve. I have no experience with it but there have been quite a few posts in the last few months about it. If it stalls when the engine is below 40C/110F or so it could be the cold advance not working. I believe that whole mechanism is inside the IP. It should get 12v. For the fast idle to work the go pedal needs to be pushed in at which point the solenoid can keep it open. Take a look at the set screw when you first start the truck and see if it's pushing against the throttle.

The couple times I've witnessed it was when the engine was cold and it was just off idle when it stalls out. When my girlfriend would drive it it would only stall out at the same corner by our house which led me to beleive it was a bad connection but it has not done that to me when I drive. I've started driving it so I can get better idea of the symptoms when it does stall out. I'm thinking about running another can of seafoam thru it to help clean things out.

A few days ago I checked the voltage going to those solenoids and it was around 5 volts. I bumped up the idle a bit and that seemed to help for a few days. I know the fast idle solenoid works...hooked up a jumper...but for some reason it's not getting the correct voltage. Once I figure out why its not getting voltage then I'll adjust it properly.

I'm no electrician but I don't think that's enough. I'd be willing to bet that's your problem. I believe that if the high idle isn't working the truck can stall when cold. That solenoid isn;t very strong apparently, strong enough to hold throttle but not enough to push it. If it's not getting enough power it probably doesn't have enough juice to even hold it.

My truck would randomly stall some times, when the fuel filter would start to clog.

The lift pump and fuel filter were replaced a month ago. I had to go on a parts run for work and the thing stalled out on my 3 times. I don't think it is engine related at all now. The volt gage drops to zero when it dies so I'm thinking I got a bad wire somewhere. My tilt column is loose (like how all GM columns get at times) and I was able to get it to stall out by shifting it in to park...did that twice. I have a spare column (just have to find the key for it) I've been wanting to install so I guess I will be doing that tonight. I'm also going to double check the wire harness in the engine bay and see if maybe the tranny linkage might be bumping something.

My stock suggestion whenever someone looses power is to check starter connections. All power goes through the starter solenoid. I had a ring terminal that was barely connected to the wire and that gave me tons of trouble. The shutoff solenoid doesn't need that much power tho.