2001 Grand Am will not start

Yet another starting problem, this one on a 3.4 L with about 100k miles. I was driving home on city streets and the engine just quit. All electrical was working - lights and radio still on, but all the warning lights came on. When I tried to start it back up, the engine would crank, turn over, then die. If I tried again immediately, it would just crank but not turn over. If I waited, say, 5 minutes to try to start it again it would crank, turn over, then die. I had it towed home and now it cranks but won't turn over at all. I recently changed the wires, plugs, and fuel filter before this happened. I also changed the crank positioning sensor to fix an acceleration problem at that time too. I put in a new battery, because the old one died while trying to start it so much yesterday. I had the alternator tested today, and it's fine too. I tried resetting it for 10 minutes and that didn't work. The diagnostic codes read a problem with the MAF so I changed that yesterday - much better readings, but didn't help my start problem! EGR and Oxygen sensors have recently been changed, if that may be relevant. Now there's a check engine light, but it won't spit out a trouble code. I didn't test the fuel pressure, but I can smell gas in the port so I'm assuming it's getting some.

Any ideas?

Yet another starting problem, this one on a 3.4 L with about 100k miles. I was driving home on city streets and the engine just quit. All electrical was working - lights and radio still on, but all the warning lights came on. When I tried to start it back up, the engine would crank, turn over, then die. If I tried again immediately, it would just crank but not turn over. If I waited, say, 5 minutes to try to start it again it would crank, turn over, then die. I had it towed home and now it cranks but won't turn over at all. I recently changed the wires, plugs, and fuel filter before this happened. I also changed the crank positioning sensor to fix an acceleration problem at that time too. I put in a new battery, because the old one died while trying to start it so much yesterday. I had the alternator tested today, and it's fine too. I tried resetting it for 10 minutes and that didn't work. The diagnostic codes read a problem with the MAF so I changed that yesterday - much better readings, but didn't help my start problem! EGR and Oxygen sensors have recently been changed, if that may be relevant. Now there's a check engine light, but it won't spit out a trouble code. I didn't test the fuel pressure, but I can smell gas in the port so I'm assuming it's getting some.

Any ideas?

Perhaps try disconnecting the battery overnight and letting the ECM and PCM "reset" themselves. Hopefully that works and you dont have to drop and $$$ into it. Good Luck.

Bobby

We had just about the same problem with our 2001 GA. Turned out to be the fuel pump wiring harness. It was'nt making full contact so it kept shutting down the pump. We hit a bump and the pump would shut down ,wait 2 min and off we went again. There was some kind of bulliten on it also. Could be the pump since I've seen these go on and off by themselves as they start to fail. Just putting in my 2 cents hope things work out cheaply for ya---Happy New Year---Chris

Well, I left the battery unhooked overnight, reattached it today and tried resetting the computer 4 times. No progress on getting it started, except now the fuel gauge is reading empty, whereas it was at about 1/3 tank when this happened. Looks like I'll have to take this one in, unless someone has experienced this before and knows a quick fix.

Well, I left the battery unhooked overnight, reattached it today and tried resetting the computer 4 times. No progress on getting it started, except now the fuel gauge is reading empty, whereas it was at about 1/3 tank when this happened. Looks like I'll have to take this one in, unless someone has experienced this before and knows a quick fix.

Did you happen to put in an aftermarket cd player? I had a friend who did that and the wires in the dash shorted out and screwed up the ECM/PCM. Just my :2cents:

Bobbu