96 Cutlass won't start

Went to start my 96 Cutlass Supreme 3.1 this morning and when I turned the key it revved high for a sec and then without pressing the gas pedal it shut down and backfired (like an air pop sound) in the engine. The car has been running fine lately with the exception of needing front brakes which I was planning on taking the car in today to get the brakes fixed. Tried to start the car again and pressed the gas but as soon as I let off it did the same thing with the popping noise. When I pulled the oil dipstick out it was as if when the pop happened it forced oil all the way up the stick. When I wiped it off and put it back in it was at the normal level. Not sure if I smelled gas fumes from it revving so high or if gas was mixed with the oil but as I said when I put the stick back in it was at the normal level. Does this sound like a major problem or any other ideas on where to start to look for the problem or am I just gonna have to have it towed in to have diagnostics done on it?

hey cutlgrl,
i own the same car the same year as well, bu tright now mine is a paper weight, i blew the motor. but its sounds to me like one of a few things could be going on. first off the high revv is probably you idle air control, if it sticks then it will revv you engine and fload your clyinders with gas giving you a back fire, the loud popping noise. that is some thing very easily fixed or cheaply replaced. also the oil spewing over could be just a result of the high revv send huge amounts of pressure everywhere in your enginge, or ..heres where the varietyof possiblities come into play. if you coolant is low then you have a head gasket that has leaked into your oil, if you part you car outside and it was a cold night then there always the possiblity of condisation in you your oil... and it can keep going on from there, but if the oil smelt like gas then it was jus the back fire, and if the oil isnt watery nor your coolant low then the floading of oil could just be extreme pressure build up, now if your car is running sluggish now then you probably have broken a piston ring, which typically happens after a repeated back fire, but that is rare and far between. let me know what happens i ahve plenty of advise, i thing my car incumbers everything that can possibly go wrong with a cutlass ;-) - BOb

Thanks for your reply Bob. I was so worried that something really bad was wrong but get this...the dang hose somehow popped off. Put the hose back on and bam it started. If it runs sluggish today then I'll go from there. This has been a good car but this last 6 months every time I turn around something needs replaced.....water pump, alt., the battery was all jacked up don't know how it held in there as there was nothing left holding it in it's place, tires, complete rear brakes, now front brakes so yesterday I thought great here we go again this thing is becoming a money pit.

Now it is running a bit sluggish and has a pinging changy type noise...it's not loud and banging and the service engine light is flashing. Any ideas?

yeah be careful,
hows your oil adn your oiul pressure i know that those cars dont have an oil pressure gauge, i found that out the hard way, had the same noise and neglated it and it turns out that my oil pump had fail, needless to say i lost my motor. have your oil pump check and see if the local garge can puts some additive to quiet it down, but if they tell you have a random cylinder mis fire in cylinder three let me know.....
-Bob

yeah be careful,
hows your oil adn your oiul pressure i know that those cars dont have an oil pressure gauge, i found that out the hard way, had the same noise and neglated it and it turns out that my oil pump had fail, needless to say i lost my motor. have your oil pump check and see if the local garge can puts some additive to quiet it down, but if they tell you have a random cylinder mis fire in cylinder three let me know.....
-Bob

I have 96 Cutlass Supreme with 3.1 engine. I've had the error code P0300 come up a few times. This is the random/multiple misfire. Sometimes when I start the car it runs badly with a misfire and low power. If I go down the road about a mile or more it finally clears up. But most of the time it starts and runs fine. If it starts fine, it runs fine. It only misfires if it starts with a misfire. It has done this when the engine is cold and when it was warmed up. But it doesn't do it all the time. Just a couple days ago. I went to a store and it ran fine to the store. Came back out, it started with the misfire to another store. Came out same thing. It did this one more time, then the last time it did it there was a backfire and it shut off. It wouldn't start up again. I tried a few didferent times through out 45 minutes. I pushed the pedal down to the floor and cranked it, still nothing. I waited another 10 minutes, then it started without any misfire. I have changed the plugs and that night that it wouldn't start for 45 minutes I changed the wires. I checked the fuel pressure regulator and it's fine, which it should be because that was bad about 3 months ago and I replaced it then.

Any suggestions on what's going on. It sounds like you might. Vacuum hoses are fine. No oil in radiator fluid. Just changed air filter too.

Please help....

Thanks!