91 Bonneville SSE has quit...will not restart

Hello all.

I have a 1991 Bonneville SSE with a V6 3800 I, auto, and have owned it since day one. I just rolled 285,000 miles the other day!

Here's my story: I was driving on the highway and I heard a bit of commotion in the front of the car and thought to myself, "Oh boy, the ole serpentine belt is giving up". Much to my surprise the noise stopped and the car kept running fine. After I rolled down my window when I got the the toll booth, I noticed that there was a slight snapping or ticking noise coming from my car. It wasn't a metal-on-metal ticking noise, but more of a snapping noise. I pulled off the highway and into a gas station.

I lifted the hood while the car was running and noticed that a small piece of the serpentine belt had ripped away. It was about 1/8 inch worth on the right-side. I assumed the snapping noise I was hearing was a piece of the belt whipping against the sub-frame and figured that I could make it home since I was less than a mile from my house.

I closed the hood and got into the car. I put the car into gear and drove forward about 30 feet when it just quit. No sputtering, no dieseling...the engine just stopped. Naturally, I put it back into park and it would not restart. It just cranks and cranks and cranks.

I'm wondering if the snapping/ticking noise I heard was something electrical or something else entirely. Perhaps the piece of belt that flew off damaged something? I cannot see any visable damage other than the worn belt.

Would a worn belt cause something like this to happen? Have others heard this weird snapping before? Are my symptoms pointing to something obvious?

I am planning on checking the car tomorrow to see if there is a spark. The coil pack may have quit, which would be coincidental, but I think it has something to do with the missing chunk of serpentine belt.

Any ideas or theories to check out would be much appreciated!

Thank you in advance.

Regards,
Matt

Check and see if you still have the cover behind the crank pulley/Balancer.... Thid cover protects the crank sensor... The crank sensor will be located towards the front of the car and will be right behind the crank pulley, make sure the wires at attached to it... Then look at the Module/coil pack and make sure you didn't take out any wires there either... Let us know what you find..

Here is what I have found:

The engine is not producing any spark. I changed out the coil pack with a new one and the car still did not start. At this point, it looks like all that may be left is the crank sensor.

Upon inspecting the vehicle further in the daylight, I found that a dangling remnant of the serpentine belt had been whipping around in the engine for some time. The insulation on the inner-side of the hood was grooved out, the A/C condenser had a back mark on it and one of the cooling lines in the front also had a black mark on it.

I checked the location of the crank sensor. I can see a bunch of wires (about three or four) that come from a small loom of wires which branch off to the crank sensor. The wires are intact and there is no damage to them. I can see the plastic harness which clips onto the sensor, I guess. The harness is not loose and is not damaged. I'm not sure if there is supposed to be a cover over this harness or not. I wiggled the harness around and tried starting the car again with the same result.

I'd like to replace the crank sensor myself. Is it not for the "backyard mechanic"? Is there something else I can check as well, which will not cause a spark?

Thanks and regards,
Matt