1994 Buick Overheating, stalling

ok 1994 buick century has been dying on me when driving down the road, andwhere from 10-70 MPH - randomly, it just dies - start right back up - sometime will die right away again, sometime keeps going, with no problems for the rest of the trip.

Today, it started overheating on me - the coolent fan did not come on, unless I turned on the AC, then fan ran - so looking at maybe a relay?

In a couple of posts, it was mentioned that the coolent temp sensor could cause the dying issue, and possible the fan not starting thing? 0 or possible the crank position sensor - how do I go about figure out which one is the problem (if it is either) without spedning a bunch of money we don't have?

Other than that - car runs perfectly - unless it is dying

BTW - the check engine light has not come at any time with these problems

you didn't mention what engine your car has in it.

That might help a bit - it is a 6 cyl. 3.1 liter

Looks like this car has 2 electric fans in it.......Correct? (1 primary cooling fan and 1 pusher cooling fan)..... Looking at Figure 77 In this link (Click to enlarge).

GM Celebrity/Century/Ciera/6000 1982-1996 Repair Guide (http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/0f/40/0f/0900823d800f400f/repairInfoPages.htm)

I'd say the engine coolant temp sensor would set off a "Check Engine Code" if it were bad and out of range. So with your response stating that BTW - the check engine light has not come at any time with these problems.... I'd say that the "Primary" coolant Fan relay is the problem with the fan. The random engine stalling sounds like a Crank position sensor that's near dead....Their notorious for these same type of symptoms.

Thanks for the info - I actually looked at that site earlier - at this point, looks like I am going to wait for the car to cool off, then going to pull the harmonic balancer, and replace the crank position seensor - and also going to replace the coolent temp sensor to start, if that does not fix the fan, then will go for the relay.

Wen to autozone for the parts, so got a loaner puller from them, so that should not be to bad to get that off of thier - and hopefully it will fix the problem.

Will post an update once I get things replaced.

I'm not sure about the 3.1's, I've only did numerous Intake gasket R&R's on them But, The 3.3 and 3.8 GM V6 Motors needed a special alignment tool for the crank postion sensor.....Seriously, I hope in your case that GM changed that with the 3.1 because I had to borrow the tool from a friend because Autozone (Or any other auto parts store) did not rent them! And taking a car to a GM Dealer is a Big NO where i'm concerned....:nono: Good luck with the fix and post back what you find out?

ok - we got the fan going - was the temp sensor - that is fixed, but they gave us the wrong part for the crank position sensor:banghead:, and or course, they have to special order it - so that is going to slow things down a bit - should be here in a couple of days, and we get it all put together - hopefully!!

ok - we got the fan going - was the temp sensor !

No check engine light and error code(s) 14 or 15 was displayed with a bad temp sensor?......:confused: Does the check engine light come on in this car when you turn the key forward (Run position) but not start the car?

your car has two crank position sensors, one behind the balancer (18x-24x signal), and one in the back of the block (3x-7x signal).

ok - so now with two crank position sensors, which one most likely to be the bad one, the one in front, or the one in back - apparently, I got the one that goes in the back of the block - but I hate spending the money buying new parts, and replacing them if they are not bad - is thier any way to check them at this point?

And, yes, the check engine light does come in when the key is turned, but it never came on through this whole dying and overheating process.

Thanks,

Scott

In a no-start situation, it's normally the one in the back of the block, or the wiring between it and the ICM.

I would not call it ia no-start situation, it will start - sometimes, right off, and run with no problems, sometimes it will start, and die right away, and sometime it just will not start - it is getting more and more of the just will not start, or will die right away though - they are supposed to have the 24x crank sensor in toorrow - so hopeully that will solve the problem!!

got the part - got it all put in, not a problem teir, just two bolts - got it all back together, started the car, started right up, showed check ingine light and died on me!!

First time it has shown the check engine light - restarted it, no problems on the drive, but the check engine light did not shut off - going to unhook the battery tomorow, reset the computer, and see what that does, I know the battery is going bad on it - so that might be causing some issues.

But, I think it just might be fixed!! - at least the dying problem

pull the codes before you unhook that battery. It may give you some insight as to what is wrong.

okj - I have been searching - is thier any way to pull the codes off the computer with a code reader? - if the wou8ld start and run, we would take it down to Knechts, and they would read the coide, but it wijust not stay running long enough.

So what do we have left as suspects here - the other crank position snesor, the coils?, and the ignitional mudule - anything that I have missed?

We are going to take the coils down to autozone today and have them checked, dont know if they can check the module or not.

What is puzzling is the check engine light - it was not thier before we replaced that crank position sensor, now it is showing - once we figure out the code, we will go from thier in tracking down the next thing.

OK - here is some more info - this is really starting to bug me!!

Replaced all the coils and ignition module, NO CHANGE - I plulled out several spark plug - they are not loosing fire before the engine dies, they are still sparking untill it stopps turning.

Replaced the fuel pump, filter, and relay about 4 months ago.

It starts, runs for about5 seconds, and then shuts off, just like I shut the ignition off.

Could this a problem with the fuel getting cut-off going to the engine, and if so - how do I go about checking to see if thier is still fuel flowing to the engine when it dies?

OK - have not been able to find anyone to read the caodes, without spending 100 bucks, and the owner of the car will not do that - we replaced the fuel pressure regulator yesterday, still no change - just dies.

So here is what we have replaced at this point:

Coils (all 3)
Egnition Control Module
Crank Position Sensor (both of them)
Fuel Filter
Fuel Preessure Regulater

where do we go from here?:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::bang head::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::bang head:

I have a 1994 Buick Century wagon. It's a 3.1 and it is doing pretty much the same thing. When I let up off of the gas it stalls out. I'm going to start by changing the fuel filter and checking the fuel pump. If that doesn't work I'll crank position sensors. What could any other problems be? Maybe my intake is clogged? The check engine light finally came on today.


I had to replace a crank position sensor on my 1990 Buick Century because it would shut off right away. I guess it's a really common thing, Buicks and their 'Phantom stall'........

At this moment it's 10:30 at night and I decided to run the car for a bit to see if I could get any more ideas. When I let up off of the gas the car idles really low, almost stalling, and the lights dim, and then it goes back to normal. Any ideas? The car will idle high and then low when I let it sit. It varies very often. I also noticed that my fuel pump hums when I turn the car on like it should, but then after about a minute it starts humming again. My 1990 Volkswagen Golf's fuel pump did the same thing, only the lights didn't dim and the car would choke up before it died out. I replaced the fuel filter and the car ran fine, so I doubt it is the fuel pump or filter this time. I was really thinking it was the crank position sensor (and I'm still not throwing that idea out), but this car isn't overheating like my 1990 Century.


This is a problem among a lot of older Buicks. I'm really suprised nobody has narrowed it down to a couple possible causes. I know I'm completely stumped.

you need to check for injector pulse when it dies. The injectors on these engines are run in series, so if one heats up and dead shorts, it will kill the signal to the rest. using a DMM, ohm spec each injector and see if one is way off from the others. if there is one off, replace it. If you're losing injector pulse, but they all spec similarly, you may have a bad ECM.

when they heat up? it does it right when i start up the car

i also have a big hole in my exhaust which probably isnt helping


you need to check for injector pulse when it dies. The injectors on these engines are run in series, so if one heats up and dead shorts, it will kill the signal to the rest. using a DMM, ohm spec each injector and see if one is way off from the others. if there is one off, replace it. If you're losing injector pulse, but they all spec similarly, you may have a bad ECM.