HELP 1994 Grand Am w/ 3.1 V6 Motor Cranks No Start

[grandam1994]

Hi Everyone , I'm new to the forum and can really use help with my Grand am , I dont have many testing equipt so cant answer too many questions on specific readings but below is a quick rundown of whats been going on with the car


info so far

car only has 80,000 miles on it and It was running poorly a few months ago , no acceleration , sputtering , no power , sometimes a weird gas smell, Transmission would not kick down when pedal was hard pressed for acceleration,

I read that the problem could be the Throttle Position Sensor so replaced it as I found moisture in old one when I removed it .....

after putting the new Throttle Position Sensor in the car ran like new for a couple of months


one day several months later I drove the car in the AM and it was fine all day with no issues then I parked it and later that evening 8 hrs later it was quite cold as there was frost on the windshield and I tried to start it but it cranked and would not start ,

it seemed a couple of times it wanted to start but only blubbed and did not start and smelled flooded

I had the car towed home as the battery died after all the cranking without any starting

I tried starting it with ether the next day in the morning to see if it was a fuel problem but as before nothing happened and engine just cranked w/o starting and sometimes smelled flooded,,,,

Then I hooked up my charger as battery was nearly drained again and kept on cranking holding the key on crank for sometimes as long as 30 seconds and after 15 minutes of trying and cranking it finally started and idled fine ( though I noticed a slight gas flooded smell ), it was running not quite perfect but at least it started and I drove it for approx 20 minutes and it ran ok until I turned it off then it would not start again...


I read the above issue could be caused by a faulty Manifold Absolute Pressure Sensor or a Air Charge Temperature Sensor so I replaced them both.

I had the battery unplugged for several days prior to putting the 2 sensors in so the computer took several minutes to re learn the new sensors before it started but after 5 min it started and ran fine ,

if I shut it off and cranked it within 5 or so minutes it started fine , if I waited approx an hours or more to re start it , it would be a very hard start that would take a very long time to start which would sometimes drain the battery due to all the cranking

I can not trust it yet to use

[maxwedge]

You are on a path leading to guessing at parts. When it won't start you need to check for strong spark at the plugs, if good try spraying carb cleaner into the intake. Fuel pressure should be checked, has the fuel filter been replaced, is the check engine lite on. From here this is difficult to offer definitive advise. Btw, welcome to the forum.

[grandam1994]

Thank you for your reply ,

I cant test to see the spark as it is too far away from me when I am in the car turning the key

I sprayed starting ether into the intake to see if it needed fuel but nothing happened

no check engine light

[maxwedge]

Get some one to crank the engine while you check for spark, you need help with this from someone fairly knowledgeable with your issues. Again you need to check fuel pressure, these are basic diagnostic steps.

[grandam1994]

A friend came over today and helped me

we connected a spark plug to one of the wires , grounded it and it gave off a spark when car was cranked

he had a pressure gauge and connected it to the fuel rail connector after turning the key a couple of times to activate the fuel pump the pressure went to 45 lbs

we left it connected there for approx 20 - 30 minutes w/ key off and out of car and eventually it went down a little bit

[maxwedge]

Those checks show good, but did you do this when the problem was there.

[grandam1994]

yes we tried starting the car prior and it cranked but didn't start and just eventually smelled flooded so above tests were done when problem was occurring ,

when the car usually decides to start it takes a very long time of me giving it long periods of cranking being careful not to flood it I do this until I hear the first sound of blubbing then I know it may start eventually sometimes 20 min or more before it will start

[maxwedge]

Look at the fuel pressure cranking, you may have a bad injector flooding the engine, when this happens, that one bad injectors can affect the others.