1991 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, 3.3 v6, 243K. The car acted like it starved for fuel, would not accelerate but did idle. After shutting off, would not start. Started to work on it 36 hours later, it started, made 2 laps in circle drive, opened hood & revved engine - ran approx 5 minutes fine. Shut off, restarted immediately with success, revved some more, all seemed good. Shut off, went in house 30 minutes, came back to start it & cranks good but won't hit a lick. Has not started now in a week on it's own.I say on it's own because it will start & run for few seconds if I put gassy rag in air filter chamber. No fuse problems at fusebox, 42 - 44 psi fuel press. at schrader valve, great spark.

I disconnected battery to allow computer reset. No luck. Installed new computer ( yes put my mem-cal in new computer also) no luck. Went back with old computer then. Today put new CPS (crank position sensor) on - did no good. Also put new timing chain + sprockets on while had harmonic balancer off. Chain not broken but 243k I thought it was good idea to change out those works. Did the gassy rag in the air filter chamber again with same res ult as previously posted, starts + runs few seconds, then starves for fuel. Any ideas ? I would appreciate your replies- thanks.

When it stalls you have 42 psi? , if so try disconnecting the maf and see what happens.

The car is broke down at my in-laws home 10 miles away. Will try disconnecting MAF next chance I get over there. I had that apart today and cleaned it gently (didn't look bad but read that it can cause some problems so I tried cleaning it) which did not help. That is the sensor near the air filter housing? Looks like 2 small filaments when removed from it's housing? Hope thats right. Have only checked fuel pressure with key on, car not running. Thanks for the reply, will try disconnecting that & see what happens.

Check the FP during the crank no start issue.

Checked fuel pressure again tonight. 40 - 42 psi during cranking. Good volume also. Unhooked MAF sensor and cranked engine, still no start. Also want to say I have checked several times to see if any SES codes and always just get the 12 code as book says I should.

If it will not start with starting fluid, you do not have sufficient spark. Or the engine has internal problems such as the T'chain.

I have started engine with a gasoline soaked rag in the air filter chamber and changed out the timing chain & sprockets, as posted previously in this thread. Also started on gasoline soaked rag after changing out timing chain, just can't get fuel through injectors. I used a noid light tonight and it did not light up at all while cranking. First time ever used one, does this mean no power at all to injectors? I thought I would get a steady "light up" or if functioning properly an intermittent light, but got nothing at all. Any ideas?

The car is fixed. Since my last post on 7-24 I had taken Ignition Control Module off & had it tested. Tested good. This past Sunday I was checking voltage on each injector during crank/no start , removing 1 injector "plug in" at a time and testing. When I pulled off #4 injector plug and told my wife to crank it the car started. Put plug in back on & it immediately killed engine. Would not start again with plug on - took it off again and started. Bad injector. I am not very knowledgable on auto mechanics & did not realize 1 bad injector could kill the other 5 also. Changed injector tonight and the car is fixed. Thanks for the replies maxwedge.

Very good.
So the bad injector was shorting the injector drive circuit?:confused:

Very good.
So the bad injector was shorting the injector drive circuit?:confused: It now makes sense to me that the noid light test showed nothing. After putting in new injector I did the noid light test again (just to satisfy my curiosity about what the noid light should do) and it did the flashing light as I believe it should. So, yes , I believe that injector was shorted out and it caused all injectors to have a dead circuit and therefore no pulse. Honestly, I really don't quite understand that . I don't have very good grasp on auto electronic systems. I felt very fortunate to have blundered on to what was causing the problem and am thankful I was able to fix it. Hope these posts may help someone else if they ever have a similar problem.

The bad injector pulled the current from the others by having to little resistance.

awesome. I love a happpy ending. I'm going to go pull some plugs now too.

btw, my 91 Cutlass with the 3.1 cranks to 46psi and then holds 43 psi but drops to 36 while running.
Is this normal? Does it have a vauum fuel pressure regulator? I understand that a drop would be normal then.

awesome. I love a happpy ending. I'm going to go pull some plugs now too.

btw, my 91 Cutlass with the 3.1 cranks to 46psi and then holds 43 psi but drops to 36 while running.
Is this normal? Does it have a vauum fuel pressure regulator? I understand that a drop would be normal then.

Do you realize this is a 2 year old thread? :runaround:

Glad this thread is still open even if it is a couple of years old. I just experienced the same malfunction, so I will check out the solution as described here. BTW, I have 428,316 miles on my 91 Olds Cutlass Cierra, and until this problem, I have not had a single major malfunction. It has been running as well as a new car, and I hope to keep it that way. Thanks for all the help this forum offers. :smile: Opaobie (http://www.opaobie.com/promisekept.php)

BTW, I have 428,316 miles on my 91 Olds Cutlass Cierra, and until this problem, I have not had a single major malfunction. It has been running as well as a new car, and I hope to keep it that way. Thanks for all the help this forum offers. :smile: Opaobie (http://www.opaobie.com/promisekept.php)

Wow, that is amazing 428K miles! Any secrets ?

I have enjoyed reading this old thread because I would have never known a no start could have been a bad fuel injector.

This is a good thred! Would make a great sticky!

LOL i just went through the same exact thing with an 89 ciera.I had 2 bad injectors. Every one with a no start cutlass problem check for spark and fuel pressure and if you have those go to fuel injectors. One bad one will shut down your computer.I would do that before going after the crank shaft sensor which is a b#@!ch to get out.

WOW! just joined here tonight and was was gonna post same exact question right down to the it will run with a gas soaked rag at air intake. did fuel pressure test at shrader valve, changed fuel filter,checked injector fuse.I will now try what i have read here thank you all!

See if yo have injector pulse first.

checked injector resistance w/multimeter 2 had lower than spec resistance unplugged 1 and the car started right up plugged back in no start unplugged other car fired right up! this thread saved me big money! car is fixed for less than what a shop would have charged to diagnose the problem!ordered 2 injectors from rockauto.com

Cars that are MULTIPORT injection(these won't have a cam sensor), fire three injectors at the same time from one driver....if one injector is bad, it could short out the circuit....the driver see too much current and shuts down all three injectors....

I was losing hope... :runaround: I had the same exact problem as sherman42, my car would die when it was warmed up on a hot day or going up a hill and would not restart. Would also not restart after a hot sit while going into a store, gas station, etc. It would take up to 3 hrs before it would cool down enough to restart. I was testing a lot of things: fuel pump, relay, ignition module, etc. But car had plenty of spark and the fuel pump was turning on fine when trying to start car. Finally I pulled power to each injector one by one. When the bad injector was pulled, the car started right up and died when reconnected. Replaced injector for $60 and so far so good. Will post if any problems arise still with this issue. Thank you to sherman42 for your post!