I have a 1990 Lumina 3.1L V 6 Euro and it is driving me crazy trying to fix this starting problem. I have troubleshooted everything i know of, but really need som help.
Some history of the symptops before the issues arised:
The car ran fine after I replaced the Fuel Pressure regulator. The old one was so bad that the gas went all the way up into the vacume lines. I cleaned out all of the lines, replaced the fuel pressure regulator and it ran fine, for about two month. Then, the car starting to buck, stall and the engine light came on. This happend in a bad rain storm (could the rain have caused these issues?). After the car arrived home, it would not start ever since. I let it dry out for about 4 days.
When I try to start the car, it just cranks.
If I spray starting fluid in the TB, it will run and then stop. Does this mean the Coils, iginition module and map sensor are all good? Seems to be getting Spark and fuel at the injectors.
The car did have one code in the memory. DTC 35, which was the Idle Air Control error. What is this error and does this relate to the IAT sensor? I think this happened when the car starting bucking and starving for gas. I disconnected the battery and the code disappeard.
I have verified the following to be good (I hope, please correct me if I'm wrong):
Fuel Pressure was at 40 to 41 PSI when testing it, so the fuel pump is working (I hear it energize and the fuel pressure come right up when the ignition is on).
Removed a spark plug wire, connected a srewdriver to it and when cranking, I saw spark. I did this on three of them and they all had spark.
After seeing the spark, I would assume the coil packs are good??
I connected a LED to the fuel injector harness and when I tried to crank the engine, I saw pulses (Looks like the injectors are getting the signal).
I replaced the Fuel Pressure regulator about a month or so ago (it had very similar symptoms). I doubt the fuel pressure regulator could have gone bad again.
My questions are:
If the ignition module is bad, will I get spark and will the car turn over with starting fluid (as mine does)?
If the coil packs are bad, then would I get spark?
If the map sensor is bad, it should have thrown a code? (there was not a MAP sensor code)
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
